140 Year Old Hot Dog Hoax

It appeared on the Coney Island boardwalk, along with a sign declaring it as a 140 Year Old Hot Dog. According to the story, it was discovered, encased in ice, in the basement of the famous Feltman’s Kitchen. There was even an original sales receipt discovered with the frozen delicacy. That restaurant, by the way, was formerly owned by the inventor of the Coney Island hot dog, so if the world’s first dog was to be discovered anywhere, why not there?

Today, a variety of local and national media, including CNN, picked up the story and ran with it. It’s appeared in newspapers and websites, and the headline has gone viral on Twitter.

But, just like the freaks who once lured in gullible tourists on the Coney Island boardwalk, this story turned out to be less than true. The whole thing turned out to be a hoax, in the grand tradition of carnival buskering.

In reality, a group called the History Project boiled up the 140 year old hot dog hoax as a way of drawing attention to an exhibition of real historic artifacts recently discovered in Feltman’s Kitchen. And it certainly seems to have worked, as the story continues to circulate around the net.