SEATTLE -- It looks like Ivar Haglund fooled us all from the grave -- again.

When Ivar's pulled up a barnacle-encrusted old billboard from Elliott Bay, the company swore that founder Ivar Hagland put them there and in Lake Union in 1955 because in the future we'd all be driving our own personal submarines.

It made for a great story and TV commercial.

But, it's a fake.

Old man Ivar didn't really think we'd all be driving around in submarines, he didn't put billboards at the bottom of any local lakes -- it was all a big hoax."

"We were afraid the Mariners wouldn't make the playoffs, we were concerned about the Huskies not having a good season and we knew people would want good news," said Bob Donegan, Ivar's president.

But the campaign was almost scuttled before it launched. While shooting the commercial off Alki Beach, a Seattle Times photographer just happened to notice.

"We weren't ready to talk about it for three weeks and there it was in the media," Donegan said.

And when people read about it the next day and saw the billboards, many swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

"I think it's pretty creative," one person told us. "People will remember that."

But there were some clues that should have tipped you off. For one -- the billboard advertised chowder a 75 cents a cup. That would be mighty expensive in 1955.

And the billboard logos aren't original.

Ivar's has been known for zany antics, and the company hopes people take the hoax in stride.

But, for the skeptics:

"I'm sure there are people who are offended and we're sorry about that," Donegan said.

The hoax ad campaign cost Ivar's about $250,000, but they say sales of their famous clam chowder - has doubled.