Hoax Museum Blog: Pranks

Polite Practical Jokers — A columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer complains that modern practical jokes just aren't funny any more because they're too well-mannered and polite. In particular he's talking about flash mobs... the new fad (which is already old) in which crowds suddenly appear somewhere, having arranged to meet via text-messaging or email, do something nonsensical, and then disappear. I agree about the lameness of flash mobs. He also gives David Blaine's newest stunt a thumbs down. I'd have to agree again.

Practical Joke Six Years in the Making — Perry Caravello wanted to be an actor, and his friends told him he would be. In fact, they signed him up to play the leading role in a film they were making, Windy City Heat. Unfortunately for Perry, they weren't actually shooting a movie. They were just stringing him along, trying to figure out how long they could keep him believing that they were making a movie. He kept believing, for six long years, bolstered by an unshakeable faith in his own Star Power. Even though the friends weren't shooting a movie, they did shoot footage of the entire practical joke, which has now resulted in a documentary on Comedy Central titled, appropriately enough, Windy City Heat.

Crocodile Warning — Croydon residents can rest easy. Signs alerting them to the danger of a crocodile inhabiting a local pond were just a prank.

Old School Hoax — Inspired by the movie Old School, a bunch of teenagers fake a kidnapping outside of a Wal-Mart. Succeed in terrifying the watching crowd.

The Life and Death of Eric Gordon — Here's an amusing account of a Harvard grad named Eric Gordon who faked his own death in order to try to get removed from Harvard's obnoxious alumni mailing list. Harvard actually published an obituary for Eric, but then had to retract it later.

Classes Cancelled for Green Beer Day — Check out the website of Ben Field. Ben is a student at Miami University in Ohio. Every year the students there celebrate Green Beer Day (a celebration not sanctioned by the university) by drinking green beer in bars all day. This year Ben got the clever idea of sending out an email to all 31,000 students, disguised to make it appear that it was coming from the university president, declaring that classes were cancelled for Green Beer Day. Needless to say, the university was not amused. Now Ben has to reimburse his parents $9000 in legal fees that they covered for him. So Ben created a website to tell his story and solicit donations from the public to help him reach his goal. Today the Miami University president graciously donated $10 to him. You can read about Ben's original prank in this story from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Beer for the Homeless, More Info — More from Gary Poole, a spokesperson for Beer for the Homeless: "It was originally intended as an internet satire, but very quickly took on a life of it's own when people really did start donating money. The group that does it even had to hire an accountant to keep up with taxes and such. 😊 They'll be featured in an upcoming issue of FHM Magazine, in fact."

Beer for the Homeless Response — A few weeks ago I linked to a site called Beer for the Homeless, which I suspected of being a hoax. After all, it reminded me of the classic Arm the Homeless campaign, which was definitely a hoax. Turns out my suspicions were wrong. I just got this note from a spokesperson for the site:
Just as a note, the "Beer For The Homeless" website is indeed NOT a hoax. It's a real site that really uses the money raised to buy and deliver beer to homeless people living in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
One of our talk show hosts is the one who came up with the idea and really has made a beer run - check out the photo gallery on the site for pictures from the latest delivery.
Gary Poole,
Citadel Broadcasting

High-School Pranks — High-school seniors superglue the locks on their teachers' doors. The teachers are not amused. In other senior prank news, piglets are released in a school the day of the senior barbeque.

Cow Tipping — The Mustang Daily recently analyzed the reality of the art of cow tipping.

Prank Flyers — Prank Flyers

Abduction prank — A high school sociology assignment goes a little too far when students stage a fake abduction.

Britney Spears Phone Prank — A deejay at a Montreal radio station made a successful prank phone call to Britney Spears. While pretending to be Celine Dion, the deejay got Spears to agree to sing a duet with Tiger Woods called Let's Make A Hole in One. All for charity, of course. Read about it here. Or visit the homepage of the radio prankster where you can buy a recording of the actual prank.

Extreme Homework Avoidance — Student fakes fire to avoid homework. Wow. Couldn't he just have said that the dog ate his homework?

Duct Tape Prankster — New York prankster arrested for duct-taping himself to a utility pole in a busy intersection while holding a sign reading "Save Ira Joe Fisher."

Mud-Wrestling Neighbor — Amusing account of a mud-wrestling hoax perpetrated by Jeff Norman for an episode of "World's Nastiest Neighbors." It involved pretending to be an obnoxious neighbor who staged mud-wrestling matches on the lawn of his suburban home. The neighbors were so horrified that they called the police and had Norman arrested.