The most shocking April Fool's Day prank in history.

In global cultural history, April Fool's Day is a special day when lies are "legalized," not for deception, but for laughter. However, when major media outlets join in the "trap" on this day, many people become "victims," ​​and many jokes are still recalled decades later.

Spaghetti growing on trees

One of the most famous jokes was the "spaghetti harvest" segment on the Panorama program on a British television channel in 1957.

In the short film, which lasts about 3 minutes, viewers witness Swiss farmers harvesting individual strands of spaghetti from the plants, after a warm winter that helps "eradicate spaghetti pests."

The realistic visuals and serious tone of voice led around 8 million British viewers to believe that spaghetti actually grows on trees.

The event took place at a time when spaghetti was still unfamiliar to many British families, making the story even more convincing. Many people called the media outlet asking how to grow this "special plant" and received a half-joking, half-serious answer: just place a sprig of spaghetti in a can of ketchup and wait. From this, the media began to realize the power of combining visual imagery with seemingly scientific information.

Second Titanic discovered.

On April 1, 2011, a DJ from Southern FM radio in Brighton, England, caused alarm by announcing that a ship resembling the Titanic would pass near the Beachy Head cliffs (East Sussex, England). Crowds flocked to the area. However, the large gathering caused a crack, approximately 1.5 meters long, in the 120-meter-high cliff face. Facing the risk of a landslide, the coast guard and local authorities intervened, asking everyone to leave the area and cordoning off the site for safety.

Southern FM radio later stated that it was just a joke, but the incident sparked debate about responsibility and the limits of jokes on social media.

Color TV

In 1962, Sweden had only one television channel, broadcast on a black and white screen. On April Fool's Day that year, Kjell Stensson, a technician for the company, appeared on the news and announced that, thanks to new technology, viewers could turn their black and white televisions into color televisions.

The method is very simple; they just need to take a piece of colored plastic film and stick it to the TV screen. Mr. Stensson personally tested it.

Thousands of people subsequently imitated him. However, color television channels only began operating in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

Alien invasion

On April 1, 2010, the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad published an article about three alien spacecraft landing in the desert outside the city of Al-Jafr, carrying humanoid creatures up to 3 meters tall. According to the article, the appearance of the strange objects caused a power outage in the city and emitted an extremely high temperature.

This information quickly caused panic among the local community. Many parents were afraid to send their children to school, while Mayor Al-Jafr considered evacuating all 13,000 residents, although he did not carry it out. Security forces also launched a search in the desert area, but found no unusual signs.

Later, the newspaper's editor-in-chief issued an apology, admitting that it was merely an entertaining article for April Fool's Day, and stating, "We wanted to provide entertainment, not to scare people."

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/cu-lua-ca-thang-tu-chan-dong-trong-lich-su.html