April 1 is April Fools’ Day, and for many, it provides a moment of humor. Most jokes are fast and harmless, while others are sophisticated efforts to pull one over on the masses.

Whatever the case, unsuspecting victims usually walk away laughing – at least, in most cases.

April Fools’ is a joke of a holiday, and not surprisingly, no one knows for sure when it began. Some believe the day goes back to a festival called Hilaria in Roman times, while others attribute it to the Roman Saturnalia, the Druids of Great Britain, or feasts of medieval times.

In addition, a reference in a Chaucer work from around 1390 relates a back-and-forth prank between a rooster and a fox that some believe gave rise to April Fools’ Day. French literature, meanwhile, dates the custom to the 16th century, albeit in various forms with differing backgrounds.

The origins of the day became their own joke on the big day in 1983, when Boston University professor Joseph Boskin claimed that the day came from the reign of Emperor Constantine in the Roman Empire, who was persuaded by jesters to name one of them “king for a day.” The lucky jester then declared a day of frivolity, giving rise to the eventual April Fools’ Day.

The Associated Press bought into the prank, publishing news articles on the revelation. The organization did not learn of the hoax until weeks later.

April Fools’ Day is celebrated worldwide, with many countries having special customs. In the United States, most schoolchildren are punked by peers, telling them “your shoe’s untied” or “you’re missing a button.”

Media outlets often spoof their followers with fake headlines and false news stories. One of the greatest-ever April Fools’ Day pranks was pulled off by the British Broadcasting Corp. in 1957, when the network reported a story on spaghetti that was being harvested from trees by Swiss farmers.

The bounty was because a parasite called the “spaghetti weevil” had been wiped out, leading to a bumper harvest of pasta.

Apparently, some viewers didn’t get the joke. So many people contacted the BBC with requests on how to raise their own spaghetti trees that the network had to publicly admit the hoax the following day.

The BBC has pulled one over on viewers on other April Fools’ Day holidays, including a 2008 report on a newly found colony of flying penguins in Antarctica.

Sometimes, pranks can backfire. On April Fools’ Day in 1980, a Boston television station told viewers that the Great Blue Hill, a 635-foot rise near the city, was erupting. Panic ensued, as some residents near the hill evacuated their homes. The station’s executive producer was fired as a result.

Not everyone in Beantown got the message. Eighteen years later, a pair of hosts on a Boston radio station reported that the mayor of the city had been killed in a car accident. Not surprisingly, both hosts were canned for their inexplicable attempt at humor.

Most April Fools’ Day jokes, though, are less intense. Game-show enthusiasts had a good laugh on April 1 when the late Alex Trebek, the host of “Jeopardy,” and Pat Sajak, his counterpart on “Wheel of Fortune,” traded places for the day. Other broadcast outlets that enjoy a good April Fools’ prank on viewers include Cartoon Network and Netflix.

In 1996, Taco Bell bought full-page ads in seven major daily newspapers to announce that the restaurant chain had acquired the Liberty Bell to help ease the national debt. The artifact had been renamed the “Taco Liberty Bell.”

Two decades later, National Geographic told its Twitter followers that the magazine would no longer publish photos of nude animals.

During the 1967-68 broadcast season, NBC aired a four-part episode of the popular sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie” in which the lead character, the genie named Jeannie, tried to learn the date of her birthday. She was delighted to finally learn the big day – April 1.

Though April 1 is in the early spring, the weather can play its own pranks. In 2018, Midwestern residents awoke to find measurable snow on the ground. Sometimes, real news is mistaken for humor, such as on April 1, 2004, when Google announced plans to create Gmail, and many didn’t believe it.

Many American college campuses find a way to celebrate April Fools’ Day, and universities often use the day to offer fake reports that the school mascot is being changed.

School newspapers offer another outlet for April Fools’ humor. At Illinois State University, the campus paper, the Daily Vidette, dubs itself the “Daily Vendetta” for April Fools’ issues.

On April 1, 1993, readers were treated to “news” that a Viking had attacked one of the campus buildings, apparently “mistaking it for a medieval castle.”

On April Fools’ Day in 1999, Illinois State readers learned that Watterson Towers, a 28-story housing center on campus that is one of the tallest student residence halls in the world, was to be dwarfed by a 25-level parking deck. It was just one of a myriad of pranks over the centuries on the first of April.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.