Viral Phenomena Archives

Did a Michigan School District Install Litter Boxes in Bathrooms? The Michigan GOP seized upon the uncorroborated claims of a Midland woman about the presence...

Unproven

If You Live in the US, Don’t Call 999 in an Emergency A viral copypasta meme left out key context.

Mixture

Did a Milkman Father 800 Children? This old trope continues to be a source of rumors.

Labeled Satire

Did Joe Rogan Say Hamburgers Were Made From Ham? Hamburgers are made from ham, burg, and ers, obviously.

False

Zach Roloff Death Hoax: False Suicide Claims Came from Obscure Website Roloff and the rest of his family star in the long-running TLC reality TV show,...

False

An ad claimed He Left Pregnant Wife Weeks Later She Opens Oven and the headline of the article read After Her Husband Left Her She Saw Something in the Oven that Changed Her Life.

Did Pregnant Wife Find Something in Oven After Husband Left Her? We flipped through a 50-page slideshow article to find answers.

True

Yes, These Fishermen Are Walking Upside Down Underwater A video featuring an optical illusion underwater has been popular for years.

True

David Leon Johnson described in a Reddit post as an anti-vaxx cowboy died of COVID-19 and was the subject of a misleading Reddit post about a cartoon and funeral attendance.

Reddit Post Misleads on ‘Anti-Vaxx Cowboy’ Funeral Former Oklahoma resident David Leon Johnson died on Dec. 20, 2021, after a battle with...

False

He Found Treasure Inside His Grandparents' Barn is what an online ad claimed about Reddit user EvilEnglish and a farmhouse with a secret safe in Tennessee.

Did a Reddit User Find Treasure in His Grandparents’ Barn? Avoid the misleading online ads. Here's the real story from 2013.

Mostly True

No, Amazon Didn’t Fire Workers Who Didn’t Clock Out After Getting Buried in Rubble The claim originated on a website known for satirizing current events.

Labeled Satire

Did Bill Gates Make an ‘Omicron’ Video Game? Among the many flaws in this conspiracy theory, the COVID-19 variant "omicron" isn't spelled with...

False

Online ads claimed These Pipes Were Sticking Out of the Ground, This Is What Was Underneath and led to a 2014 story about a bunker found in northern Germany.

Did Pipes Sticking Out of the Ground in the Woods Lead to a Discovery Underneath? We read through 69 pages to find the truth.

True