People were a little more gullible back in 1958, and the Roswell incident had everybody buzzing about aliens, so we'll cut them a little slack for believing this guy was actually a being from another world.
Eye witnesses reported seeing a glowing, two foot tall alien (or ten feet tall, depending on who you asked) that could run faster than any human, but really they were just seeing Jerry Sprague in his crappy costume.
Jerry and his buddies decided to capitalize on the alien sighting trend by creating a “little blue man” costume sure to be the talk of the town, with blue glow-in-the-dark paint and a football helmet equipped with flashing lights.
The "Little Blue Man Hoax" probably wouldn't be so well received nowadays, but the cops who arrested Jerry Sprague and his buddies back in '58 found the whole thing funny and let them off with a warning.
-Via Boing Boing