Edward Owens
Encyclopedia
Edward Owens is a fictional character, part of a historical hoax
created by students at George Mason University
on December 3, 2008, as a project in a class dealing with historical hoaxes called "Lying About the Past." The story of Edward Owens, purportedly a 19th and early 20th century American oyster fisherman who became a pirate
, appeared in several online venues, including Wikipedia and "Pop Candy," a popular-culture blog written by Whitney Matheson
at USA Today
.
. The blog was purportedly created as a serious research project by a student, "Jane Browning," but the student depicted was also a fictional creation. Briefly, the blog asserted that Owens fell on hard times during the Long Depression
that began in 1873 and took up pirating in Chesapeake Bay
to survive the economic downturn. He was said to have robbed smaller commercial vessels and wealthy pleasure boaters from Maryland using a punt gun
to threaten his victims. According to his fictional last will and testament, published on the students' website, once the local economy improved in the early 1880s Owens and his crew went back to oyster fishing and ceased their criminal activities. The students conducted considerable historiographical research and added details to the story about the fictional pirates, and their supposed activities and locations, to give it verisimilitude. They also filmed videos of the fictional student conducting research into Owens's supposed residence. The videos were then posted to YouTube. The students also established a biographical Wikipedia article about Owens (stating in the blog that "Jane" had been required by her professor to establish the Wikipedia article) and made other efforts to add realistic touches to their fiction, including through postings on the internet.
On December 18, 2008, after some media outlets (including "Pop Candy", a popular-culture blog written by Whitney Matheson
at USA Today
) and academic colleagues, as well as hundreds of internet users, had been taken in by the hoax, the professor of the class decided to announce that the story was a hoax. The professor, T. Mills Kelly, had previously used Wikipedia in his classes. He stated that he intends to teach this class again. Since the hoax was revealed, several teacher blogs have discussed the hoax and whether teaching by using hoaxes is a good pedagogical technique. Criticism of the project has included the assertion that creating the phony Wikipedia entry was counterproductive because it "infected [Wikipedia] with a credibility bug" and that the positive feedback that the phony "Jane" received "have the same vacuous, cheerleader, you-against-the-world quality of comments about fanfiction or vacation snapshots or real blog posts".
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
created by students at George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
on December 3, 2008, as a project in a class dealing with historical hoaxes called "Lying About the Past." The story of Edward Owens, purportedly a 19th and early 20th century American oyster fisherman who became a pirate
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
, appeared in several online venues, including Wikipedia and "Pop Candy," a popular-culture blog written by Whitney Matheson
Whitney Matheson
Whitney Matheson in Fredericksburg, Va. is a writer and the author of Pop Candy, a popular entertainment blog which is posted on USA Todays website, and also writes entertainment and pop culture features for the newspaper....
at USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
.
Description of the hoax and aftermath
To create the hoax, the students built a website blog about the fictional Owens, who supposedly lived from 1852 to 1938 in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The blog was purportedly created as a serious research project by a student, "Jane Browning," but the student depicted was also a fictional creation. Briefly, the blog asserted that Owens fell on hard times during the Long Depression
Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, felt most heavily in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great...
that began in 1873 and took up pirating in Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
to survive the economic downturn. He was said to have robbed smaller commercial vessels and wealthy pleasure boaters from Maryland using a punt gun
Punt gun
A punt gun is a type of extremely large shotgun used in the 19th and early 20th centuries for shooting large numbers of waterfowl for commercial harvesting operations and private sport. Punt guns were usually custom-designed and so varied widely, but could have bore diameters exceeding and fire...
to threaten his victims. According to his fictional last will and testament, published on the students' website, once the local economy improved in the early 1880s Owens and his crew went back to oyster fishing and ceased their criminal activities. The students conducted considerable historiographical research and added details to the story about the fictional pirates, and their supposed activities and locations, to give it verisimilitude. They also filmed videos of the fictional student conducting research into Owens's supposed residence. The videos were then posted to YouTube. The students also established a biographical Wikipedia article about Owens (stating in the blog that "Jane" had been required by her professor to establish the Wikipedia article) and made other efforts to add realistic touches to their fiction, including through postings on the internet.
On December 18, 2008, after some media outlets (including "Pop Candy", a popular-culture blog written by Whitney Matheson
Whitney Matheson
Whitney Matheson in Fredericksburg, Va. is a writer and the author of Pop Candy, a popular entertainment blog which is posted on USA Todays website, and also writes entertainment and pop culture features for the newspaper....
at USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
) and academic colleagues, as well as hundreds of internet users, had been taken in by the hoax, the professor of the class decided to announce that the story was a hoax. The professor, T. Mills Kelly, had previously used Wikipedia in his classes. He stated that he intends to teach this class again. Since the hoax was revealed, several teacher blogs have discussed the hoax and whether teaching by using hoaxes is a good pedagogical technique. Criticism of the project has included the assertion that creating the phony Wikipedia entry was counterproductive because it "infected [Wikipedia] with a credibility bug" and that the positive feedback that the phony "Jane" received "have the same vacuous, cheerleader, you-against-the-world quality of comments about fanfiction or vacation snapshots or real blog posts".
External links
- Hoax web site created by George Mason University class
- Blog entry about the hoax by Mills Kelly, the professor teaching the course, December 18, 2008
- Reaction from the American Historical Association, December 25, 2008
- Davidson, Cathy. "Edward Owens, Pirate and Hoax: Shiver Me Timbers!", HASTAC, December 19, 2008
- Losh, Liz. "Do You Have Blackbeard in a Can?" VirtualPolitik, December 20, 2008
- "Discovery and creation and… lies!", January 3, 2009