As seen on Gawker:

Yale Terrorized by Fake Infected Monkeys

A tipster forwarded an email sent by “Yale police” to undergraduates informing them that rhesus monkeys infected with “Motaba virus” had escaped from a research facility. It was a prank.

Some were fooled…



[Yale Daily News]



The prank books of toy designer John Austin:

Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: Build Implements of Spitball Warfare ($11.53 on Amazon)
This humorous MacGyver inspired tactical guide illustrates the full potential of everyday items and their lethal potential to be transformed into a menacing arsenal. Learn to build Shoelace Darts, Clothespin Catapult, Penny Bombs, Airsoft Pen Poppers, Ping Pong Zookas and thirty more inexpensive Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Cubicle Warfare: 101 Office Traps and Pranks ($10.19 on Amazon)
Perfect for every cubicle drone whose eyes are beginning to glaze over from fluorescent lighting and too many burned cups of coffee, Cubicle Warfare has 101 office pranks and traps that will erase office boredom during the daily grind once and for all.

Prank University: The Ultimate Guide to College’s Greatest Tradition ($10.76 on Amazon) (more…)

Submitted by Marcy LaViollette:

My nerdy alma mater only has around 700 students, and yet cast over 1 million computerized votes in a recent Victoria Secret contest, while also spelling out WIBSTR, which stands for “West is Best, Screw the Rest” (a dorm slogan).

HUMOR LIFE: Harvey Mudd 1, Victoria’s Secret 0
by Carl Peaslee
CMC Forum
October 15, 2009

It seems that Harvey Mudd students have taken a special interest in the lingerie industry. That’s right. Our neighbors to the north are up to their brilliant shenanigans once again. Now, I don’t doubt that those Mudders love a school emblazoned pair of panties as much as the next student body but unless my US News and World Report deceives me, I don’t remember Harvey Mudd having OVER A MILLION STUDENTS!

The best part is, they didn’t just rig their own numbers, they catapulted six schools (among them the unlikely Bob Jones and Scripps College) to the top seven spots so that they could spell out the acronym WIBSTR or “West is best screw the rest,” apparently some kind of dorm related boast. (more…)

Fla. college ready for flesh-eating zombie attack
1010WINS
October 12, 2009

Gainesville, Fla. (AP) — No one expects a zombie apocalypse. But the University of Florida is making sure officials are ready for a night of the living dead, just in case.

The school has a plan for responding to the undead on its Web site among outlines for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics.

The exercise lays out how university officials would respond to attacks by “flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals.” It notes that a zombie outbreak might include “documentation of lots of strange moaning.” (more…)

Plastic pink flamingo voted Madison’s city bird
by Broderick Perkins
examiner.com of Tampa Bay
September 3, 2009

Wisconsin’s capital city alders, inspired by what’s become a historic college prank, have named the pink flamingo the city’s official bird.

Not the real feathered variety indigenous to the wilds of Africa, South America, the Caribbean and the Galapagos Islands.

The plastic pink version found on lawns — good, bad and ugly — throughout America.

Madison City Council voted 15-4 this week to give a lawn decoration perhaps the first such distinction, much to the chagrin of some residents and dissenting alders.

The questionable honor was bestowed upon the kitschy ornament because of a 1979 prank by leaders of the University of Wisconsin student government’s Pail and Shovel Party. (more…)

Barrel Monster Artist Sentenced
by Shirley Min
Raleigh MyNC.com
July 21, 2009

Raleigh, N.C. – It wasn’t a political statement about ongoing construction on Hillsborough Street.

It was just some art that was meant to make people smile.

That’s what “Barrel Monster” creator Joseph Carnevale said Tuesday after appearing in a Wake County courtroom on misdemeanor larceny and destruction of property charges.

Watch the video:

(more…)

Update, June 17, 2009: Police fail to see art in monstrous prank, AP [but construction company loves it].

Spotted on Fark by W.J. Elvin III:

N.C. State student accused of creating a ‘monster’
WRAL.com
June 12, 2009

Raleigh, N.C. – Raleigh police arrested a North Carolina State University student last week who was accused of creating a “monster” out of construction barrels and placing it on the side of the road. Authorities charged Joseph Carnevale with larceny for taking materials from a construction site at a roundabout project to create the monster.

Popcorn Prank Lands Conn. College Students In Hot Water
1010WINS
May 12, 2009

New Britain, Conn. (AP) — Officials at Central Connecticut State University don’t see the humor in this prank: burning bags of popcorn in a microwave in a crowded dorm in the middle of the night and tying some doors shut so residents think they’re trapped in a burning building.

Campus police say they arrested three teenagers who purposely burned the popcorn early Monday, setting off a fire alarm in the dorm shortly after 3 a.m.

No one was hurt in the incident in Vance Hall at the New Britain campus. University officials offered counseling to anyone who needed it.

University spokesman Mark McLaughlin said two bags of popcorn were in a microwave on the third floor, and about six room doors were tied shut with fishing line on the fourth and fifth floors. But students were able to squeeze out because the line wasn’t tight, and the smoke apparently wasn’t much of a problem, he said.

“We take this very seriously. It could easily have been something that went terribly wrong,” McLaughlin said. Read the rest of the story here.

photo: ALinkToTheFuture.com

Statue of Liberty may return to Lake Mendota
by Jane Burns
The Capital Times
January 31, 2009

The cold, long winter has at least one good thing going for it: It might mean the return of the Statue of Liberty to Lake Mendota.

The Hoofers, the UW-Madison’s outdoor recreation club, is hoping to bring back the iconic faux statue as part of its Winter Carnival Feb. 16-21.

“It’s looking more and more like it’s going to happen,” said Kyle Olson, the Hoofer Council president and a UW-Madison senior. “There’s a lot of excitement about it.” (more…)

Revealed after 50 years: The secret of the greatest-ever student prank
by Laura Clark
Mail Online
27th June 2008

It was probably the most ingenious student prank of all time.

In June 1958, Cambridge awoke to see a car perched at the apex of an inaccessible rooftop, looking as if it were driving across the skyline.

The spectacle made headlines around the world and left police, firefighters and civil defence units battling for nearly a week to hoist the vehicle back down before giving in and taking it to pieces with blowtorches.

The shadowy group of engineering students who executed the stunt were never identified and the mystery of how they did it has baffled successive undergraduates and provided fodder for countless tourist guides.

Now, 50 years on, the group have reunited to disclose their identities and reveal how they winched an Austin Seven to the top of the university’s 70ft-high Senate House. (more…)

Submitted by Steve Lambert:

Zachary Feinstein has declared for the NBA draft
He has no actual basketball experience!

From Zach’s Web site:

The short story is that I, Zachary Feinstein, have declared for the 2008 NBA Draft. As a 5’8″ 130 pound Caucasian, I am the perfect candidate for professional basketball. Also, I do not play basketball.

You see, I am not currently on my college’s basketball team (Division 3 just for reference) nor did I try out to be. I was at no point on my high school’s basketball team nor did I try out to be. I was at no point on my middle school’s basketball team nor did I try out to be. The last time I was on a basketball team was before Bill Clinton got caught with his pants down.

So there you have it, I, Zach Feinstein, am in the 2008 NBA Draft.

If you do not believe me, go to: draftexpress.com or nbadraft.net for proof (under “unknown players”).

Support Zach Feinstein in Getting Drafted into the NBA
Read through my site, and let’s create a campaign to get the worst player ever to declare for the NBA Draft into the NBA.

I would like to thank everyone for their support, and I will be updating this site periodically.

thanks Michael

Editor’s note: Finally a dean with a sense of humor. The perpetrators did NOT get expelled or arrested!

College Prankster Puts Zebra in Emory Campus Building
by Charles Molineaux
MyFoxAtlanta.com
April 23, 2008

Oxford, Ga. (FOX 5) – Emory University was investigating the appearance of a zebra on the third floor of a building on its Oxford campus Wednesday. Somehow, someone got the animal up there Wednesday morning.

Right in the middle of the crunch before finals, students at Emory Oxford got an impromptu wildlife show, courtesy of a prankster with a sense of tradition.

The sight of an 800 pound zebra stunned students as they watched Newton County Animal Control coax and drag the animal out of Emory Oxford’s historic Seny Hall.

“And everyone’s jaw dropped and I’m looking up and there’s a zebra in the window, tapping its head on the glass. It was ridiculous,” said Emory Oxford Andrew Wilkinson.

Somehow, someone got the zebra, named “Bar Code” up onto the third floor of the building where security guards discovered it Wednesday morning.

The animal’s owner said Bar Code was lured away from his farm, about a half-mile away from the school. (more…)

Submitted by Tim Jackson:

Harvard alum pulls the prank of his life
by Joseph P. Kahn
Boston Globe
March 2, 2008

When the Harvard class of 1959 gathers for its 50th reunion a year from June, they’ll chat about global issues and grandchildren, postretirement pursuits, and the inevitable health concerns. At some point they’re also bound to discuss a subject few thought much about until recently: classmate Arthur Lemay and why he tried to fool them all into thinking he was dead.

In a ruse Mark Twain might have concocted, Lemay, a retired management consultant from Northern California, circulated his own obituary on a Harvard ’59 e-mail listserv last month, then sat back and watched classmates’ reactions. The faux obit followed scores of right-wing polemics Lemay wrote and distributed over the years, e-mails that tweaked and often infuriated his more liberal-minded classmates, virtually none of whom remembered Lemay from their college days, but upon whom he’d managed to make quite an impression recently.

“Arthur knew he was dying as early as September of 2007,” began the death notice, which was signed by Lemay’s wife and posted in late January. Ascribing his death to kidney failure while vacationing in the Caribbean, it contained descriptive touches such as: “He loved to play roles: the agent provocateur, the crazed right-winger, the insane bomber…” And: “He was actually a very reasonable person, not given to extremes. Had you met him, you would find him quite reasonable, sympathetic to liberal views, personable, interesting, and full of information – some of it quite esoteric and obscure.” (more…)

Submitted by ArtofthePrank.com reader David Miller:

Reminiscing about my college days brought back memories of a few enjoyable pranks that occurred at my alma mater long ago which involved moving a very large, very heavy “cheese” sculpture to high places.

Here’s the link to a student article detailing the elaborate planning and execution of these pranks.

The college even offers an award for good pranks. “The Moses Award encourages the college’s long tradition of intelligent and creative pranks and practical jokes.”

Submitted by Marcy LaViollette:

Timeless prank: UW time capsule from ’50s reveals porn from ’70s
By Brian Alexander
Seattle Times staff reporter
April 26, 2007

Here’s something you wouldn’t expect to find inside a time capsule from the 1950s: pornography from the 1970s.

But faculty members at the University of Washington Department of Communications found just that when they opened a half-century-old time capsule Thursday and saw a centerfold and copies of Playboy and Hustler.

Atop the 50-year-old memorabilia were items from the late ’70s and early ’80s: adult magazines, an April Fools’ edition of The Daily, UW’s student newspaper, clip-on ties, women’s underwear, and nearly petrified Twinkies, among other things. (more…)