By Sharon Oliver, Contributing Writer

REGION – When it comes to pranks, jokes, and outrageous shenanigans, the people of Massachusetts can give or take it with the best of them. 

False volcano eruption report

Well, in most cases, that is. There has been a joke or two that had gone awry―case in point―the 1980 Blue Hills April Fool’s Day Panic. On April 1, 1980, WNAC-TV Channel 7 (now WHDH) reported that the Blue Hills in Milton were erupting, sending some people in the streets out of fear of a volcanic eruption. There are no volcanoes in the state.

The report claimed lava and ash were spraying onto homes and used edited clips from President Jimmy Carter and Governor Edward J. King, calling the situation serious. Keep in mind, that the eruption of Washington State’s Mount St. Helens five days earlier was still fresh in the minds of many throughout the nation. Making matters worse, the Massachusetts Department of Civil Defense fielded dozens of calls from people wanting to know if they should evacuate.

At the end of the broadcast, reporter Jim Harrison held up a sign that read: “April Fools.” Residents were not amused. Angry viewers called into the station and executive producer Homer Cilley was ultimately fired the next day for “his failure to exercise good news judgment” and for violating Federal Communications Commission’s rules on showing stock footage without properly identifying it.

State House “codnapping”

Another example of hijinks for the record books is Harvard Lampoon’s 1933 abduction of the “sacred” cod from the Massachusetts House of Representatives chamber. The shocking “codnapping” was carried out by three staff members of the Lampoon who pretended to be tourists. Demand for the mascot’s return was high and the sentiment was deep since it symbolized how cod fishing fueled the colony’s growth since the early 1700s. Police even dredged the Charles River and a manhunt (or fish hunt) had spread down to New Jersey. The story made national news and the Los Angeles Times printed a poem about the fishy crime:

From Winthrop Beach to Bunker Hill,
From Cambridge to Revere,
The voice of happiness was still,
One heard no note of cheer.
A pallor whitened every face.
All eyes were red and swollen;
A dreadful crime had taken place —
The Codfish had been stolen.

Accounts vary as to how Charles Apted, Chief of Harvard Yard Police, came into possession of the cod but he was able to bring it back to its rightful place in history.

Of course, not all pranks caused Bay Staters such angst. Take the time when the “Candid Camera” TV show came to town, for example. The show’s “There Goes the Neighborhood” is a classic 1960s episode featuring the hilarious reactions of Boston residents when they are tricked into believing a disco is moving in next door.

MIT “hacks”

Not to be outdone, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) brainiacs have a longstanding penchant for jaw-dropping pranks. These “hacks” are designed to demonstrate technical aptitude and cleverness, along with commemorating pop culture and historical topics, and have garnered national attention over the years. 

Some of their most famous creations include placing a replica of a campus police cruiser on the roof of the Great Dome and using a remote-controlled device to move bulletin boards up and down whenever the calculus professor approached the board. The day after AMC’s hit television series “Breaking Bad” finale aired, students turned the school’s Alchemist into an homage to Heisenberg, an alias of the show’s main character, Walter White. 

More recently, this year Newton native and “The Office” actor B. J. Novak was pardoned for a prank he pulled at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston while he was in high school in 1997.

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