Ken Newquist

“Old Navy Baby 14” threatens to trash hard drives through Instant Messenger

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A e-mail hoax claims that a nefarious AOL user named OldNavyBaby14 is stalking the backwoods of America Online’s Instant Messenger, IMing people and then thrashing their hard drives into digital oblivion. Fortunately it’s a hoax. Here’s the original e-mail: This version was collected on July 30, 2001: Please, pass it on…… A MEMBER OF AOL … Read more

Bonsai Kitten Hoax Site Horrifies Animal Lovers

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For a stretch of time in the early 2000s, outraged animal lovers around the world filled their friends’ inboxes with e-mails decrying the Bonsai Kitten, a website allegedly selling custom-shaped cats. Inspired by bonsai plants, the website claimed its kittens were raised inside specially-designed glass bottles while their bones are still young and malleable. After … Read more

“Internet Flower For You” eats hard drives

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An internet hoax is claiming that an e-mail titled “An Internet Flower For You” contains a virus that destroys hard drives by eating important little files called dynamic link libraries (DLLs). Fortunately, this virus does not exist. Here’s the original e-mail: Date Collected: April 29, 2001 Intel announced that a new and very destructive virus … Read more

E-mail Offers Subversive Neiman-Marus Cookie Recipe

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A mother who was tricked by Neiman-Marcus into buying their cookie recipe for $250 is getting her revenge by giving away the pricey culinary instructions on the Internet. Sounds tasty, but this story is an urban legend, and has been circulated in the off-line world for decades. Here’s the original e-mail: This version was collected … Read more

Stolen Child Hoax Coupled With Real-World Anti-Kidnapping Program

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An urban legend about a kidnapped child has been combined with a true story about Wal-Mart’s “Code Adam” program to create a horrifying half-truth-filled e-mail. The first part of the e-mail is a decades-old urban legend: a child is separated from her mother in a large department store. Terrified, she alerts story employees, who in … Read more

The Eye of the World Looks Down Upon a Fantastic Universe

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Fantasy addicts looking for their next fix of sword and sorcery should check out Robert Jordon’s modern classic The Eye of the World. Published in 1990, the novel is the first in a saga called The Wheel of Time. It opens in the tiny village of Edmond’s Field, where stubborn shepherds raise sheep and equally … Read more

Internet Access Charge Hoax Refuses to Die

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A long-running hoax claims that Congress wants to slap a charge on Internet access, forcing users to pay up every time they log on. It’s a sibling of sorts to the notorious “602P” e-mail that claims the U.S. Postal Service is trying to implement a 5-cent charge on e-mail, and like that other hoax, it’s … Read more