Hoaxer Rory Emerald

A stay-at-home dad and Los Angeles artist with a truly eccentric sense of humor is Julian Lee Hobbs, who pulls off his serial hoaxes under the name Rory Emerald.

Hobbs' harmless pranks--more than 40 of them so far-- follow a pattern. He places a classified ad in a local newspaper somewhere in the USA indicating that he has found some unlikely object and lists his own phone number. When people call, he informs them that the ad is a prank. Some laugh; some are angry.

Hobbs' first such hoax ad, in 2005, claimed that he had found a prosthetic nose outside Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.

He has not attempted to profit financially from these bogus ads, and his motive for going to all this trouble is not clear, but he refers to himself as a "merry prankster" and a "professional hoaxer."

Hobbs, who was born in Pontiac, Michigan, has also claimed to have found Elton John's platform boots, the bottle from the TV show "I Dream of Jennie," Leonardo Da Vinci's brushes and palette, a two-headed cat, and the very first VW Beetle.

Prior to all these hoaxes, when he was 23, he hoaxed the Associated Press into reporting that he was actress Elizabeth Taylor's lover.

Hobbs is living proof of the old saying that it takes all kinds.