Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

The Cruelest Pranks People Have Ever Witnessed

Two hands set up a makeshift slingshot
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

For years people have watched prank shows on TV.

Some shows called them bloopers or practical jokes.

But as time has gone on and people's imagination has gone insane thanks to oneupmanship on TikTok, jokes and pranks have gotten out of control.

Does no one consider the danger in these situations?

You never know how someone will react.


Redditor Ghost_of_Society wanted to hear about all of the worst ideas for comedy people have witnessed. So they asked everyone:

"What's the cruelest 'prank' you've ever seen?"

The only pranks I've pulled have been prank calls.

You don't know how people will react.

"friends"

Look Around Ok GIF by BounceGiphy

"20 years ago, a friend of mine was prank kidnapped on halloween. Driven to a cornfield and left tied up and blindfolded for an hour. Was not funny. The 'friends' that did this actually got some time in prison."

PeeGeePeaKee420

Naked

"One of the guys on my high school track team was pantsed directly in front of the girls from the team. He wasn’t wearing underwear. The person who pantsed him was one of his close friends."

tornadobravo

"Yeah that happened to me when I was a kid. I had enough friends and self esteem that I wasn't devastated, and the girls were all really sweet like 'we didn't really see what happened' but I still never talked to that 'friend' ever again, and was a little traumatized for a while."

Live2ride86

Cruel

"Not so much a prank, but in high school, there was a girl who was apart of the spectrum and she was showing off a dance, and these cheerleaders were clearly laughing at her. The thing is, is that the girl didn’t realize they were making fun of her. They told her to do it again just so they could laugh more."

not7withu

Just like 90%

"I was 14 and going out to eat with my first girlfriend and my mom at Jimboys. Just like 90% of 14 year old males, I suffered from acne pretty bad. We were eating and having a good time and out of nowhere my mom looks to my girlfriend and asks."

"'Do you like popping bumps?'"

"My eyes widened, she knew I horrified by her question. My girlfriend just got quiet and her face went red. She then proceeds to say..."

"'What?!?!? It's not like she can't see them, and you need someone to do something about them.'"

"Then laughed, then got mad no one else thought it was funny and ruined the rest of the evening. I could never understand doing something like that to my child..."

The-DapAttack

Phoney

I Love You Valentine GIFGiphy

"A girl wrote an elaborate letter pretending to be another girl in class and handed it to me. I was shocked to receive my first love letter and felt like garbage when I found out it was fake."

chdeal713

How would one think that's funny?

The Switch

oh no wtf GIF by BounceGiphy

"I remember seeing a video where they switched the pregnancy test to a fake positive one on their 'friend' struggling with infertility. Messed up."

lydiethesquidie

Just Abuse

"There was that youtube 'family' that was like, 'daddy of five' or something, where one of the kids was literally -abused- constantly. They would do HORRIBLE crap to this boy and then say 'it was a prank for the channel' and he would be absolutely -destroyed- and scream he hated youtube..."

"Anything done as a prank for Youtube? Thats almost as bad as Child Abuse Pranking for Youtube."

rdewalt

The Reveal

"The TV show WB Superstar from the early 2000's. It was a show like American Idol, but they were actually looking for the worst singers. But they told the contestants they were looking for the best singers until the very end of the competition, when they revealed the truth to the winner after their final performance in front of a live audience. Very cruel show."

NerdSandwich

Hang Up

"I have no idea what radio station this was on as I was only a kid, but they used to do prank phone calls. I have little to no recollection of many of them except this one, as even as a kid I could tell it was just wrong."

"The radio host rang up a woman and advised that he was the manager of her husband's company and he was very sorry to tell her that he had been involved in an accident with some heavy machinery and it had resulted in his death."

"As you would expect the woman was beside herself with being told her husband had just died, she was wailing on the phone and the radio host couldn't really get another word in to explain it was a joke, and then they just cut off the phone call and played a song."

"Even as a kid I knew it was a really stupid and cruel idea, and I'm pretty sure that was the last time they did a 'prank' phone call."

kacey_88

Tragedy

Shaking Head Reaction GIF by GIPHY NewsGiphy

"A group of 5 boys decided to throw rocks from an overpass at the cars below, one of the rocks ended up going through a car’s windshield and killed the driver. The boys got charged with 2nd degree murder."

noncenuggets450

Can we all agree to pranks are just dangerous?

Enough. And it goes without saying, but please do not try these at home, folks.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Miriam Margolyes
David Levenson/Getty Images

'Harry Potter' Star Miriam Margolyes Offers Mic Drop Explanation For Why Respecting Pronouns Matters

Sometimes it is just that easy to make people happy. This is a lesson learned over and over in our lives, but that's because it's an important one.

Actor Miriam Margolyes shared how she learned to change her behavior to make others happier. Margolyes appeared on The Graham Norton Show recently and brought up a fairly polarizing subject in the United Kingdom: trans people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk looks on during a public appearance, as the billionaire once again turns a newsroom style decision into a culture-war grievance broadcast to millions on X.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk Cries Racism After Associated Press Explains Why They Capitalize 'Black' But Not 'White'

Elon Musk has spent the year picking fights, from health research funding to imagined productivity crises among federal workers and whether DOGE accomplished anything at all besides leaving chaos in its wake.

His latest grievance, however, is thinly disguised as grammatical. Specifically, he is once again furious that the Associated Press (AP) capitalizes “Black” while keeping “white” lowercase.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk; Yale University School of Engineering and Applied Science
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images; Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Elon Musk Gets Brutal Wakeup Call After Claiming That Yale's Lack Of Republican Faculty Is 'Outrageous Bigotry'

Elon Musk—who has repeatedly whined about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—took to his social media platform to whine about a lack of conservative faculty at Yale University.

Musk shared data compiled by The Buckley Institute (TBI), a conservative-leaning organization founded at Yale in 2010. TBI found 82.3% of faculty self-identified as Democrats or primarily supporting Democratic candidates, 15% identified as independents, while only 2.3% identified as Republicans.

Keep ReadingShow less
Barry Manilow
Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Barry Manilow Speaks Out After Postponing Farewell Tour Dates Due To Lung Cancer Scare

"Looks Like We Made It" singer Barry Manilow is in the process of saying goodbye to the stage and meeting his fans in-person, but he has to press pause for a few months after receiving a jarring diagnosis.

On December 22, 2025, the "Mandy" singer posted on Facebook, explaining that a "cancerous spot" had been discovered on his left lung.

Keep ReadingShow less
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame, the last time audiences saw Captain America before his unexpected return was teased for Avengers: Doomsday.
Disney/Marvel Studios

Marvel Just Confirmed That Chris Evans Is Returning For 'Avengers: Doomsday'—And Fans Have Mixed Feelings

Folks, once again, continuity is more of a suggestion than a rule in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel has officially confirmed that Chris Evans is returning as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday, and the internet has responded exactly how you’d expect: screaming, celebrating, arguing, and a very justified side-eye toward how Sam Wilson keeps getting treated.

The confirmation comes via a teaser now playing exclusively in theaters ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash. There is no official online release, despite leaks circulating. If you didn’t catch it on the big screen, Marvel’s response is essentially: sorry, guess you had to be there.

Keep ReadingShow less