Georgia's Imedi TV fake report leading list of top 10 shocking and outrageous hoaxes

The magazine says it decided to make up a list of top 10 shocking hoaxes since the fake repot on Imedi TV caused a panic in the Georgian population on 13 March.

"Georgians were in for the shock of their lives on March 13 when the pro-government Imedi station reported Russian tanks were invading again, barely 18 months on from the short war of 2008. In honor of this bizarre news hoax, TIME takes look at more of history's most outrageous deceptions," the magazine says.

The other hoaxes of the list are Orson Welles' radio adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds is regularly cited as the best hoax of all time.

It caused many listeners to believe that an actual alien invasion was taking place in 1938.

Another story in the list is ‘B is for Beyond for Belief’ - a hoax by 20-year-old Ashley Todd in 2008 that she had been assaulted at knifepoint for being a John McCain supporter.

Todd, who later admitted to a history of mental illness, told police on Oct. 22, 2008, that her assailant had carved a backward letter B into her right cheek, telling her, 'You are going to be a Barack supporter.'

The list also includes: ‘A Balloon that Didn’t Fly’ - It will surely be one of the strangest tales of 2009: as the world watched in horror, authorities in northern Colorado chased down a runaway helium balloon believed to have been carrying 6-year-old Falcon Heene up as high as 6,000 ft.

The horror turned to relief when it was revealed that young Falcon hadn't taken flight but was instead hiding in his parents' attic.

The list ends with news on Napoleon’s death. In 1814, a uniformed officer who gave his name as Colonel du Bourg arrived at the Ship Inn in Dover, England, bringing news that Napoleon Bonaparte had been killed.

This meant that England's long war with the Bourbons was over.


/Inter Press News/