Spaghetti Farmers

Spaghetti Farmers.  No way!  Most April Fool’s Day pranks are just that; but some people actually believed they could become spaghetti farmers!  April Fool’s jokes are often believed to be real, but this one seems unexplainable as to how anyone could actually be fooled – but they were!

April 1, 1957.  BBC’s fact-based news program, Panorama, featured a story, narrated by renowned broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, about the annual spaghetti harvest in Switzerland. 

Documentary style footage showed Spaghetti Farmers (women) carefully plucking pasta strands from the branches of spaghetti bushes, which had produced a record crop thanks to mild weather and the eradication of weevils.  Audience response to the spoof was mixed.  While some sour viewers criticized the network for pulling the prank during an otherwise serious broadcast, many more flooded the BBC phone lines with inquiries about growing their own spaghetti!  Is it possible that real humans believed that spaghetti might actually be harvested from a bush?  Yes, they wanted to become Swiss Spaghetti Farmers!  Follow the link to get more details.

hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_swiss_spaghetti_harvest

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