Happy April Fools Day!!!! Don’t worry, you’re not getting pranked by me today… maybe, but today I do want to do a recap of Fayth’s (me, the author) top four favorite April Fools pranks of all time.

To begin with, let’s talk about the history of April Fools day and why it exists. Now, some April fools experts will argue this, but I’ll tell you what the most common thing I’ve read is.

• Apparently, April Fool’s Day originated in 16th-century France, when Pope Gregory XIII mandated that the new year begin on January 1 instead of the end of March.
• Those who refused to follow the new mandate were known as  “April fish.”
• The other history lesson I read about (that’s much less interesting to me) is that it originated from ancient spring festivals that included “mischief-making”.

Now finally, on to pranks. I figured I’d start this with the oldest prank I could think of. I read about this a couple years ago and I couldn’t help but die laughing at the fact that so many people fell for it:

• In the year 1957 on April 1st (obviously) the TV show, BBC, ran a special segment about the “Swiss Spaghetti Harvest”. It featured several Swiss farmers “harvesting” spaghetti noodles from trees in their fields.
• So many people fell for it and called BBC asking them exactly how they could grow the noodles, and in response the farmers advised them to “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

Next on my list is another old, although much less historic, prank. The classic paper taped to someone’s back.

• Super easy and simple and not super entertaining to most, but to me it’s down right hilarious.
• In most movies featuring this prank the paper will say something like “kick me”, but there’s so so many things that you could write that this prank simply just never gets old.

Another personal favorite is the upside down room prank.

• This prank consists of turning every item in a room/location upside down and nailing it to the ceiling and confusing the absolute hell out of anyone who enters. (Please do not do this in your dorm or anywhere that you’ll have to pay for damages, and for the love of all things good, do it in a controlled environment where no one will get injured or have a heart attack.)

Lastly, and honestly my actual favorite of all time… jumpscares.

• Something about the simple act of jumping out from behind a door frame, or out of a box, or just jumping out from anywhere and scaring the life out of someone, will never ever ever ever get old.

That’s all for now, if you’re going to prank someone today please be safe and do not cause harm to yourself or anyone else. Pranks are meant to be light hearted and fun, not dangerous. Have a fantastic week, and happy April Fools!