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Rhinos in Politics, Disappearing Rooms & More: Would You Fall for These 5 Unbelievable Historical Pranks?
Perhaps the new Scare Tactics will boast some pranks to rival these crazy historical pranks.
The beloved spooky prank show from the early 2000s Scare Tactics is coming back for a new series spearheaded by Jordan Peele. The new Scare Tactics, which will put unsuspecting, everyday people in outlandish situations that are scary (and ultimately silly) will debut on USA Network on October 4.
To mark the occasion, let’s look back at some of the craziest pranks in history. We’ll know in a couple of weeks if the new Scare Tactics will feature any crazy pranks that will go down in history like the following five practical jokes.
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And after that, be on the lookout for Scare Tactics, a heart-pounding show that offers a cinematic approach to the hidden camera concept. Set up by their friends and family, these unwitting participants are put in hilariously twisted scenarios with fully immersive stories that blur the lines of reality, horror, and comedy. As they navigate one unreal decision after another, audiences will laugh, jump, and be left breathless for more.
The Bottle Conjurer
In England, in early 1749, newspapers advertised what promised to be an astounding, un-missable show: A performer would be coming to London’s famed Haymarket Theatre on January 16 to do amazing feats onstage, the most incredible of which was advertised as him fitting his entire body into an ordinary wine bottle in full view of the audience, according to the newspaper ads.
Naturally, the good (and gullible) people of London wanted to see this, so when the day came, the theater was packed.
However, the mystery performer did not show up, let alone contort himself into a bottle. The crowd rioted, tearing apart and burning much of the theater.
The identity of the prankster isn’t known for certain, but it’s believed to be John, the second Duke of Montagu, as he supposedly claimed he could fill a theater full of gullible people who would believe anything. According to this theory, the phony newspaper ad was part of a bet to test his theory.
Cacareco the Rhino
In 1958, São Paulo was in somewhat rough shape, with unpaved streets and open sewers. Not feeling confident with the various politicians who were promising to fix things, the voters of São Paulo turned to a five-year-old female rhinoceros at the local zoo named Cacareco, which translates to “rubbish.”
As one voter put it, according to a TIME article from the era, “Better to elect a rhino than an ass.”
A journalist suggested running her as a candidate, some students printed out hundreds of thousands of ballots with Cacareco on them, and the rhino received more than 100,000 votes in the city council election — enough to make her the winner in a landslide. However, Cacareco did not take office, as she was ultimately disqualified because she was, you know, a rhinoceros.
Spaghetti Harvest
One of the most famous April Fool’s Pranks of all time really took advantage of the fact that, before as recently as a couple of decades ago, people really had no concept of “foreign” food.
If residents of the United Kingdom were just a little more worldly in 1957, they might have known what spaghetti was and not fallen for a 3-minute hoax report broadcast on Panorama, a BBC current affairs show, that purported to show a family in Switzerland “harvesting” strands of spaghetti that were “growing” from trees.
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Although thought of as a staple food nowadays, spaghetti wasn’t as well known in the U.K. back then, and lots of people called the BBC with questions about how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. (And, to be fair, there were also plenty of people who knew enough that they also phoned the BBC to call B.S.)
A Beetle Hangs From the Golden Gate Bridge
In February 2001, there was something different about San Francisco’s famous landmark. A busted, 30-year-old Volkswagen Beetle was spotted dangling from the Golden Gate Bridge, swaying in the fog about 100 feet above the bay below. Authorities were not amused and the Coast Guard had to halt ship traffic under the bridge (and bug), but eventually a group of engineering students from the University of British Columbia fessed up: they were behind the prank.
Hanging cars off of bridges is actually something of a tradition for engineering students at the University of British Columbia, and a fax from the hoaxers explained that the stunt was intended to "draw attention to the masterful feats of professional engineers and to celebrate the skills of the tradespeople who built the bridges."
About four hours after it was somehow first suspended under the bridge, authorities cut it down, and the car sank to the bottom of the bay.
A Disapearing Caltech Dorm Room
The California Institute of Technology is famous (or infamous) for its pranks, the most well-known of which was the 1961 Rose Bowl prank, when Caltech students snuck into some cheerleaders’ hotel room and changed the instruction cards so that fans in the crowd who were holding up big colored signs flipped them in such a way that it spelled out CALTECH — nevermind that Caltech was decidedly not playing in the Rose Bowl.
Another famous prank had some students altering the famous Hollywood sign so that it read Caltech.
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And yet the school’s website lists what might be an even crazier, albeit smaller-scale, prank. In 1972, an undergraduate left for vacation for a week.
Big mistake.
He came back to discover that his dorm room was gone. Other students had filled the room with more than a ton of crumpled paper before plastering over the door, repainting the hallway wall, and even adding a lighting fixture to the spot where this poor student’s room had once been.
When does Scare Tactics premiere?
Scare Tactics is scheduled to premiere on USA Network on Friday, October 4 at 10 p.m. ET. The debut episode will also air simultaneously across Bravo, SYFY and E!
