Who doesn't enjoy a prank every now and then?
Indeed, whether you're the perpetrator, the victim, or just a lucky spectator, seeing someone hilariously caught off guard can be a delight to behold.
Of course, pranks are a bit less funny, and are often just downright mean, if the victim of the prank doesn't laugh about it too, at least eventually.
It also shouldn't be forgotten that pranks also have a way of backfiring, even leaving the potential for danger.
Should a prank backfire so much that it might put someone in lethal danger, then that's no laughing matter at all.
Redditor ChannelNerd was curious to hear if anyone ever witnessed or partook in a prank that went so dangerously wrong, it almost cost someone their life, leading them to ask:
"What 'prank' went very wrong/ almost killed someone?"
A Harmless Prank, Or Deliberate Harm?
"My buddy thought it would be funny to swerve his car towards the ditch and turn away at the last second."
"We wound up going into the ditch, slamming into a culvert, and flipping end over end."
"There's still debate amongst a few people whether he meant to do it or not."
"Apparently he was the butt of a lot of jokes and I just hadn't been around the group of people long enough to understand how deep it went."- AstroWorldSecurity
Flying Flames Are Never A Good Idea
"I was in my senior year of college."
"Some guy threw a grad party at one of his parents houses."
"I ended up going, cause why not?"
"Three guys who were wasted as f*ck had this idea to shoot Roman candles at one their buddies who was coming out of the poolside bathrooms."
"It was two bathrooms attached to a small closet with pool chemicals and the door happened to be ajar."
"One of the rounds went right into the closet and started a fire while there was a girl passed out drunk in the next stall."
"Everyone freaked out and called the cops, but nobody knew the girl was passed out."
"Luckily, she survived with minor burns, but the guy's parents got sued."
"The girl was only 19 and had half her arm burned and a lot of her hair singed off."- BeyondXpression
Always Check Your Surroundings
"A friend of mine's dad once decided to jump out of an empty wardrobe and scare his wife when they were house shopping."
"He didn't see a downward facing hook at the back of the wardrobe and when he jumped up to leap out he caught his back on the hook and ripped his skin open."
"They had to go to A&E to get stitches and the police showed up as the doctors were concerned it was a stab wound."
"So he had to explain to the police how he had f*cked up a simple prank so badly he had basically stabbed himself in the back."- silentarcher00
There's a Reason They Called That Show Jacka**...
"Me and some friends were spraying hair spray down a tube with someone lighting the other end."
"Between sprays, one of the guys looked down the tube to see if there was flame inside the tube."
"As he did this, someone sprayed more hair spray into the tube."
"It turns out there was still flame in the tube, because my friend's head was engulfed in a ball of flame."
"He didn't end up with any major burns or other injuries, but he had no more eyebrows, eye lashes, or fringe for a while."- sapperbloggs
Anyone Who Does This Is No Friend...
"I was at a swimming pool with friends as a kid maybe 10 or 12 years old."
"We were in the deep end and diving down to 12ft, picking up coins off the bottom of the pool."
"I was coming up from the bottom, and one of the kids thought it would be funny to hold me head underwater with his foot."
"I gasped as I broke the water, then got shoved back down and inhaled a shitload of water, and panicked, and two other kids had to drag me out of the water onto the concrete, where I coughed and vomited for what felt like 10 minutes."- Fy_Faen
The Number Of Ways This Could Have Gone Wrong...
"Dumb neighbor kid thought it was a good prank to hide behind parked cars along the side of the road and jump out at approaching cars."
"Didn't get hit because the first car was driving very slowly, and the owner got pissed enough that he never dared to do it again."- poklane
Some Context Is Definitely Needed...
"A kid at school whose dad flicked a towel in his face."
"It got his eye really bad and he had permanent damage."
"The kid was an up-and-comer in the local tennis league as well."
"Really sad."- Prstty
Some Might Call That Karma...
"When I was younger, my mom was out on a walk with her friends, and my dad thought it would be funny to pelt them with water balloons when they came around the corner."
"As soon as they rounded the bend, we ran out with our water balloons and my dad tripped and fell and broke his foot, his leg, and his arm."- Mariambarouma
Stupidity For All The World To See...
"There used to be this video series on Youtube called 'Hood Pranks' or something like that - not sure if it's still around, but plot of every show was these geeky guys going into some of the toughest neighborhoods of NYC and playing stupid pranks on people where they got beat up in half the episodes."
"I recall one prank where one of the hosts got knocked out with a single hook to the jaw."- boxingfan828
Pushing People Into Traffic Is No Kind Of Prank!
"Dumb kid thought it was a funny idea to push his friend from a sidewalk towards my car."
"Good thing i was driving slowly so i was able to stop in time."
"Since that day i'm always afraid someone is going to push a person under my car, when i drive near sidewalk with people on it."- Drogovich
As long as everyone can laugh about it at some point, there's nothing wrong with pulling an occasional, harmless practical joke on someone you know.
HARMLESS being the operative word.