Wonderful Stories Contrived For A Gullible Public

The Museum of Hoaxes, established in 1997, is dedicated to the exploration of hoaxes, mischief, and misinformation throughout history. The  site chronicles 300 years of "sensational acts of deception" perpetrated by pranksters, pseudoscientific con artists and the mass media. The categories range from April Fool's Day to cryptozoology to mass panic to paranormal and many more. Of course I went straight to the  the 'Gross-Out' category where I found the story of the Chesterfield Leper : 

In the Fall of 1934 a rumor swept through America alleging that a leper had been found working in the Chesterfield cigarette factory in Richmond. Sales of Chesterfield cigarettes plummeted as smokers, fearful of catching the dreaded disease, switched to other brands. (It took a full decade for the company to finally shake the rumor and for sales to fully recover.)

Curator Alex Boese has also published a collection of documented hoaxes.

Thanks Bruce!