Happy April Fools' Day: 6 memorable hoaxes

Jolie Lee

USA TODAY Network

An experimental aircraft, once believed to have been carrying a child from Fort Collins, Colo., drifts across a portion of the state on Oct. 15, 2009. The child was not aboard.

You can't believe everything you see. USA TODAY Network highlights six memorable hoaxes. Were you fooled?

1. Balloon boy

In October 2009, Richard and Mayumi Heene of Colorado claimed their 6-year-old son, Falcon, had been carried away in a UFO-shaped balloon. The balloon floated 50 miles for two hours before crashing gently into a field. It turns out Falcon was nowhere near the balloon and was safe at home all along. The Heene family had hoped the stunt would help them land a reality TV show. Instead, they landed in jail.

Falcon Heene, 6, sits in the box of his family's pickup outside the family home in Fort Collins, Colo., after he was found hiding in the garage on Oct. 15, 2009. He had been reported to be aboard a flying-saucer-shaped balloon fashioned by his father and then carried by high winds onto the plains of eastern Colorado.

2. Runaway bride

Jennifer Wilbanks was set to marry John Mason on April 30, 2005, in Duluth, Ga. Four days before the wedding, Wilbanks disappeared. Three days into her disappearance, Wilbanks called Mason from Albuquerque, saying she had been abducted and sexually assaulted. Wilbanks later recanted the story and said she ran away because of personal issues. Wilbanks and Mason ended their engagement.

Jennifer Wilbanks in an undated photo taken from a missing placard in front of the family home in Duluth, Ga., on April 28, 2005.

3. Snowball the monster cat

In a photo that went viral, a man holds his 87-pound cat named Snowball. The photo appeared on Good Morning America and The Tonight Show.Snowball was no monster after all — just a normal cat enlarged by photo-editing software.

Snowball the monster cat is actually just a normal cat enlarged with photo-editing software.

4. Alien autopsy

In 1995, British producer Ray Santilli said he had footage of an alien autopsy after a UFO crash near Roswell, N.M., in 1947. Santilli claimed the film came from a retired military cameraman. In 2006, Santilli was the executive producer of a comedy movie called Alien Autopsy based on his "discovery" of the autopsy footage. Shortly before the movie's release, he admitted the footage was fake.

5. Milli Vanilli

In 1990, the Germany-based dance-pop duo Milli Vanilli won a Grammy. Soon after, the group's members Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus were spotted lip-syncing in concert. Their producer, Frank Farian, revealed that the album's lead vocals were those of other singers but credited to Morvan and Pilatus. With this revelation, their Grammy was revoked.

Rob Pilatus, left, and Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli give the thumbs-up as they display their Grammys after being presented with the 1989 best new artist award in Los Angeles Feb. 21, 1990. They were later stripped of their award after being revealed as lip-synching poseurs.

6. Swiss spaghetti harvest

Perhaps known as the original media hoax, the BBC "reported" on April 1, 1957, that Switzerland was experiencing a bumper spaghetti harvest. Viewers called in wanting to know how they could get their own spaghetti plant. According to the online Museum of Hoaxes, the BBC responded, "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

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