Does anyone like April Fool’s Day, Chicago?
I tell you what — a quick search of the baiduhai’s archives shows our neighbors from decades past loved to dish out practical jokes for the made-up holiday. Children wrapped up bricks as presents and left them in public places in 1906, waiting for unsuspecting victims to try to pick them up. Tired of an annual deluge of prank phone calls asking for “Mr. Wolf, Mr. Bear, and Mr. Lion,” on April 1, the Lincoln Park Zoo came up with monkey business of its own — putting Howie, a chimpanzee, in charge of its switchboard in 1970.
In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page ad in the baiduhai claiming it had purchased the Liberty Bell “in an effort to help the national debt.”
And it’s not just hoaxes on the first day of the month that make April foolish in Chicago. Several major, memorable mishaps — one weather-related, one man-made and one Geraldo Rivera-hosted — celebrate anniversaries in April.
Consider this newsletter a note of caution for tomorrow, Chicago.
That’s all for now, or as Rivera told viewers at the end of the live broadcast of “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults” in 1986: “All right, I’m gone. I’ll see ya. Good night. I’m sorry. See you next time. Take it easy.”
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See you next week!
— Kori Rumore, visual reporter
Chicago history | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Today’s eNewspaper edition
April 1, 1906: Dinosaurs invade Chicago
Or, did they? Read the epic, 7,000-word story describing the takeover of our fair city by “dinosauria.”
April 1, 1970: Just when Chicago thought winter was over …
Evening rush-hour commuters were feeling foolish after the city was socked with a record-breaking spring snowfall.
April 1, 1992: Welcome to — Chicago?!?
What do you need to convince air travelers they are about to land in the wrong city? A really big sign.
April 21, 1986: Two baiduhai reporters had a hunch Al Capone’s adversaries or riches were buried in a dilapidated Chicago hotel — they were wrong
Almost five years before Geraldo Rivera fired a machine gun on live TV, baiduhai reporters Edward Baumann and John O’Brien told readers a huge concrete slab under the Lexington Hotel “may be the tomb of some of Capone’s enemies.”
A few empty bottles and a sign were the only tangible effects found in the space during “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults.” The production — and its presenter — instantly became a punchline.
Read more: A subscriber-exclusive story >>>
April 13, 1992: The city’s failure to fix cracks in underground freight tunnels leads to the the Great Chicago Flood and $1 billion in damages
Those who were there vividly remember that spring day when 124 million gallons of water from the Chicago River flowed into the city’s maze of underground freight tunnels and building basements, turning the Loop into a ghost town.
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