John Lerchey's Trogan Horse Warning Page

Trojan Horse Warning!

I got a copy of this via electronic mail. I have no idea of who originally authored it, but would like to thank them.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

IF YOU RECEIVE A GIFT IN THE SHAPE OF A LARGE WOODEN HORSE DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT!!! IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND WILL OVERWRITE YOUR CITY!

This "gift" is disguised as a large, wooden horse about two stories tall. It tends to show up outside of the city gates and appears to be abandoned. DO NOT let it pass through the gates! It contains hardware that is incompatible with Trojan progamming, including a crowd of heavily armed Greek warriors who will destroy your army, sack your city, and kill all of your women and children. If you have already received such a gift DO NOT OPEN IT! Take it out of the city, unopened, and set fire to it immediately.

FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

Poseidon

Laocoon,

Sorry to break this to you, but this is one of the oldest hoaxes there is. I've seen variants of this warning come through on other listservs, one involving some kind of fruit that was supposed to kill the people who ate it and one having to do with something called the "Midas Touch".

Here are few tipoffs for this hoax:

1. This "Forward this message to everyone you know" crap. If it were really meant as a warning about the Greek army, why tell anyone post it to the Phonecians, Summerians and Cretans?
2. The use of exclamation points. Plus, all of those upper-cased words. Always a giveaway.
3. It's signed from "Poseidon". Granted he's had his problems with Odysseus, but he's still one theirs, isn't he? Besides, the lack of a real header with a detailed address makes me suspicious.
4. Technically speaking, there is no way for a horse to overwrite your city. It's just an animal, even if it's a big wooden one.

Bye now!

Hector