April Fool’s Prank Results in Haunting

Many enjoy a good April fool’s joke, but not many know the origins of this day.

Many historians attribute this tradition to France. In1582, France changed to the Gregorian calendar—this switched the New Year day from April 1^st to January 1^st.

News traveled slow back then so some still celebrated the New Year on April 1^st.

Part of this day’s celebrations was to play pranks or jokes on others. People that fell for these jokes were called “fish” because “fish are easy to catch.” Paper fish were tacked to their backs marking them as gullible.

Some people today still refer to people that are easily fooled as fish.

Jonathan Swift

Over a century later, Jonathan Swift the author of Gulliver’s Travels managed to pull off a classic April Fool’s prank. Swift pretended to be an astrologer by the name of Isaac Bickerstaff he then published several predictions.

His most successful prediction, published in January of 1708, stated that a well-known astrologer and almanac maker—John Partridge—would die of a raging fever on March 29^th. Swift then reinforced his prank by circulating a rumor anonymously that Partridge had indeed died. *

The result was for months Partridge was kept awake at night by mourning fans outside his door. Then on March 30^th, he opened his door to a man that informed him he was there to make his funeral arrangements. This joke continued because for the rest of his life Partridge had to insist he was not dead.

The following is a short excerpt from a letter Swift published anonymously about Partridge's death to reinforce his prank:

“I saw him accidentally once or twice about ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish, though I hear his friends did not seem to apprehend him in danger. . .”

You can read the entire letter here.

John Partridge

Seven years later, Partridge did die on March 30^th. While alive he never discovered it was Swift who was behind this joke but after he died one account claims, he got revenge.

It states that Partridge’s ghost visited Swift every April Fool’s Day.

* Swift enjoyed this prank immensely because he felt Partridge was a quack since he dared to make predictions. Partridge wrote a public statement that he was not dead but Swift countered it with—Partridge could not have written it because who would dare to make a joke about death.