A holiday weekend marred by beautiful autumn weather and massive transit disruptions didn’t keep the curious from turning out for the Ullage Group’s presentation, “Straight Talk About Hoaxes.” Anthony Matt’s multimedia exegesis of the 1969 “Paul is Dead” hoax was a rousing success. Original tapes of radio shows and phone calls, furnished by the DJ who started it all, along with a short slide-show of revealing album covers and persons responsible, provided fascinating and plausible evidence that Paul McCartney may indeed be alive.
Doug Skinner began by showing off a trick Gideon Bible concealing rubber monkeys – a new Ullage Group endeavor that promises to astound traveling salesmen and vacationing families alike.  He then entertained the audience with enlightening tales of pseudo-hoaxes, fictions taken for truth, and the generally fickle nature of belief.  Running short on time, Lisa Hirschfield postponed her talk on storytelling, seduction, and Nigerian scam letters for another round of hoax-talk in the future; she will also post some of her findings on this site.

The truth is out there, always waiting to be debunked.

(posted by Lisa Hirschfield)