Boards
The Great Bottle Hoax of 1749
"In 1749 hoaxers tried to gauge the gullibility of the public by seeing how many people would show up if they advertised that an impossible feat (jumping into a bottle) would be performed."
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Great_Bottle_Hoax_of_1749/
I stumbled on this after seeing the term 'Bottle Conjuror' in Moby Dick. Melville is actually using it to refer to someone being a drunk but as hoaxes go it's pretty much the shittest thing I've ever read.