On 1 April 1976, Patrick Moore announced that a ‘unique astronomical event’ was going to occur at 9.47 am. As Pluto passed behind Jupiter a ‘gravitational alignment’ would reduce the Earth’s gravity for a few moments. Anyone who jumped into the air at 9.47 would experience a strange floating sensation.
Hundreds of people did experience the sensation, or at least thought they did. The BBC was flooded with calls from people claiming to have floated. One woman said that she and 11 friends had been wafted from their chairs and orbited around the woman.
As you may have guessed from the date at the beginning this was a wonderful April Fool trick.
What it does demonstrate however is the power of suggestion and expectation and also the influential power of people in authority.
Here are some more fun april fools jokes (some of which caught me out):
ShoeMoney station shuts down
Matt Cutts gets hacked
Mozilla Foundation Sues Microsoft Over Tabbed Browsing