The coolest draw for April 1: an American fooled the city by causing a volcano eruption

In the city of Sitka in Alaska (formerly Novo-Arkhangelsk), there lived a welder named Oliver Bikar, nicknamed Piggy. He worked in a local tire shop and worked well, but it was not because of this that he remained in the history of the city. The piglet arranged very witty and large-scale practical jokes for the first of April. 

Sitka is located at the foot of the ancient, long-extinct volcano Edgecombe. One day, the Piglet had a bright idea how to use the volcano to trick the townspeople. For three years, under the cover of night, he brought used tires to the crater and used a mini-helicopter to drop them down. And so in the spring of 1974, on the eve of April Fool's Day, Bikar went to the volcano in the early morning, poured gasoline on the accumulated pile of rubber and set it on fire. It flared up as it should.

When the townspeople woke up, they saw a terrible picture in the windows. The volcano, which had been silent for more than a thousand years, came to life, black smoke poured out of the crater, even flames broke through, black soot descended on the surrounding area. What started here... people began to collect things in horror, load them into cars, and a helicopter was raised in the air in alarm. Hovering over the slope, the volcanologists saw 20-meter letters painted in the snow: "Happy April Fool".

For this prank, the Piglet was not even fined. Apparently, he felt impunity and finally lost his temper. The following year, a cheerful welder ordered a whole container of life-size plastic pink flamingos and placed them at a local lake. The people were in shock.

The piglet did not spare his friends either. Once, when his friend left the city, the merry man planted two dozen young oaks on his lawn. According to local rules, a fine of $ 18,000 is imposed for each felled oak tree. So a small grove appeared around the victim's house.