Avarice
INTRO
An eccentric adventurer named Harry Lasseter walked into Sydney, Australia, in 1931, cornered three promoters and told them a fantastic tale that so fired their imaginations that it never occurred to them that the man might be unbalanced, dreaming or just lying to get a job. He stated that, as a lone prospector in the barren back country 30 years before, he had discovered a chain of rocks that he was certain contained at least $5,000,000,000 worth of gold.
Believing him, the promoters organized an expedition and, led by Lasseter, set out to claim the fabulous reef. As he failed to find it after a search of many months, the leaders ordered their party to return home, having realized that the reef existed only in the man’s imagination. Although Lasseter partly admitted it, he went on alone—and died of thirst. To stop others from making the same mistake, the hoax was given considerable publicity. Yet, within the next few years, ten other expeditions not only went out to find this particular reef but got lost and their rescues cost the Australian government approximately $2,000,000.