Story of The Great Blue Hill eruption!
For April Fools’ Day in 1980, Boston TV news producer, Homer Cilley, (it actually rhymes with “silly”) produced a television broadcast about a hill in Milton, Massachusetts, that had begun oozing lava and spewing flames. He included fake warnings from then-president Jimmy Carter and real footage from Mt. St. Helens eruptions that implied the Massachusetts volcano had fully erupted. “April Fool” read the card at the end of the segment, but hundreds of panicked citizens flooded law enforcement phone lines anyway. Cilley was promptly fired for failing to exercise “good news judgment” and breaching FCC regulations.
Prank that almost lead to a war!
In 1986, an Israeli intelligence officer played an April Fools’ prank involving fake news that an Islamic leader had been seriously wounded in an assassination attempt. Haha? No. Not really. The news caused an immediate flare-up in tensions in the region, and the high-ranking prankster was court-martialed.
Story of a cliff-hanger!
In 2001, a DJ in England decided to prank his listeners on April 1 by broadcasting that a ship that looked suspiciously like the Titanic could be seen from the cliffs at Beachy Head in East Sussex. Hundreds of listeners believed him, trekking to the cliffs to catch a glimpse. Unfortunately, all the foot traffic caused a large crack in the cliff face. A few days later, it fell into the sea.
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