8 Funniest Paranormal Pranks Of All Time

Perhaps one of the most realistic pranks in the list comes from the Canadian hidden camera reality series 'Just For Laughs Gags'. In the silent show, set to music, unsuspecting members of the public are lead into a medical waiting room where they cane face to face with a very creepy little girl in broad daylight.

A viral marketing stunt for the 2013 remake of 'Carrie' saw a coffee shop rigged with supernatural effects. It featured an elaborate setup where a woman appeared to telekinetically throw a man against the wall, move tables, and make books fly off shelves, all to the shock of unsuspecting customers.

"I'm three - nearly six," Tiny Tim tells television ghost hunter Barri Ghai in a prank call from 2017. The innocent-sounding voice is actually comedian Tim Bradbury's impersonation of a child, and he's on the wind-up. In his characteristic high-pitched voice, Tiny Tim tells Barri, "I think I've got a ghost in my house, and I need some help." He explains, "At bedtime, at nighttime, I can hear my mum and my uncle Barry screaming."

In fairness to Barri, whose role on 'Help! My House Is Haunted' means he's more used to dealing with imps and demons, he handled the call pretty well, laughing along with Tim and his childish claims that his mum keeps him up all night "screaming at the ghost."

This truly terrifying prank aired on Brazilian TV in 2020 and features unsuspecting elevator passengers thrown into a nightmare scenario. After the elevator "breaks down" and the lights go out, a ghostly girl crawls in through a hidden panel. When the lights come back on, she terrifies the passengers with her eerie presence, leading to panicked screams and unforgettable reactions.

A classic Jeremy Beadle prank from a 1996 episode of 'Beadle's About' featuring Janet Elford, who came home one evening to find a huge meteorite had landed in her back garden. Viewers laughed along as they watched Janet's reaction to the peculiar event via hidden cameras. This iconic practical joke taught us that when faced with an extraterrestrial being, the one thing you should always do is ask it if it wants a cup of tea.

Valak, the terrifying demon nun from 'The Conjuring 2' was became the real-life nightmare of the victims of this viral prank to promote the movie. After a screening of the movie, unsuspecting audience members were lead into a room alone under the pretence of sharing their review of the film. But this is no ordinary waiting room. What appeared to be a standard mirror on one wall is in fact a two-way mirror, allowing an actor dressed as the terrifying nun from the film to appear suddenly.

Ant and Dec kicked off the 2023 series of ITV's 'Saturday Night Takeaway' by pranking 'This Morning' host Alison Hammond with a haunted hotel setup. Tricked into staying at the historic Speech House Hotel, Alison was met with flickering lights, creepy dolls, and tales of ghostly milkmen. Though initially refusing to stay, she was eventually coaxed back inside, only to witness staged poltergeist activity and a final scare when Ant and Dec revealed themselves as the "ghosts." Alison later praised the duo’s efforts, calling it the "scariest night" of her life.

Not a paranormal prank, but a joke played on a familiar face from the paranormal world. In 1993, almost a decade before she devised 'Most Haunted', former 'Blue Peter' presenter Yvette Fielding earned a Gotcha Oscar on 'Noel's House Party'. The prank involved a range of DIY products that were not all they cracked up to be.

Having seen this, it's not hard to understand why Yvette ended up as a television ghost hunter and not the host of a DIY show.