They say laughter is the best medicine, and it's true.
Sometimes, the laughter comes from a good joke or well-timed pun. Other times, a comedy show or accidental fall may elicit laughter.
And sometimes, pranks are used to elicit laughter.
The thing about pranks is, sometimes they're funny, but other times they're mean. The best pranks are the ones that do seem mean but induce enjoyment from all parties.
Redditors have seen it all and are excited to share their experiences of the evilest pranks they've pulled off or seen pulled off.
As I said, some are funny, some are mean, and some are both. All are great to read about, though!
It all started when Redditor Adventure84 asked:
“What evil prank have you pulled off?”
Pay For Your Crimes
"People in school used to always take my Gatorade. So I took an empty bottle, filled it with dyed salt water, and let them take my drink. Not gonna lie, it was hilarious watching one person to spit salt water in the middle of class only for their unbelieving friend to do the same."
– mc_freak2013
The Day Before The Wedding
"My coworkers in the Chicago office asked me to bring back a phone book and the hotel stationary from my business trip to Kansas City. They were preparing for another coworker's bachelor party for the night before the wedding. The groom was known for drinking to an extent that was considered legendary. After a night of drinking, he woke up on the morning of his wedding in a hotel room. He checked the nightstand and found the Kansas City phone book. the desk was stocked with KC stationary. His friends had clued the front desk staff in on what was happening and convinced them to answer his room phone "Good Morning and welcome to the Kansas City Holiday Inn." It was 5 hours till the wedding, and he was actually only a couple miles from the venue, but the freakout was epic!"
– fredzout
It Moves On Its Own
"I have an extra mouse in my desk drawer at work- I have the USB plugged in to the docking station of the obnoxious guy a couple cubes away. On days he is particularly obnoxious I will take out the extra mouse and move it around every few minutes... he has never realized because it’s plugged into the docking station and not his laptop. He has even had the laptop replaced. Never noticed... it brings me to tears silently laughing sometimes... I have to be careful not to over do it..."
– doodlewacker
Inanimate Stalker
"I've posted this before but I made a friend believe she was being followed by a garden gnome. For years. Many of her friends are involved plus other helpers. She shows up at a B&B in Scotland (that we'd recommended) and there was a gnome in the garden, and it looked exactly like the gnome that'd briefly turned up in her yard. Then she saw it on her way to work. Then in Provence. And Germany. It really did look like the same gnome."
"It was."
– Kevin_Uxbridge
Sugar Or Spice
"Mom can't tolerate sweet things. Since she can remember, she never ate sweets. When i was 6 or so, during breakfast, mom left her newly brewed coffee on the table. My older brother encouraged me to put more sugar as a prank. So i did. Mom came back, stirred and than drank and spit out a rocket. We started laughing saying it was a prank, explaining that we put extra sugar in it. She looked at us as if we were stupid. Apparently i put salt instead. Her coffee was at sea salt level."
– Morilicious
Soda Replacement
"We had a very annoying coworker that couldn't be fired because he was related to the owner/CEO. He had the same exact lunch every day of the week that he brought in a zipper lunchbag: A tunafish sandwich, a sugar-free jello pudding, a can of diet pepsi. He'd put that in the common-area work fridge."
"One of the guys in my department (I was the IT Director) decided to just see how long we could fu=*ck with, oh, let's call him Scott since that was his name."
"Scott got there at 7:00am every day and had lunch at 12:00 on the dot."
"So, starting the first week, my guy (let's call him Dave) would steal his cold soda at about 9:00am and replace it with a warm one. So it would get cold-ish with the 3-hours in the fridge, but not the ICE cold that Scott was expecting."
"Second week, he stole and replaced the Diet Pepsi at 10:00."
"Third week, at 11:00am."
"Fourth week at 11:45."
"Now what was hilarious is that Scott was so dumb he didn't realize THE REST OF HIS FOOD WAS COLD. It was just the Soda that was warm."
"The last week, Scott put the soda in the freezer at 7:00am. Dave found the soda and swapped in a warm one at like 11.55am."
"Scott was getting madder and madder about this. What's amusing is that almost every other person in the company had already figured out what was going on without having to even be told (it was an engineering firm packed with PEs). And they ALL hated Scott."
– dramboxf
Cultural Norms
"I lived in Korea for a bit. When my mom came to visit I told my Korean girlfriend it was an American custom to greet older women by touching elbows. I told my mom the same story about Korean customs. It was a thing of beauty. They were not pleased."
– wafflepark
"In India we touch the feet of our elders to get their blessings. I wonder if someone is pranking us since the last 5000 years. That cheeky motherf**ker."
– vspj
Power Of Suggestion
"I used to work for a cruise line. A passenger asked if the crew lives on the ship full time. I and my co-worker explained that no, the crew leaves every night to fly back to Miami and then returns each morning. She walked away satisfied. After that cruise was over, our manager was sharing the passenger evaluations with us and was confused about one in particular. It was a woman who had stayed on deck 14 and had complained that she couldn’t sleep at night because of the noise of the crew helicopter."
"Fact 1: 1,200 crew do not leave every night but do live on the ship"
"Fact 2: that ship didn’t even have a helipad"
"Question: wtf was she hearing every night"
– persistent_polymath
I Swear It Was There!
"My mum's laptop wallpaper was a picture of her granddaughter. I copied the picture 100 times and made her wallpaper a slide show of the same picture over and over again, so the file would change but nothing would change visibly on the monitor. The pictures would change every 10 seconds. On one of the images I painted a tiny little curly moustache on her. So randomly for 10 seconds my niece would have a moustache. My mum thought she was either losing her mind or had a computer virus and everytime the moustache popped up, it was gone by the time she tried to show anyone."
– Troidin
What's Lucky Charms Without The Charms?
"Picked out every last marshmallow from my sister's box of lucky charms. Then took a photo of me eating a bowl of just charms, printed it, and put in the bottom of the bag. I then sealed the bag back up, hot glued the box and back in the pantry it went."
– CarnivorousConifer
I would NOT tolerate that last one!
Sleepovers are a fun rite of passage that allows kids to have some overnight fun with their besties without their parents around.
And while they are called sleepovers, sleeping is the last thing that ever happens at the overnighter.
Whether they engage in pillow fights or share scary ghost stories, the event is an opportunity to let kids be kids and engage in plenty of opportunities for mischiefs.
But how far can they go with their rambunctious night of fun?
That's what Redditor skep_JoJoFan wanted to know and asked:
"What's the most f'ked up thing you did in a sleepover?"
People recalled some of their NSFW memories at a sleepover.
Making A Dirty Connection
"In the Mid-Late 90’s, my brother got really into the anarchists cookbook and learned how to tap into neighbors landlines from a box on the pole using a touch tone phone and some connectors from RadioShack."
"We’d have friends sleep over (we are close in age), and we’d sneak out and He’d hook a phone up so we could call phone sex lines from outside a neighbors house in the bushes."
"I still wonder if they disputed the charges or if the wife just thought the husband was calling 1-900-big-t*ts at 2am."
– MKE_likes_it
You Always Remember Your First Porn
"Raided my friend’s dad’s Playboy mags. Then my friend showed me a porn video. Full disclosure: this was early 80s."
– nerdmoot
One Traumatized Kid
"I don’t remember what we were looking for, but me and another friend went through our buddy’s parent’s bedroom drawers and found a VHS tape. We were curious and idiotic so we popped the tape in to see what was on it. Our buddy walked in while we were watching his parents have sex. His scream was the most shocking/horrifying thing I have heard to this day."
– AlwaysMooning
The bathroom was where the action was.
Toilet Clogger
"More embarrassing than f'ked up."
"Accidently clogged the toilet at friend 'X's house. There was no plunger and the toilet was filling rapidly. I panicked and ran to my friend who promptly called for his dad. His dad takes one look and yells from the bathroom, 'Jesus, 'X'! How big of a sh*t did you take?!' It took years before I went back to his house."
– VTMike802
Way Off Target
"visiting a friends house for the first time and i couldn’t find the bathroom (i was about 10) during a sleepover. in the middle of the night, dark, confused, i pissed in the closet."
– Syonoq
Sewage Soak
"I clogged the toilet at a friend's house in the middle of the night. It started to overflow and there was no plunger. I woke up my friend, who then woke his parents. Turned out that the water that had overflowed had soaked through the floor and was dripping into the kitchen. His mom started trying to collect the dripping water downstairs while his dad was on clog duty."
"I never saw a plunger that night. What I did see was my friend's dad elbow deep in sh*t water pulling out a wad of sh*t and toilet paper. The floor was covered. We had to get that cleaned up. More sh*t water. By this time his sister was awake and came to investigate."
"I haven't talked to them in over 20 years."
– CaptainDunkaroo
The Water Bed
"I pissed on the air mattress and my friends mom asked if a raccoon broke in."
– catsrufd
Accidents happen.
A Crime Scene
"Got a bloody nose... it was dark and I didn't know the house, so I stuck near the walls and went down the hallway and found the bathroom. Got the bleeding to stop, cleaned up, went back to sleep."
"In the morning, the mom came in frantic making sure everyone was alive after she saw smeared, bloody handprints all the way down the hallway..."
– xar42
Hatchet, Incoming!
"In Boy Scouts, I was the morning cook, meaning I woke up before anyone else to chop wood, make fire, and get water boiling. I grab the hatchet and start splitting a log into little splinters for kindling. It was cold and dewy. The hatchet slipped from my hand mid upward-swing and went flying… to the tent circle. It seriously flew 10-15 yard and fell straight down though the roof of a tent, where 4 scouts were sound asleep."
"I’m not sure how long I waited to hear someone start screaming. I probably sat there in terrified anticipation for over a minute. Then I was worried someone might be hurt so I crawled over to that ten where the hatchet landed. I super quietly unzipped the flap, and saw it landed in a bag of clothes very close to some kids head. I snuck in, grabbed the hatchet, left the tent, zipped it back up, and finished breakfast."
"I heard them at breakfast complaining that “the raccoons” has ruined their perfectly nice tent by clawing a hole in it."
– brreckelhoff
Unplanned Tree-Trimming
"Threw up on my cousins Christmas tree in the middle of the night at her house. I still get sh*t for that"
– Person31905
Self-Traumatizing
"Played with matches. For years afterward thought I'd burned my aunt and uncle's house down. I was staying with them, my cousin and I were lighting matches in the kitchen and throwing them in the sink to put them out. The head of one flew off and landed in the shelving unit by the sink, still smoking but when we looked for it, we couldn't find it. It was the 80s so all those 'kids, don't play with matches' ads were everywhere. Hours later we were awakened by my aunt telling us to get out of the house because it was on fire. Watched their house burn to the ground and was terrified to tell them what we'd been doing earlier. I just knew we'd done it. Carried that guilt for years. When I was around 15ish, which was many years later, I finally told my aunt. She started laughing and after realizing I'd been thinking this the whole time, hugged me and explained it had been wiring in the back bedroom. I was an adult before I finally understood, after learning about how fire marshals investigate fires that it wasn't just an assumption they'd made and could let go of that guilt. So I guess, technically, the most screwed up thing I did on a sleepover was traumatize myself for years."
– HoosierKittyMama
Saved By The Friend
"In high school I passed out super drunk on my back at a friend's house and started throwing up in my sleep. Luckily my friend heard what was happening and woke me up and rolled me over before I had a chance to asphyxiated."
– x_cLOUDDEAD_x
Curious prepubescents don't tend to have a filter.
Show And Tell
"We had a coed church group sleepover at a Vermont farm."
"I was 13 and recently got a fake testicle (I had my other testicle removed due to an accident)."
"I was getting people to feel my balls and take bets on which one was the real one."
– Aol_awaymessage
Now Let Us Observe
"My friend and I were 11 or 12. His sister was about 14. She announced that she'd never seen a penis in person before and wanted to. Basically, it was a show me yours and I'll show you mine thing. Except it was directed at me and my friend. Which makes sense, I guess. If she'd never seen one before, why not try to look at two at once?"
"Ground rules were set. You can look for as long as you want or as close as you want BUT NO TOUCHING."
"After it was over, we never did that again, never spoke of it again or anything else."
– OhYeahThrowItAway
The Forgotten Buddy
"Walked home while everyone was asleep. Didn't tell my friend, didn't tell their parents, didn't tell my parents, just crawled out a window at my friends house and crawled in a window at my own. Went to bed. Not a single person looked for me in the morning."
– DustiestSquid2
Maybe it's the fact that kids are given the rare opportunity to be away from their parents for a night that leads them to believe they can get away with anything–even though they are most likely under the supervision of other adults.
And while it seems like these Redditors recalled a fun time in their lives, I can only imagine what the parents were going through while cleaning up after the many bathroom disasters left by their young houseguests.
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People Share The Prank Message They'd Leave On A Cave Wall If They Could Travel Back 100,000 Years
Ever feel like traveling through time?
Ever think time travel gives you the perfect opportunity for an epic prank?
Then take notes—ideas ahead.
Redditor emclouds asked people to ponder:
"You suddenly travel back 100,000 years to a cave that will eventually be discovered by archeologists, what do you write on the wall to mess with them?"
It's A Sign
"Find out the exact person who will discover said cave, figure out their address, write their address with a specific date, watch them freak out all day."
- TheDonutMan55
"then add 'We will come for you'."
- HeyImZhen
Stephen Would Have Laughed
"My sincerest apologies to Mr. Hawking for missing his party."
"It appears I overshot."
- Nyxu
GiphyPlanetoid Revenge
"A model of our solar system, with an arrow pointing to Pluto saying 'the key'."
- lakewood2020
"Arrow pointing to Pluto saying, 'It's a planet!'"
- SuperCerealShoggoth
Perspective
"Draw a picture of Earth from space."
- CarkillNow
"Draw it as Pangea to really confuse them."
- Gandolf794
"Signed: 'Thug lyfe 3.14159265358979323' and add that S symbol from the 90s..."
- DarrelBunyon
GiphyOminous
"If you know the date it will be discovered add 'We will be back for our planet' and put it say 20 years ahead of that date."
- nerys71
Even More Ominous
"We have used the last of Earth's magic to seal away their dimension and leave you this message in the language of your time."
"Proceed no further."
"You must not destroy the barrier."
"If released they will bring the downfall of your species as they have done to ours."
"DO NOT BREAK THE BARRIER"
- YeahButUmm
Oops...
"E = MC2 + (chip off piece of wall)"
- gotwired
"Dark matter is comprised of—(graffiti painted over the answer)"
- NoStepOnMe
GiphyClueless
"Congratulations, you have found the second clue."
"To find the third and final clue, go back to the first clue and read it backwards."
- steeple_fun
We're Not Saying It Was Aliens
"A bunch of stick-figure guys with spears, running away from a flying saucer that's shooting lasers at them."
- Wadsworth_McStumpy
GiphySo, what message would you leave?
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I admit, I am not a fan of pranks.
I just don't find them particularly fun or funny, as it were.
The problem? People can and do take them too far without regard for how they affect other people.
This means that some pranks cross the border from devious to malicious quite easily.
Consider what you're about to read–some of these might give you pause.
People shared their thoughts after Redditor ElectricBubblegum_ asked the online community:
"What’s a 'prank' someone has done that was straight up malicious?"
"I had broken my ankle..."
"I had broken my ankle a few months earlier and had only just started walking around without a medical boot and crutches. I didn’t need crutches, but I still had them handy in case I got tired. I didn’t have a noticeable limp, but I was definitely still learning to walk again."
"Anyway my 'friend' thought that it would be hilarious to trip me, and see me fall on my face. I caught myself, but twisted my bad ankle in the process. I went to the hospital that night to find out that I’d be wearing the medical boot for another month."
dring157
Wow.
I hope you pressed charges against this person.
They should have paid all of your medical bills.
"I had dislocated my leg..."
"I had dislocated my leg and a girl who is now a paramedic, thought it would be funny to take my crutches away and force me to walk on it when I wasn't ready."
celestial97
She's now a paramedic?
Sounds like someone who needs to be reported to their employer.
"A cousin thought..."
"A cousin thought it would be funny to add heaps of extra chilli powder to the food my grandma prepared for about 15 guests wasting all her effort and the ingredients."
falling_for_joon
This is just depressing.
Now I'm thinking of all the delicious food that had to be thrown away.
"I'm allergic to cilantro..."
"I'm allergic to cilantro and I went to a restaurant where the waiter didn't believe me. He put 'no cilantro' instead of 'allergic to cilantro' on the ticket. One tiny leaf got into my food since they didn't have a clean work area and I had to use my epi-pen."
"The owner appogized and the waiter was fired, but I still don't like to eat at Mexican or Thai restaurants now since I'm paranoid someone else won't believe me."
WeaponXX23
Don't blame you for being cautious!
There is a special place in hell for people who don't take food allergies seriously.
"Had a friend..."
"Had a friend who is allergic to spicy food. He told me back when he was a student, his classmate pranked him by adding chili to his food. Ended up hospitalizing him, and the prankster's parents had to pay a 5-digit sum for his hospital fees."
BlitzAceSamy
I think I would have them cough up significantly more money but I hope that experience taught his classmate a valuable lesson.
"I liked this guy..."
"I liked this guy for five years and he knew it. One day he asked me out, my dream come true. After a week of dating he told me he was ending it and that he only dated me because of a prank his friends dared him to do."
"The worst thing is that they were my friends too. 'Were' being the key word."
Sad-Feedback-3970
Glad none of these people are your friends anymore!
You're so much better off.
"My ex decided it would be funny..."
"My ex decided it would be funny to pretend to break up with me. Sat me down in the living room and said we needed to have a serious talk because he thinks it’s time we go separate ways."
"I suspected it wasn’t true but he wouldn’t let up until he saw a reaction of shock and devastation. Then he laughed and said I was too sensitive when I didn’t find it funny."
I can see why this person is an ex!
Throw him in the garbage and start all over again.
"My maternal grandma..."
"My maternal grandma would replace people's shampoo with Nair as a 'prank. She was a terrible person."
KeepYourDemonsIn
Yeah, I think I can see that.
How cruel.
"When I first started working..."
"When I first started working offshore about 20 years, this guy put hot sauce in the headband of my hard hat before work. And when I started sweating after about 15 minutes of working I thought I was having a brain aneurysm."
notnomad19
This would really upset me.
And that's terrifying.
"I was physically sick..."
"My (at the time) best friend having her boyfriend send me flirty messages. I was physically sick worrying over how to break it to her that her year long relationship was with a dickhead, and she thought it was the funniest thing ever."
lichnella
Glad to hear this person is no longer your best friend.
Wow.
See what I was saying earlier about pranks? Why would anyone do this stuff?
They wouldn't find it funny once they landed in legal trouble.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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People Divulge The Best Way To Ruin Someone's Day With Minimal Effort
How mischievous do you get whenever you want to get back at someone in the spirit of fun.
Newsbreak suggested that an empty parking ticket would do.
Imagine walking up to your parked vehicle and seeing the dreaded envelope wedged underneath the windshield wiper.
Your heart would sink despite being aware of the fact you weren't in violation of anything.
As far as you know, your day is ruined knowing you have to drain your wallet for a petty offense. Until you see the bogus citation up close. Curses! You've been had.
Redditor randomlyshowedup – who may or may not aspire to prank someone in the near future – asked strangers on the Reddit:
"What's a great way to ruins someone's day, with a surprisingly small amount of effort?"
So Loquacious
"After they've excitedly told you about something ask them "Why do you have to talk so much?"
Most Unwanted Response
"In a similar vein, after going off enthusiastically about something, just to have them respond with 'oh.'
"Exactly, I feel like everyones had that situation where they're speaking about something they're feeling passionate about only to have the other person be like 'oh, right...' changes subject. If your brain doesn't then bank that memory to bring out whenever you're feeling insecure idk if you're even human."
Spark Paranoia
"Stare at a random spot on their shirt or face and when they ask what, go, 'uh, nothing. Don't worry about. You're fine.'"
Prank 'Em
"Wait until they go to make a cup of tea, when the kettle's nice and hot pour their water away and refill with cold and switch it off. They'll think it's boiled by quickly touching the warm kettle, then make a cold tea."
Influence Fatigue
"Tell em they look tired. Always ruins mine because my brain flips and says 'you know what, i AM tired' and proceeds to kill the boot process. Its Particularly effective if they have a beauty routine they skipped that morning."
Fake Treasures
"Head to the beach with a sack of BB's. Scatter them around for the metal detectorists to find!k"
Pretending
"Call the person's work and tell whoever answers the phone that you're a parole officer. Then tell them you're following up on the person. May ruin more than a day."