I'll do it.
1. War of the Worlds
Orson Welles' famous 1938 radio broadcast of H.G. Well's
War of the Worlds set off mass hysteria in America among those who hadn't heard of the book, and thought the alien attack was really happening.
2. KFC Mutant Chicken
I'm pretty sure this story started among several conspiracy theorists who believed that KFC was breeding genetically modified chicken in their efforts to yield continually excellent stock, and more meat for the selling.
3. Lewis Carroll is Jack the Ripper
Author Richard Wallace suggested in his book
Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend that Lewis Carroll, author of the children's books
Alice in Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass, was actually the famed London murderer based on anagrams supposedly found in Carroll's books that appear to be confessions to the slayings. Subsequent authors have since demonstrated how Wallace's own writings can be rearranged to look like a confession to the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.
4. Taco Liberty Bell
When a fast food giant claims they purchased a national landmark to stymie the country's debt, it's so alarmingly within reach that we can hardly suspect a joke. I think this gag was a stroke of genius, partly because Taco Bell knew that such a corporate branding of history would really rustle the feathers of the Constructionist elite.
5. Obi-Wan Kenobi's rumpled clothes
Notable useless crap producer Sideshow Collectibles always has an April Fools Day gag product to unveil, but its 2005 "Obi-One With the Force" collectible of Ben Kenobi's post-mortem rumpled clothing pile was absolutely hysterical. So hysterical, in fact, that I'd damn well purchase one myself.
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