Though Brown detected something rotten -- he inserted the following caveat into his story: "In the back of your mind, you have to wonder if the whole thing is just some sort of art-weasel prank, but the New Jersey outfit seems for real." Still, he never made contact with Final Curtain. Nor did he check anything about the organization other than its Web site. He copped to his mistake in his last column.

"We're embarrassed and disappointed," says Mother Jones staffer Alastair Paulin, who wrote a short item about Final Curtain. "This was a really sophisticated prank with a lot of people involved. The fact checker here actually spoke to the same artist [I interviewed]. It makes it tough, even if it smells funny."

So what's the point? Well, Skaggs calls it art. He claims to have a social message. From his press release: "To Joey Skaggs, the death-care industry is a giant corporate scam, exquisitely successful at commercializing death ... Ultimately, it's a waste of space and resources, and a burden to the natural environment at the financial and emotional expense of their clients."

Skaggs' pranks are a bit more graceful than his explanations.

To complete this story, let's incorporate some of Skaggs' words, a few quotes from the journalists who took the bait and a few other proverbs for a more suitable ending.

1. There's a sucker born every minute.

2. "The line between truth and falsehood has become blurred online." -- Village Voice freelancer Jeff Howe.

3. "We're a service industry. We're no different than any other industry." Jay Roberts, Lowe Funeral Home, Burlington, N.C.

4. Don't believe everything you read.

5. "It's hard for satire to stay ahead of what's already a bizarre culture. But that makes satire all the more important." -- Skaggs.

6. There is a difference between a prank and a scam. A scammer only wants to rip people off. A prankster wants to make them laugh.

7. Ant Farm is a registered trademark of Uncle Milton Industries, Inc., of Westlake Village, Calif.

8. "Media hoaxing has a bright, promising future. All we can hope is that the hoaxers are smarter than the media." -- Jeff Howe.

9. "No matter how lightweight the story, or how archly it was written, we were presenting it as real." -- Alastair Paulin.

10. No one can resist a good story.

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