Congratulations if you are among those dedicated readers who have first read through "A Neglected Anniversary" and followed directions to this humble column for further "edification."
There is only one week each year in which a "respectable" newspaper might publish such an elaborate hoax as H.L. Mencken's "A Neglected Anniversary" within its pages. When the article first appeared in 1917 its author said he had "thrown it off as a relief from boredom...I must confess that when it was done, I fancied it no little. It was artfully devised, and it contained some buffooneries of considerable juiciness. I had confidence that my customers would like it."
Alas, they liked it all too well. That's to say it was swallowed lock, stock and barrel, and clippings were sent to friends who spread it to other papers. Over the years it has appeared in magazine and weeklies, making it into the scientific press and even into some reference books. It may be the most successful newspaper hoax ever pulled, one to rival Orsen Wells' radio drama of the late 1930's, "War of the Worlds," which sent people in New Jersey fleeing into the countryside to escape the invading "aliens."
It is difficult to draw lessons from such "buffooneries," but it is surely a tribute to our willingness to believe almost anything, if it seems plausible, includes the names of real people and places, and tweaks our interest. Only on reflection do we realize that if it were true, we should have seen it related on the History Channel several times by now.
I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have had in publishing it here, and we promise not to do anything like it again, at least not until this time next year, when it will again be April Fools open season on friends and readers everywhere.
Rest assured this is a guileless prank, and that on all other occasions we invariably tell the truth, and we never lie, and even seldom tell a "stretcher" of the truth, unless it is clearly stated somewhere that we are pulling your leg. Unlike legal documents, there should never be something hidden in the "fine print" in our pages, and we sincerely thank you for reading our newspaper!
- the editor
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