For Planet Notes, a piece from the archives.

One of Jonathan Swift’s most endearing and successful practical jokes came at the expense of a wildly popular fortune-teller.

Swift circulated a prophecy of John Partridge’s death by fever amongst Londoners and then published an account of the death. Partridge scurried around London insisting to deaf ears he was very much alive. The fortune-teller became a laughingstock and had to leave town forever.