The 10 Greatest April Fools Pranks Ever Played On The Public

In 1998, Burger King acknowledged the 32 million left-handed Americans by taking out a full page ad in USA Today introducing the "Left-Handed Whopper".

All the ingredients would be the same as the original except rotated 180 degrees. Thousands of people swarmed Burger King to try the new burger and praised its better taste. Thousands also requested the original Right-Handed Whopper.

The next day Burger King issued a press revealing the ad as a prank. Sometimes, America makes us sad.

The city of Aliso Viejo, California was preparing to ban foam cups because of a dangerous chemical called dihydrogen monoxide.

A city employee received an email warning him, and the city, of the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide and passed it along without even googling or wikipedia'ing the compound.

Before holding a vote, it came to the city officials' attention that dihydrogen monoxide is the scientific term for water. Apparently there are no chemistry classes in Aliso Viejo.

Consider Aliso Viejo pranked. Hard.

On March 31, 1989 a glowing UFO descended over London causing widespread confusion and panic among the Brits.

The flying saucer landed in the outskirts of London where onlookers, having been raised by way too much Doctor Who, gathered to make first contact with an alien being. A highly trained police officer poked the saucer with a stick and then ran as the door to the craft opened. A silver suited being stepped out of the saucer to greet the world.

The being was Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Records. He had built the craft and planned to land it on April 1st in Hyde Park, but was blown off course and forced to land early.

Citizens of Sitka, Alaska had a rude awakening in 1974 when the dormant volcano Mount Edgecumbe began billowing clouds of black smoke. Residents flooded the streets in terror fearing the volcano was prepared to erupt.

Word soon spread that it was just a local prankster named Porky Bickar who flew hundreds of tires to the mountain and set them on fire, thus exponentially increasing his carbon footprint.

According to rumors, six years later when Mount St. Helens ACTUALLY erupted, people wrote old Porky saying "this time you've gone to far!" Awesome.

In 1976, astronomer Patrick Moore announced on the BBC radio that a once-in-a-lifetime planetary alignment would create a global phenomenon on Earth.

Pluto (back when it was still a planet) would pass behind Jupiter, thus creating weightlessness on Earth at exactly 9:47 A.M.

Thousands of people called into the station claiming to have experienced the event and reported having floated around their houses.

...

...

We blame the 70's.