When it comes to pranks, some people prefer the instant gratification of seeing their targets fall for the trick with their own eyes.
Others, like mum Sue Goff, like to play the long game.
Sue, from Dorking, Surrey, has hidden a full-sized plastic skeleton in a wall in her house with an envelope that reads ‘Hide and seek champ 2021’ in a bid to terrify future occupants.
She enacted the spooky prank after she started renovating her living room with her husband and they found a void in the wall.
Creepily, that empty space held photos from previous occupants in it.
Now, the skeleton has been added and entombed in the wall with one hand clutching the envelope and the other raised in an eerie wave.
With wallpaper covering the spot, it could be many years before someone discovers it.
Sue’s love of scary pranks is part of a long tradition in her family, and she admits she’s previously terrified her kids by lying in wait under the bed or chasing them around in Halloween costumes.
This latest prank was in part inspired by the mum-of-two’s desire to get rid of the skeleton.
The homemaker had originally brought the skeleton to make a costume for her grandson and wanted to chuck it out as it no longer had a ribcage.
Sue said: ‘If I’d come across a fake skeleton like this in a new home, I’d find it highly amusing. It’s my sense of humour anyway.
‘The skeleton is all closed in now – a bit like a coffin.
‘The skeleton was up in my loft, leftover from Halloween. I’ve had it for a couple of years. I needed somewhere to put him, and whilst I was renovating, I discovered this big void.
‘We were putting the extension on, and we couldn’t use this space for a closet, so we just decided we’d put the skeleton in there.
‘I didn’t really have any more use for the skeleton, so this was the best way to dispose of it.
‘I put some pictures of my family and animals in the envelope for the next people to discover. It was a friend’s dad who suggested I write “Hide and side champion” on the front.
‘When we first got into the void, we discovered this window where photos from the previous occupants had been left.
‘I thought “right, I’m going to put that back in the void alongside my photos when we close it up”.’
Sue added that she wanted the skeleton and pictures to serve as a time capsule as well as a prank.
Sue said: ‘You could say I’m a bit of a prankster. My husband, Darrin, doesn’t share my sense of humour. The minute he saw me putting the skeleton into place, he just smiled, tutted and walked away.
‘I’ve played practical jokes on my kids all their life, so I think they’re a bit sick to death of it, to be honest.
‘My youngest daughter especially, I locked her in the loft once with the lights off.
‘I also hid under her bed for half an hour whilst she was having a shower. Then when she walked in, I grabbed her ankles.
‘I chased her down the road dressed as a zombie nun and showed up on her doorstep dressed as a gladiator.
‘It’s all been in good fun though.
‘I wanted this to serve as a time capsule, as well as a bit of a joke. The photos the previous occupants had left were twenty years old, but it’s still nice that they thought to do it.
‘When we get the rest of the house insulated, I’m going to have some photo books made and placed into walls around the house.’
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk
MORE : Student covers neighbour’s bedroom in tinfoil and even wraps sex toy in hilarious prank
MORE : Serial prankster hospitalized after using Gorilla Glue to stick cup to his mouth
MORE : Mum scribbles long-lasting lipstick all over little girl’s face for Elf on the Shelf prank