Annals of Practical Jokes part II

Age: 10? 12?
Victim: Dad

This is one of those experiences that I look back on with awe. Not awe at my cleverness or skill, but at the fact that I didnt kill or injure myself. In this case, the potential (pun intended) hazard was high voltage. Not content to watch the HO train go around in oblong orbits around my room, I had recently begun experimenting with circuits that were probably not manufacturer recommended. These experiments would typically consist of me disassembling a broken radio (yes, they were all broken when I started with them!), pulling out the various mysterious and colorful nuggets, then shorting them between the railroad tracks. It was in this manner that I got shot in the chin by an exploding LED. But this is all just to give you a sense of my technical "sophistication", and doesnt have much to do with the prank itself.

I constructed a spring loaded switch out of legos (a little tray that would slide on the smooth topped legos) and well, aluminum foil. It was normally off, but when you pulled a string, it would open the circuit to a tape recorder. The string was routed via paperclips taped to the moulding out of my parents room and into the hallway. The switch and tape recorder were in my dads closet. The tape was of dogs howling and scratching at a door. I should add, at this point, that my dad comes from Japan, is quite superstitious, and not only believes in ghosts, but claims to have seen one when his friend died.

I let the dogs out several times becfore my dad discovered the tape recorder hidden in his closet, followed the string out of his room, and saw my door gently creaking shut as I fcrept ninja like back to my room. At that young age, I probably thought it possible that if he didnt see me in action, he might not know who had rigged such a contraption.


N.B. My mom was an unwilling co-conspirator because she had discovered me in my dads closet with legos, a tape recorder, electrical tape, and exposed wires.