Article Pranks
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Arm the Homeless
Type: College Prank. Summary: A phony organization urged people to help provide the homeless with guns and ammunition. HOAX HAIKUThe charity says, “Homeless are Americans, too, so give them guns!” (by Krista)Submit a haiku In the first week of December, 1993, a press release was distributed to the Columbus, Ohio…
Berners Street Hoax
Theodore Hook (1788-1841)In 1810 London was the largest, wealthiest city in the world, linked by trade with every continent, and fed by the manufacturing might of northern British cities such as Liverpool and Manchester. Almost anything could be obtained in its shops, and on November 10 all of this mercantile…
Caltech Sweepstakes Caper
Type: College Prank. Summary: In 1975 Caltech students flooded a McDonald’s sweepstakes with millions of entries. Caltech is known for producing world-class scientists and engineers. But a few of its students have also demonstrated a flair for the law, as a highly controversial 1975 prank that turned on the legalistic…
Donside Lying Contest
Type: College prank. Summary: Two students turned a lying contest on its head by lying too convincingly. Many college pranks are the result of careful planning, but occasionally they come about simply when a student recognizes an opportunity and goes for it. Such was the case with the lying contest…
Dreadnought Hoax
Type: Prank. Summary: A group of upper-class youths fooled the British navy into believing they were a visiting group of Abyssinian dignitaries. “The Emperor of Abyssinia” and his suiteFrom left to right: Virginia Stephen (Virginia Woolf), Duncan Grant, Horace Cole, Anthony Buxton (seated), Adrian Stephen, Guy Ridley. On February 7,…
Filipino Monkey
Type: Rogue radio operator. Summary: For decades a mysterious prankster has interrupted ship-to-ship radio communications with obscenities and threats. The Filipino Monkey is the name of an infamous rogue radio operator who interjects lewd jokes, threats, obscenities, and animal noises into ship-to-ship radio communications conducted on VHF marine channel 16…
Great Rose Bowl Hoax
Type: College Prank. Summary: Caltech students succeeded in altering the University of Washington’s halftime flip-card routine during the 1961 Rose Bowl in order to read “CALTECH”.Table of Contents The mechanics of the prank The Plan Unfolds Acclaim and Criticism Not the first… or the last References The Rose Bowl, January…
Hugh Troy
Hugh Troy posing in front of one of his murals. New York City, Rockefeller Center, 1940. By trade Hugh Troy (1906-1964) was an illustrator. By nature he was a practical joker. A true master of the art. Numerous different pranks and practical jokes are attributed to him. However, it’s not…
Hugo N. Frye
Type: College Prank. Summary: Republican leaders were tricked into praising the example of the “sturdy patriot” Hugo N. Frye, unaware that there was no such person. In 1930 letters were mailed to Republican leaders throughout the United States inviting them to a May 26 party at Cornell University in honor…
Lady Liberty on Lake Mendota
Type: College Prank. Summary: The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pail and Shovel Party promised that, if elected to student government, they would move the Statue of Liberty to Lake Mendota, and they made good on their promise. Lady Liberty sinks into Lake Mendota. (Photograph by Ravi Kochhar). In February 1979 an…
Lafayette Mulligan
Type: Prank. Summary: A man calling himself Lafayette Mulligan presented the Prince of Wales with the key to the City of Boston. However, the Mayor of Boston had no idea who Lafayette Mulligan was. James Curley, former Mayor of Boston. In the Fall of 1924 the Prince of Wales visited…
Lusus Naturae
Medieval naturalists had a great appreciation of hoaxes, and they spent a lot of time collecting and studying them. However, they didn’t call them hoaxes. Instead, they called them Lusus Naturae, or Jokes of Nature. The Vegetable Lamb, an example of a Lusus Naturae The term Lusus Naturae described any…
Medieval Pranks and Tricks
Athanasius Kircher, a frequent victim of pranksPeople have always enjoyed playing tricks and practical jokes on each other, and the people of the middle ages were no different. Luckily, a number of texts have preserved the efforts of medieval pranksters. The notebook of Thomas Betson, a fifteenth-century monk at Syon…
New York Sawed in Half
During the Summer of 1824, a number of butchers and tradesmen used to meet every afternoon in the New York City neighborhood of Mulberry and Spring Streets to talk about the news of the day. One afternoon this group began discussing a popular rumor they had heard about the Island…
Olympic Underwear Relay
Type: Sports Prank. Summary: At the 1956 Olympics in Australia, a prankster carrying a pair of flaming underwear briefly took the place of the official torch bearer. Route of the 1956 Olympic torch relay, from Cairns to Melbourne. In 1956 runners bore the Olympic flame across Australia, on a path…
Theft of the Sacred Cod
Type: College Prank. Summary: In 1933 Harvard students “codnapped” the Sacred Cod of Massachusetts. The Sacred Cod of Massachusetts. Theft is one of the classic and most-often-used tools in the toolbox of college pranksters. All manner of prized items are regularly spirited away at campuses throughout the world: statues, bells,…
Veterans of Future Wars
Type: College Prank/Satirical Campaign. Summary: Young men satirically demanded to be paid their war bonuses before they went off to fight. Future veterans march to demand their bonuses. 1936. In 1935 veterans of World War One lobbied Congress to pay them their war bonuses ten years early in order to…
Washing The Lions
Type: April Fool’s Day Prank. Summary: Victims were sent to see the washing of the lions at the Tower of London.April Fool’s Day Content in the Museum of HoaxesTop 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes—The Origin of April Fool’s Day—April Fool’s Hoaxes by Year1698 | 1708 | 1844 | 1860 |…
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There is 1 subcategory for this categoryArticles in category "Pranks":
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Arm the Homeless
Type: College Prank. Summary: A phony organization urged people to help provide the homeless with guns and ammunition. HOAX HAIKUThe charity says, “Homeless are Americans, too, so give them guns!” (by Krista)Submit a haiku In the first week of December, 1993, a press release was distributed to the Columbus, Ohio…
Berners Street Hoax
Theodore Hook (1788-1841)In 1810 London was the largest, wealthiest city in the world, linked by trade with every continent, and fed by the manufacturing might of northern British cities such as Liverpool and Manchester. Almost anything could be obtained in its shops, and on November 10 all of this mercantile…
Caltech Sweepstakes Caper
Type: College Prank. Summary: In 1975 Caltech students flooded a McDonald’s sweepstakes with millions of entries. Caltech is known for producing world-class scientists and engineers. But a few of its students have also demonstrated a flair for the law, as a highly controversial 1975 prank that turned on the legalistic…
Donside Lying Contest
Type: College prank. Summary: Two students turned a lying contest on its head by lying too convincingly. Many college pranks are the result of careful planning, but occasionally they come about simply when a student recognizes an opportunity and goes for it. Such was the case with the lying contest…
Dreadnought Hoax
Type: Prank. Summary: A group of upper-class youths fooled the British navy into believing they were a visiting group of Abyssinian dignitaries. “The Emperor of Abyssinia” and his suiteFrom left to right: Virginia Stephen (Virginia Woolf), Duncan Grant, Horace Cole, Anthony Buxton (seated), Adrian Stephen, Guy Ridley. On February 7,…
Filipino Monkey
Type: Rogue radio operator. Summary: For decades a mysterious prankster has interrupted ship-to-ship radio communications with obscenities and threats. The Filipino Monkey is the name of an infamous rogue radio operator who interjects lewd jokes, threats, obscenities, and animal noises into ship-to-ship radio communications conducted on VHF marine channel 16…
Great Rose Bowl Hoax
Type: College Prank. Summary: Caltech students succeeded in altering the University of Washington’s halftime flip-card routine during the 1961 Rose Bowl in order to read “CALTECH”.Table of Contents The mechanics of the prank The Plan Unfolds Acclaim and Criticism Not the first… or the last References The Rose Bowl, January…
Hugh Troy
Hugh Troy posing in front of one of his murals. New York City, Rockefeller Center, 1940. By trade Hugh Troy (1906-1964) was an illustrator. By nature he was a practical joker. A true master of the art. Numerous different pranks and practical jokes are attributed to him. However, it’s not…
Hugo N. Frye
Type: College Prank. Summary: Republican leaders were tricked into praising the example of the “sturdy patriot” Hugo N. Frye, unaware that there was no such person. In 1930 letters were mailed to Republican leaders throughout the United States inviting them to a May 26 party at Cornell University in honor…
Lady Liberty on Lake Mendota
Type: College Prank. Summary: The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pail and Shovel Party promised that, if elected to student government, they would move the Statue of Liberty to Lake Mendota, and they made good on their promise. Lady Liberty sinks into Lake Mendota. (Photograph by Ravi Kochhar). In February 1979 an…
Lafayette Mulligan
Type: Prank. Summary: A man calling himself Lafayette Mulligan presented the Prince of Wales with the key to the City of Boston. However, the Mayor of Boston had no idea who Lafayette Mulligan was. James Curley, former Mayor of Boston. In the Fall of 1924 the Prince of Wales visited…
Lusus Naturae
Medieval naturalists had a great appreciation of hoaxes, and they spent a lot of time collecting and studying them. However, they didn’t call them hoaxes. Instead, they called them Lusus Naturae, or Jokes of Nature. The Vegetable Lamb, an example of a Lusus Naturae The term Lusus Naturae described any…
Medieval Pranks and Tricks
Athanasius Kircher, a frequent victim of pranksPeople have always enjoyed playing tricks and practical jokes on each other, and the people of the middle ages were no different. Luckily, a number of texts have preserved the efforts of medieval pranksters. The notebook of Thomas Betson, a fifteenth-century monk at Syon…
New York Sawed in Half
During the Summer of 1824, a number of butchers and tradesmen used to meet every afternoon in the New York City neighborhood of Mulberry and Spring Streets to talk about the news of the day. One afternoon this group began discussing a popular rumor they had heard about the Island…
Olympic Underwear Relay
Type: Sports Prank. Summary: At the 1956 Olympics in Australia, a prankster carrying a pair of flaming underwear briefly took the place of the official torch bearer. Route of the 1956 Olympic torch relay, from Cairns to Melbourne. In 1956 runners bore the Olympic flame across Australia, on a path…
Theft of the Sacred Cod
Type: College Prank. Summary: In 1933 Harvard students “codnapped” the Sacred Cod of Massachusetts. The Sacred Cod of Massachusetts. Theft is one of the classic and most-often-used tools in the toolbox of college pranksters. All manner of prized items are regularly spirited away at campuses throughout the world: statues, bells,…
Veterans of Future Wars
Type: College Prank/Satirical Campaign. Summary: Young men satirically demanded to be paid their war bonuses before they went off to fight. Future veterans march to demand their bonuses. 1936. In 1935 veterans of World War One lobbied Congress to pay them their war bonuses ten years early in order to…
Washing The Lions
Type: April Fool’s Day Prank. Summary: Victims were sent to see the washing of the lions at the Tower of London.April Fool’s Day Content in the Museum of HoaxesTop 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes—The Origin of April Fool’s Day—April Fool’s Hoaxes by Year1698 | 1708 | 1844 | 1860 |…