This 1974 April Fools Prank Is One The Best Ever And Took Four Years To Pull Off

Every year without fail, people try and come up with the April Fools Day prank to end all April Fools Day pranks. Some might try and stitch up one of their mates or their family members to varying success - and while they might induce some chuckling, their efforts are not exactly going to go down in the history books.

That type of prank has to be particularly incredible and there's only a handful of people who claim to have done the best wind-ups.

Oliver 'Porky' Bickar would probably be in that history book of pranks due to his incredible stunt in Alaska in 1974. Not only was the prank impressive in itself, but it took four years to pull off. He managed to worry a resident or two in Sitka by making them think their dormant volcano was about to erupt.

Mount Edgecumbe is believed to have first erupted on 7620 BC and again on 3810 BC (how do they know this? Let's assume the answer is 'science') and is expected to do so again in around 200 years.

So with this very limited history of eruptions, you could imagine how worried people were when they woke up on 1 April 1974 and saw black smoke coming from near the top.

But this type of operation wasn't something than can be ham-fisted over a few pints at the pub. This took planning and lots of it.

The Guardian reports it took four years for conditions to be just right for Porky's hilarious prank. He needed clear skies for it to properly work and it seems as though 1974 was the year for it.

He and a few mates managed to ferry a bunch of tires and kerosene up to the summit thanks to a trusty friend with a helicopter. When 1 April came around, they scaled 976 metres up to the top of the silent volcano and tossed a match inside.

Thick, black smoke started rising and gave everyone in Sitka a good fright.

They were smart to alert the local police and Federal Aviation Administration but forgot to tip off the Coast Guard, who promptly sent a plane flying over to see what was causing the commotion. As the aircraft went around, the pilot saw a massive APRIL FOOLS sign spray painted into the snow.

You have to take your hat off when someone pulls off a prank that's this big.

Featured Image Credit: Duncan Mariott/Creative Commons

Topics: Prank, Viral, Awesome, Interesting, stunt

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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