Porky Lights Up
N 57° 03.367 W 135° 22.300
8V E 477456 N 6323693
Quick Description: This practical joke made the news wires and is listed as the 14th greatest practical joke ever.
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 9/16/2005 2:37:59 AM
Waymark Code: WM1GZ
Views: 117
Long Description:April Fools Day, 1974, Porky Oliver Bickar of Sitka, Alaska is ready for his joke.
Porky rented the services of a helicopter and flew 2 rope slings of roughly 50 car tires each, along with oily rags, sterno, diesel oil, and smoke bombs. With the help of pilot Earl Walker and fellow pranksters Larry Nelson and Ken Stedman, Porky dropped the items into the crater of Mount Edgecumbe, a volcano located on Kruzof Island 13 miles west of Sitka. This Mount Fuji like volcano is readily seen from Sitka.
The tires ablaze, the words April Fools spray painted in the snow, Porky returns to Sitka, a happy man. Sitka residents looked on in horror, afraid that the volcano was indeed erupting again.
Porky had previously notified the FAA and local police of his prank, but forgot to inform the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard commander sent a chopper and a boat over to the island to investigate, and called the Admiral in Juneau. In addition, the Vice President of Alaska Airlines asked his pilots to swing by and see what was going on. Somewhere in all of this, AP wire services picked up the story and sent it worldwide.
Rumor has it that when Mount St. Helens erupted six years later, a resident wrote to Porky to tell him, "This time you've gone too far!"
When I was in Alaska, Porky was pointed out to me along with the details of his prank. At one time, the official maps of the area listed a single sentence about the prank, immortalizing Porky's April Fool's joke.
The coordinates (courtesy of fellow geocacher McDaddy) take you to John Brown's Beach. Please post a gps photo of Mount Edgecumbe in order to claim credit for this waymark.
Story and photos More detailed story and better single photo.