April Fools’ Day dates back to late 14th century as part of Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales.”
The tale credits the origin of April Fools’ Day to a talking rooster, who was tricked by a fox. The setting is 32 days after the month of March began; hence April 1.
This year MU students were not in town to play pranks on their roommates, but they still had good stories to tell from April Fools’ past.
“Last year I put a fake cast on my arm and tried to convince my friends that I’d broken it over break,” sophomore Danny Stookal said. “A few of them believed me, but then they called my bluff.”
Another student played the broken limb prank, but on his mom.
“I told my mom I broke my legs,” senior Justin Rennard said. “I was away at school so I figured I’d give it a shot. She felt really bad and started asking me questions like ‘How bad is it?’ and ‘Do you need your insurance information?’ I finally gave up and told her April Fools.”
Rennard said his mom’s response was filled with mixed emotions.
“She said that was so mean, but then she told me it was a pretty good April Fools’ joke,” Rennard said.
Some students played pranks about their relationships.
“I told my mom that my boyfriend of over a year had broken up with me,” freshman Rebecca Sobieszyk said. “She started bawling and I had to say ‘April fools’ so she would calm down. We laughed about it afterwards.”
Senior Ben Pape’s friend also played a relationship prank that took a turn for the permanent.
“My friends said they were engaged on Facebook,” Pape said. “I liked the changed relationship status, and so did about 170 other people. It was so convincing, they even wrote a little story about their engagement and took a picture with the ring.”
The joke, however, did not last.
“In the end they announced it was just an April Fools’ joke, I think they got a lot of people with that joke,” Pape said.
During spring break freshman Amy Santimauro tricked her parents and sister into thinking she was missing.
“I went down to breakfast with my dad and sister then left early and went back up to our hotel room,” Santimauro said. “My mom was out of the room and when they all came back, I was hiding and my dad was like ‘Where’s Amy?’ and they all freaked out. I jumped out then but I had definitely given them a scare.”
The question of a great April Fools’ joke brought out the nostalgia in junior Emily Cole.
“When I was about 7 years old, I thought it would be funny to tell my parents my 10-year-old brother punched me in the face,” she said. “I took Crayola markers and colored my eye to look like I was punched.”
Cole said her parents did not find the joke humorous.
“I walked in my parents bedroom and said ‘Mom, Brian punched me.’ My mom woke up and told me that wasn’t funny and wasn’t a good April Fools’ joke. Because that joke failed I really haven’t attempted to play another April Fools’ joke since.”