Man Beef

About

Man Beef^[1] was a hoax website run by Chris Ellerby and Joseph Mallett under the pseudonym Joseph Christopherson that purported to sell human meat as well as provide recipes on how to prepare it. Human meat was not actually available to purchase on the website, in order to keep the hoax up the owners of the site explained that this was because they “prefered to deal with our customers on a more personal basis”.

History

The domain ManBeef.com was registered on July 25, 2001^[2] and at it’s peak received around 500,000 hits daily. It became so popular that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched an investigation into weather or not it actually sold human meat. The investigation was dropped when they found out it didn’t.^[3] on July 14, 2001, the site’s founders came forward and exposed the website as a hoax.^[4]

Features

While it was online, ManBeef.com featured an “About” section that claimed “ManBeef International Meats” was founded on April 20th 1982, expanded to over 15 countries and has 3 main locations in the United states^[5]. The sites “Products” section contained links to other sections such as “Human Meat Products”^[6] which claimed to offer various cuts such as boneless rump roast and brisket as well as a section for specialty items such as sausage and jerky^[7]. The Recipes section contained fictional recipes such as chili, meatballs, stews, soups,manburgers, goulash, and ribs^[8]. The FAQs (frequently asked questions) section contained various answers to questions about storage, shipping, and preparation^[9]. The “Contact” page contained a form to presumably contact the owners, as well as a list of email addresses for submitting questions and recipes^[10]. The “Policies” page contains information such as a privacy policy and a terms of service agreement^[11]. The websites “Merchandise” section contained the only items sold through the website, namely t-shirts, sweaters, mugs, and mousepads^[12].