Halloween pranks Gone Wrong

Dummy Under Lawn Mower

In October of 2011, in Salisbury, North Carolina, a man driving down Organ Church Road in eastern Rowan County saw what he thought was a man trapped underneath a riding lawn mower.  All he could see was a pair of bloody legs sticking out of the front of the mower and a bloody arm sticking out of the side.  He called 911 to report the accident and it almost prompted a full emergency response.  The call was placed to the county’s 911 Communication Center that Monday morning and it almost prompted a full emergency response.  However, someone else quickly let the operators and emergency responders know that it was actually just a decoration and no emergency services were dispatched.  

In looking at the photo of the incident, it does look quite realistic, and the homeowner, Chris Deaton, didn’t have any other decorations or signs to indicate that it was just Halloween decor.  Deaton’s Halloween display did create a lot of chatter around their town, though.  Wendy Bethea, the store clerk on duty at Cheesman’s Store, told WCSC Live 5 News, “It’s something to talk about around town.  I’ve had a couple customers talking about it, being out there.”  She also stated that she believed that it was harmless and fun for Halloween.  It appeared that most people around town agreed with Bethea’s sentiments, however, there were others who thought that a Happy Halloween sign would have been appropriate.  According to Deaton’s mom, he had done the same decoration the year before, but it had been closer to the house, and had decided to move it to the road that year.  The story was picked up by CNN, the Daily Mail, and the local news.  

High School Classroom Chainsaw Prank

In October of 2010, at Taunton High School in Massachusetts, a teacher entered his classroom wearing a mask and revving a chainsaw.  According to a 15-year-old student, there was a knock at the door of his classroom, and he was instructed by the teacher to open the door.  Upon opening the door, another teacher was wearing a mask and holding a running chainsaw.  He was unsure if it was a real chainsaw or just a toy.  Terrified, he ran, fell over a chair, and struck his left knee on the floor.  He suffered a fractured knee and required surgery.  He was on crutches for several months and had to give up participating in sports that he used to play.  The student and his family filed a claim seeking $100,000 in damages, according to their attorney, Thomas Dussault.  Dussault sent the city a letter of presentment, which is an indication that he would file litigation in court if the matter wasn’t resolved in the following six months.  

The parents of the injured student had significant bills, according to Dussault, and tried resolving the issue with “the powers that be,” but did not get a response.  The Nuttalls, the student’s parents, notified the school immediately following the incident.  According to Dussault, the prank, as far as he understood, had been carried out at least one other time prior to 2010.  Per the article on How Stuff Works, the family settled out of court for $100,000.  

Restaurant Owner Arrested for Creating Fake Murder

In Paris Kentucky in 2008, Joe Watkins, the owner of the Chicken Ranch restaurant, set up a fake crime scene with the intent to make one of his employees believe he had been murdered.  When a female employee showed up and saw Watkins lying on the floor covered in blood, she immediately ran out and called the police.  Watkins then tried calling her cell phone to let her know it was just a prank, but the police were already on their way after being alerted to what they believed was a murder.  Watkins was arrested for creating a situation that led to a false police report.  

Egg Throwing & a Great Ball of Fire

In Franklin, Pennsylvania, a 15-year-old boy decided on a rainy Halloween night to toss some eggs over a fence at the Pennsylvania Electric Company’s substation.  The combination of the splattered egg and the rain hitting the 34,000-watt transformers arc caused a ball of fire that was seen across the town.  As a result of the electrical eruption, approximately 8,000 people lost power in their homes for at least a few minutes.  The teen turned himself in and had to be treated at the hospital for ringing ears syndrome as a result of the noise the explosion caused.  

MIT Student’s Halloween Device Explodes In His Hands

On October 26, 1999, three MIT students, who were members of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, planned to set off an explosive device inside a Lobby 10 lecture hall to promote their Halloween party.  The party was to be a fundraiser for the Leukemia Society of America.  However, the prank backfired when the device exploded in one of the student’s hands.  He was allegedly wearing a grim reaper costume at the time.  

According to Robert J. Sales, the associate director of the MIT News Office, the student thought that the device would add to the aura by going off in a puff of smoke.  The explosion sent one of the boys to the hospital, while the other two were slightly injured.  Because of the explosion, bomb squads from Cambridge and Boston were dispatched, and parts of the MIT campus were closed for hours.

The Middlesex County Assistant Clerk Magistrate Robert Pacheco ordered the students to pay restitution of $1,306 to the Cambridge Fire Department as well as serve eight hours of community service each.  

The Halloween party was canceled because of what transpired, however, members of the fraternity continued to raise money for the Leukemia Society of America.  In the end, they presented the society’s Massachusetts chapter with a check for $14,267.  Iris Gleason, the executive director of the Massachusetts chapter (at the time), said, “As a fraternity, they have traditionally recognized the importance of our mission.  We appreciate that.”   

Theft of Halloween Candy 

On Staten Island, New York in 2015, a woman was caught on security footage stealing buckets of candy and toys off of a family’s front porch on Halloween night.  The Jones family had left the three buckets, two filled with candy, and one with toys for children with food allergies, on their front porch, with a sign to save some for others.  They then took their own son out to trick-or-treat.  Upon returning home, the two buckets containing candy were missing and the bucket with toys was still there, but the toys were all gone.  

When they looked at their security footage, they saw an adult woman, with a child in tow, rush up the steps, steal the buckets, and run off.  33-year-old Rasha Rohmen, was determined to be the thief, and was charged with a misdemeanor of petit larceny, which is punishable by up to a year in jail if convicted. The young girl with Rohmen was not charged.  Rohmen was contacted by the media and stated that the little girl was not her daughter, but would not elaborate further on who she was.  She stated that it had been a mistake to steal the buckets.  She said, “You know, mistakes happen.  It was a mistake!  That’s all I could say.  It’s a mistake.  I’m really sorry.  It was my first and last mistake.  I’m sorry, I cannot talk about this.  

Holly Jones, the homeowner, praised the detectives for their work in locating Rohmen and said, “The detectives did their jobs, and very well.  It’s not about the candy.  It’s the personal property that was taken, and the principle of the situation.”  I could not find any articles on her sentencing so perhaps the charges were dropped.

Southwest Florida – Hottest Bachelor Ingmar Sprude – Fire Alarm Prank

Ingmar “Iggy” Sprude, of Naples, Florida, who was 28 at the time of this incident, was named by Gulfshore Life Magazine as one of Southwest Florida’s hottest bachelors.  He listed himself as a pool service business owner originally from Latvia, and described himself as “fun, spontaneous and caring.”  In the “sexiest girl get-up” of the article, he stated that he likes “a short dress and high heels.”

In 2009, Iggy attended a Hallowen party at Sway Lounge dressed as Pamela Anderson and decided that as a prank for the holiday, he would pull the fire alarm.  Everyone at the club had to evacuate, and several fire crews responded to the scene.  Once it was determined that there was no fire, the police took a look at the club’s surveillance video.  They saw a man in a red swimsuit, a blonde wig, and flip flops pull the alarm.  

The police identified the man to be Iggy Sprude and he was arrested and charged with tampering with fire detection equipment.  He posted bond not too long after his arrest.  A representative for Sway Lounge, Jason Blend, said, “Sway is known for Halloween and I think people came with the expectation that something special was going to happen.  That was not what they were expecting to happen.”

Woman Leads Two Teenagers on Halloween Vandalism Spree

In Salem, New Jersey in the early morning hours between 3:30 and 6:30, former 911 center employee, Bobbi L. Franklin, drove two 14-year-old girls around Lower Alloways Creek Township, on Halloween in 2015.  The two teens and Franklin painted a sign at the township school, some vehicles, and a mailbox.  The police investigated the vandalism and were led to Bobbi Franklin.  She was arrested on November 16th and charged with two counts of criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, and committing a crime with individuals under the age of seventeen.  

She appeared in State Superior Court in Salem before Judge Benjamin Telsey, and as part of a plea deal with the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office, she pleaded guilty to one 3rd degree charge of criminal mischief.  All other charges against her were dropped.  She was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $12,089.39 in restitution for the damages.  During sentencing, Judge Telsey said that if she provides full restitution on schedule, her probation could be cut to two years.  She was expected to pay $200 per month according to a discussion in court. 

The two teens involved in the vandalism are unnamed, but were entered into a program for youth offenders and both performed community service according to the authorities. 

Syracuse Most Memorable Halloween Pranks

Syracuse.com ran an article in 2017 detailing some of their most memorable Halloween pranks throughout the years.  So, we’ll go through a few of the most notable ones here.  The first one is from 1905 in Canastota.  15-year-old George Blodgett was playing with some friends near the railroad tracks across from a store.  The store owner had a suspicion that he was going to become the victim of a Halloween prank, so he made the decision to take the law into his own hands and stop the prank before it even had a chance to happen.  The owner grabbed a shot along with a “supply of shells he had loaded with rock salt,” and took aim at the boys.  Blodgett was hit in the face and sustained cuts on his lips and his left eye filled with salt.  According to the Post-Standard, the salt destroyed the lens of the boy’s eye, but it was hoped that after an operation, he would be able to see again with the aid of glasses. 

In 1910, the Syracuse Police received nearly 100 complaints about the “mischievous antics of boys who were damaging property.”  The calls came from all sections of the city.  One man was assaulted by the gang of boys and he received a cut.  Another man’s party was interrupted when a cabbage was thrown through his front window that sent glass flying to all corners of the room.  Then, at 11:00 pm, the police responded to a call that the boys were stealing chairs from porches along Westcott Street and were placing them on railroad tracks which threatened the trains being derailed.  Paul Dibble was arrested for “brandishing a burning broom,” and there were several fire set on different street corners after several men and boys stacked barrels, boxes, and other debris and lit them on fire.  In total, there were five arrests made that Halloween night. 

In 1915, a group of boys decided on Halloween night, to tie down a large whistle on top of the Firth Carpet Factory causing the whistle to blow for over 30 minutes straight.  This whistle sounded quite similar to the one used at the Auburn State Prison that alerted the people of escaped convicts.  According to the Syracuse Herald, there were people in all parts of the city that were frightened by the sound and believed it was the prison whistle.  The telephones were ringing off the hook with thousands of phone calls and additional operators were called in.  The chaos lasted for almost an hour and a half and the town was on the brink of a riot.

On October 28th, 1938, five boys climbed the roof of the school in Manlius to remove the bell.  They took the bell and left it in a field in the Lost Lake area.  The school trustee, Roscoe Rowe, stated that if the bell did not get returned, the boys would have to purchase a new one.  The bell was valued at $23.  The pranksters ranged in age from 16 to 23, and the oldest two were looking at fines of $10, or ten days in jail.  The younger boys were fined $5 or five days locked up after all five pleaded guilty. 

In the days leading up to Halloween in Venice in 1955, three boys from Morovia played two separate pranks.  Had they stuck with just the first, they may have gotten away with it, too.  First, they decided to dump a bag of straw and two bags of garbage on the driveway of a widow in Venice, just south of Auburn, then they poured two gallons of kerosene down the wheel tracks of the driveway toward where they left the straw and trash.  They lit it and then the widow heard the commotion.  She ran outside and moved her car away from the flames and called the fire department.  The fire got as close as six feet away from her home.  After fleeing the scene, they boys decided to go ahead and pull another prank.  They stole four crates of butternut squash from a farmer and threw it all onto a road.  However, the farmer led the police right to one of the boys.  That boy was arrested and he implicated one of the other boys, and they confessed.  Those two boys faced 5-15 days in jail. 

In 1961, Heuvelton had a very, shall we say, shitty Halloween night.  First, three men decided to steal a woman’s outhouse and placed it adjacent to the Denny’s Hotel on the outskirts of town.  All three men were charged, pleaded guilty, and ordered to pay a $50 fine each.  Then, two other men then set fire to that same outhouse and faced disorderly conduct charges.  But the shit doesn’t stop there, my friends!  Six septic tanks were stolen from the GLF and rolled into the Oswegatchie River.  Those involved in that prank were fined and sentenced to 15 days in jail.

Scream Mask Prank

On Halloween in 2017, Bernardo Jose Teran decided to don a Ghostface mask and wield a knife to scare random women in the parking lot of the Royal Bay Apartments.  One woman noticed someone standing about five feet away from her while she was unloading her trunk.  When she saw him, he raised the knife above his head.  She ran into her apartment and called the police.  Another woman in the complex reported a very similar incident.  When the police arrived, they spotted Teran in the woods with the mask still on and arrested him.  The knife was determined to be fake and made of plastic.  Teran was charged with aggravated assault while wearing a mask.

Woman Sues Neighbor for Defamation Over Hallween Yard Decor

We’re taking you to Florida, kids, where there’s always a Florida Man, or Woman, story.  A man decorated his yard with a Halloween display that made his neighbor the butt of his jokes.  He put a sign on his lawn for an insane asylum that pointed toward her home.  He also put up a plastic tombstone with an epitaph that made fun of her for being single in her forties.  It read, “At 48 she had no mate, no date.  It’s no debate, she looks 88.”  But she sued his ass and in court he had to promise to never do another Halloween display while living next door to her.  

Clown Prank

Three days before Halloween in 2023 in West Bend, Wisconsin, a teen girl was at a friend’s house when she made a 911 call just before 7:00 pm.  She told dispatch, “There’s a clown inside, like an actual clown, inside the house right now.”  When the dispatcher asked her if she knew who the clown was, she said no.  Dispatch also asked if anyone else was in the home and she said that her friend’s parents were.  The homeowner spoke with the dispatcher and apologized stating that he did not know that his daughter’s friend had called 911 and that it was all just a joke.  When police arrived at the home on Decker Drive, they cited the 40-year-old homeowner with disorderly conduct.  The West Bend police told WISN, “We recognize this was intended to be a Halloween prank, but the investigating officer believed it was carried too far when the parent involved didn’t put an end to the joke before 911 became involved.”

Another Clown – An ‘IT’ Prank

In Spartanburg, South Carolina in 2021, a terrifying 911 call was placed about a toddler being trapped head-first in a storm drain.  The call led the police to “a perfectly recreated scene from the horror movie, It.”  When officers arrived at the scene, they saw what appeared to be a child’s legs sticking out of the gutter, but upon further inspection, they also saw the face of Pennywise the clown in the gutter hidden in the shadows.  It turned out to be a prank, but the police didn’t know who had been behind it.  It’s reported that on Facebook, the police department saw the humor in the situation and even called out the creators of the prank for leaving out the single red balloon known to be Pennywise’s calling card.

Garage Door Decapitated Man 

In September of 2017 in Tennessee, Joseph Lovergive gave his neighbors a serious fright when decorating for Halloween.  When passing the Lovergive home, people thought that a man had lost his head via the garage door.  They could see a man lying on his stomach with no head and the garage door, with two bloody hand prints, on his neck.  

A man named Johnny Riddle was driving to work when he saw the display and called the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.  He told them, “There’s a guy laying in his driveway, with two big bloody handprints on the side of the house.  It looks like he was dead.  I don’t know.  I didn’t stop, I just came on to work.” 

Lovergive told the media, “This morning about 10 o’clock I get a pounding on the door.  I said, ‘THank you guys for caring but I’m doing just fine.’”  It turns out that the Lovergive family loves Halloween and always celebrates early.  That year, they stuffed some paper into clothing to create the scene.  But when at the home, police did remove a boot to ensure that it wasn’t a real person. 

Lovergive said, “I was actually going to dress up under there after everyone’s seated for so long and when they out to get drinks or something I was going to pop up out of the garage door and scare everybody,” and “I thought it looked so real and so fun and I hope people don’t take offense.”  

Riddle, who called it in to police, and other neighbors reportedly “laughed their heads off” when they found out that it was all just a joke.  Lovergive said he hoped that heads wouldn’t roll for his stunt.  The Greene County Sheriff’s Office posted the following alert on their Facebook, “For those of you driving on Chuckey Pike in Greene County: THIS IS A HALLOWEEN DECORATION!  Do NOT call 911 reporting a dead body.  Instead, congratulate the homeowner on a great display.”

College Sophomores — Celebrate Halloween In Unique Way

In Easton, Pennsylvania in 1887, the sophomore class of Lafayette celebrated Halloween in a way that the college had never seen before.  Prior to this, it was custom for the college to give the sophomores a holiday on the condition that they “behaved as good boys should.”  However, the class of 1890 decided not to ask for the holiday, and since it was not offered to them, they celebrated it in their own way despite not receiving permission. 

The November 1st, 1887 issue of The New York Times laid out what had all transpired on All Hallow’s Eve and what had been discovered that morning.  First, when the chapel bell chimed, it was rather faint, and not as loud as it normally would be.  That’s because the clapper, now missing, had been replaced with a hammer.  Then, one of the pumps from the cisterns on the north side of the campus had been lying in the middle of the football field.  Another pump was torn out and broken – quite badly.  A hole that was in the process of being dug up in the back of McKeen Hall had been filled up, and inside of it were the steps from some of the dormitories as well as several hymn books from the chapel. 

The college horse was found to be on the first floor of McKeen Hall and had spent the night there.  The chapel doors were found closed – they were usually open — because the keyholes had been filled with molten lead.  The door to the gallery was open and when one entered, they saw that the seats had been smeared with molasses, and all books, including the Bible, had been removed.  There was no service that morning. 

It was also discovered that there were dumbbells missing from the gymnasium and that the tennis net was missing from the faculty’s court.  Students and faculty alike were rather disgruntled about the removal of the Bible and hymn books from the chapel.  They were also not too pleased about the molasses on the seats.  

The sophomores denied having anything to do with the books and molasses, but the remaining pranks were ascribed to them.  The article didn’t know what punishments would be laid out to the boys, but it reads, “It is pretty certain that no mercy will be shown to those who were concerned in the work done in the chapel, if they are found out.  Neither will they receive any sympathy from the body of the students, who, while they laughed at the rest of the tricks, universally and outspokenly condemned this one.  Every effort will be made by the Faculty to discover and bring to justice the perpetrators of the chapel outrage.”