--- title: High School Car Crash Prank Gets Praised By Police description: These Wisconsin seniors executed the perfect, no-harm prank — although even their teachers were fooled at first. canonical: https://time.com/5279246/wisconsin-high-school-prank/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-16T15:08:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:54.518Z og:title: Viral High School Prank Is So Elaborate the Cops Loved It og:description: These Wisconsin seniors executed a prank so well even the police were impressed og:url: https://time.com/5279246/wisconsin-high-school-prank/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79050560bf3de65f/69892d90ab6d777da56b25d0/gettyimages-115093584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3611 og:image:height: 2031 og:image:alt: school hallway lockers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Viral High School Prank Is So Elaborate the Cops Loved It twitter:description: These Wisconsin seniors executed a prank so well even the police were impressed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79050560bf3de65f/69892d90ab6d777da56b25d0/gettyimages-115093584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This High School Prank Is So Elaborate Even the Cops Are Massive Fans > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b5e57e15-642d-4d9c-bcfe-95b630d7be5f&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner May 16, 2018 3:08 PM UTC  A high school hallway. A high school hallway. Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner May 16, 2018 3:08 PM UTC Give these kids a round of applause — and go easy on grading those finals, too. The seniors at [Wisconsin’s](http://www.wmur.com/article/wisconsin-police-say-high-school-senior-prank-is-one-of-the-best/20711860) Cumberland High School are getting props for a well-executed [prank](http://time.com/3971245/corn-prank-high-school/) that even impressed the local police department. According to a [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/cumberlandsd/posts/1064723560361619) shared by the local school district on Monday, graduation week peaked when administrators and teachers arrived to school to find what looked like a major accident: a car crashed into a “gaping black hole” on the side of a school building near the principal’s office. But it turned out the whole thing was an optical illusion. The seniors had taped up a black tarp and scattered spare loose bricks around an old, beat-up car positioned at the wall, creating the appearance of destruction when, in reality, everything was just fine. “The best part? This prank included absolutely no damage at all to school property, which is why police singled it out,” the school district continued on Facebook, urging everyone to “have a safe and enjoyable week.” Go Beavers! Fans of the prank from around the country have taken to sharing their admiration on the Facebook post, too. Perhaps this no-harm-done prank approach will inspire other high schoolers around the country in their own end-of-year antics. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5279246/wisconsin-high-school-prank/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5279246/wisconsin-high-school-prank/"},"headline":"This High School Prank Is So Elaborate Even the Cops Are Massive Fans","datePublished":"2018-05-16T15:08:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:54.518Z","description":"Go Beavers!","url":"https://time.com/5279246/wisconsin-high-school-prank/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79050560bf3de65f/69892d90ab6d777da56b25d0/gettyimages-115093584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79050560bf3de65f/69892d90ab6d777da56b25d0/gettyimages-115093584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"school hallway lockers","caption":"school hallway lockers","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5279246/wisconsin-high-school-prank/","name":"This High School Prank Is So Elaborate Even the Cops Are Massive Fans"}}]}] ```