Would You Fall for the Collapsing Elevator Prank?
The folks at LG think their flat screens are pretty lifelike. So to prove it, they covered the floor of an elevator with the screens and had cameras running when unsuspecting office workers got into the lift.
As the elevator made its way down, the faux-floor began to collapse, flat panel by flat panel. Appropriate sound effects accompanied the illusion to make the prank that much more scary.
So how did the victims react? Well, it's a good thing it was a prank because many of them stepped right into the abyss before reaching out to the handrails. However, all in all, most weren't too freaked out. Perhaps because they weren't experiencing the feeling of falling it took their brain a moment or two to register what their eyes were seeing and by that time they knew they were OK.
The bottom line is that if you really want to freak somebody out you have to sneak up from behind and startle them. It's not fancy, but it always gets the job done.