The coolest draw on April 1: an American fooled the city by causing a volcanic eruption

In the city of Sitka, Alaska (formerly Novo-Arkhangelsk), there lived a welder named Oliver Bikar, nicknamed Piglet. He worked in a local tire shop and worked well, but that's not why he stayed in the history of the city. The piglet arranged very witty and large-scale practical jokes for the first of April.

Sitka is located at the foot of the ancient, long-extinct volcano Edgecombe. One day a Piglet had a bright idea how to use a volcano to prank the townspeople. For three years, under the cover of night, he brought used tires to the crater and dropped them down with the help of a mini-helicopter. And in the spring of 1974, on the eve of April Fool's Day, Bikar went to the volcano in the early morning, poured gasoline on the accumulated pile of rubber and set it on fire. It flared up as it should.

Oliver Bicar advertises chainsaws, photo from a 1972 city newspaper

Waking up, the townspeople saw a terrible picture in the windows. The volcano, which had been silent for more than a thousand years, came to life, black smoke poured out of the crater, even flames broke through, black soot descended on the surroundings. What started here... people began to collect things in horror, load them into cars, and a helicopter was alerted into the air. Hovering over the slope, volcanologists saw 20-meter letters painted with paint on the snow: "Happy April Fool!" ("April Fool").

For this prank, the Piglet was not even fined. Apparently, he felt impunity and finally got loose. The following year, a cheerful welder ordered a whole container of life-size pink plastic flamingos and placed them at a local lake. The people were shocked.

The piglet did not spare his friends either. One day, when his friend left town, the merry fellow planted two dozen young oaks on his lawn. According to local rules, a fine of $18,000 is imposed for each felled oak. So a small grove appeared around the victim's house.

Passers-by helped the police to dissuade a suicide who wanted to jump from the roof. It took 15 hours to persuade.

Source: Springfield News-Leader

On November 20, it was reported that a man had climbed onto the roof of a house in Springfield and was going to jump off. Since noon, the police have been trying to talk to the man, but he did not make contact.

People gathered in the square, watching the events. By 9 p.m., about a dozen people began to unfurl posters with encouraging inscriptions: "Everything will be Fine", "We Care", "We Need You", and also started singing the Bill Withers song Lean on Me.

Timber Daniel was going to a concert when she saw a man on the roof of the house. "I just couldn't leave this guy," Daniel said. Her poster read: "You're not alone." She had lost several friends who had committed suicide, and she didn't want this guy to do the same.

Amanda Smith said that she saw a message on social networks about a man on the roof and decided to go out to dissuade him from committing a fatal act.