What year was the pet rock released?
Hempdiddy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Someone once convinced millions of Americans to buy a rock in a box. Not a magic rock. Not a rare rock. Just a regular rock, nestled in wood shavings, with a straight-faced instruction manual for "training" it. The joke worked precisely because it wasn't trying to be anything else. But when did this gloriously stupid idea hit stores?
