Hoaxed!

The work in hand is not a brief for the existence of specific cryptids. Rather, it surveys the failure of selected authors-or the media in general-to question stories that are dubious at best, or plainly fraudulent at worst. Some may be classified as honest efforts to resolve enduring mysteries; others are shameless frauds: hoaxed hoaxes, if you will. Some critics refer to the self-styled "skeptics" and "critical thinkers" promoting such transparent fables as skofftics. Hoaxed! consists of six topical chapters. Chapter 1 examines the media's treatment of a possible giant cephalopod beached near St. Augustine, Florida, in 1896. Chapter 2 considers efforts to debunk an alleged photograph of "Champ"-a supposed cryptid inhabitant of Lake Champlain-reportedly taken in 1977. Chapter 3 reviews claims that a local prankster faked large three-toed footprints found along Florida's Gulf Coast in 1948. Chapter 4 dissects assertions made by relatives of confessed Sasquatch hoaxer Raymond Wallace that he "invented" Bigfoot and that the cryptid "died" with him in 2002. Chapter 5 charts years of hoax claims leveled at a possible film of Bigfoot taken by Roger Patterson in California, in 1967. Chapter 6 probes assertions that the famous "surgeon's photo" of the Loch Ness Monster was faked in 1934. You are the jury. When the evidence is laid before you, let the chips fall where they may.