Halloween is just around the corner. If you're planning on doling out some pranks this year, remember to keep it safe. The following stories illustrate jokes can sometimes go a bit too far, and sometimes the most daring, dangerous gags can have disastrous and tragic results.
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1. Supermarket Sells Severed Hands in Meat Section, Issues Apology
"I think it's such a shame we have an American tradition so violently forced down our throats," said humorlessly hypersensitive Facebook commenter Mona Urfjell.
Europris, a Norwegian supermarket chain, merchandised the severed hands and feet next to cutlets of beef chuck and bacon. Customers complained because, WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
At least it was complete with a nutrition label. Europris formally apologized and removed the appendages from the stock.
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2. Fake Corpse? or Real?
While not exactly a prank, we can agree it certainly fooled a few. Neighbors thought Mostafa Mahmoud Zayad had simply placed a cleverly realistic dummy on his porch. Little did they know, the corpse was real. It turns out the 75-year-old committed suicide days prior with a gun blast to the eye. Slinking back in his chair, the neighborhood was none-the-wiser.
"The body was in pain view of the entire apartment complex and they didn't do anything," Marina Del Rey newsman Austin Raishbrook said. "It's very strange. It did look unreal, to be honest."
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3. Teacher Pulls Epic Prank on Student, Family Sues
Finally, a teacher with balls, albeit borderline-sociopathic balls. He asked a teenage student to answer a knock on the classroom door. When he did, a masked maniac swinging a chainsaw burst through into the room. Horrified, the student jumped back and tripped over a few desks, fracturing his kneecap.
The family filed a $100,000 lawsuit citing expensive surgery and their child's newly crutch-ridden status. Geez, take a joke. It was only a prank.
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4. Man Gets Creative With His Hatred For His Neighbor
A Florida man erected an insane asylum sign pointing to his female neighbor's residence. He also customized a tombstone that read: "At 48 she had no mate, no date. It's no debate, she looks 88." Cute rhymes.
She sued the man for defamation, harassment and emotional distress. But ironically this would only provide yet another potential reason for her loneliness.
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5. Canadians Run Up to People Swinging Axes and Threatening Murder
Police received reports of two individuals running up to people and threatening murder with an axe; the two would then run away and presumably giggle by their lonesome. Pavel Krivov, 18, and Petru Tomcac, 18, of Vancouver were eventually found and arrested.
They said they were only filming a prank. But the royal Canadian mounties would have none of it, booking them on second-degree assault and tossing them in Canadian jail.
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6. Parents Pretend to Murder Each Other and Totally Get Their Children
Police received a 911 call explaining two kids ran over to their neighbor's house and alerted them of a masked man, donning the infamous Michael Myers costume, strangling their mother. The two children, 6 and 8, came home and jolted out horrified from the scene.
But charges were never dropped after it came to light their parents were simply pulling a light-heartened joke.
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7. Teenager Dies Pranking Little Sister
Big bros are renowned for their punishing antics at the expense of younger siblings. Last September, Jordan Morlan would take it a smidgen too far. His little sister found the 16-year-old hanging from a tree in their front yard in an apparent attempt to spook her.
Drooling and paling in the face, Morlan had slipped into a coma after the noose cut the oxygen from his brain. Investigators concluded organ failure was the official cause of death. He died within 12 hours of the prank.
The moral? Play it safe this Halloween kids.
1. Supermarket Sells Severed Hands in Meat Section, Issues Apology
"I think it's such a shame we have an American tradition so violently forced down our throats," said humorlessly hypersensitive Facebook commenter Mona Urfjell.
Europris, a Norwegian supermarket chain, merchandised the severed hands and feet next to cutlets of beef chuck and bacon. Customers complained because, WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
At least it was complete with a nutrition label. Europris formally apologized and removed the appendages from the stock.
2. Fake Corpse? or Real?
While not exactly a prank, we can agree it certainly fooled a few. Neighbors thought Mostafa Mahmoud Zayad had simply placed a cleverly realistic dummy on his porch. Little did they know, the corpse was real. It turns out the 75-year-old committed suicide days prior with a gun blast to the eye. Slinking back in his chair, the neighborhood was none-the-wiser.
"The body was in pain view of the entire apartment complex and they didn't do anything," Marina Del Rey newsman Austin Raishbrook said. "It's very strange. It did look unreal, to be honest."
3. Teacher Pulls Epic Prank on Student, Family Sues
Finally, a teacher with balls, albeit borderline-sociopathic balls. He asked a teenage student to answer a knock on the classroom door. When he did, a masked maniac swinging a chainsaw burst through into the room. Horrified, the student jumped back and tripped over a few desks, fracturing his kneecap.
The family filed a $100,000 lawsuit citing expensive surgery and their child's newly crutch-ridden status. Geez, take a joke. It was only a prank.
4. Man Gets Creative With His Hatred For His Neighbor
A Florida man erected an insane asylum sign pointing to his female neighbor's residence. He also customized a tombstone that read: "At 48 she had no mate, no date. It's no debate, she looks 88." Cute rhymes.
She sued the man for defamation, harassment and emotional distress. But ironically this would only provide yet another potential reason for her loneliness.
5. Canadians Run Up to People Swinging Axes and Threatening Murder
Police received reports of two individuals running up to people and threatening murder with an axe; the two would then run away and presumably giggle by their lonesome. Pavel Krivov, 18, and Petru Tomcac, 18, of Vancouver were eventually found and arrested.
They said they were only filming a prank. But the royal Canadian mounties would have none of it, booking them on second-degree assault and tossing them in Canadian jail.
6. Parents Pretend to Murder Each Other and Totally Get Their Children
Police received a 911 call explaining two kids ran over to their neighbor's house and alerted them of a masked man, donning the infamous Michael Myers costume, strangling their mother. The two children, 6 and 8, came home and jolted out horrified from the scene.
But charges were never dropped after it came to light their parents were simply pulling a light-heartened joke.
7. Teenager Dies Pranking Little Sister
Big bros are renowned for their punishing antics at the expense of younger siblings. Last September, Jordan Morlan would take it a smidgen too far. His little sister found the 16-year-old hanging from a tree in their front yard in an apparent attempt to spook her.
Drooling and paling in the face, Morlan had slipped into a coma after the noose cut the oxygen from his brain. Investigators concluded organ failure was the official cause of death. He died within 12 hours of the prank.
The moral? Play it safe this Halloween kids.