Fish, Kings, And Gotham: The Murky History Behind April Fool's Day

The first of April is a dreaded day for many journalists. Our inboxes become rammed with suspicious press releases and eyebrow-raising anecdotes (and yes, these have been published as fact by some outlets in the past).

It seems we’re not the holiday’s only haters. Slate called April Fools “universally either hated or ignored”; a YouGov poll found that about half of respondents found the day annoying.

But why did it start in the first place? 

We’re not actually sure. But there are three leading theories...