Hoax Museum Blog: Pranks

Duke of Wellington Cone Prank — For almost twenty years Glaswegians have enthusiastically upheld a tradition of placing traffic cones on top of a statue of the Duke of Wellington that stands in the city center. You can even buy postcards and t-shirts displaying a cone-wearing Wellington. But now the fun might come to an end on account of art historian Gary Nisbet who claims that the cone prank threatens to seriously damage the 160-year-old statue. He's campaigning to get people who climb up on the statue charged with vandalism. Unfortunately this would make a number of the city councillors vandals. Nisbet's proposal doesn't seem to be going over well at all with the residents of Glasgow, most of whom seem to think the cone is the best thing about the statue.

Missing Monkey (looks like Olsen Twin) — The Tailspinning into Tomorrow Livejournal has posted a picture of a flyer put up by someone searching for their missing monkey. Here's the text of the flyer:



I like how they specify that the monkey isn't trustworthy. But I'm wondering if the flyer might be an example of the classic weird-missing-pet phone prank. An earlier example of this I recorded was A Cat Named Killer. Here's the prank: put out an ad or flyer listing a weird pet as missing; include your friend's phone number as the contact; wait for your friend to gets hundreds of bizarre phone calls.

Poo Prank — The Sun reports on this very odd form of political protest:

GERMAN police are hunting for a gang who have been going around Berlin sticking tiny American flags into dog poo. Officers say they are baffled by the bizarre behaviour - which does not break any laws - and have stepped-up patrols to catch the gang.
Cops had initially thought the jokers were protesting about the war in Iraq, according to iol.co.nz. But the pranks continued throughout George W Bush's re-election leaving detectives without a clear motive.
Police spokesperson Reiner Kuechler said: "We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act. But frankly, we don't know what we would do if we caught them red-handed."
Park boss Josef Oettl added: "This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2000 to 3000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that time."

It seems like the real criminals here are the people who aren't cleaning up after their dogs.

Message in a Cabbage Patch — When 9-year-old Diamond Robinson found a Cabbage Patch Doll under the Christmas tree, she was in for a rude surprise. Encoded in the serial number on the doll's 'adoption papers' was the message: _UCKME. (I think the missing first letter is an F, but I'm not sure. It could be an S.) The company that made the doll says it's an innocent mistake... a computer randomly generated the serial number. But I'm not so sure. Sounds like something a mischievous employee might have done. Kind of like a Cross-Dressing Ken type prank. Instead of complaining about the doll, the family should sell it on eBay. They're sitting on a potential goldmine.

Fart Bombs — Hong Kong officials have pulled from store shelves a gag gift named the 'Fart Bomb' because the toy not only does exactly what it promises (produces a giant cloud of stench), but it also causes nausea, headaches, and eye irritation. Just imagine what schoolkids could do if they got their hands on these things. Thanks to Gary for finding this story. As he points out, it may not be the worst toy idea ever, but it's definitely in the top 100. But hey, it looks like you can buy fart bombs on the internet.

Duct Tape Bikes — Duct Tape Bikes seem to be popping up on the streets of New York. Here's one. And here's another one. I'm assuming it's some kind of prank. Somebody leaves their bike locked up in one place for too long and eventually they return to find it covered in duct tape. Or perhaps the bikes are some kind of weird art project. (via New Yorkish)

You’ve Won A Bench — What is it about park benches that some people find so funny? True, their comedic potential doesn't rival that of garden gnomes. But still, there definitely is an odd tradition of park-bench prankery. For instance, there's the time that legendary prankster Hugh Troy "stole" a park bench from Central Park. And now we have 'Congratulations You have Won a Bench', in which two guys knock on the doors of random people and inform them that they've won a bench. Bewilderment ensues.

Mister Marbles — It's Mister Marbles, the life-size prop dead cat. The attention to detail that's gone into the creation of this thing is amazing: "Mr. Marbles is a cat who turns up dead, floating in a swimming pool. The prop is a jointed cloth construction, with pieces of plastic tubing to keep the limbs rigid, and filled with small air bladders to make it buoyant. The skull was cast in insulation foam in a silicone mold of an actual cat skull. The eyes and teeth are from a taxidermy supply company." It could be the perfect Christmas present for the person who has everything (except a life-size prop dead cat).

Man Boobs Prank — This is stupid and gross, but kind of funny anyway. Here's the set-up: "Penthouse Playmate, Kyli Ryan, came to The Bear studios for a visit and The Bear's Breakfast decided to pull a fast one. Yukon was blindfolded and was then told he would be able to "cop a feel". Bear listener "Man Boobs" was brought in for Yukon to unknowingly feel up." The page showing the images of the prank is safe for work (depending on where you work, I suppose), but potentially not safe for your feeling of mental well being.

Yale to Harvard: You Suck — In a reworking of the Great Rose Bowl Hoax of 1961, Yale students, posing as members of the 'Harvard Pep Squad', managed to trick Harvard fans into holding up flip-cards reading 'WE SUCK' at the Harvard-Yale football game. I guess it's true that the great pranks never go out of style. (Thanks to Mormagli for giving me a heads up about this on the message board)

Marijuana at Target — This is either a prank by a low-level employee, or some kind of error. Target.com apparently is selling marijuana for only $25.25 (how much do you get for that price?). The link might be dead pretty soon, so here's a screen cap. Of course, Target does have a garden department, so maybe it's real... (via Boing Boing)

Berners Street Redux — First the police showed up at the house on Bristol Ferry Road to investigate a phoned-in report of domestic disturbance and narcotics. Finding nothing, they left. Then three taxicabs showed up, claiming someone had called for a pickup. Then delivery guys from Pizza Hollywood, Steve's Pizza, and Carmella's added to the crowd. It sounds like someone was trying to re-enact the infamous Berners Street Hoax of 1810. Although, of course, I don't think anyone has ever managed to top the crowd at Berners Street.

Gnomes Escape from Gnome Peepshow — Reuters reports that scantily clad garden gnomes have disappeared from a "gnome peepshow" located in an East German amusement park. So what exactly is a gnome peepshow? It's an attraction where "visitors peep through keyholes to see the saucy German miniatures in compromising poses." Perhaps the risque gnomes will one day return, accompanied by snapshots of their globe-trotting adventures. (Thanks to Big Gary C for forwarding this story to me)

Roving Ovines Return — Three and a half years ago Larry and Sean disappeared from their home in Norfolk. Larry and Sean were ornamental sheep. Plywood cutouts covered with a woolly coat. About a week ago they reappeared, much to the delight of their owner, and they brought back with them a letter marked 'Larry and Sean's Holiday Photos,' showing the adventures they had in India. Turns out that Larry and Sean had been sheep-napped by a local man, Joe Claydon, who saw them one night while stumbling home from a late-night party and decided to make off with them. Years later Claydon felt guilty and took the sheep on an Indian holiday before returning them to their rightful owner. A small gallery of their vacation photos can be seen here. I think this prank (sending ornamental garden figures, usually gnomes, on foreign vacations) has become quite popular after it was featured in the movie Amelie. It was also the theme of a Travelocity ad campaign.

Bottle Cap Hoax — When Velvet Scott twisted off the cap of a bottle of Mountain Dew and found a message beneath it that said "Winner! $10,000 Cash," she was pretty excited. But when she contacted Pepsi, the manufacturer of Mountain Dew, to find out how to collect her prize, she was in for a disappointment. They said she hadn't won anything, because they weren't holding a contest. The bottle cap was a hoax. According to this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (requires registration), this hoax goes on a lot. You can buy phony winning bottle caps to fool your friends, and there's even a website devoted to debunking this prank. But Velvet Scott, even after learning all this, still isn't convinced. She's suing Pepsi to get her money since she insists that someone at the Pepsi distributor must have put the phony cap on the bottle. If she wins anything at all, expect many more people to start demanding money after winning non-existent contests.

RoboDump — Here's an ingenious office prank. Kevin Kelm's coworkers were wondering all day about that guy who had been in the bathroom for hours. You could hear him groaning away on the toilet. Was it the CFO? No, it was RoboDump. As Kevin explains: "RoboDump is a robot. Sort of. And it poops. Sort of. Forever. A horrible, never-ending bowel movement complete with straining grunts, horrific gas, splashes, and pee sounds." (via Boing Boing)

Smoking In Cars Illegal — A rumor flew through Lexington, Kentucky that the County Council had passed a law banning people from smoking cigarettes in cars. Given all the new laws banning smoking in public places, I guess such a law wouldn't be that unbelievable. Reportedly, hundreds of people called the Lexington police and City Hall to ask if the rumor was true. It wasn't. The rumor had been started as a prank by DJs at a Lexington radio station, Z-103. An early April Fool's Day joke apparently.

Indecently Exposed Toothbrush — Jan Harold Brunvand calls it the "Indecent Exposure" urban legend. It involves a vacationing couple whose hotel room is broken into and robbed of everything save a toothbrush and a camera. When they get home and develop the film in the camera, they discover pictures of their toothbrush up the robber's rear end (to put it not so delicately). It appears that this urban legend has now served as the unfortunate inspiration for a prank that a New Zealand golfer played on his rival. As this article describes it:

The Dominion Post understands bad blood between teenagers Kauika and Aucklander Kevin Chun boiled over when a bare-bottomed Kauika misused Chun's toothbrush as a prop in a photograph allegedly snapped by Iles.

As punishment, Kauika and Brad were banned from representing New Zealand overseas until the end of the year.

Book Contest Winners — The book contest has now been running for a week, and I got a lot of great responses. It was pretty tough making a decision (and any choice like this is bound to be somewhat random), but I finally opted to award a book to 'Redmond' for his account of the brownies with the secret added ingredient that turns urine blue. I'm also giving a book to Quentin Smith for his description of how they filled a school administrator's office from floor to ceiling with shredded paper (in order to give him a little more paperwork). The photographic evidence of the prank being pulled was great. So thanks to everyone for contributing their stories, and if you didn't win, don't worry. I think I'm going to have some more stuff to give away pretty soon.

Win a Free Book — One of the great things about having a website is that occasionally people send me free stuff, out of the blue. For instance, a British publisher named Harriman House sent me three copies of The Life & Death of Rochester Sneath by Humphry Berkeley. Since I don't have a use for three copies of the book, I've decided to give the two extra copies away.

But first, what is the book about? It documents a classic British public school hoax from the 1940s. Headmasters at elite British public schools such as Eton and Rugby began receiving letters from H. Rochester Sneath who described himself as a fellow Headmaster from Selhurst School nearth Petworth, Sussex. Sneath had many bizarre questions for his colleagues. For instance, he wanted to know how to deal with an infestation of rats, how to go about 'engineering' a royal visit, or whether it was advisable to provide special 'sex ed' instruction for the school maids. Remarkably, most of the headmasters believed that Sneath was a real person and responded seriously. Of course, Sneath wasn't real. He was the creation of Humphry Berkeley, who at the time was a student at Cambridge. When the hoax was exposed Berkeley was expelled for two years. This book collects together all of Sneath's letters and the responses he received. It's very short, taking about an hour to read, at most. But if you like British humor it's a classic, because Sneath perfectly skewers the pompous self-importance of the British upper class.

So here's what I have in mind. Since the book is about a school prank, post a description of a school prank in the comments section. Perhaps something that you participated in or have heard about. I'll choose the two pranks that I find the most amusing (and original) and send the winners a free copy of the book. Make sure that you include your email address in the appropriate box (though your email won't be publicly displayed... only I can see when people have entered email addresses, so that spammers can't harvest addresses from this site), otherwise I won't have any way of notifying you if you win. I'll let the contest run for a week before I choose the winner.