April Fools’ Day is just around the corner – and so might be a sneaky practical joke.
Whether it’s a prank call, a stolen car hoax or a snake that got loose, the island has some ideas on how to make someone’s heart stop.
There isn’t a definite answer to when April Fools’ started or how this comedic celebration began, but there is some lore dating back to the renaissance days in Europe, according to a blog posted by the Library of Congress.
But the history regarding this day seems to have to be taken with a grain of salt as one historical telling has ultimately been revealed to be an April Fools’ prank in itself.
A Boston University professor made up a story about the origins of the holiday that ended up being published in the Associated Press in 1983, and it apparently had the country fooled, according to the article.
But regardless of its birth story, people have participated in this day for possibly centuries, and not just in the United States, as its alleged history suggests. This is a worldwide celebration of trickery and funny business – and in some countries, lasts more than just the first day of April, says a CNN story.
While The Coronado News won’t pull any phony headlines, it can definitely reveal some people who might: so you might want to read this one in case you know any of these jokesters.
Pranks around town
Lucero Mancilla, a 13-year-old at Coronado Middle School, has had her fair share of stunts with her older brother. When she was eight, she used his fear of spiders against him.
“We took little tiny spiders and we covered them in glow in the dark spray, and we put them all over his room,” Mancilla said with a small smile as she retells the story. “And then we hid in there and when he walked in, he screamed and we sprayed, kind of like this confetti all over him.”
She’s done another prank related to creepy-crawlers, this time to her uncle, which she plans on repeating this year.
They own a snake, and it lives in their garage, Mancilla explained. When she was younger, they pretended their snake had gone missing.
“My uncle, he’s terrified of snakes, he’s coming over on April’s Fools’. My idea is just to hide the snake in my older brother’s room and scream when he comes home, ‘The snake is missing!’” Mancilla laughed.
Her friend, Michaela Connors, also a Coronado Middle School student, had a similar story of her mom pranking her with a large arachnid.
“It was this giant spider, and my mom put it on the fan so when I turned it on, it dropped down … and it came down on me and I screamed so loud,” Connors said.
Other pranks reported by the community didn’t relate to common phobias.
Josh Crabtree, whose son is stationed on the island, said that 10 years ago, his wife, Tiffany, and family pranked him into thinking he was getting a new truck.
They were calling me up, telling me that she was going to buy me a truck, and then she was there to buy it. My brother-in-law was in on it. The kids were in on it. And I got home and it was, like, total April Fools’. No truck.
Josh Crabtree
“They were calling me up, telling me that she was going to buy me a truck, and then she was there to buy it. My brother-in-law was in on it. The kids were in on it. And I got home and it was, like, total April Fools’. No truck,” Crabtree said with a joking sigh.
He has a truck now, though. He just got one. “Finally,” he said laughing.
Their family also seems to have a theme with their pranks.
Just last year, Crabtree and Tiffany had gotten their other son, Aiden, a car for his 16th birthday. And they had been planning this prank for a couple weeks.
“We were like, we can’t figure out the title, there’s an issue with it … and we told him it was a stolen car,” Tiffany said as Aiden jumped in.
“And the police were coming to take it,” he chuckled, recalling the practical joke.
Other tricks around the island were more calm – prank calls, baby powder in the hair dryer and fake emails.
And some people said they don’t participate, leaving the antics and mild heart attacks to other people.
Whether you’re a prank puller, a prank receiver or prank observer, April Fools’ Day will definitely not go unnoticed on Coronado this year.
