Fake News: Ken Ham NOT Arrested For Vandalizing Grand Canyon Signs

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Ken Ham NOT Arrested For Vandalizing Grand Canyon Signs

Was the famous creationist spokesman Ken Ham recently arrested on suspicion of vandalism after adding notices to signs around the Grand Canyon to indicate it was just 4400 years old? Of course not: even though it would be funny if it was true, it is actually false. The entire thing was made up by a religiously themed satire website.

The story originated on The Babylon Bee with an article published on March 23, 2018 titled "Ken Ham Arrested For Vandalizing Grand Canyon Signs To Read 'JUST 4400 YEARS OLD'" (archived here) which opened:

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ--It looks like Answers in Genesis president Ken Ham may have gotten himself into some legal trouble, as he was arrested early Friday under suspicion of vandalizing signs throughout the park to reflect a young-earth creationist viewpoint, authorities confirmed.

Ham was reportedly caught red-handed after posting pictures of his handiwork to his social media accounts.

Dozens of informational signs throughout the park tell visitors that the Colorado River carved the canyon over the past six million years--but Ham allegedly painted over these signs and wrote "CANYON JUST 4400 YEARS OLD--WAKE UP!" national park rangers said at a press conference.

The summary users on social media got to see looked quite convincing, possibly explaining why some people believed and shared the "news".

Ken Ham Arrested For Vandalizing Grand Canyon Signs To Read 'JUST 4400 YEARS OLD'

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ--It looks like Answers in Genesis president Ken Ham may have gotten himself into some legal trouble, as he was arrested early Friday under suspicion of vandalizing signs throughout the park to reflect a young-earth creationist viewpoint, authorities confirmed. Ham was reportedly caught red-handed after posting pictures of his handiwork to ...

But "The Babylon Bee" comes with following dislaimer on every page:

The Babylon Bee is Your Trusted Source For Christian News Satire.

Some of their greatest past hits include:

With a track record like that it is clear that you shouldn't take anything posted on the site seriously and you definitely shouldn't confuse it with real news.

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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