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Founded in 1979, the Weekly World News was a black-and-white tabloid newspaper that published mostly fictional “news” stories until 2007. It was launched by publisher Generoso Pope Jr and edited by Eddie Clontz, a 10th grade dropout and former copy editor of small newspapers. WWN was known for its outlandish cover stories that frequently bordered on the ludicrous. Its style drew inspiration from the National Enquirer.
Many of WWN’s articles were political satire, taking aim at current and past presidents and other members of the US government. For example, one issue alleged that the founding fathers were actually women, and that Abraham Lincoln was insane and had an affair with Janet Reno. It also claimed that George W. Bush was a closet homosexual and that Yoda had once visited the White House to give him advice on foreign policy. It was also rumored that mermen and mermaids existed, and one article described a merman named P’Lod as being at least half human and able to communicate with humans using click languages similar to those used by some African people and hand movements.
Other WWN stories focused on alien abductions, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and prophecies of an impending depression or apocalypse. The paper also ran profiles of characters who became stock fixtures in its stories, such as Bat Boy, a half-bat, half-boy creature discovered in West Virginia caverns, and P’Lod, an extraterrestrial who got involved in Earth politics and had an ongoing relationship with Condoleezza Rice.