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In June 1752, Franklin proposed to place an electrical conductor as close to the clouds as possible to draw electricity from the same source where lightning seems to originate. Did Franklin have a reputation as a jokester? You bet he did, at least in the parts of his life outside of science! (3,4) If not fraud, this leaves Franklin's hoax, if one has been committed, as a practical joke. My dictionary defines a hoax as "An act intended to deceive or trick, either as a practical joke or a serious fraud." In his review of Tucker's book, Jessie Thorpe (2) claims that, if you follow Tucker's reasoning, it is difficult to conclude that Franklin did not perpetrate fraud.

In his book Bolt of Fate: Benjamin Franklin and His Electric Kite Hoax (1), Tom Tucker believes that Franklin only intimated that he did the kite experiment as a hoax to get even with a certain member of the Royal Society of London who not only ignored some of his letters, but ridiculed some of his ideas at meetings of the Society, and plagiarized others. Whoa Nelly! Heresy! Didn't Franklin state in writing that he flew an electric kite? Nor, according to Tom Tucker (1), did he ever construct or fly such a kite. My concerns were for naught because, for one thing, he did not draw a lightning bolt down his kite string. I doubt that I ever knew why he did it, but I thought even then that he must have been crazy to do such a dangerous stunt. AS A YOUTH, I LEARNED THAT BENJAMIN Franklin (1706-1790) flew a kite in a thunderstorm and drew lightning from the sky.