Monolith Object Found on Mars?

Amateur stargazers have discovered an intriguing object jutting out from the surface of Mars. The seemingly perfectly rectangular, upright structure, found in NASA images of the Red Planet, bears a striking resemblance to the monoliths planted on Earth and the moon by aliens in the classic sci-fi film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

The object in question was first spotted several years ago after being photographed by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a NASA space probe; every so often, it garners renewed interest on the Internet.

But is it unnatural — a beacon erected by aliens for mysterious reasons, and even more mysteriously paralleled in the imaginations of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, creators of "2001"? Or is this rock the work of nature? 

April Fool's Day: Witches, Aliens and Raging Bison Invade N.J.

In 1730, a crowd of 300 villagers gathered in Mount Holly for New Jersey’s first and only known witch trial.

Two residents, a man and a woman, were accused of casting a spell on a neighbor’s barn animals, causing sheep to "dance in an uncommon manner" and hogs to "speak and sing psalms."

The Jersey witch story went viral, 18th-century style, reprinted in newspapers throughout the colonies. The tale was captivating, cautionary and completely fabricated.

Mount Holly never held a witch trial. The article was a hoax penned anonymously by Benjamin Franklin, who often published journalistic pranks in the Gazette.

"Franklin was using a hoax in order to expose credulity and superstition and false belief," says Alex Boese, curator of the online Museum of Hoaxes. "What I find so interesting about hoaxes is they reveal so much about different eras and people’s fears, frustrations and preoccupations."

With his Mount Holly spoof, Franklin pioneered the art of the Jersey hoax. Centuries of hucksters, showmen and satirists have followed his lead, using the Garden State as the backdrop for epic practical jokes.