10 best places for fools (and getting fooled)

April Fools' Day, celebrated each year on the first of the month, pays tribute to pranks, hoaxes and trickery of all kinds. In honor of this most silly holiday, we're taking a look at 10 places around the world known for their foolery.

Niagara Falls - N.Y.

Something about the 6 million cubic feet of water that plunge over the world-famous falls at Niagara each minute seems to inspire people to attempt what many would call mighty foolish feats, like tumbling over the edge in a barrel. While some have succeeded (the first person to do so and live was Annie Edson Taylor in 1901), others have paid for their foolery with their lives. As of 2012, 18 people have intentionally gone over the edge of the falls, and of those, 13 survived.

The Stoogeum - Ambler, Pa.

Three of pop culture's most beloved fools are the central focus of The Stoogeum in Ambler, Pa. Visitors to the museum (open Thursdays except public holidays) can see props, costumes and personal effects from the films, candid photos and backstage shots, movie posters and novelty items inspired by the comedic antics of Larry, Curly and Moe.

David Copperfield at the MGM Grand - Las Vegas

Plenty of Vegas visitors head home feeling foolish, and not only due to lighter wallets. Guests who attend the much-lauded David Copperfield show at the MGM Grand are sure to get fooled by one of history's greatest illusionists.

Museum of Hoaxes - The Internet

All you armchair travelers can explore the rich history of April Fool's Day tricks with a visit to the virtual Museum of Hoaxes. Created in 1997, the Museum of Hoaxes catalogues history's most notorious pranks, some dating back as far as the Middle Ages. The website's April Fool Archive gives a year by year account of the holiday throughout history. As for other internet hoaxes, there are far too many to mention, but we hear there's a Nigerian bank which still needs some money wired).

London Bridge - Lake Havasu, Ariz.

You can promise your friends you'll take them to see The London Bridge, and they might get excited. But if you take them to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, you'll likely bump into at least one other disappointed person who was fooled by the same offer. True to its name, the bridge was originally built in London in 1831, but was sold by the city in 1962 for $2.6 million. The buyer? One Robert P. McCulloch, a Missouri entrepreneur who brought the English architectural landmark to Lake Havasu City (which he founded), at a cost of another $7 million.

Madame Tussauds - Hollywood, Calif.

Since Marie Tussaud opened her first wax museum in London in 1835, tourists from around the globe have forked out money to be fooled by the amazingly realistic likenesses of celebrities, sports stars, politicians and other pop culture icons found within. For some guaranteed celebrity sightings in Hollywood (even if they might be less than authentic), spend a day in the Los Angeles installment of the museum.

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity

Anyone who grew up watching cartoons will remember how frequently Wile E. Coyote looked the fool after getting outsmarted by The Road Runner or falling victim to his own ineptitude (or that of his Acme products). To celebrate one of cartoon's most lovable fools, visit the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, founded in 1999 by the very artist who brought Coyote and Road Runner to life.

Ticino, Switzerland

Ticino in Southern Switzerland served as the setting for one of the biggest hoaxes ever pulled by a news agency. On April Fools' Day in 1957, BBC broadcast a 3-minute segment showing a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees and discussing how the bumper harvest was made possible by a mild winter and the near eradication of the spaghetti weevil. Some eight million people tuned in, and the news network received hundreds of calls the next day, some questioning the story and others asking for more information on how to best grow their own spaghetti trees.

Macau

This special territory of China sees more money blown on slot machines and table games than pretty much anywhere else in the world. In fact, Macau's casinos draw in five times more revenue than those of Las Vegas, its high roller tables allowing patrons to (easily) drop $500,000 in a single game. While not everyone who enters Macau feels like a fool, plenty leave that way.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Washington

Next time you go panning for precious metals, don't be fooled by fool's gold, or pyrite. The mineral collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History features several specimens of this tricky mineral that's much harder and lighter than genuine gold, but looks like the real thing. The trickery goes even further: pyrite is often found in proximity to real gold and copper.