Abstract:
The Last American Pirate was a scholarly hoax perpetrated by students in History 389 at George Mason University in the Fall 2008 semester as part of T. Mills Kelly's course on "Lying About the Past". During this hoax, a (nonexistent) student named Jane explored a (fake) local legend about a house where the (also nonexistent) "Last American Pirate" lived. The purpose of the hoax was to encourage people to think about how easily information takes on a life of its own online, ethics in the historical profession, and the role of digital media in popular culture. URL: lastamericanpirate.net
