How to Scare Your Friends

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Last Updated: October 17, 2024

Pulling off a good prank takes intelligence, patience, and dedication — the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it. Here are some fun pranks that you can use to scare your friends. Just remember that being the one who scares people is a lot more fun than being scared: don’t be surprised if your friends retaliate!

Method 1

Method 1 of 7:

Pretending You’re a Werewolf

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These are available at costume shops all year round and at most stores near Halloween. If you can find one with glowing eyes, all the better!
2
Go for a walk with friends during a full moon. Make sure you’re somewhere that has good places to hide — ideally a cemetery, the woods, or a road lined with trees and bushes.
- Don’t be obvious about the full moon to your friends, but do make sure they notice it — while you’re walking you can just say “Wow, the moon is so huge tonight!” or something like that.
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3
Slip to the back of the group and “disappear”. You can “disappear” by hiding behind a bush or a tree, for example. Do this after you’ve been walking for a while — at least 10 or 15 minutes — otherwise your goal (the prank) might become obvious.
- Note that it’ll have to be a larger group in order for you to disappear easily. Aim for at least 3 other people: the more the better.
- If you can’t find a good time to slip away, tell your friends you need to pee and that they can keep walking — you’ll catch up.
4
Follow your friends silently. You can do this from behind, beside, or even in front of your friends — just make sure that they don’t see or hear you.
- Resist the urge to laugh here. If you think you might laugh, make sure you’re far enough away from them that they won’t hear you, and try to stifle the sound by burying your face in your jacket and hands.
You’ll know they’ve noticed you’re missing when they begin to look around and/or wonder out loud where you are. If they call out to you, don’t answer.
6
Get loud. Once your friends notice you’re missing, you can make noise; just don’t let them know it’s you making the noise! You might start by making a low howling noise from where you’re hiding — low enough that they’re not totally sure they’ve heard it.
- If you don’t think you can make a good howling noise, maybe play one on your smart phone or some other recording device.
- After making the howling noise, remain hidden while you run past them. If you’re on a tree-lined street or in the woods, run quick and loudly, being sure that they hear your footsteps. If it’s very dark, you may need to move more slowly to avoid tripping and falling.
- If you can’t get close to them without them seeing you, throw large rocks towards (not at) them instead. You can also snap branches in your hands. These thudding and snapping sounds should startle your friends, too.
7
Reveal yourself. When your friends seem a bit more frightened (after a minute or two of you making sounds), scream loudly and run out from where you’re hiding as you look behind you.
- When they ask what’s wrong, tell them that you think you saw something in the woods — that it looked kind of like a large wolf. Say that you felt it brush past you.
- To heighten your story, you might even rub a small amount of fake blood on your wrist. If you do this, don’t mention it. Just rub your wrist lightly as if it’s in pain, and if your friends ask about it, say you think you must have scratched it on something while you were running away.
8
The next time you see your friends, behave strangely. Make sure your friends notice you eating more than normal (especially meat) and doing dog-like things.
- Dog-like things might include sniffing at food before you eat it or scratching at the couch to make it more comfortable before you sit down on it.
- You’ll also get your friends wondering what’s wrong if you act weird whenever they mention that night where you supposedly saw the wolf. If they mention the night, look serious and scared for a minute, and then change the subject.
9
Tell one of your friends what you’ve been up to, and ask them to play along. This friend could tell the others that you’ve been acting strangely, and that they’re beginning to wonder if werewolves are real and if you were bitten by one.
- He can say he even thought he saw you chasing someone’s cat the other day, for example.
10
Reveal yourself as a werewolf. You can do this in a number of ways. One way would be to go for another walk with your friends the next full moon, and then disappear and reappear as a werewolf (wearing the werewolf mask).
- Another thing you could do is get your friend who’s in on the prank to tell your friends he saw you go into a certain space — an abandoned house or a creepy schoolyard, or the woods, for example. Your friend can bring your other friends there, and you can hide then jump out at them wearing a werewolf mask.
11
Be sure to build tension before you jump out and scare your friends. Just as you did at the start of the prank, get your friends nervous by making noises around them, and making low howling sounds.
- You can even make the howling sounds get louder right before you jump out and scare them.
- Don’t forget to make sure you reveal yourself as a werewolf on the next full moon — your friends might still get scared if it’s not a full moon, but a full moon will be the most effective time to reveal yourself as a werewolf.

Method 2

Method 2 of 7:

Dropping a Spider on Someone

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1
Gather your materials:^{[1]
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- 10 to 20 feet of clear fishing line (more if you have high ceilings)
- 1 hook
- 1 large but realistic fake spider (you can also go big and hairy if you want!)
If you’re planning to prank someone who comes over often, screw the hook above where they normally sit.
Be sure the fishing line is securely around the spider and that you've tied a strong knot. You don’t want the spider falling off the line!
4
Drape the fishing line over the hook. To make sure you have enough line, cut it after you know where you’ll be standing when you pull it.
- You may want to leave the line near a light or the TV instead of where you’re sitting on the couch if you think that your friend might sit close enough to you on the couch that they can see you pulling the fishing line.
- The best setup is to be able to control the spider from behind the couch or curtain, when your friend isn’t even aware you’re in the room.
5
Drop the spider. Once your friend is sitting down on the couch, find a way to drop the spider on to him/her without him/her noticing you pulling on the fishing line.
- Exactly how you do this will depend on the layout of your room. You may need to get creative!
- If you live with other people, ask them to tell your friend you’ll be there in a minute, and to have a seat. Then, once they’ve sat down, you can drop the spider on them from your hiding place.

Method 3

Method 3 of 7:

Serving a Popping Cake

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1
Gather your materials:
- 1 balloon
- Duct tape
- Cake plate
- A medium-small box (size of a cake)
- Icing (make sure it’s thick and opaque)
- Sprinkles
- Friend who likes cake
- Real cake to say you’re sorry (optional)
2
Cut the top off a box. You can use any type of box for this, but something the size of a medium-small cake (roughly 9 inches by 9 inches) would be perfect. You’ll also want to make sure that the sides are high enough to hold in an inflated balloon.
- A huge sheet-cake-sized box could also work but isn’t ideal, as it would just require more balloons and more icing.
Inflate a balloon large enough that it fills the box as much as possible without distorting the sides of the box.
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Place the balloon in the box and tape it in. Once the balloon is in the box, use some duct tape to secure it there — 1 strip of tape vertically and 1 horizontally should be fine, but you can use more if you think you need to.
- You can also use painting tape or electrical tape if you don’t have duct tape. Just don’t use Scotch tape, as this will be too thin and not sticky enough to properly hold in the balloon.
- You want to use enough tape that the balloon sits firmly in the box and doesn’t move around when you touch it.
You’ll want to do this before you begin icing the “cake” so that you don’t make a mess on your counter — also, it will be easier to transport once it’s iced.
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Ice the balloon and box. Use a spatula to cover the balloon and box with icing. You want to cover the entire thing so that it looks like a cake.
- Make sure the icing is thick and opaque — you don’t wan it to be runny or see-through, or it’ll be easier to tell what’s underneath it.
Do whatever else you want to do to make the cake look extra tasty and alluring. You might even write your friend’s name on it with icing.
8
Give the cake to your friend. Your friend will probably be pretty excited to get a cake. If it’s not their birthday, you’ll need to find some other convincing reason for offering them cake.
- For example, if you’re having a movie night, you could say that you were bored at home and felt like making some cake. If you do this, you can’t push them to eat it otherwise they might know something’s up. You’ll have to wait for them to want the cake and cut it.
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Have them cut the cake. If your friend is excited about the cake, they will probably want it right away. Make sure they’re the one to cut it, but don’t act too obvious about wanting them too. You can just hand them the knife and say you’ll get plates.
- If your friend doesn’t seem to want the cake, you can ask them to cut you a slice, but this might be more obvious. If they go into the kitchen to get themselves a drink, you could say, “Hey do you mind cutting me a piece of that cake?” and then act like you’re busy on your phone.
When your friend cuts the cake, they will likely scream when it pops loudly. This is when you laugh, and hopefully they will laugh too.
Getting a balloon cake isn’t as funny as giving one. If you give someone a balloon cake, make it up to them by giving them a real one afterwards. At the very least, give them a cupcake!

Method 4

Method 4 of 7:

Making Monstrous Sounds

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This prank involves transmitting spooky sounds to a place of your choosing, to scare people of your choosing. You don’t need much for this — just your voice, a spooky setting, and a baby monitor set (transmitter and receiver).
You could do this to your friends, family, or even your kids, if you have them and are confident it won’t scar them for life.
3
Choose your setting. Think about where it would be really frightening to hear scary voices coming from. Imagine what would terrify you if you were alone at night and began to hear frightening noises.
- What if you heard frightening noises coming from under your bed? Would this scare you?
- What if you heard noises coming from your closet, or maybe the bathroom down the hall?
- You could even do this outside at night if you’re camping, but it might be a bit more tricky!
Make some noises into the transmitter to get a sense of how you sound. You might try out different creepy voices to see what works best.
5
Hide the speaker unit of the baby monitor in a place of your choosing. You’ll be speaking into the transmitter (the unit a parent would leave next to the baby to monitor it), and the sounds you make will come out of the speaker (the unit the parent would normally have).
- Possible locations for the speaker include under the bed, in the closet, in the bathtub behind the shower curtain, or anywhere else where you’re planning to have the scary noises come from.
- Be sure that no one catches you hiding the speaker, and that it’s well-hidden, or the prank will be over. Remember that at night, the speaker’s light might glow in the dark, so you’ll want to make sure it’s properly hidden.
- Make sure the speaker is on and that the batteries are well charged when you hide it.
Make sure the transmitter is off until you’re ready to use it, otherwise every sound you make will be transmitted to the place where you’ve hidden the speaker!
This prank works best at nighttime when it’s dark and quiet, and everyone has gone to bed but isn’t yet asleep.
8
Sit somewhere far away from the speaker and begin. Whispers are a great way to start, and are especially frightening when they build up into a loud exclamation.
- Example: “Where is she where is she where is she I know she was here I know it I saw her … [pause and then loudly whisper the person you’re pranking’s name while smiling] … yes that’s her name, that’s her — Shhh shhh shhhhhh. I think she hears us!” Then be quiet for a few moments, then shout “LET ME OUT!” then start whining or crying, or laughing maniacally.
- Ideally you don’t want to stop until you can hear the person freaking out.
- If you’re trying to scare children, keep it tame — for example, “What’s that smell? What’s that smell? I smell smelly feet … they make me hungry, I’m going to EAT THEM!”
If you’re too far from the speaker, your voice might not transmit to it clearly. If you’re unsure of the transmission distance, double-check the instructions for your baby monitor set.
You can also do this prank without the monitor, just by hiding beneath someone’s bed, in their closet etc. The thing is, it’s scarier if they see you before they go to bed — that way they won’t expect that you're in the room trying to scare them.

Method 5

Method 5 of 7:

Telling a Scary Story

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1
Read scary stories. Even if you’re planning on telling a scary story that you’ve made up, you can benefit from reading other scary stories. You can find great collections of scary stories at your local library or even online.
- Forums like Reddit No Sleep or Reddit Ghost Stories are great sources for frightening tales.^{[2]
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- One way to create your own scary story is to use another story as a template and then change the details to fit your location — for example, instead of “at a scary house somewhere” you can name a spooky-looking house in your city and say that you heard about something that happened there.
2
Put your scary story together. Tailor it to where you’ll be and what you’ll be doing. If you’re having a sleepover at your house, an effective scary story would be one that takes place in a house late at night.
- The more things your scary story has in common with where you are and who you’re with, the scarier it will be.
3
Practise it. Don’t just write a story down and then hope you can remember it well enough to tell it — and definitely don’t read from a book or piece of paper. Telling the story from memory will engage your listeners and have the strongest effect.
- You might even want to record yourself telling the story so that you can get a sense of how you sound and (if you have a video camera/smart phone with video function) look while telling the story.
You don’t want to just start telling a spooky story in the middle of a busy cafeteria at lunchtime; scary stories are best told late at night amongst small groups of people.
5
Build intrigue. Before telling your story, you can build it up by acting a bit nervous and afraid before you start telling it. You can say that you want to tell your listeners something, but you’re nervous to because it scares you.
- You can say that you don’t like to think about it because when you do, you get bad dreams and feel uneasy in the days following it, but it’s a good story so you’ll try to share it.
- You can even look behind you uneasily, or glance from side to side nervously.
Don’t be too obvious in your attempts to build intrigue, or it’ll come off as fake and funny instead of making your listeners nervous.
7
Tell the story. As you tell the story, speak slowly and clearly, and most importantly, speak quietly. Don’t speak so quietly that people can’t hear you, but speak quietly enough that it sounds like you're sharing a secret with your listeners.
- You don’t want to be overdramatic, but you can definitely pause for dramatic effect during the story, and you can adjust the volume of your voice, too.
8
Make the ending count. Depending on the nature of the story, it might end with you clapping or shouting loudly, or you lunging towards your listeners. It might also end with you intensely looking at your listeners as you quietly deliver the punchline.
- Making a loud noise such as clapping, stomping, or shouting is a fun way to finish a scary story — if done right, this is sure to get a scream from your audience.

Method 6

Method 6 of 7:

Talking to Yourself

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It’s a common scene in horror movies to have someone sitting facing the wall, responding to some unknown entity. Most often they have their back to the audience, and are gently rocking back and forth in a rocking chair.
2
Choose your timing and audience carefully. This is not something you want to do in broad daylight around a large group of people. It’s a great prank for a sleepover if you have up to 3 other people over.
- If you’re doing this at a home where there will be parents present, make sure the parents know about the prank, otherwise they might wonder what's going on when they hear someone laughing maniacally in the middle of the night.
Sitting in a big cushy armchair facing the wall won't have the same effect as sitting in a wooden chair or rocking chair. You want to be easily seen, and you want your body language to be as clear as possible.
Practice what you’re going to do before you do it. Make sure no one hears or sees you doing this unless you want them in on the prank.
5
Decide how you will act that night. You may want to act completely normal all the way up to the point that your friends find you sitting in the chair, or, you might want to give little hints that something isn’t right with you throughout the night.
- You could eat and then say you’re not feeling well, and say that you haven’t been feeling well a lot lately — something up with your stomach.
- You could mention that you’ve been having bad dreams, and then describe dreams in which a weird face appears in the darkness above you, or in which shadow people hover over you in your sleep.
6
Start the prank. Once everyone is in the bedroom and lying down/ready to go to sleep, lie down and then within seconds toss and turn, and then stand up and walk towards the door.
- If no one says anything as you leave, say “Ugh I have to pee again already” as you walk out, just to make sure they notice you’re gone.
- If you’re worried no one will notice you, or that you might wake up other people in the house, you can even do the prank in the bedroom — in this case, you’ll want to be the first one in the bedroom so that when everyone comes in, you’re already sitting in the chair in your “trance”.
7
Sit in the chair. Position a chair so that it’s facing a wall or even the corner of a room, and sit down in it. It’s important to consider your body language as you sit:
- Will you slump in the chair or sit perfectly upright, almost as if something is pulling you up toward the ceiling?
- Your body language is important here, so whatever you do, keep it in mind.
8
Stare at a point on the ceiling. Begin by staring at a point on the wall or ceiling. You can move your head or keep staring at the one spot. Have an idea of what you’re looking at — really imagining it will help you behave more realistically.
- To figure out how to move your head, imagine there is something moving around on the wall or ceiling and that your gaze is following it.
- You might even imagine that something is something crouched in the top corner of the room staring down at you.
9
Begin making sounds. Start quietly, but not so quietly that no one can hear you — ultimately you want to get the attention of your friends. You can speak to the “thing” you see, or laugh lightly and then get louder.
- Really you can make whatever sounds you want — just make sure they’re creepy!
- If you’re planning on screaming when your friends find you, keep your noises fairly quiet. That way, the abrupt change in volume will be extra frightening.
10
Know how you’ll react to your friends. When your friends find you, you can react in a number of ways. Don’t let them know that you notice them until they come right up to you and try to talk to you or touch you.
- When a friend tries to touch/talk to you, you can stare at them blankly and then scream, or you could stare at them blankly for a moment before blinking your eyes and shaking your head a bit, then returning to normal.
- If you do the second option, make sure that you act defensive or like you have no idea what they’re talking about when your friends try to mention the incident.
Unless you want your friends thinking you’re actually crazy, you’ll want to come clean to them at some point. When you do is up to you; just don’t keep it going on too long.

Method 7

Method 7 of 7:

Writing on the Bathroom Mirror

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1
Gather your materials. The goal of this prank is to leave a creepy message on the bathroom mirror that only becomes visible once the room steams up when someone showers. Here’s what you’ll need:^{[4]
X
Research source}
- Liquid dishwashing detergent
- A cup of water
- Some cotton swabs
This is what you’ll use to write your message.
Ensure that the swap is fully saturated with the soapy water. Make sure the solution isn’t too soapy though, otherwise it won’t be invisible when it dries.
4
Write your message on the bathroom mirror. Do this in any style you want — thicker or thinner lettering, for example. You might even want to let the water drip down a bit so it mimics dripping blood. Examples of what you might write:
- ”Help me”
- ”I see you”
- ”Hello?”
- ”Stuck in here”
- ”Watching you”
- ”Die”
You could even write your message backwards to suggest that it was written from the other side of the mirror. Messages like “Help me” or “Stuck in here” or even “Watching you” would be good.
6
Let the message dry. The message won’t be invisible until it dries, so make sure that you write it on the mirror when no one will need to use the bathroom right away. Give yourself at least 30 minutes to let it dry.
- You can use a blow-dryer on it to help it dry more quickly, if you’re in a rush.
Ideally your victim will have a shower and steam up the bathroom, and the message will appear. Maybe they won’t scream, but it might still creep them out.
8
Play ignorant. When your victim asks you about the message, play stupid. Ask to see it and then act afraid, too. You might even tell them a story that goes with the message.
- For example, you might say that you heard a cracking noise last night when you were in there, and have been feeling uneasy going in there since, like something is watching you.

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Question

Can I hide in a tree to scare my family?

Community Answer

You could, if you're good at climbing trees. Be careful, though!

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What are some creepy text messages you can send to your friends?

Community Answer

Try other languages and send them stuff in dead languages. Try "I AM WATCHING YOU," then "LOOK UNDER THE BED." Next "NOT THERE? TRY THE CLOSET (or bathroom)." Make sure you send these from a blocked number or a number your friend doesn't know.

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Where do I get a realistic-looking fake spider?

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There are many places where you can get realistic fake spiders. Check stores that sell Halloween decorations, including Walmart, craft stores, etc. But if you cannot find one, you can make your own.

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Tips

Another quick and easy way to scare a friend is to place a scary mask facing them on their pillow while they’re sleeping. When they wake up, they’ll be in for a fright! Just make sure that you place it far enough from their face that they can actually see it when they open their eyes.

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YouTube videos in which a scary face and scream pop up unexpectedly during the video are so popular now that you’ll have a hard time using them to scare anyone, unless they don’t regularly go online. If you want to do this, consider editing your own video; that way, it’s sure to be something they haven't already seen.

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Warnings

People can react unpredictably to pranks. If you’re doing a prank that involves you jumping out at people, be careful that you don’t get punched or attacked.

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Always be careful that you don’t take pranks too far. This is supposed to be fun — you don’t want to hurt anyone or yourself.

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Never threaten someone with a real weapon, or do something dangerous or illegal to try to scare them. Otherwise, you will get in trouble.

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