Case file · Cryptid
Pacific Northwest tree octopus
A 1998 website by Lyle Zapato described an endangered octopus living in the rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula, complete with conservation appeals.
1998 CE · 47.70, -122.90 · status: hoax
The account
It became a standard teaching example: in a 2006 University of Connecticut study, most of the seventh-graders shown the site believed it was real, even after being told it was a hoax.