Hoaxes & E-mail that won't Die

Michael Novenche
.SignalCnt(11)
Status(UNKNOWN) ContactDate( 6/28/00)

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Mon 5/28/01 4:26 PM - A Michael Novenche Update Site is maintained to inform interested parties in the current status ofthe prayer request as well as invite email: http://www.geocities.com/michaelnovenche/
Source: jsmith@exis.net

November 21, 2000 Received notice from almodovarl@6asg.army.mil that another site has information concerning this prayer request. The information can be viewed at Urban Legends and Folklore, an About Site: (See additional notes) http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/library/blnovenche.htm

I am not able to verify the source of the comments and the claim of validity for this prayer request. On the surface, it seems to lend legitimacy to the prayer request. A central clearing house for "global" prayer chain letters is needed, but until such time as that is available, I urge you to use personal discretion when passing this information around. WebServant 11/21/00
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EARLIER NOTE: The following email should not be considered a hoax even though it may contain Hoax "Signals". Know that honest people with good intentions often use the same terminolgy of malicious emailers. The combination of more than one or two signals however, should alert you as to the possibility that the message is not genuine.

(Hoax Signals are underlined and footnoted for reference. )

THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS A LAB SAMPLE OF A MULTI-FORWARDED E-MAIL MESSAGE - !!! DO NOT COPY OR FORWARD IT. IF YOU HAVE PROOF THAT IT IS REAL OR A HOAX, PLEASE LET US KNOW. (webservant@prayertower.net)

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Our church family has just recently gone through this situation. Please say a prayer for --this family. Hopefully they will not have to go through what we did.

EMERGENCY PRAYER REQUEST(1)

Prayers needed for Michael Novenche, and his parents. I don't have a large forwarding list (2) but I'm hoping that some of you do . Everyone with a large mailing list (2), please forward (3) what I am writing to you now to ask for your help.

I do not really know how to start a prayer chain, (4) but we need a miracle (5). Michael Novenche is a 2-year-old beautiful little boy (6) in Clifton Park, New York, and the grandson of a very dear friend of mine. A few months ago, he started throwing up and telling Mommy he had a "boo boo in my head." He was brought to the doctors and tests were run on him, later that week he started losing feeling in the left side of his poor little body. They found a large tumor in his brain. He was brought to a hospital in Boston where doctors told his family the tumor was too big and it was too risky to operate on it.

His aunts and uncle would not give up, they called Beth Israel, then E-mailed Dr. Epstein for him to look at Michael's films. Michael's uncle then drove the films to New York City himself for Dr. Epstein to look at. Dr. Epstein operated but couldn't remove the entire tumor and now he has to go through chemo to keep the tumor from growing and hitting the brain stem. We need all the prayers we can get for the chemo to kill the tumor entirely. He started chemotherapy on March 28, 2000, and we are hoping desperately that it works.

We need all the prayers we can get. Please stop and say one prayer for this beautiful baby boy Michael when you think about him today. I am asking that each and every one of you please forward this on to everyone that you know. (3) Just think if this was your little child going through this right now. (7) We all know that God can heal this little angel(6)

Thank you from family and friends of Michael Novenche, but most of all Michael.

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  1. The word, "EMERGENCY", appears in the Subject/Body of the message
  2. The theme of the request is "Do you have a large mailing list"? The request seems more concerned about forwarding to those with large list than applying scripture, mentioning God's will or the faith of those around the object of the prayer.
  3. The request, "Please Forward this to as many as you can" is present.
  4. The message "Start a prayer chain" is more dominant than spray for this request.
  5. The phrase "needs a miracle" is used three (3) times
  6. "Little" child, "angel" are used several four (4) times
  7. There is an obvious attempt to generate an emotional response.

Additional note: Not only does this message have multiple signals, but they appear in the same order of progression as some of the better known hoaxes.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Let's take note of just a couple of elements that distinguish this request from so many others that are similar to it.

  • It does not tell us simply to forward it to "everybody we know." It says, "I am asking you to send this letter, or copies of it, to everybody you can think of that will pray for Michael." This is significant. This does not play into the numerous and popular email forwarding hoax patterns current that rely upon a fictitious email-tracking computer program.
  • Also, it is non-threatening to readers who don't comply and offers no specific rewards to those who do. In short, this is a passive email scatter-shoot message.

We would only wish that more dates and specific, verifiable pieces of information had been included in it, to more readily differentiate it from so many scams and hoaxes that it resembles.

Michael Novenche's grandfather, John, expresses his and the family's profound appreciation to all who have moved inward for a moment to offer a prayer for this beleaguered little boy.

Peter Kohler
Wwriter and researcher based in Portland, Oregon