[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I had no idea:

https://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/remembering_porky_bickar

Recently I was lucky enough to go on a cruise of Alaska's Inside Passage, visiting towns such as Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Sitka. I'd never been on a cruise before, and it was a great experience. But, being a hoax-history enthusiast, Sitka was the location that, before the trip, I was most looking forward to seeing. After all, it was the site of one of the greatest April Fool's Day pranks of all time, the (fake) eruption of Mt. Edgecumbe.

Back in 1974, a local prankster, Porky Bickar, had air-dropped tires into the crater of Mt. Edgecumbe, lit them on fire, and made it seem as if the dormant volcano was rumbling back to life. So at last, I anticipated, I would get to see Mt. Edgecumbe and be able to imagine what it must have looked like to Sitka residents on that April 1st as they saw smoke rising from its top.