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One early section of Snopes.com, called Inboxer Rebellion was devoted to categories of items (scams, hoaxes, petitions, charity appeals) that were primarily propagated and disseminated via e-mail. None of these items was unique to e-mail, of course, as they all flourished in the pre-Internet era in different forms: regular mail, photocopies, faxes, bulletin boards postings, etc. (Indeed, way back in the early days of Snopes.com, that section was titled 'Faxlore' because fax machines were still the primary means of transmission for most of the material we were writing about.) A prolonged power outage throughout much of eastern North America brought to mind a related item which surely would be all over the Internet were it happening today, a hoax based on events very much in the news back in 1986. In February 1986, after a four-year killing spree (during which he murdered at least fourteen women and likely killed dozens more), two jail escapes, multiple trials, two death sentences, and seven years of appeals, Ted Bundy was awaiting execution in a Florida prison. On 5 February 1986, Florida governor Bob Graham signed a death warrant setting a March 4 date for Bundy's execution by electric chair. As the country buzzed with the news that America's notorious homicidal maniac was about to receive his final punishment, a hoaxster went to work behind the scenes and reflected public sentiment through a sardonic joke. After crafting a two-page letter which looked like an official communique from the Office of the Governor at the Florida state capital in Tallahassee, the unknown prankster sent his handiwork to a variety of newspapers throughout the U.S., leading a number of newsmen to shake their heads at the apparent announcement that Governor Graham was calling upon Florida residents to reduce their usage of electricity on the date of Ted Bundy's execution in order to ensure that the convicted criminal would be executed using the maximum voltage and amperage allowed — and that a special souvenir medallion of the event would be offered for sale! The bogus letter read, in part: The execution scheduled for 4 March 1986 did not take place as planned. More delays and appeals postponed Ted Bundy's date with the electric chair for another three years, and the macabre hoax was long forgotten by the time Bundy was finally strapped into Old Sparky and electrocuted on 24 January 1989.
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