There are pranks that go too far, and then there are those pranks that start out harmless and end with a trip to the emergency room. It’s amazing how much chaos one little plastic cockroach can cause.
Here, pranksters tell the stories of how their innocent jokes got way out of hand. Enjoy! And check out the bottom for even more tales of pranks gone wrong.
1. Right prank, wrong target.
So when I was about 14 I was going to prank my sister in the bathroom by hiding in the cupboard under the sink (it was large) and make scary noises while she was in the shower. Obviously not well thought out, but I was bored.
I knew she was showering soon so I got under there and shut the doors and waited. To my horror, my mom came in and thinking she was all alone promptly began to take a long pee. She then opened the cupboard doors for some reason and found me curled up in the cabinet. I exited hastily with a burning red face and later my dad chewed me out for trying to spy on my sister in the shower. I still feel the horror many many years later.
trowawayyyy
2. A chip of the old block.
When I was around 12, we had a big old fat dog named chip who did nothing but sleep and eat. So one day when my mom was grocery shopping, the dog was laying in the kitchen so I squirted ketchup on him and on the floor and everything.
When my mom came home into the kitchen I pretended to cry and said “Mom! Chip went crazy I had to kill him!”. She legitimately started bawling and and dropped the grocery bag breaking stuff and got on the floor, only to see chip roll over and walk outside. She was pissed and Chip dragged ketchup everywhere.
Hammerdon
3. Trapped in the trunk.
When my older brother was between his freshman and sophomore year in high school, he was taking a summer school class. So every morning he would wake up, shower, eat breakfast and drive to school. So my middle school idea of a prank was to grab his keys while he was in the shower, unlock his trunk, put his keys back, then hide in the trunk and scare him when he went to throw his backpack in the back.
Nope, he doesn’t do that apparently. He just tosses his bag on the front seat and drives to school. So with his radio blasting, he cant hear me try to tell him that I’m in the back. We get to school, and he shuts his car off, so I hit the trunk lid hard once. He goes to check it out and finds me in the back. He laughs, and tells me to have fun on the walk home.
Blashpehemertis
4. Turning the tables too hard.
When I was in high school I borrowed (without permission) my dads car while he was away on business to drive to school. My mom found out and used the second set of keys to take the car back home.
When I came out to find the car gone I started to panic and called my mom confessing everything and saying that the car must have been stolen. Trying to teach me a lesson, she agreed and said I should just go home and wait for her.
I was so devastated thinking that I had ruined my family financially I went home and that my sisters wouldn’t be able to go to college because my family would be broke from something I did (no, I didn’t think about insurance, I was panicking) I ended up going home and taking every pill I could get my hands on trying to kill myself, it was mostly sleeping pills and Tylenol with codeine. (Story continues…)
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Fortunately when I called my mom to tell her how sorry I was and that she wouldn’t have to worry about me doing something like that any more she figured out what was happening and called the ambulance.
The paramedics arrived just as I passed out and they were able to get me to the hospital and save my life.
It took years before my dad forgave my mother for that prank.
MrF33
5. A story to tell your grandkids, maybe…
I met my girlfriend like this. I was 19 and at a music festival, with some friends. One of my friends had a big hand bag, and as a prank after I came back from our tent, I snuck up behind her and took her phone from her bag, right under her arm. I planed to return in a few seconds and ask her why she didn’t answer her phone, then watch her panic for a moment for a evil joke. So I did, and she pulled out her phone and checked it.
In a moment of horror I realised I had pickpocketed a stranger. I spent another 5 hours trying to track her down and explain what had happened.
Happy ending though, I proposed two weeks ago, she said yes.
Elardi
6. Ore-oh no!
My wife’s friends “Oreo’d” her car. Basically they open up the Oreo, lick the icing and place the sticky Oreos all over the car.
It was not her car.
youthminister
7. Always a bridesmaid, never a sucker.
I’m at the age where many of my co-workers and friends are either getting married or popping out kids. Within the past year I’ve been to 5 weddings and held more newborn babies than I ever thought humanly possible. I’m single, so as a result of all this I was constantly getting grilled about when I was going to get hitched or have a kid.
When April Fool’s day rolled around, I made an announcement on Facebook that I was not only getting married to my “special someone” but that we were also expecting. A torrent of messages and comments began to roll in, everything from “Congrats!” to “I hope our kids will be best of friends and play together!” and “I’m SO happy you’re finally settling down and starting a family.”
My good friends knew better and were in on the troll, so they rolled with it and started to ask about names for the baby and wedding dates. My acquaintances and co-workers took the bait hard.
When I finally announced April Fools, the congrats switched to a flood of hate mail. When I came into work, those who were pregnant were especially miffed and told me not to joke about big life events. Some just told me they were really disappointed. One dis-invited me to her baby shower.
No one bothers to ask when I’m getting married anymore.
science_v
8. I smoke Acme brand.
My brother and I discovered a joke shop on a day trip. My mother was a smoker and we found those explosive cigarette firecrackers. We both bought them knowing how hilarious they would, but we only had the one person to prank. We both targeted her by pack randomly.
So she is driving along and the first one explodes, and she freaks out. Wasn’t as funny as we thought. Later on another one explodes and she has a minor melt down. She flips out on both of us, we don’t dare say a word, but we know that there is probably one more exploding cigarette in the pack. Our dread was probably worse than hers. (Story continues…)
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About 50 miles from home, the last cigarette explodes. If she yelled at us, it might have been better. Instead, she relit it and kept driving, with tears going down her face. That next hour was excruciating as mom drove and cried.
DarrenEdwards
9. I’m sure it’s still bugging her.
When I was in high school, this guy I was friends with had a very realistic looking cockroach. It was huge and glossy and rubbery. It looked very real.
He gave it to me for some reason, so one day while my mother is blow drying her hair in the bathroom (her head upside down) I sneakily placed the roach on her bare foot and stepped back. She FREAKED! She probably jumped up in the air 5 ft. and screamed and cursed.
When she saw me laughing, she realized it wasn’t real and proceeded to hit me with the blow dryer. She was so pissed that I don’t even think she intended to really hurt me, but she did. I ended up with a huge lump on my head and a major headache all day. She hates roaches, so I guess I should have seen that coming, but damn, she hit me hard. Don’t prank your mother…
oodlesofnoodles4u
10. Crayon catastrophe.
When I was 4 in kindergarten, a fellow kindergardner convinced me it would be hilarious if I put an upright crayon on a chair just as someone was sitting down…
That turned out very bad.
Blood was shed.
mrmdc
11. Here comes the flood.
My friend and I decided to prank on of our guy friends who lived in the dorm across from ours. We snuck up to his hallway when he was relaxing in his room and filled like entirely filled a 32 gallon trash can with water and leaned it up against his door.
We knocked and ran away…us being the drunken idiots we were forgot how much water 32 gallons is, and it flooded the entire room, ruining pretty much ALL of his belongings…. He was not pleased.
punk_rock_princess
12. Mistaken identity issues.
When I was a teenager my buddy Shawn and I loved to prank call people. We would just say stupid stuff and laugh ourselves silly. We never said anything mean or hurtful. Just being dumb.
So, one weekend he was staying over and we decided to make some calls. I was talking to some woman and was making her laugh when she asked if I was Alonzo. I said yes and she yelled to someone with her, “Alonzo is trying to prank us and I knew it was him!” (Story continues…)
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So now I’m like this is awesome! She thinks I’m someone else! So the other woman gets on the phone and is talking to me like I’m Alonzo… which is her husband! This is getting even better! So I play along and pretend to be Alonzo. After about a minute or two of making them laugh the woman says, “All joking aside, hun, is Katie home yet?” I then decide to break my own rule and say to her “SHE’S DEAD!” and then hang up the phone. Shawn and I laughed so hard for like 10 minutes.
Then it hits me. I feel my blood drain and I go white. Shawn is like, ‘What’s wrong man?’ One of my dad’s good friends is named Alonzo. And he has a daughter named Katie. To this day I think I pranked his wife at work and told her that their daughter was dead. I never had the courage to ask if it was them I pranked years ago.
cephalic
13. We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of flatulence.
When my dad was in the sixth form at school, his friend decided to play a prank on the headmaster. He placed a timed fart machine under the stage where the headmaster would be standing, and timed it for his speech.
When the time came for the speech, it turned out the it was for someone who had passed away.
tomahol
14. Well, guess I’ll just stay here then…
When I was 12, I wanted to get back at my brother for beating me in Mario Kart so I hid in his closet so I could jump out and scare him.
Since he thought nobody else was home, he brought his girlfriend over. They went to his room with me still hiding. They got a bit… intimate. By the time I realized what was going to happen it was too late for me to be able to get out. So I had to stay… through the whole thing. I had to wait until they wore each other out so much they fell asleep together before I could sneak out.
That was a long couple of hours.
ohmy_throwaway
15. Run://AngryDad.exe
When I was in high school my dad bought his first Mac (mid 90’s). He was very protective of it. I discovered the joys of ResEdit and made a very official dialog box that popped up at start-up saying his system was corrupt. I went out that night and completely forgot about it. (Story continues…)
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I return a few hours later and he is pissed off. He spent the entire night troubleshooting his “corrupt” system. He starts yelling at me asking what I did to break his computer. He did not find any humor in my practical joke.
00OO00
16. The family jewels.
When I was a little kid, I thought for some reason it would be hilarious to sneak under the table at dinner time and punch my dad straight in the nuts. To this day I vividly remembering grinning and pulling back my fist and letting go with all the velocity of a four year old.
My dad proceeded to take me around the corner and give me the second worst punishment of my life. That learned me.
deleted
17. Painting a target on your back.
When I was about 13 I was eating grapes in the back seat of the car and my mom asked for a grape. There was also a jar of paintballs beside me, and I gave her a paintball instead thinking she would realize it wasn’t a grape…yeah I got grounded.
Doug2230
18. My computer came down with a case of mischief.
My boyfriend changed the desktop background on his mom’s laptop to two guys having a peeing contest.
When we talked to her later in the day, she had destroyed her computer trying to change it back. It wouldn’t even turn on. We guess that she downloaded a program to change it, and it was one of those “Oh, you’re too stupid to change your desktop background? VIRUS!!” kind of things. She claims she has no idea what happened.
OlivePie
19. Boys your mother warned you about.
When my sister was in high school – around the age of 15 or 16, she was dating an older guy who my parents didn’t necessarily approve of. They liked him well enough, but didn’t really consider him much more than a high school fling. He had a pretty bad reputation around the school system.
My mom is an educational assistant who works with children that have varying levels of disabilities in the school system. She knew of the boyfriend through the discussions other teachers would have with her – things like “Do you know who your daughter is with?” “He did this and that” so my mom was skeptical but very good about keeping an open mind.
On April Fool’s Day, my sister bought a pregnancy kit and painted on a positive test. She purchased a superfine paintbrush and the appropriate paint from a craft shop. She wrote a fake note about how sorry she was and how she should have been more careful – and then proceeded to leave the note and positive pregnancy test in my mom’s mailbox at the school. (Story continues…)
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I found out about the aftermath around 2:30 when my dad called me at school and demanded my teachers let me go home. My sister was waiting for me in the office and we walked home to meet my mom – who had taken the day off after finding the note, and my dad, who had driven 60 minutes home from work.
Apparently my mom found the note after lunch, rapidly dismissed the notion that it was an April Fool’s day prank, and proceeded to have a breakdown at work. I wasn’t involved in the prank at all, but my sister was gradually reprimanded for a few months.
warrickneff
20. At least she can appreciate your technique.
You all must know about those little snappers right? The white balls you chuck at the ground and they make a loud snap? When I was 10, I taped a bunch to the bottom of the toilet seat, where the little feet are to keep it off the toilet bowl.
Our toilet was surrounded by 3 walls, like a mini closet. Well my mom was the first one to go in and sit down. When she did, the snappers all exploded and made her jump, get wedged between the toilet and the wall on the right side and piss herself… She was so angry at me after that but I still laugh to this day about it. Mom has told me now though that it was a really smart idea.
SheWolf23
21. The bad son.
My brother came over to visit me at my house few months ago, we were jamming out and just chilling when suddenly my brother finds my roommates police issued handcuffs. He slapped them on without thinking and after a while found out they weren’t fake.
He started to freak and started running around trying to find bolt cutters – none around. Called the roommate and he laughed and said the only key was with him and he was still a few hours from coming home.
So what did we do? Took a picture of him in handcuffs and sent it to mom. My brother called her on my phone and told her that he was being arrested for possession of marijuana. She flipped and after berating him for being caught AGAIN she hung up.
Well, we laughed and I tossed my phone on the couch and tried to pick the handcuff lock. Where it went wrong was my phone was on silent across the room while my mom was calling continuously to tell me she left work and was on her way to pawn some jewelry for bail. When I finally saw the missed calls and texts and returned them explaining the joke she called to give me an ear full and excommunicated us for a month.
Bassplayer9292
22. You scream, I scream.
My mom LOVES Mr. Softee (ice cream truck) to the point of insanity. So one time I downloaded the little jingle that the truck plays as it goes down the street, got my dad in on it, and we went around the outside of the house blasting the song. She ran all over the place wondering where Mr. Softee was, all excited.
Her hopes and dreams were crushed when she figured it out. She cried.