Can Self Driving Cars Be ‘Trapped’ By a Salt Circle? A viral Facebook post asserted that self-driving cars can be "trapped" by a salt circle, coincidentally a common media trope for magic.
Travis Scott and Astroworld: Occult Conspiracies Follow Festival Tragedy Discourse about the tragic deaths of several attendees at Travis Scott's Astroworld in November 2021 included viral posts claiming that the catastrophe had occult overtones.
Piute Reservoir ‘Fake Town in Utah … Like Truman Show Fake’ A bizarre story about a 'fake town' in Utah (possibly Piute Reservoir) enraptured social media.
Do Bodies Float in Lake Superior? A midwestern meme contains claims that Lake Superior, because of its size and frigid waters, "never gives up her dead."
All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in Poland A striking set of images purportedly shows intense illumination at cemeteries and loved ones' graves on All Saints' Day and All Souls' Days in Poland.
Can You Use Breastmilk Topically to Treat Various Conditions? Long-spreading lore and a viral Facebook post contain a laundry list of supposed conditions alleviated by the topical application of human breastmilk.
The Parable of the Stolen Cookies If you use Facebook, chances are you’ve stumbled upon the videos of Jay Shetty — perhaps the one that is very vaguely titled “Before You Judge Anyone, Watch This,” which is a parable about airport cookie theft: https://www.facebook.com/JayShettyIW/videos/256522031874958/?v=256522031874958 The same story was told in another video on Twitter in 2017: Don't Be So Quick To […]
Did Slaves Braid Routes to Freedom Into Hairstyles? In February 2019, a Facebook user shared a post (archived here) that showed patterns for hairstyles with a claim that slaves used braid patterns to plot out routes to freedom: What if I told you all, during slavery, our ancestors braided escape route patterns in their hairstyles too flee bondage and seek freedom from their oppessors! […]
‘Real Momo Videos,’ Viral Hoaxes, and Ostension In the aftermath of the March 2019 U.S. media frenzy surrounding the Momo challenge, a number of “real Momo videos” have opportunistically surfaced and quickly racked up large share counts. We came across several of the likely many surviving “real Momo” videos on Facebook that were posted by concerned parents, although given the nature of […]
