In quite possibly the best prank to ever hit this new digitized map world, a Scottish mechanic and his buddies staged a fake murder on Google Street View. It took longer than you might think for people to figure out what they'd done.
Tomson Motor Works in Edinburgh is on a bit of a weird street, as Dan Thompson, the shop's owner and operator for three decades, explained to CNN.
Giles Street is like a misshapen horseshoe. By chance, I saw the Street View car going in other leg. I knew it would reach us in half a minute. I had just enough time to whip in, grab Gary and a pick-ax handle and he came out to give me a so called 'Leith massage,' which is essentially being bashed.
Longtime employee Gary Kerr was "right up" with the prank, CNN explains, and the Streetview car caught the whole thing in its face-blurred images.
The pictures went live a few months later, but that was back in 2012.
It took over a year for any officials to figure out what had happened.
When they did, the mood was appropriately lighthearted.
A WPC [female police officer] has her car serviced here and she said 'I know exactly what's going on here — it's a wind up.' They came in and said 'you guys, do you happen to know anything about this?' We explained what had happened. They were smiling when they came in and were roaring with laughter when they left.
If there's any proof that there can still be humor in this increasingly digitized, decreasingly private world, here it is. Or rather, if there's any proof car mechanics are all goofs, here it is.
Go right here in Streetview and you can see the prank while it lasts. Thomson says he saw the Streetview car making another round of the block recently, likely quashing the prank from the Internet.
Photo Credits: Google