Mischievousness and laughter is a part of all of us. Everyone loves a comedian! We have genres dedicated to it, and many businesses thrive on making people laugh as well. People from all walks of life, all over the world, prank and joke each other every day. We even have a day of the year dedicated to pulling pranks! But not all pranks are created equal. Here are ones which fooled enough people to become the few of the world’s best.

1. Swiss Spaghetti Harvest – Considered the best prank ever, it only goes to show how gullible people are, or how willing they are to agree with an authority. On April 1, 1957, the BBC news show Panorama reported that Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop, thanks to a mild winter and the absence of the dreaded spaghetti weevil. Richard Dimbleby, the show’s well-known and respected anchor, talked about the spaghetti crop as footage of families pulling pasta off trees ran in the background. The audience responded quickly and overwhelmingly, phoning the station to ask how to grow their own!

The prank was conceived by Charles de Jaeger, who had been planning it for years, and was only able to implement his plan on the day with the anchor’s help and a small fund from the show’s director. Very few people knew about it, and even the head of BBC was partly fooled! It was generally well-received and has since then inspired a number of spinoffs.

2. War of the Worlds – Not a deliberate prank, but still a great one! On October 30, 1938, a radio show was broadcast. It was an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The story was so convincing that despite saying that it was fictional four times during the show, people believed that we were being invaded by Martians! Since radio was the prime medium at the time, and planes were still relatively new, many people thought that the broadcast was real! Many consider this to be the greatest accidental hoax in history.

3. Rickroll – Now for something more modern. Known as an internet prank phenomena, this is when people are fooled into viewing a video of Rick Astley’s 1987 song "Never Gonna Give You Up". This is a classic bait-and-switch prank. Many major websites have used the phenomenon to prank their viewers. Youtube linked the Rickroll video to all of their featured videos for April Fools, and even Livejournal got in on the joke and introduced a new advisory board member, whose profile led to a Rickroll. It’s even spread to real life, with Rickrolling occurring in some TV shows, sports stadiums, and even in a train station! It’s also used in the campaign against Scientology. The man himself, Rick Astley, finds the phenomenon funny and bizarre, and says that he won’t capitalize on the sudden popularity.

Personally, pranking for me is a funny way of bonding with people over a good laugh. Me and by friends used to do it all the time. Ever pranked someone good? Tell us!