Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia/Less than one year

This page lists hoaxes on Wikipedia which were extant for at least one month but less than one year . They were removed from the main page Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia to keep its length manageable.

This page covers only hoaxes which were not covered by reliable, independent sources. For the opposite, see the main list.

For many of the below hoaxes, you can see an archived version of the deleted article by clicking on its title (see also list of archived hoaxes). Any administrator can create an archived version of a hoax upon request by following the instructions on the main page at Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia.

Hoax	Length	Start Date	End Date	Links
Aliquota (CSD) Fictitious reptile, based on the lede of an old revision of Lion	11½ months	October 19, 2006	October 11, 2007
Oliver Bayley (CSD) Fictitious Ugandan entertainer	11½ months	January 2, 2005	December 15, 2005
The birthplace and childhood home of swimmer Michael Phelps was anonymously changed from a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland, to a Utah location.	11½ months	October 13, 2009	September 22, 2010	Added: 1 2 Removed and corrected: 1 2
Taurens Fictitious genus of jumping spiders	11 months	September 8, 2012	August 24, 2013	Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Taurens
Egyptian Third Republic Egyptian Fourth Republic Egyptian Fifth Republic	11 months	July 11, 2013	June 15, 2014	Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Egyptian Third Republic, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Egyptian Fourth Republic, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Egyptian Fifth Republic
Amberlihisar Fictitious Ottoman fortress in Turkey.	11 months	January 2, 2023	December 4, 2023	Speedy deleted as "G3: Blatant hoax". The article was found to have been fully written by ChatGPT, with a slate of fictitious sources. It's not clear if the original author was aware that the subject did not exist, but the article passed AfC. WikiProject AI Cleanup was formed shortly after the article was deleted.
Avlor Landić de Hazelrof Imaginary Croatian who sailed to China as a boy after his parents were murdered, met numerous revolutionary leaders and became a noted Marxist economist, known for his socioeconomic predictive system that was based on Chinese astrology.	11 months	August 11, 2011	July 4, 2012	Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Avlor Landić de Hazelrof Also made it into the French Wikipedia, where it was likewise deleted.
Tiberius Lowang Fictitious Abo-Teni history And several others	11 months	June 21, 2005	May 16, 2006	Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Tiberius Lowang, Hoax content added to Abo-Teni
In the Night Garden Cameron O'Donovan added as actor for 'Makka Pakka'	11 months	June 12, 2007	May 7, 2008	Talk:In the Night Garden/Archive 1#Lol.2C i fooled everyone
Under Surfing	10½ months	June 9, 2008	April 25, 2009	Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Under Surfing
World Tag Fighting Society	10½ months	June 9, 2008	April 24, 2009	Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/World Tag Fighting Society
Fermat differentiation (PROD)	10½ months	February 13, 2009	January 2, 2010
La'kalai language and Aru'kiruna Pacific islanders	10½ months	March 4, 2009	January 9, 2010
Porchesia (CSD) An island that never existed	10½ months	November 22, 2005	September 30, 2006	Resurrected and refined on Uncyclopedia as the basis for a featured article.
Ox of Boll (AfD)	10 months	October 28, 2005	August 29, 2006	Pun on bollox
Principality of Estland (AfD)	10 months	January 2, 2007	November 4, 2007	Mirror
Stewart Lee "In 1992, Lee was briefly part of the team writing the first Robin Askwith "Confessions of..." movie for 15 years. However due to financial problems the movie was scrapped and his script has never seen light of day". A typo was fixed but this unsourced "fact" was not removed until it was highlighted by the comedy website Chortle	10 months	April 25, 2011	February 23, 2012	[1]
Plano Mall (AfD)	9½ months	August 20, 2009	June 2, 2010
Omar Q. Beckins (AfD)	9½ months	April 15, 2005	February 1, 2006
Lukatwi (G3) fictitious music genre	9½ months	October 4, 2010	July 13, 2011
Rahim Abdul bin Kajaran (AfD) Said to have become President of Brunei after deposing the Sultan	9½ months	February 14, 2009	November 17, 2009	Linked article United Democratic Movement (Brunei) about his political party.
Climbing jack (AfD) Probably an April Fools' joke	9½ months	April 1, 2005	January 5, 2006
Cayley-Newbirth operation matrix Non-existent mathematical concept	8½ months	April 4, 2004	December 22, 2004	VfD. Pun on birth, operation, matrix
Fungu'lu (CSD) Fictitious span (length) entry	8½ months	April 7, 2005	December 15, 2005	Mirror, discussion
Stephen Thanabalan Brief biography of a Singaporean, apparently with the same name as a real person, but attributed to doing various things that didn't happen via appearances in other articles (listed on the AfD talk page).	8½ months	April 3, 2006	December 24, 2006	AfD.
Napkin Falsely claimed to be invented by a "Madam Rebecca Waltemath"; the perpetrator later admitted that Rebecca Waltemath was the name of his room-mate.	8 months	March 15, 2010	November 22, 2010	As of 2014, a search for "Madam Rebecca Waltemath" still reveals restaurant supply companies having copied the hoax.
Dav Sorado Fictitious Major League Baseball pitcher with Miami Marlins; some details are name-change plagiarism of Scott McGough.	1 month	May 12, 2013	June 14, 2013
Łiesand Dunin (AFD) Ficitious Polish author and naturalist	7½ months	02009-09-15September 2009	May 7, 2010	"Lies and done in".
Dugenbed (AfD)	7½ months	July 30, 2009	March 20, 2010
Vadym Meshkurinho (AfD)	7½ months	July 28, 2008	March 13, 2009
Quazer Beast (AfD)	7½ months	October 3, 2005	May 17, 2006	WP:BEAST
A1 Steak Sauce Hoax ingredient list, including mango chutney and orange marmalade	7 months	June 29, 2010	February 2, 2011	Removed in this edit
CN English Nonexistant TV channel	7 months	July 4, 2012	February 2, 2013	Program listing included "YouTube Poop" and copy-pasted material from an old draft of Spacetoon Archived version of hoax
Comprehensive Corporate Power (VfD) previously survived a VfD, embarrassingly	7 months	April 22, 2004	November 25, 2004	Userfication
Tuba (mythology) (AfD) Fictitious mythical Mongolian animal	7 months	02006-05-15May 2006	02005-12-15December 2006
Harrald Impchkin (AfD) Fictitious mayor of Baltimore, also incorporated into List of mayors of Baltimore, Maryland[2] and Template:BaltimoreMayors[3]	7 months	July 2, 2009	January 29, 2010
Lachlan Crompton syndrome (G3) Fake medical condition	7 months	August 9, 2009	March 13, 2010
Pretraumatic stress disorder (G1) Fake medical condition	7 months	October 17, 2007	May 10, 2008
Express Yourself (Madonna song) Reference to fake article:  • Rowsdoom, Charlotte (1989-07-23). "Est-ce que Madonna version Express Yourself aux fans français?". Le Parisien. 143. Éditions Philippe Amaury. ISSN 1161-5435. There is no such person as Charlotte Rowsdoom. The supposed article's title isn't even perfect French. Author was blocked for fabricating sources.	7 months	August 3, 2011	February 28, 2012	The hoax version. Also used in:  • fr:Express Yourself Discussion of citation problems.
Leibniz differential and Leibniz function	6½ months	February 5, 2009	August 17, 2009
Death bird (AfD) Fictitious mythical Aztec creature	6½ months	October 15, 2007	April 23, 2008
Helleneologism (G7)	6 months	October 2, 2006	April 1, 2007	Userfication
McCoy Gibbs as early member of Hot Chelle Rae	5½ months	July 22, 2012	January 10, 2013	Added (July 22, 2012) Removed (January 10, 2013) Added again (December 30, 2016) Removed again (January 8, 2017) Added a third time (October 28, 2017) Removed a third time (March 27, 2018)
Rainy Lake in Lolo National Forest is so named because rain has never fallen on it. The lake will dry up by 2013.	5½ months	January 5, 2012	June 26, 2012	http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lolo_National_Forest&oldid=489531608
Demomotus (VfD)	5½ months	May 4, 2004	October 12, 2004
Tuatafa Hori (G4) Fictitious princess of Sigave	5½ months	April 20, 2006	October 10, 2006
Indochine as household appliance	5 months	October 29, 2003	March 30, 2004	Mirror
Cytaria (G3)	5 months	02009-01-15January 2009	02009-06-15June 2009
Top of the Klass with Mylene Klass (AfD) Included an account of a fictitious scandal involving a real person; references were added to several other articles [4][5][6][7]	4½ months	April 28, 2010	September 18, 2010	Mirror, Article from UKGameshows.com, Discussion at Bother's Bar
Sailor Toadstool (AfD) Supposedly the name of a Sailor Moon and Super Mario Bros. crossover	4½ months	January 1, 2005	May 22, 2005	[8]
Fictitious Yves Gérard biography	4½ months	December 31, 2007	May 19, 2008	Mirror, discussion
Sean Koo (CSD)	4½ months	November 8, 2005	March 27, 2006
Establishment of Juba, Sudan, by Greeks	4½ months	September 30, 2005	February 16, 2006	Summary
John Seigenthaler Sr. hoax	4 months	May 26, 2005	September 22, 2005
Blanchard, North Dakota A claim that the community held a Tommy Wiseau festival, and that during the festival, the residents are only allowed to speak in phrases used in the movie The Room.	4 months	April 2, 2021	August 2, 2021	Addition and removal
Edits by Roylee (RFC)	4 months	02004-12-15December 2004	02005-04-15April 2005
Kemakmuran	4 months	September 22, 2012	January 21, 2013	Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kemakmuran
First Order of Ailuros A religious cult, cut-and-pasted from Branch Davidian: "locals of the Philadelphia area describe attacks from Panda-like apparitions"	4 months	February 4, 2016	June 7, 2016
Raconteur, Pennsylvania (CSD) Fictional town	4 months	December 24, 2006	April 28, 2007	Pun on raconteur
	2 months	May 14, 2007	July 13, 2007
Uqbar A Middle Eastern place in a 1940 short story, fictional even within the story. One of the earliest hoaxes to have been debunked.	3½ months	November 6, 2003	February 23, 2004	Old version showing hoax. See Uqbar for more information.
Hannah Quick Article with fake references by MadameYLion (talk · contribs) about a fictitious female pirate.	3½ months	July 14, 2010	October 24, 2010
Samantha Wreschner Article with fake references by MadameYLion (talk · contribs) about a fictitious female serial killer.	3½ months	July 15, 2010	October 24, 2010
Edits by Wonderfool (AN)	3 months	02005-08-1500August 2005	02005-11-1500November 2005
Fictitious limelight etymology	3 months	January 26, 2005	April 22, 2005	Mirror
"Oh Father" Reference to fake article:  • Zollo, Paul (May 1989). "Madonna on her turbulence". SongTalk. 10 (5). Mortimer Zuckerman: 21. Paul Zollo wrote no such article title, and the volume and issue are not in keeping with the magazine's normal series. Author was blocked for fabricating sources.	3 months	November 24, 2011	February 21, 2012	The hoax version. Also used in:  • Keep It Together (Madonna song)  • fr:Keep It Together  • fr:Oh Father Discussion of citation problems.
Saint Wallace (G3) Name-change plagiarism of Saint Christopher	3 months	January 28, 2009	April 24, 2009
The Ley of Lothwell and Lupocaan (AfD) Fictitious Old English poem. Two versions of the text were also included.	3 months	December 7, 2005	March 3, 2006
Gurjit Gill (PROD) Came from Articles for Creation	2½ months	02008-02-15February 2008	April 28, 2008
Weasel Thomas (PROD) Returned after a pathetic AfD	2½ months	02007-12-15December 2007	February 27, 2008
Navarro's Original Taco Filling (AfD) Fictitious food and company	2½ months	August 2, 2006	October 23, 2006
Statement that Italian soccer player Damiano Tommasi was an expert noted for "in-depth knowledge and appreciation" of philosopher Søren Kierkegaard	2½ months	December 7, 2008	February 26, 2009	Added, removed; hoax came to light in an interview with AS Roma club blog laroma24.it, when a reporter asked a very surprised Tommasi about his interest in Kierkegaard.
Township of Asstree, Alabama (AfD) Fictional township	2½ months	July 25, 2006	October 12, 2006	Asstree, Alabama (G1)
Fictitious Llanddewi Rhydderch history Original article lasting 3 months	2½ months	July 2, 2007	September 15, 2007	Mirror
Another David Rockefeller, Jr. Readded 3rd time by "Davidjrrockefeller"	2½ months	December 28, 2008	March 17, 2009	Mirror at Sr. Mirror at Jr.
Wayne Kerr Real rugby player's nickname was listed as "Tosser", supposedly in reference to his throwing ability, but likely in a reference to masturbation (see wanker)	2½ months	September 20, 2011	December 12, 2011	removed
Belton Knapp"The origin of Belton Knapp is lost in mystery" – small wonder, as this hamlet near Cheltenham was a fiction	2½ months	May 7, 2009	July 19, 2009	Mirror
Teothuauci (AfD)	2½ months	June 9, 2005	August 18, 2005	Pun on TEOTWAWKI
Gray McKenzie (AfD) Fraudulent "Global Asset Management" company.	2 months	May 29, 2010	August 7, 2010	This hoax article was created to provide credibility for a serious scam in which people lost money. Also deleted in :de. See warnings about the scam (in German): 1 (which refers to the WP article) 2 An allied scam article, Hill Philipp & Associates Corp., was deleted within hours.
Empire of Luxembourg (AfD) Fictitious Medieval "empire" that existed for less than one year.	2 months	April 25, 2014	June 30, 2014
Jonathan L. Langer (AfD)	2 months	October 19, 2010	December 26, 2010
Office for Entrepreneurs' Relief (AfD) Fictitious British government department	2 months	February 23, 2009	May 2, 2009
Claim in Legality of cannabis by country (now only Legality of cannabis) that cannabis was fully legal in Bangladesh. It may have been in good faith, but the source provided did not explicitly claim legality.	2 months	November 29, 2015	January 31, 2016	added description and source added removed
Gadget Boy (2013 TV series) Purported 2013 revival of a 1990s Inspector Gadget spinoff	2 months	October 17, 2012	December 15, 2012	References to the series on other Inspector Gadget-related articles also went untouched for 2 months. And another attempted revival occurs here.
Phantom Agents (animated series) (AFD) Another purported revival, this time of an obscure 1960s Japanese live-action show	2 months	October 18, 2012	December 17, 2012	And tries to re-appear here
Battle of Exakameron (AfD)	2 months	February 14, 2010	April 11, 2010	Supposed battle in East Africa
Tom Prescillo Fictitious Scottish actor, with references and picture of other people.	1½ months	December 21, 2013	February 19, 2014
"Nosh-u-want" as one of multiple synonyms for "potluck", inserted by anon-IP 18 Feb 2012 [9], flagged as suspect on talk page 28 March 2012. A Way with Words unmasked this as a hoax on public radio 12 Jan 2013, claiming to have removed the vandalism.	1½ months	February 18, 2012	March 28, 2012	Dish-to-Pass Supper, A Way with Words, Jan 2013
Nicktoons: Pacmarangs (PROD) Jetix Le Shorts (PROD) Nicktoons: Dark Snap (PROD) The Puppet and the Hare (PROD)	1½ months	March 7, 2008	April 28, 2008
Mama Mo Yeah Nonexistent short story, supposedly written by Guy de Maupassant.	1½ months	December 7, 2012	February 2, 2013
Claim that Margaret Thatcher is fictitious Even while ostensibly labeled as a hoax	1½ months	May 8, 2008	June 26, 2008	Mirror
Wakstbaak Saakkinkrak (G3)	1½ months	August 29, 2008	October 15, 2008	Pun on waxed back, sack, and crack
Senate Document No. 43 (AfD)	1½ months	May 15, 2006	June 30, 2006
Hannibal Fogg Creation of an article with faked references, as well as methodical insertion of Hannibal Fogg name in other Wikipedia articles by BarnardKnox (talk · contribs) (there is a fake Hannibal Fogg Society online, registered to Jason Webster and Tahir Shah according to Whois)	1½ months	August 27, 2009	October 12, 2009	Discussion on Durova's talk page Article on mirrorsites, archive Hannibal Fogg Watch (case documentation and background)
Claim that William A. Breyer, founder of Breyers ice cream, was the grandfather of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.	1 month	February 2, 2010	March 7, 2010	Mirror
Edward Owens (hoax) A hoax article written by university students as a class project, revealed as a hoax a month later and retained on Wikipedia after two deletion debates with no consensus at to whether is was a notable hoax. A third originally resulted in deletion before being overturned	1 month	November 18, 2008	December 18, 2008	Revived as an article on the hoax itself at Edward Owens hoax
Madonna: Like an Icon Reference to fake article:  • Jansen, Christina (2008-01-05). "Meeting the Woman behind She-Bop". People. 581 (50). Time Inc.: 21–22. ISSN 0093-7673. Christina Jansen is a photographer, not a writer. There is no such article title, and the volume and issue are not in keeping with the magazine's normal series. Author was blocked for fabricating sources.	1 month	January 12, 2012	February 15, 2012	The hoax version. Discussion of citation problems.
Fraser (surname) The ancient Scottish clan name of Fraser was listed for five weeks as being of Ashkenazi Jewish origin and most commonly found in Israel and Eastern Europe.	1 month	January 22, 2019	February 25, 2019
Claim that "chudweed" was a common name for Bidens hyperborea. This hoax caused a small edit war leading to the page becoming protected for one week.	9 hours, 9 minutes	June 13, 2024	June 13, 2024
Claim that a member of Bilk (band) left after being implicated in a Jamaican corned beef theft	1 month	April 1, 2024	April 30, 2024	added, removed after edit warring Featured on Depths of Wikipedia before being retracted