The biggest creator of fake news in Wyoming has decided to sell what he calls “my baby,” Casper Planet, the satirical Facebook page that has sparked reactions from hysterical to hopping mad all over the world.
“It’s been fun, but when it’s only you doing something like this for 10 years, it almost loses the quality it deserves,” said Justin Hathaway, an oil-field worker for the past 15 years.
Hathaway has 106,000 followers on Facebook, nearly double the size of Casper.
It's become so popular — and convincing — that the fact-checking site "Snopes" has an entire section built to debunk his myths.
For A Decade
Hathaway has been showcasing his satire on his Facebook page for a decade. For example, check out his Wednesday post, “New Hydrothermal Pool in Yellowstone Is Now Oozing Magma.”
With tongue firmly in cheek, he writes that a hydrothermal pool that exploded last week has started releasing lava as the ground around the area sinks 6 inches a day.
“This is a new show put on by the super volcano that the world has never witnessed before, this new pool, the bus full of tourists that sunk into a hidden super-heated thermal geyser is all new activity,” the story continued. “Ivanka Stonkfenger of the geothermal science department of Yellowstone said, ‘Let’s not worry about it, what you should worry about is how addicting vanilla soft-service ice cream is'.”
The post includes a “photo” of lava flowing out of the pool. As with most of Casper Planet posts, some commenters play along as if the story is real.
Roots Under Devils Tower
Others actually buy the nonsense Hathaway peddles. Take one of his most well-known spoofs that went viral, about how the “Wyoming State Parks Department,” which doesn’t exist, used photographic seismic readings, also not real, to discover a petrified root system, 4 miles wide and 7 miles deep, under Devils Tower.
“I had a guy in Italy yelling at me over Messenger,” Hathaway recalled. “He wanted to know more information about the story. He was dead set that the story was serious, and I kept telling him that it’s not a real story.”
The writer sent the man pictures of the graphic of corn roots he used, changing centimeters to miles, “but he didn’t believe it and was really upset. The flat-earthers attacked me, too.”
“Obviously you can’t make everybody happy,” Hathaway said. “I was trying to, but it just doesn’t work. I kept doing my own thing and didn't worry about it.”
Another post that blew up the Internet was Hathaway’s 2024 story about a semitruck that spilled hundreds of king cobras on Interstate 25.
Normally, he lets the silliness speak for itself and doesn’t post anything to indicate it’s all a gag. He doesn’t have to: on the top of the Casper Planet Facebook page is a disclaimer that reads, “Delivering the Snews that doesn’t matter directly to your Snews feed. Did we say this is satire? Well it is, names/locations are made up.”
But after the Wyoming Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation had to distribute press releases telling drivers it was safe to travel on I-25, Hathaway released his own message to let people know no snakes were actually slithering down the highway.
He said the concept, which took him about 20 minutes to outline and write, was a big hit in India.
“A lot of online publications there were just going with the wave, exploring and explaining and just having a good laugh,” Hathaway said. “It was nice.”
Devils Tower to Offer First-Ever Airbnb Cabin on Summit “Totally Safe, We Swear” (Courtesy: Casper Planet) 
Man Rakes in $100K With Fake Yellowstone Toll Booth Before Anyone Noticed (Courtesy: Casper Planet) 
Two Rhinoceros On Loose In Town After Accident On I25 (Courtesy: Casper Planet) 
Record 162-pound catfish caught in North Platte near Glenrock (Courtesy: Casper Planet) 
Confirmed Game And Fish Sighting Of Unidentified Bipedal Animal Outside Jackson Hole (Courtesy: Casper Planet) 
No matter how ridiculous, people believe the Casper Planet, like when it reported Laramie Peak had erupted — sort of. It was reported as emiting a kind of "geological fart." (Courtesy Photo) 
Casper Resident Sues Himself After Masturbating Against His Will And Wins (Courtesy: Casper Planet)
Monetizing Satire
The satirist told Cowboy State Daily last July he wasn’t profiting from the business.
“There’s zero money in it,” Hathaway said. “Google AdSense does not like satire, so they won’t put ads on the website, and Facebook won’t let me monetize anything. It’s mostly a free gig.”
How does an owner of something with no intrinsic monetary value sell it? Well, Hathaway went looking for potential buyers, and he found several mega-sites that flourish financially. That includes one in Minnesota with nearly 2 million followers.
“There’s a couple of them that are kind of in the same wheelhouse, and they’re able to monetize,” he said. “I don’t know how they did it.”
Hathaway said his ideal buyer would be someone who’s lived in Wyoming for at least five years.
“I want to make sure it’s a good fit," he said. "I don’t want to pass it over and see it go downhill.”
So, what will the current Casper Planet owner do once he’s done supplying his audience with fake news?
Hathaway said he plans to help friends start an oil and gas company in Wyoming that’s unique to the industry.
“Out in the oil and gas field, I’d say in the last 10 years, employees haven’t been getting paid enough,” he said. “I get it. Businesses want to make as much as they can. But my friends want to start a company that takes as little as possible from the employees. In fact, they want to be paid less than their employees.”
Wait, a company that pays them better than the bosses? In a phone interview, it was difficult to tell if Hathaway was smiling over finding someone gullible enough to swallow another whopper.
But he sounded serious, and Hathaway and his buddies have industry experience. He said they want to “cut out all the middle stuff, streamlining it.”
“With the amount of technology we have today,” Hathaway added, “there’s no reason two or three people can’t run a decent-sized company.”
Kerry Drake can be reached at Kerry@CowboyStateDaily.com
