13 Pranks With Terrible, Terrible Outcomes

Under the best of circumstances, pranks can be a harmless, fun way of sharing a laugh with one’s friends. Most pranks—at the very worst—result in minor embarrassment for the “victim” of the prank as well as a few chuckles at his or her expense.

Of course, even when the people playing the pranks have the very best of intentions, things can go horribly, horribly wrong for someone involved with what should have been a fun experience. Here are 13 examples of pranks that should have just never been played.

1. Fake excrement in a school urinal gets covered

Boys will be boys, and high school boys tend to be among the most bored people on the planet. As a result, they often do ridiculous things. One high school boy in particular decided it would be amusing to simulate fecal matter in a school urinal via a combination of foods and beverages.

It is often a wise idea, when playing a prank, to keep your involvement to yourself. However, in this case, the young man told his friends what had done. For whatever reason, one of his classmates decided to go number two in that urinal shortly thereafter, covering the fake fecal matter with the real stuff. As a result, the more-or-less innocent prankster got in trouble with his school administrator.

It is worth noting that actually defecating in urinals is not a terribly uncommon practice, probably as the result of a 2006 episode of the Comedy Central animated series “South Park”.

2. A Bachelor party prank almost takes a life

Co-workers can be infuriating at times, even when they’re trying to be nice and polite. The workmates of Gianni Catanzaro may be the worst co-workers ever, even though ostensibly they were only trying to play a joke on the soon-to-be-married man with whom they worked. The night before Catanzaro—who worked in a suburb of New Castle, New South Wales, Australia—was to be wed, his supervisor and another co-worker “abducted” Catanzaro, punched him in the groin, and tied his limbs together. His clothes were removed and eggs were thrown at him.

As if all that wasn’t bad enough, gasoline was poured at Catanzaro’s feet, with which a fire was started. Catanzaro ended up falling towards the fire in an attempt to get away, resulting in burns to his legs.

Catanzaro’s wedding day was ruined as a result of having to be in a wheelchair, and it took so long to recover from his injuries that he lost his job. His supervisor ended up paying thousands of Australian dollars in legal fees and was also forced to pay for his former employee’s treatment.

3. An “Immovable Quarter” results in a prankster getting chased by an angry mob

On April Fools’ Day in 2013, a prankster decided to glue a quarter to the ground. He was bored and wanted to watch people try to pick it up, and one man decided to do just that. Other people decided to offer their assistance; allegedly, at one point, upwards of 200 people tried to help the man get the quarter off of the ground.
One of the people shouted that the coin was possessed and cursed.At that point, they noticed the amused prankster, who wouldn’t remain amused for long once the crowd started chasing him. He was accused of being a servant of the devil and was chased for seven blocks before the mob gave up and let him go.