Hippo Eats Dwarf is the title of a

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

news article which claims that a dwarf was accidentally eaten by a hippopotamus. The urban legend has been circulating via the internet since the mid-1990s. Many print newspapers have been fooled into publishing the story as fact.

Story

The story goes that a freak accident occurred at a circus during an act involving a dwarf bouncing on a trampoline. The dwarf jumped sideways off the trampoline just at the moment a hippopotamus began to yawn. The dwarf landed in the hippo's yawning mouth and was abruptly, and accidentally, swallowed whole. The audience applauded until they realised this was not part of the show and the true horror set in. Euan Ferguson writing in '' The Observer'' in 2003 said the story is a marvelous metaphor for the reality that "Life is not safe. You can't plan for disaster. The hippo can get you at any time."

History

The hoax first appeared in 1988; it was reported in the ''National Lampoon'' magazine, allegedly sourced from the ''Las Vegas Sun''. ''National Lampoon'' claim the dwarf was consumed in front of an audience of 7,000. According to '' Snopes'', the hoax news story began circulating on the internet with a Usenet post in 1994. According to Alex Boese, the story cannot be found in back issues of the ''Sun'', but he also incorrectly claims that it cannot be found in ''National Lampoon''.Alex Boese, ''Hippo Eats Dwarf!'', p. 1, Pan Macmillan, 2010 . The original story was set in an Austrian circus, the hippo was named Hilda, and the dwarf was named Franz Dasch. In 1999, a new version of the story appeared in the ''Pattaya Mail'' in Thailand. The setting had changed to northern Thailand and the dwarf was called Od. The ''Pattaya Mail'' story was republished by several Australian papers including the ''Daily Telegraph'', the ''Advertiser'', and the ''Sunday Mail'' The story reached the UK in the '' Manchester Evening News''.

In popular culture

In comedy

Karl Pilkington Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, comedian, actor, voice-artist, producer and author. After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their XFM radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of '' ...

, of '' The Ricky Gervais Show'', once told the story in a segment called "Educating Ricky" in 2002 in which Karl believed the story to be true. This led to both

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...

and Stephen Merchant laughing hysterically. Comedian Lewis Black references it in a joke during a stand-up appearance. Comedy site Funny or Die published a comedic version of the story in 2009.

Book

A book entitled ''Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other B.S.'', written by Alex Boese, takes its name from the popular hoax. It was published in 2006.

Other

The website

Museum of Hoaxes The Museum of Hoaxes is a website created by Alex Boese in 1997 in San Diego, California as a resource for reporting and discussing hoaxes and urban legends An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urb ...

includes an entry on the hoax.

References

{{reflist Journalistic hoaxes Urban legends Death hoaxes