Ah, the first day of April.

It’s a day for quiet reflection, appreciation of the three months behind you and anticipation of springtime.

Also, fooling.

So we’d like to acquaint you with The Greatest Pranks of All Time, a slideshow tribute to the most successful jests, japes and shenanigans in living memory.

Fake baseball players. Fabricated cave paintings. And at least one crashed runway show in Milan. The tricksters range from paper salesmen to international news organizations, but they all have one thing in common: they’re messing with you.

Whether you take these stories as inspirations or warnings is entirely up to you...