The 11 Greatest Practical Jokes of All Time that have Misled Many People

For those who think that the drawing of a friend in a hostel on April 1 is something impressive, there is clearly something to strive for. There have been really grandiose practical jokes in history, the organizers of which managed to mislead the whole world.

The BBC reported that Big Ben will get a digital display

In 1980, the BBC World Service reported that London's famous Big Ben would be equipped with a digital display, and the hands of its old clock would be handed over to the first four people who called the studio. Most listeners started calling with angry protests about such changes, and one Japanese sailor contacted the studio directly from a ship in the middle of the ocean to get an arrow.

Iceberg in Sydney Harbour

On April 1, 1978, residents of Sydney, Australia, were surprised to find a giant iceberg floating right in the city harbor. A few days before the drawing, local businessman Dick Smith announced that the iceberg had been delivered directly from Antarctica. The audience was excited, and representatives of the Australian Navy even offered Smith assistance in mooring. The hype continued until it rained and washed the fire foam off the sheets of white plastic, which actually consisted of an "iceberg".

Taco Bell buys the Liberty Bell

On April 1, 1996, the American fast food company Taco Bell stunned Americans with an unusual advertisement. The largest news outlets in the country reported that the company bought one of the symbols of American independence — the Liberty Bell, which will be displayed at the Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, California.

Despite a flurry of outraged calls (including from aides of two US senators), the company achieved its goal with a banal draw — its sales increased significantly.

In the British news, viewers were shown that spaghetti grows on trees

In 1957, the British Panorama channel showed a three-minute news clip about the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland. The plot was accompanied by a video showing how the Swiss were collecting spaghetti from tree branches. Hundreds of Britons, many of whom rarely ate this Italian dish, began calling the BBC to ask how they could grow a tree with spaghetti on their own, to which the BBC replied: "Just put a sprig of spaghetti in a jar of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Students from Wisconsin moved the Statue of Liberty to Lake Mendota

Students Leon Varian and Jim Mallon from the University of Wisconsin made a bold campaign promise in order to win the election to the Wisconsin Student Association in 1978. They promised to move the Statue of Liberty to the local Lake Mendota. Two students won the election and in February 1979 fulfilled their promise by building a replica of the top of the Statue of Liberty on a frozen lake in three days from plywood, wire mesh, papier-mache and fabric.

MIT students have created a giant tetris

Back in 1993, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had the idea to turn the end of the 90-meter Green Building on campus into a giant tetris. But it wasn't until 2012 that they were finally able to turn their idea into reality. Using a sophisticated system of LED lights on a wireless connection, talented engineers transformed 153 windows of the building into falling colored blocks that could be controlled by players from below on the podium.

Caltech Rugby Fans

During the interuniversity Rugby Championship in 1961, students of the California Institute of Technology (in the USA it is commonly abbreviated as Caltech) replaced the instruction cards of the fans of the team from Washington. As a result, instead of supporting their university, Washingtonians laid out the huge word Caltech over their heads in the stands.

Nixon is going to be president again

In 1992, National Public Radio reported that Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 after the Watergate scandal, had again put forward his candidacy for president from the Republican Party. To confirm his story, the radio even played Nixon's speech (as it turned out, edited), in which he stated: "I've never done anything wrong."

A Swedish news channel has convinced viewers that with the help of stockings, you can turn a black-and-white TV into a color one

On April 1, 1962, the Swedish TV channel SVT played the audience. "Technical expert" Kjell Stensson explained using scientific terms that if you stretch a pair of nylon stockings over the TV, the light will be filtered in such a way that will allow viewers to see the broadcast in color. To "make the color reproduction better," Stensson recommended that viewers also move their heads from side to side when watching TV.

Statue from Easter Island washed ashore in the Netherlands

On March 29, 1962, a statue from Easter Island was found on the beach near Zandvoort, the Netherlands. A few days later, on April 1, an expert flew in from Norway to inspect the figure, who stated that it was indeed a genuine artifact from the South Pacific Ocean. The statue was put on public display in the city center.

By the end of the day, the creator of the sculpture, Dutch artist Edo van Tetterode, was found, who admitted that he had created the "artifact" on the beach.

Alabama changed the value of pi

The Alabama legislature "changed mathematics, science and the world forever" by declaring in 1998 that the mathematical constant pi would now be 3.0 instead of the usual 3.14159. At least that's what was claimed in the April Fools' press. Alabama lawmakers didn't know about the hoax until they started receiving hundreds of protest calls.