Nowadays, some people spend a fortune pulling off the perfect prank. There are even those making millions pranking others. I’ve come across videos of kids covering their parents’ entire kitchen in peanut butter, creating a fake news broadcast convincing their folks there’s a nuclear attack, smashing expensive televisions, faking parental affairs and more. I’ll take a “little” fright over that stuff. Any day… Not everyone is brave enough to push their parents to the edge. But for those who are, Bored Panda has compiled a list of some of the best times adult children refused to grow up, pranked their parents and made it out alive. We also spoke to an expert about the science behind practical jokes. They’d woken to a plume of black smoke rising from the Mt Edgecumbe volcano, which lies about 16 miles away. The volcano was considered dormant, having last spewed lava more than 4,000 years ago. So it’s only natural, people would be freaking out. As they continued to frantically alert firefighters and police, the Coast Guard sent out a helicopter to investigate. But when the pilot hovered over the crater, he noticed something strange. Where was the lava? Upon closer inspection, he saw a huge pile of charred black tires. And then, the words APRIL FOOL spray-painted boldly across the snow next to them. Proof that some people will, quite literally, go to great heights to pull off a good prank. While he did make international news, “Porky” didn’t get into trouble for his shenanigans because he’d informed police of his plans beforehand. He’d just forgotten to let the Coast Guard know. Oops! And once the town realized they’d been tricked, most people erupted into laughter. “Pranks can seed inside jokes that friends and groups share and remember forever. They are frequently part of reminiscing, and when recalled decades later, participants are likely to be amused and laugh all over again,” wrote Dr. Kathleen Pike, a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Global Mental Health WHO Collaborating Centre at Columbia University. “Pranks are a form of humor. In fact, the proposed cognitive structure of humor can be nicely demonstrated inside most pranks. Humor requires two disparate views of one social situation, with at least one view containing a social violation,” he said. “So, for example, my children, during their grade school years, once planted a plastic mouse in a cupboard to scare their mother. This scenario created two social views of one situation: 1) the perception that a real mouse was in the cupboard and 2) there was just a piece of plastic in the cupboard. The social violation pertains to an attempt to unnecessarily scare another person.” Many psychologists agree that practical jokes are a subtle form of “play-fighting” and research shows we tend to prank those we are closest to. Pike explains it this way: “Pranks are an investment in a relationship and pulling off a good prank takes planning, imagination, and effort.” And while we don’t need to be as elaborate as “Porky” and take years to plan them, there are plenty of hilarious and harmless pranks to pull on the people you love. Not too long ago, her son went for his umpteenth tattoo. He arrived back home while my friend was in the middle of a (remote) work meeting and flashed his newly inked arm. He’d had the words “Respect, Trust, Loyalty” etched forever into his skin. She silently gestured how much loved it and continued her meeting. Her son then casually removed his cap, to reveal the words TRUST emblazoned across his forehead in big, bold letters. Needless to say, my friend’s meeting came to an abrupt halt as she flew out of the chair and lunged towards him, shouting profanities that we’d rather not repeat here. My friend later told me it took her about ten seconds to realize she’d been pranked and another one minute to fully calm down. Today, they laugh about it “all the time”. The dictionary states: “A prank was once more serious than it is now, not a practical joke nor a piece of mischief but rather some wicked or malicious act. For example, the 17th-century biblical commentator John Trapp described a person’s murder of their brother and sister as ‘lewd pranks’.” “The more serious prank failures occur when the prankster’s intent is flawed from the start. In these situations, the practical jokes aren’t jokes at all. They are mean-spirited forms of social aggression, bullying, harassment, and exclusion,” said Pike. “However, pranks can often be selfish since they frequently provide a disproportionate sense of pleasure for the creators of the prank, and usually less joy for the target. Having said this, some individuals enjoy the attention, especially if the prank is mostly harmless,” he added. Follow Bored Panda on Google News! Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda! Please use high-res photos without watermarks Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
