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Come you pranksters, fess up!
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Rapparee Date: 01 Dec 04 - 11:14 PM Anyone know what happens when you're going 50 or 60 mph in a military deuce-and-a-half (Marine 6-by) and you turn the engine off, and then flip it back on? I do -- it sounds like shotgun going off, and it REALLY disconcerts passing motorcyclists, smart-asses in convertibles, and other such folks. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: mack/misophist Date: 01 Dec 04 - 11:05 PM A San Francisco cable car gripman told me this one. In the old days, management hired people to ride around and check whether the conductors were turning in all the fares they collected. There was one man who was cheating rather blatantly. He used the money to customize a Cadillac convertable with every accessory he could possibly squeeze on. Management found out about it and waited till the day the car was finished. Then they fired him. Management had more class 50 years ago. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Rapparee Date: 01 Dec 04 - 06:14 PM Boy Scout Camp, 1962, and I'm on the staff. Hank shot a black powder rifle, and had decided to make his own gunpowder for it from the old saltpeter, sulphur & charcoal recipe. Well, it worked right enough, but it was very, very, very dirty in burning, so Hank went back to the store bought stuff. Still, he had a quart of the homebrewed stuff. Naturally, he took it to Boy Scout Camp where he, too, was on the staff that summer. Now, the latrines were, well, two holers with a nice metal trough for a urinal. Concrete block in construction, they were vented around the top edge with screening to take the edge off the pervasive odor. So Hank and couple of other guys (all of whom shall remain nameless) poured the quart of black powder into the urinal trough and ran two wires from the trough out to an old crank-type magneto. The three guys then retired to await a visitor to the latrine. Along comes a young Tenderfoot scout, looking like a cross between a stereotypical birdwatcher and a gawky colt. His luncheon of beans and franks had obviously grabbed him in most disquieting way, and he was unbuckling the Boy Scout Belt that held up his Boy Scout Shorts as he opened the door. Pause for 20 seconds. Crank. A sudden FUFF!! from inside the latrine and a cloud of grayish smoke filters from the screening just below the roof, achieving a very nice mushroom cloud effect. The Tenderfoot stumbles out the door, his Boy Scout Shorts around his Boy Scout Knee Socks, saying repeatedly, "The latrine blew up!" Three staff members quickly gather in about 50 feet of wire and make for the hills.... |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Bill D Date: 01 Dec 04 - 05:26 PM about the midget story...I was not sure where I heard it, but it at least makes my point about the need to carefully assess pranks before the fact. and cars....oh, yes....when I was about 17, working at a grocery store, one guy had a BIG yellow Buick convertable. He had a habit of pulling pranks on others,..like the infamous 'potato in the tailpipe in freezing weather'... so one day when he was parked way out in the corner of the lot, several others jacked up the rear of his yellow barge, put blocks under the rear axel just high enough to make the rear wheels clear the ground...maybe ¼ inch...and balanced delicately. He came out, got in, started the engine, put it in gear and....nothing...wheels humming, but no moving. He put it in reverse, raced the engine, put it back in drive and the torque shifted the weight so that it came OFF the blocks and jumped 15-20 feet before he could brake....Wouldn't you know...he whined! |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Jeri Date: 01 Dec 04 - 04:42 PM I'd forgotten about this. I was on a military installation with two guys from my unit at another installation. We were taking a class, and I'd driven there, so I gave them both rides every morning in my rather tiny Honda Civic. One morning, I came out to find the guys had gotten there early, picked it up and set it down sideways between two other cars. This would have been a great practical joke and I would have been really pissed off, except for one minor detail: these geniuses expected a ride. I said "Oh well, we can take the bus," and they said "Crap..." and re-aligned the car. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: HuwG Date: 01 Dec 04 - 04:29 PM I heard about but didn't see this variant on the "car on top of the outbuilding" stunts. Sheil Barracks in Verden in West Germany (as it then was) was home in 1980 to the British 1st Armoured Division HQ and Signal Regiment. There was some mutual aggravation between the (British) Commandant of the town and barracks, and the officers of the units who lived there. The Commandant issued an order that officers' vehicles (whether private or official) were not to use the main parking area, as this was required as a helicopter landing pad. This caused much inconvenience. However, he made a point of leaving his official vehicle, a black Ford Escort estate there, to show that he was not bound by his own orders. The officers of the Signals Regiment clubbed together, and went to local scrapyards where they purchased various wings and panels and windows off wrecked Escorts. (A right-hand drive version of the Escort was manufactured in Germany, so there were plenty of these in the knackers' yards.) When they had accumulated enough body parts to make a complete Escort shell, they painted them black and went out at night and pushed the Commandant's Escort out of sight. They then assembled their dummy Escort around a straw bale, securing the various parts with twists of baling wire. Add plenty of petrol, light the blue touch paper and retire. Then telephone the Commandant, and say "Sir, you'd better get down to the parade ground. There's something you ought to see." The Commandant arrived bleary-eyed on the parade ground to see what appeared to be his official vehicle ablaze, while Royal Signals officers toasted bread and sausages on the pyre. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: mack/misophist Date: 01 Dec 04 - 03:51 PM The college I went to had small pillows on the dorm beds. If you were very, very careful - and knew the technique - you could put a condom full of water in the pillow case and put it back on the bed. Then there's the fact that it takes about 10 minutes for a condom placed over a light bulb to melt and stink. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Once Famous Date: 01 Dec 04 - 03:43 PM Which one should I relate? OK The prank of the burning dogshit. On Halloween night, we would fill a paper bag full of dog shit from someone's yard and put it on someone's door step. We would lite the bag on fire, ring the doorbell, and run away. Most who answered the door would stomp on the bag to put out the fire......... |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: CarolC Date: 01 Dec 04 - 03:42 PM Oh, how ironic. I just read Bill D's circus midget story. The name of the stoner who was traumatized in my story was Richard Midgett. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: darkriver Date: 01 Dec 04 - 02:47 PM Bill D, your July 99 posting about the midget-- it's a short short story. I forget the name, but it's in the form of one person's court testimony, and it tells the story you mentioned. A chilling tale of ingratitude. I've enjoyed reading these. What a great bunch of folks. I was always "a good boy" although, now that I look back on it, it was from fear, since I was also inwardly quite rebellious. Regards. doug |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: CarolC Date: 01 Dec 04 - 01:55 PM I went to an experimental sort of high school. We had a rich and lively hall culture, and we had commandeered one of the science offices (as well as one of the English offices and a social studies office), for hanging out and putting our stuff in. For some reason, most people kept their musical instruments in the science office. There were usually one or two French horns laying about in the office, along with some bunsen burner hose and a desk that was only a shell and was completely hollow underneath. One time, when I had a bit of a wild hair up my arse (which really was most of the time), I took one of the French horns out and laid it on top of its open case. I took the mouthpiece off of the horn, attached a length of bunsen burner hose to the French horn, attached the mouthpiece to the other end of the hose, and arranged it all on top of the hollow desk in such a way that the hose could not be seen by people entering the room. It just looked like a French horn placed somewhat carelessly on top of an open French horn case. Then I sat under the desk, holding the hose with the mouthpiece at the end of it, while another student sat at the desk about two feet away from the French horn. The plan was for him to give me a little kick when someone came into the room, and I would blow on the mouthpiece... no small feat, since it required a lot of air pressure to make a noise with that much bunsen burner hose between me and the horn. We succeeded in startling a few people with the joke, but the best was the guy who was stoned out of his gourd (I don't remember if it was LSD or hashish, but he was wrecked). He walked in, heard the horn blowing all by itself, said "Ohh... My... GOD!!!", turned around, and ran out of the room. I still remember that stoner quite fondly. When I was in junior high school, I used to like to put spitballs and pour salt down the pants of the guys sitting in front of me as they leaned forward in their seats (creating a bit of a gap between the top of their pants and their backs). That was a lot of fun. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Ima Gittin' Date: 01 Dec 04 - 01:51 PM Hey Rapaire. :) .....ya know?..I woulda paid money to see that one! |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Rapparee Date: 01 Dec 04 - 01:29 PM We carefully put chemical indicators (colorless in themselves) in the urinals of our all-male high school. Ever see a freshman come running out yelling, "I'm peeing blue!"? |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Ima Gittin' Date: 01 Dec 04 - 01:11 PM Oh....and a tip...The prank played in the movie 'Private Benjamin' REALLY works! We did it LONG before that movie came out. We poured tempra powder in a variety of colors into the shower heads in the boys locker room...... Oy! Almost forgot about the Bengay Mentholated Pain Rub in the jock straps...........but that's a whole 'nuther story. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: GUEST,Clint Keller Date: 01 Dec 04 - 01:08 PM That's interesting, Uncle D, because in my high school the ficticious student was Irwin Sweeney. He showed up in a lot of places. I graduated in 1948 too. Conspiracy? clint |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Ima Gittin' Date: 01 Dec 04 - 01:03 PM You'd be suprised at the vast sudsing action of 18 LARGE boxes of Oxydol Laundy Detergent(showing my age here) poured into the filter ports along side of the olympic sized school pool......I know we were! ;D |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 01 Dec 04 - 12:12 PM A comedy in three acts. Stay with me. My sophomore year in high school. A teacher who was rather, shall we say, "vague". First day of the year, she passed around a sheet of paper, and asked that each of us write our name on it. She would use it for the rest of the semester for the class roll call. She neglected to count the names that came back, which included one Ralph Warden, who was not physically present--indeed, did not exist. Next morning she called roll: Suzie Jones? Here. William Smiley? Here. Ralph Warden? (silence) Ralph Warden? "Oh, he's sick today, teacher!" Next day and the next day, Ralph was "sick". Then he was visiting his relatives in the southern part of the state. It was about a week and a half before the teacher checked with the office, learned of Ralph's nonexistence as a student. She stopped calling his name, but never said a word to the class. All of this was an in-group joke for as long as the conspirators were in that school. Only an elite group knew and enjoyed this joke. Now fast forward fifty years. At our fiftieth anniversary reunion, a few years ago, included in the list of those who would be there that was sent out was our old friend Ralph Warden. That was good for a lot of good private snickers. But better was the fact that at the banquet, a speech was scheduled by that well-known, business-success classmate, Ralph Warden! The MC (one of the elite few) sadly announced, "I'm truly sorry that I received a telegram from Ralph Warden, whom all of you remember, that he'll not be able to make it to speak to us tonight. I'm sure you're all as disappointed as I am!" And indeed, several of the subsequent class-member speakers (who weren't in on it) expressed their disappointment, how they'd been looking forward to seeing ole Ralph again, how they remembered his amazing personality and drive and so forth. Only at the end of the dinner, last gasp, did the MC explain how everybody had been had, and told the original incident. Next morning those who had not already left town met for Sunday brunch. One of our classmates stood up and said that her son, who was waiting in the lobby for her to come out of the dining room, to drive her to his house, told her he had been approached by a man who asked, did he know where the Class of '48 was meeting? "Yes," he'd said, "the dinner is up in the second floor dining room, and I think it's just about to break up." "Darn," says the man, I had hoped to be there, but was delayed. Well, it's too late now, and I can't stay for tomorrow's brunch, either." The son said, "Can you give me your name? I'll let my mother know that you were here, so she can at least pass your regrets to those at the brunch tomorrow morning." "Okay," says the man, "tell her Ralph Warden said hello." Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 01 Dec 04 - 11:26 AM Bill D: Your story about the midget and the shortening cane, followed by his suicide, was a short story which I read somewhere. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Bill D Date: 01 Dec 04 - 10:57 AM well! I have had a ball re-reading this old thread!...and don't miss a later thread on the same theme. (and Cluin....I gather you replaced jamie's dictionary with the Reader's Digest condensed version!) |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: GUEST Date: 01 Dec 04 - 09:56 AM I was the victim of a prank once. I've always been well known for my weak stomach. I gag easily at nasty, gross things. When I was in the Navy as a watch supervisor, my operators pulled a practical joke on me. In those days, supervisors kept the watch log on an IBM Selectric typewriter. I worked in a classified area at the time, which was "sanitized" by drawing curtains over equipment and areas that had to be hidden from the view of uncleared personnel. The typewriter was behind the curtains. One day, while the spaces were sanitized, I stepped out for a smoke. When I came back in and sat down to make some log entries, I felt somthing squishy and sticky between my fingers and some of the keys. I looked at my fingers and saw what looked like several big boogers. Instantly grossed out to the extent of being nauseated, I was, shall we say, rather vocal in my disgust. There I was, gagging and cursing behind that curtain, shaking my hands vigorously to get the boogers off. "EEEEWWWW, boogers!!! OK, who's the sonofab---- that put the f---in' snot on my typewriter!?" I actually lost my lunch, if you catch my drift. I knew I'd been had when I heard the hysterical laughter from my operators who were all there waiting on the other side of the curtains for my reaction. They had taken some cellophane tape and rubbed off the gummy adhesive into very realistic looking balls and stuck them all over my keyboard. Better stop while I'm ahead. The thought of boogers is making me queasy. Cheers S |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 01 Dec 04 - 08:32 AM Another Mickey Mouse Clock. Queensland University (A Real University, as distinct from Queensland University of Technology - A University for The Real World! - but that's another story!) has a beautiful campus originally intended to resemble all old 'traditional' Universities, has a large oval limestone cloisters and a tower with a clock that is about 30 ft or more in the air up a vertical face, and about 15 feet from the roof, etc.. One day, the Vice Chancellor happened to be crossing the quadrangle in the morning looked up and there was Mickey Mouse in all his glory, poster on wall behind hands and neat little white gloves and all.... Stayed there for three days, until the grounds staff finally decided that they really needed a cherry picker.... ~~~~~~ There is a hill near Toowoomba called Table Mountain, and one a nice religious lady claimed to have seen a vision, and so a small white wooden cross was erected on the top of the Mountain - without obtaining Council Permission to erect anything on Public Land - which became a pilgrimage point. Cross got pulled down, thrown over side. Larger cross erected, same thing. Still larger, same thing. So the forces of Good rallied and erected a huge Steel Monstrosity set in concrete...... determined people can backpack an oxy cutting set up a steep narrow winding mountain, you know.... :-) There is no cross there today... |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Cluin Date: 01 Dec 04 - 07:22 AM I stole jamie's dictionary years ago. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: GUEST,jamie Date: 01 Dec 04 - 07:15 AM u all suck u r not even rell pranksters |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Bob Landry Date: 30 Jul 99 - 06:04 PM My brother, a policeman in Eastern Canada, was asked by his commanding officer (who was leaving on holidays for a few weeks) to keep an eye on the house, feed the pets and water the plants. Seems the CO's prized possession, a fully-restored 1957 Chevy was parked in the garage. Bro rummaged around until he found the keys, drove to the local shopping mall and had a secret meeting with the manager. CO comes back from holidays as scheduled and the next morning phones bro in a panic asking where the car was. "I don't know" was the reply. So began the search. Two or three days later, the CO is walking through the mall and comes across a table with a sign advertising the sale of raffle tickets. The main prize, parked behind the table, was a fully-restored 1957 Chevy! Bob |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Barbara Date: 30 Jul 99 - 03:32 PM Seems like it was our local SDS (remember them?) at Michigan State University that infiltrated the YRA (Young Republicans) and positioned themselves in key roles for organizing the national convention and running the sound. The resulting chaos was pretty amazing. I don't think the Young Republicans ever knew what hit them. Blessings, Barbara |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Bill D Date: 27 Jul 99 - 12:37 PM well, thinking back again to my college days, it dawns on me that the 4 or so years when I was a junior-senior-grad student in philosophy were a series of quirky, silly prank-filled times by the rag-tag bunch of Philosophy students we had...we actually had a Philosophy club, called Dialectica. Anyway, we did things like, when the area in front of our building flooded after heavy rains, due to the ineptitude and inability of the grounds dept. to drain the area, we placed planks across the deeper parts, along with a sign that read..."John Gaddis Memorial Swamp...temporary bridge courtesy of the Dept. of Philosophy Corps of Engineers" (Gaddis was the director of the physical plant for many years)......we also unveiled from a balcony on the student union one day, a 30 foot long by 3 ft. high banner which read .."HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FREDDY NIETZSCHE"...got us in the school paper!
But the best was what we did to/for the entire school!! It was 'about' 1968-69, and way out west, the beat poet, Allen Ginsberg had just gotten a $5000 grant from someone..(he said it was the most money he had ever had up to then)..and set out to tour the country in an old VW bus..and one of his friends (Charlie Plymell) was a Wichita State alum!..so Charlie suggested Ginsgerg stop and see dear old WSU!. Well, Ginsberg contacted the English Dept, and offered to give a poetry reading, but the ARCH-conservative bunch there were NOT gonna have this drug-ridden, foul-mouthed hippie talk to THEIR sweet students!..... So.., although we did it half as a prank, it actually worked VERY well...students were exposed to a real talent and piece of history, our club gained real stature and it dawned on a lot of folk that no one was 'corrupted' by hearing about aspects of the 'counter-culture' I guess there WERE those who continued to huff & puff, but it was ok, and serves to make the point that a 'prank' can easily have positive consequences. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Margo Date: 27 Jul 99 - 11:06 AM Wyo Woman, I read recently a song in the DT that is about a similar thing. Kat put a link to it in another thread, but I don't remember which one. Anyway, the lady in a similar situation was beaten every time her husband came home drunk. Finally one night, she waited until he was "dead" alseep, and sewed and sewed and sewed until he was encased in the sheets and couldn't move. When he awoke, she beat him with the frying pan, and told him that if he didn't change his ways, he was out the door. His behaviour changed. The song is based on a true story...... Margarita |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: WyoWoman Date: 27 Jul 99 - 01:48 AM At a job years ago in Oklahoma, one of our secretaries had terrible trouble with a husband who was a drinkin' foolin' around kinda guy. Every Monday, she'd sob into her coffee during break and tell us of some new offense by Mr. Wrong. We all kept trying to support her, telling her she was better than that, that she needed to boot the creep out, show him th door, etc. finally, one Monday, Gloria came to coffee break with a very satisfied look on her face. What happened? we asked. Well, Gloria says, Mr. Wrong did it again Saturday night -- stayed out 'til 2 in the morning, drinking and misbehaving, and when he came in, he unmistakably had the smell of another woman on him. "I didn't say anything to him that night," she says, "I just let him go to bed and pass out. But the next morning early, while he was still sleeping it off, I went and got the SuperGlue and glued his little red rooster to his thigh. When that boy woke up, he was in a world a' pain." (Don't know if that rates as a prank or just decent karma...) WW |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Angus McSweeney Date: 26 Jul 99 - 07:09 PM OK, old practical jokes with a political statement, eh Tim? If you refer to my earlier contribution you already know that spray paint and stencils are my medium. It was the height of the Viet Nam war. In our little bucolic midwestern town two friends and I spent an entire night spraypainting the word "War" directly under the word "Stop" on all the stop signs. This, like "Lionel" made the front page of the paper. LDB, small world! And nice to know I can actually thank someone for keeping the bridge going! |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: SandyBob Date: 26 Jul 99 - 06:55 PM I had a summer job in college working in a plant that built roof trusses for commercial buildings. The boss was always after me to speed up production, to help him motivate the other workers and to "kick them fuckin' trusses out." After weeks of 10-12 hour days and working Saturdays I asked for a long weekend off to go river rafting. He said no. I was so mad, the next day I "accidently" started building the world's longest roof truss. I just kept splicing 12 foot 2x4s together with gang nails until I had a 90 foot-long truss that looked like modern art snaking off the rollers, across the plant floor and out into the warehouse. My boss came running and screaming when he saw it, face beet-red. I got my long weekend and then some. It was almost time to go back to school anyway and it was worth it to see the look on his face. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca Date: 26 Jul 99 - 06:35 PM There must be some old hippies on the Mudcat who have played elaborate public pranks in the old days, to prove some political or social point, or just to cause a kerfuffle in the press. I liked reading about the one where the man claimed to be opening a bordello for dogs (motto "Let Your Dog Get A Little Tail") Apparently he had the press fooled for weeks. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Nogs Date: 26 Jul 99 - 02:32 PM A rather pompous fellow lived in our dorm in college. A personal feature were his keys, a big ring of them, attached to one of those chains that retract into a sping-loaded metal cannister attached tohis belt (firmly attached . . ) Aided by his long-suffering roommate, we got into his room after nightfall before his return, hung his desk out the window and attached it by means of a rope to the doorknob across the room. We then pulled the pins from the door hinges, pulled the door back into its frame, and locked the deadbolt so that it was the only thing that was holding the door in place. Dashed to my room (adjoining), and listened. Sounds of his feet in the hall, key in the door, some struggle with the lock, then (in rapid succession) the lock opening, the door crashing inward and sliding across the room, the crisp zip of a key chain being fully unwound from its canninster and th shout of surprize as the wearer is pulled after (dont woory,the door stops at the window. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Margo Date: 26 Jul 99 - 11:34 AM Thank you, Bill. I like your idea about carrying the log off instead of what we did. Kids can be cruel. Margarita |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Bill D Date: 26 Jul 99 - 11:13 AM see...now there is an example of something I was trying to think about...a prank/joke that could be traumatic..i.e., cause someone to panic, of have a heart attack...I suppose it went ok, but if I had been doing it, I'd have set up a deal where ol' Joe complained about the log being in the way...then bent over and picked it up and walked off with it!! there is a story...perhaps apocryphal, about a circus midget who used a cane in his act, and his 'friends' dreamed up a joke where they would sneak in each night and cut ¼" off his cane...well..after 2-3 weeks, he was convinced he was growing, and since he knew no other life and had no skills, he committed suicide...true or not, it makes a point.. contrast this with the joke where a guy has a pet turtle, and every night someone sneaks in to the turtle pen and replaces it with a slightly larger turtle..until the guy is telling everyone about the amazing growth rate of his pet.....then they start back, replacing it with smaller & smaller turtles! Now there's a prank! |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Margo Date: 25 Jul 99 - 11:21 PM Oh, some of you are quite daring! I remember when I worked at a guest ranch in southern Oregon the staff were constantly pulling pranks on each other, especially the girls against the guys and vice versa. One of the girls, Sue, was going steady with one of the ranch hands, Joe. This ranch was set up to be self sufficient, and there was a working saw mill. Some of the timber was cut down to build guest houses. On this particular day, the guys were peeling logs. One big log's bark came off all in one piece. Everyone marvelled at how it looked just like a real log with the end peices of the log cut and carefully placed in the bark. Then the idea was hatched. Joe put ketchup in his mouth, and we brought Sue out to the sawmill. The guys then "accidently" dropped the fake log on Joe, and he feigned a fall, ketchup spurting and all. Sue was in shock, her mouth agape, but completely puzzled as to why everyone else was laughing. Oh, that was a mean one. At least we didn't let her go on thinking he was hurt. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: MAG (inactive) Date: 25 Jul 99 - 07:35 PM Would spray-painting "this insults women" on my least favorite billboards, in my 20's, count, IF I had done anything so shockingly illegal?? MA |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca Date: 25 Jul 99 - 03:54 PM There is a book put out by Re/Search press called "Pranks". Contains interviews with performance artists and people like Abbie Hoffman. I have it in my possession if anyone is looking for ideas.:) Rebellion seems to have been so much more fun in those days. I never played too many elaborate pranks myself. Down home some of the guys used to get the groom drunk at his stag, put him passed out on the train to Montreal (five hundred miles away) with five hundred bucks in his pocket, a nice chunk of change in the 70s. He would then wake up in his room (they always got him his own room) with a conductor pounding on the door telling him to get up as the train was in the station. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Songster Bob Date: 25 Jul 99 - 01:08 AM A prank sworn to my my old friend Alberto Vazquez (I'm reminded of it by an earlier prank in this thread):
A friend of Alberto's was an astronomer in Arizona (U. Of?) and his observatory was far away from the city lights. The parking lot for same became a lovers' lane, so one day he arrived at work to find the parking lot closed off by a chain. And him not given a key, of course. So he got out his handy bolt cutters and snipped the light chain, drove in and parked, and went to work.
Next day, a heavier chain; Bolt cutters still worked, though. Next day, heavy duty chain and big-mother lock. So he jacked the posts out of the ground.
Then he waited till the University workmen arrived to set the posts in, this time with concrete. Once they were well on the way to accomplishing this, he called the campus police and said, "A bunch of fraternity boys, dressed as campus workmen, are closing off access to a campus parking lot."
A few, carefully-timed minutes later, he called the city police, and said, "A bunch of fraternity boys, dressed as campus policemen, are harrassing University workers here at the observatory."
Then he sat back to watch the fun. Eventually, the University gave up on blocking off the parking lot (or gave him a key, or something like that).
This story is true, even if it never actually happened.
Bob Clayton
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: DonMeixner Date: 25 Jul 99 - 12:59 AM In my youth when I was a church goer and every man had a beige trenchcoat hanging in the church coat rack Dave Hutchings and I went through all the pockets and moved the car keys to different coats. Then we hung up the coats next to different womans coats. The initial choas was wonderful, the second stroke was beyond imagination. Don |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: LDB Date: 24 Jul 99 - 11:48 PM Angus McSweeney In the '80's, I was director of YCC in Fort Dodge, and one of our projects was to clean the railroad bridge and repaint the "LIONEL" sign. Glad to know it's origin! Thanks. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Rick Fielding Date: 24 Jul 99 - 11:13 PM There once was a small Italian restaurant in north Toronto that myself and two other members of "The Gangreen Boys" used to visit. David, our mandolin player was an incessant practical joker, and once while he was in the washroom I decided to get him back on his own terms. I carefully lifted the topping from his pizza and poured half a jar of chili peppers under it, disguising it quite nicely. He came back, took a big bite (and swallow)...and then..let out a yell! He seemed to immediately that I was the one who'd done this dastardly deed (I wonder how come), picked up the rest of the whole pizza and whammed it into my face! We were shown the door VERY quickly. Ahh to be young and (very) stupid again. rick |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Dave Swan Date: 24 Jul 99 - 06:27 PM Oops, sent too soon. Angus, the Lionel stencil has all the elements of style and class in a practical joke. I'm glad it's been perpetuated. Quite a legacy. D. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Dave Swan Date: 24 Jul 99 - 06:23 PM Oh my, where to begin. A cop friend of mine once K-Y jellied the door handles of my emergency vehicle. In the same spirit of public spirited jollity, I waited until he had parked his cop bike on the ambulance dock of a local hospital. Picture concrete troweled to a near mirror surface. I laid a bead of KY the size of the average banana slug under his rear tire. I was there to see him try to take off. Ride 'em cowboy. Made him put his foot down. He knew who it was, I was the one bent over and crying. On the other hand, I am told that if you fold a large inner tube (say fire engine size) in half and sandwich it between the mattress and box springs of a bed you're half way there. Hide and extend a suitable hose to a high pressure air bottle. 4,500 psi will do nicely. About two in the morning open the air bottle. The innocent slumberer is launched across the room as the innertube unfolds. Or so I'm told. D. |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Angus McSweeney Date: 24 Jul 99 - 05:36 PM Les B, Your story reminds me of a great humorist of the 1920's - Robert Benchley (his grandson is the fellow that wrote "Jaws"). Any Mr. Benchley was a very popular columnist - Dave Barry is a modern descendant of his genre. But when he was a young college student he and a couple friends dressed up as workmen and headed for the "toniest" part of town. Walked up to a grand mansion, rang the bell, and when the maid answered, announced "We're here for the davenport!" Well, she was startled and confused, but being a good employee, she showed them to the davenport. They picked it up, carried it out, and thanked her. They then walked over to the next mansion, knocked on the door and, to this startled servant, announced "We're here with the davenport! Where should we put it?" One can only guess as to how that was ever untangled. Another time he went to Grant's tomb in the middle of the night and left two empty milk bottles outside with a note for thge next days delivery! |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Banjer Date: 24 Jul 99 - 07:13 AM The preceding messages are NOT intended to be construed as instructional! They are listed here solely for the entertainment of the reader.DO NOT TRY THEM AT HOME! (However, should you choose to ignore this disclaimer be advised that an M80 has almost as much destructive power when flushed into an upstairs commode at school as does the white phosphourus, in the absence of frogs, garter snakes make good substitutes, and given the price of sugar a few ounces of cola would suffice in the cash drawer!) |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: WyoWoman Date: 24 Jul 99 - 01:41 AM There is much inspiration in this thread. I have yet begun to prank! ww |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Les B Date: 24 Jul 99 - 12:16 AM Myself, I'm prankishly impaired, but I was told this one many years ago and always thought it had a certain touch of finesse. One day, when a street construction crew had gone off to the tavern for lunch, a group of bright college guys with the appropriate hard hats, signage, etc. proceeded to detour traffic for several blocks and ultimately to guide the cars down a dead-end alley, where they were stuck, causing a large grid lock and lots of consternation for the city fathers. The college boys were suspected by the police, but there was no proof. Several weeks later a bona fide construction crew was working in front of the college. Seeing their opportunity, the college guys called in anonymously to the police station and reported that a bunch of college guys were dressed up as workmen and pretending to do road work out in front of the school. Then they ambled out on the lawn and watched the ensuing fracas when the police arrived and tried to arrest the real workers ! |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Banjer Date: 23 Jul 99 - 09:39 PM Bill, is that what folks refer to as "Sweet Revenge?" I love it!!! |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Bill D Date: 23 Jul 99 - 09:31 PM one day, while working my way through college as a grocery checker, I had JUST finished a big rush of orders and was taking a deep breath...when a lady with a HUGE cartfull came heading up the asile..the smartaleck in the next checkstand hopped out of his stall, came in front, and smilingly guided the giant order to MY checkstand! *grump*.. well, about 30 minutes later,he locked up and went on his 15 minute break...when he came back, he quietly resumed checking...until he opened the cash drawer as he finished the first customer...and found the penny bin totally filled with sugar!..Who, ME?..*grin*..(I was a relief checker and had a key) |
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Subject: RE: Come you pranksters, fess up! From: Banjer Date: 23 Jul 99 - 07:43 PM Ah, where to begin....? In my senior year of High School I helped six others put a teacher's VW between two poles in the outside hallway. We actually picked up the car and slid it sideways into that position, havin discovered that the sapcing of th epoles was 5" longer than the car! One of my coworkers always brought a sandwich and two hardboiled eggs to work for his lunch. He got quite a chuckle out of cracking the eggs on his head in order to peel them. I brought two raw eggs and exchanged them for the hardboiled ones. He never did find out who was the cause of his 'egg shammpoo'. Probably just as well, cause he doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor.... Saw this one on the Little Rascals onetime and thought it was a great idea. My fourth grade teacher didn't enjoy the frog in her top center desk drawer, however. (My classmates thought it was neat) Nasty old curmudgeon neighbors can be handled by placing a goodly collection of dog droppings and other unpleasant things in a paper sack, putting same on their front porch, lighting the bag, ringing the doorbell and retiring quickly to a safe vantage point....I could go on, and on and on......I guess I was quite the little hellian in my younger days.... |
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