Have you ever pulled a scary prank on someone?
Were you ever the victim of one?
When my sister and I were little, we masterminded a fear-arousing stunt that surpassed our expectations. Does that mean that we succeeded? I offer our story for you to decide.
The Pranksters
When we were growing up, my peers and I were intrigued with “harmless” pranks, including those involving the phone.
Prankster: Is your refrigerator running?
Victim: Yes ….
Prankster: You better go catch it!
In the days before Caller ID, we easily got away with such capers—unless we were foolish enough to phone someone we knew, and that person recognized our voices. Thus, every now and then, an annoyed adult would call back and scold, “The telephone is not a toy. Stop bothering people. Go outside and play.”
All in all, our ideas were not that original or well executed … until we conceived the perfect plan for the right person under ideal conditions. Recently, my sister and I recalled that scary prank and what we learned from it.
The Scary Prank
I was seven and my sister was eight when we decided that Mrs. Fields—a dear lady who occasionally stayed with us when our parents went out—would make a great victim. Despite the sound of that, we had no ill intent. Our motive was to create a moment of surprise, followed by laughter. In fact, we expected Mrs. Fields to praise our ingenuity!
The circumstances were in our favor. Our parents were out of town, so she was spending the night. Bedtime and darkness set the stage.
To carry out our scheme, we started rubbing our eyes shortly after dinner, claiming we were tired. Our other no-nonsense babysitters would have been skeptical. We always wanted to stay up later, not go to bed earlier.
But sweet-natured Mrs. Fields was trusting. Also, up to that point, she had no reason not to believe us. We were always well behaved with her and honest. Therefore, she encouraged us to go upstairs and get ready for bed. She’d happily finish cleaning up the kitchen.
Enacting our roles, we dragged up the stairs. Once we reached our shared bedroom, we moved into high gear: arranging pillows and folding blankets on our beds to replicate our shapes; putting dolls with the right hue of hair on the pillows where our heads would rest; covering everything except a bit of the dolls’ hair so it would show; and turning off the lamps. In the dim light, two young children appeared to be asleep in their beds.
Next, we quietly hid in our older sister’s darkened bedroom (she was away at college) next to ours.
As anticipated, Mrs. Fields came to check on us several minutes later. She had to pass our sister’s room to reach ours. Like two spies, we were observing her through our sister’s partially shut door and continued peeking as Mrs. Fields looked in our bedroom. Satisfied that we were asleep, she closed our bedroom door and went by us again on her way back to the kitchen.
Nodding to signal one another that it was go time, my sister and I wordlessly emerged from our hiding place. We then tiptoed downstairs and crouched upon reaching the kitchen doorway. Mrs. Fields was standing at the sink with her back towards us. She was also filling a tea kettle, and the water drowned out the sound of our creeping up behind her.
When we were within reach, we simultaneously tapped her back and shouted, “Boo!”
She screamed and froze, paralyzed with fear. For a moment, all she could do was clutch the edge of the countertop for balance. Equally terrified, my sister and I wondered if we had given her a heart attack and almost expected her to keel over.
For the longest minute of our lives, no one breathed. Finally, Mrs. Fields let out a deep sigh, indicating that she had survived the fright. My sister and I immediately began apologizing.
Assured that she was okay, we hugged her. She said not to worry. We were forgiven, but my sister and I knew that we had forfeited Mrs. Fields’s utmost trust in us. She must have wondered what kind of demon had come to possess her kind, levelheaded girls!
She remained somewhat jumpy in our home. We tried to minimize her anxiety, such as by talking when we entered a room to avoid surprise encounters. Out of courtesy to Mrs. Fields, the precaution became a practice for as long as she took care of us.
A Lesson for Tricksters
My sister and I lost interest in conjuring up fear-inducing tricks. The experience also gave us a perspective that warns against the use of scare tactics—particularly those that are overblown or fabricated—to elicit desired reactions.
To note, scare tactics encompass a wide range of communications that evoke fear to bring about certain emotions, beliefs, and behaviors. Consider the repercussions:
- A well-conceived and executed plan can be highly effective in the short term yet cause relationships to sour through distrust and resentment when facts come to light.
- Seemingly vulnerable targets might be easy to influence, but they can also be the most negatively affected and unwilling to forgive.
- When the truth comes out, whether one learns that a little kid was shouting “boo,” or some great threat of danger was based on lies, the news of a hoax often spreads, casting a broad and permanent shadow of doubt and disdain over its perpetrators.
All the while, be wary of people who are hell-bent on scaring you and/or others to death. They might offer justifications, and maybe they have no malicious intent. Still, are they being unethical or causing harm?
Thoughts or questions? Please contact Sallie Boyles, owner of Write Lady Inc., to exchange ideas about effective communications and gain from professional writing and editing services. Receive monthly tips and insights by subscribing at https://WriteLady.com.
