Buzz
Though pranks have gained widespread popularity, even being featured in the television series Impractical Jokers (2011–present), these antics can prove harmful to both the pranksters and their unsuspecting victims. Consequences can include imprisonment, injury, emotional distress, lawsuits, and even fatalities, as a result of some reckless actions.
As evidenced by these 10 Halloween pranks gone wrong, what starts as harmless fun—especially when it’s driven by thoughtlessness—can escalate into severe and sometimes tragic outcomes.
10. False Alarm
In 2010, a set of unnamed parents in rural Galatia, Illinois, executed a Halloween prank on their kids that nearly resulted in jail time. The prank involved staging a fake murder in which the children’s mother was the supposed “victim” to scare them.
The couple’s young children, aged six and eight, were convinced that their mother had truly been murdered. In a panic, they ran to a neighbor's house, who immediately called 911 to report the supposed “crime.”
From the information provided by the children, the neighbor informed the 911 operator that the mother had been strangled by Michael Meyers [sic], the infamous killer from the horror film Halloween. Ironically, a family named Meyers lived nearby.
Saline County sheriff’s deputies rushed to the scene of the emergency, only to discover that the mother’s “death” was simply a hoax. Sheriff Keith Brown commented, “I’d rather handle an embarrassing situation and a prank that went wrong than address what was initially reported.” No charges were pressed against the pranksters.
9. Ghost
On Halloween night, 1885, a Capitol Police officer patrolling the dimly lit halls of the US Capitol Building heard strange, eerie groans emanating from Statuary Hall. He cautiously ventured into the round room to investigate.
When he saw a ghostly figure, the officer drew his revolver and fired, with the bullets striking “the wall in the old House Chamber.” Fortunately for his partner, who was dressed as a ghost, the panicked officer missed, allowing the phantom to escape unharmed. However, the incident quickly became a part of the eerie tales surrounding the Capitol.
8. Killer Clown
Michael March, 18, may have been in a clown costume, but Judge Jamie Hill didn’t find the sight amusing when March chased a pregnant woman with an axe. The terrified woman hurled a brick at the “killer clown” before fleeing for her life. Later that same night, October 30, 2016, around 9:00 PM, March slammed his axe into the ground, scaring a passing couple who then called the police.
March told the police officers who arrested him that he had no intention of causing harm. He explained that he was just playing a prank, similar to the “killer clown” pranks he had witnessed in Gateshead, England. March acknowledged that his actions had been foolish and reckless.
His defense lawyer, Vic Laffey, told the Newcastle Crown Court that his client had no criminal record, lived with his grandparents, and assisted in caring for his grandfather.
March claimed that he should avoid a prison sentence because he was only 17 at the time of the incident. The judge disagreed, stating that his actions were “serious, regardless of the circumstances” and that by donning a clown mask, he had only intensified his victims’ fear by hiding his identity. The judge sentenced March to six months in prison.
7. Chainsaw Maniac
Disguised as a deranged butcher wielding a chainsaw, Frank Alba ambushed 12-year-old Leslie Garcia, who was trick-or-treating in Nebraska on Halloween night in 2011. As she approached his hiding spot, he revved his chainsaw, startling the girl.
Terrified, Leslie ran directly into the path of a Ford F-250 truck, sustaining injuries to her head, neck, arms, legs, back, and spine. Although she survived, her father’s lawsuit against Alba and American Family Insurance claims that Leslie will endure lifelong physical pain and emotional trauma. The father asserted that Alba’s actions were not a joke, but an intentional act of malice.
6. Mad Maimer
On October 31, 2010, in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago, Cynthia Swanson hosted a Halloween party for her daughter and her friends. Wearing a mask and holding a pair of electric hedge clippers, Cynthia stood outside, waiting for the children to appear.
As the children came out, she sprang forward, swinging the clippers at them. The son of Jeffrey Flowers and Melody Pekarnek reacted by raising his hands in self-defense, leading to injuries to the boy’s fingers and hands from the clippers.
The boy’s parents filed a lawsuit for $350,000 against Swanson, accusing her of negligence, battery, and reckless misconduct. According to the suit, their son’s hands and fingers are permanently disfigured, and he is likely to endure ongoing “distress and disability.” The lawsuit claims that the clippers were powered on, and Swanson failed to stop the tool from causing harm to their son.
5. Curious Arsonist
In October 2003, 14-year-old Donald Awalt from Ellsworth, Maine, was severely burned by a Halloween prank during a school assembly, requiring him to be airlifted to a Boston hospital. He sustained third-degree burns to his back, legs, and head.
A 15-year-old classmate had set Awalt’s “Army sniper costume made of leaves and grasslike material” on fire, curious to see if it would burn. Moments later, the arsonist got his answer as flames burst forth.
Upon realizing that the situation was no joke, panicked students rushed toward the exits. Awalt quickly descended the bleachers and reached the gymnasium floor, where a school employee and other students extinguished the flames with a coat and fire extinguisher.
Though Lieutenant Harold Page from the local police described the event as a prank gone horribly wrong, prosecutors charged the 15-year-old with reckless conduct, aggravated assault, and arson. He was placed in a detention center in Charleston. The teen expressed remorse and insisted that he never intended to harm anyone.
4. Trick-Or-Treaters
In 1979, a man was critically injured after being shot and stabbed. Police suspect that the attack on 32-year-old Enrique Solis may have initially started as a Halloween prank.
Before the assault took place, Solis’s girlfriend, Maria Rodriquez, was walking alongside him. She heard one of the 8–10 teenage boys involved in the attack yell, “Trick or treat.” Solis advised her to step back.
After a brief exchange with the group, one of the youths shot Solis. The bullet passed through his arm and lung before lodging in his spine. Solis was also stabbed in his right thigh. Rodriquez was unharmed.
Police Officer Frank Paulson of the 106th Precinct remarked, “In some areas, kids hit you with chalk on Halloween. Here, they shoot you.”
3. Martian Invasion
Arguably the most infamous Halloween prank gone wrong was Orson Welles’s October 30, 1938, radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, adapted from H.G. Wells’s novel.
The program began with realistic-sounding “news bulletins” reporting unusual disturbances on Mars. This was followed by reports of catastrophes at real locations on Earth and, eventually, stories of a relentless alien invasion, with US citizens reportedly being killed by the hundreds and thousands.
Despite several announcements during the broadcast clarifying that it was a dramatization, many listeners who tuned in late mistook the “news” for reality. At one point, a chilling 10 seconds of radio silence fueled widespread panic, as listeners feared the planet was under attack by aliens.
No fatalities or injuries resulted from the broadcast, but panicked citizens prayed, fled in cars, and overwhelmed phone lines with frantic calls. Many required medical attention for shock. At the broadcast’s conclusion, Welles reassured listeners that it was all just a prank. “If your doorbell rings and there’s nobody there, that was no Martian... it’s Halloween,” he told them.
After the broadcast, public and government responses revealed widespread anger among Americans who felt deceived by Welles’s terrifying prank. Newspapers reported a “tidal wave of panic” among listeners.
H.G. Wells threatened legal action, accusing the broadcast of misusing his novel. There was speculation that the government might take action against CBS, the station responsible for airing the program. Though Welles’s prank was controversial, it remains one of the most elaborate, enduring, and, for many, convincing pranks in history.
2. Egged
Karl Jackson had celebrated his 21st birthday just a few weeks before Halloween 1998. On that night, he and his girlfriend were driving through the Bronx to pick up her nine-year-old son from a children’s party. At a stoplight, a group of teenagers began throwing eggs at their car.
When Jackson approached them, Curtis Sterling, 17, pulled out a handgun, shooting Jackson in the head and killing him. Curtis was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Every Halloween, he receives a card that reads, “I’m glad you’re still there.” The cards are sent by Jackson’s mother.
Although “egging” has been a popular Halloween prank for years, it has caused significant distress and harm to several individuals, whether pranksters or their unsuspecting victims. Many of those targeted by eggs find the experience offensive and feel compelled to retaliate immediately. Often, this retaliation escalates into violent and sometimes fatal consequences.
Here are some examples of such incidents.
On October 29, 1994, as a man left a bar in Brooklyn, a group of boys pelted him with eggs. In retaliation, the man stabbed one of the boys, a 12-year-old, and killed him. Two years later, in 1996, a Halloween egg fight turned into gunfire, leaving a 10-year-old boy in Brooklyn wounded in the neck.
On October 29, 2005, Joseph Padro, 31, was shot and killed in the Bronx after chasing teenagers who had thrown eggs at his car. Jeffrey Ivey, 15, pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to prison for five years to life.
1. Hanged Man
In 2013, Jordan Morlan, 16, from Louisville, Kentucky, tried to scare his younger sister with a Halloween prank, but tragically ended up accidentally hanging himself with a noose hanging in their front yard. As part of the prank, he had slipped the noose over his head.
The sister immediately alerted their mother, Ginger Rodriguez, that Jordan was hanging from a tree. At first, Rodriguez, who was busy with laundry, thought it was just another prank. She suspected Jordan was playing a joke on his sister.
However, when the girl told her that drool was coming from Jordan’s lifeless mouth, Rodriguez rushed outside. She found him with his back to her and tried to turn him around, but couldn’t lift him.
Paramedics rushed Jordan to the hospital, where he was placed in a coma. Unfortunately, he passed away from organ failure on September 23, just 12 hours after the tragic incident. Authorities stated that Jordan had become disoriented after slipping the noose around his neck and lost consciousness as it tightened.
