For every BBC Spaghetti Tree prank, there are a dozen terrible ideas/pranks that go oh-so-wrong. In preparation for this year’s April Fools, here’s what not to do.
Woman texts daughter fake school shooting
In 2014 a Virginia College employee faced charges for sending out a text about a fake school shooting to her daughter. The next text she sent said the shooting wasn’t real but by then the daughter called 911 and police while police arrived at the scene.
British police department tweets opportunity for inmates to win their freedom
The Greater Manchester Police in Radcliffe posted a tweet that in retrospect, was not a great idea. The offer went out to parents with incarcerated children saying they had the opportunity to be 'voted out' of prison.
The British police department later tweeted an apology after they were attacked with complaints.
Football player jokes about drinking and driving
Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin posted a series of tweets joking about how he had been caught drinking and driving in 2015. As he tweeted throughout the day, he apologized for his joke after people condemned him for joking about drinking and driving.
Student uses April Fools’ day as a cover to kill his flat mates
28-year-old Lin Senhao poisoned his flat mate’s water cooler causing him to suffer from multiple organ failure.
Senhao claimed that he only intended to cause his roommate discomfort by putting a toxic chemical into the water cooler. Examination of the victim showed that this was no joke, where he lost his appeal to the death penalty for an intentional homicide.
Alien hoax almost causes a whole town to evacuate
Al Ghad newspaper jokingly ran an article claiming an UFO landed near the town of Jafr in Jordan. This turned into a mass evacuation of 13,000 people when the town mayor fell for the prank and dispatched security forces.