April Fools Day
Learn a little about April Fools Day as well as some interesting pranks done on April Fools Day, including military pranks.
Why do we perform pranks on April 1?
No one really knows when and where the practice started, but it is documented well back to medieval times. Some historians think the tradition has its roots in the Hilaria festival of ancient Rome, while others believe it started in India with a Hindu festival called Holi. No matter what its origin might be, it is marked worldwide by virtually all nations, cultures and religions.
A credible case can be made that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. In the old Julian calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.
As with every change, there was always the 10% who did not get the word. Those who continued to celebrate the New Year during the last week of March through April 1 were made fun of and were called – you guessed it – “April fools.”
Over the centuries, the practice has evolved, with more elaborate and complex pranks being developed. For example, history tells us that on April 1, 1698, people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed.”
Some of the best-known and most successful hoaxes have been planned and executed by large companies and/or major media outlets.
According to History.com, NPR ran an interview in 1992 with former President Richard Nixon saying he was running for president again. “It was an actor, not Nixon, and the segment was an April Fools' Day prank that caught the country by surprise.”
On April 1, 1996, Taco Bell announced it had bought Philadelphia's Liberty Bell to use as a symbol of their fast-food franchise. They intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. Two years later, Burger King announced a new sandwich called the “Left-Handed Whopper,” and “Scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.”
The BBC, however, is credited with perhaps the most successful April Fools' prank ever. In 1957 they broadcast a three-minute segment on their popular current-affairs TV program "Panorama," describing how a family in southern Switzerland harvested pasta from their "spaghetti tree."
The straight-faced presenter described how a mild winter and the elimination of the dastardly spaghetti weevil had resulted in a bumper crop. The network supported its story with film clips of a harvest festival, with Swiss farmers plucking strands of spaghetti from trees and laying them out in the sun to dry. The way they got all the spaghetti to be the same length was through “years of selective breeding by generations of growers.”
At the time, spaghetti was an exotic food in the UK. Most Brits who even knew what it was had only seen it canned in tomato sauce, and they had no idea where it came from.
The BBC estimates 8 million people viewed that program. Numbers of them jammed telephone lines, wanting to know where they could get their own spaghetti trees. The BBC rather diplomatically replied: "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."
Decades later, CNN called this broadcast "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled.”
April Fools' pranks in the military
The Fake 30‑Day Furlough (World War II)
During WWII, Stars and Stripes published an April 1 article claiming overseas troops would receive a 30‑day stateside furlough, complete with celebrity entertainment aboard ship. Morale soared—briefly—until the reveal.
Greased Piglets on the USS John F. Kennedy (1986)
Sailors expecting routine mail instead watched three greased piglets, painted red, white, and blue, scatter across the flight deck after a helicopter landing. The prank was filmed and became Navy legend.
New Medal for Civilians Who Almost Joined (2023)A mock Department of Defense announcement introduced a medal recognizing civilians who considered military service. Many readers briefly believed it before noticing the April 1 date.
Pets Allowed in Marine Barracks (2019)
A realistic‑looking press release claimed Marines on Okinawa could now keep pets—dogs, cats, even hedgehogs—in barracks. It fooled many before the reveal.
Air Force “Beards Are Authorized” Announcement (2019)
A convincing social‑media post announced full beards approved for Airmen. Shares exploded before the joke became obvious.
Dorothy and Toto Balloon Incident (Joint Base Lewis‑McChord, 2023)
A base reported an unidentified balloon intrusion—then revealed the occupants were Dorothy and Toto, repeating “There’s no place like home.”
Working Cats Program (Old Guard, Virginia, 2013)
An announcement introduced official “working cats” to complement military working dogs.