• Also I'm digging the exhaust - understated.

  • Photo confirming BMX style bars

  • I like the bars. Something unique. Childish for sure, but I like that sometimes. Can't tell from the photo, but they have the BMX look.

  • Classic. Search Pitser Pro, flex pak, and Utah educational savings plan. All Utah companies to boot. Crazy.

  • This is a true story, but it's not a paranormal/haunted story. More a prank rooted in a fake haunted story...

    In the summer about 15 years ago my friend - Chase - and I were going on double date with his girlfriend - Kristina - and a random girl I was dating. We decided take the girls out to dinner and then afterwards we would go on an "Urban Legends Tour" around the area where we lived. So we take the girls out to a nice restaurant, get some fine Italian dining and as we are finishing up food and conversation we tell the girls our plan to go check out some of the haunted areas around us. My date - Angie - says that sounds great but follows it up with a quip that she doesn't really get scared. Fine enough with me.

    Rewind 48 hours - Chase tells me how he wants to scare his girlfriend, Kristina. We worked together and hung out together so we were always working stuff like this out side by side. We came up with a hairball scheme that took some preparation and logistics. We started off with making our own mannequin by stuffing pants and a long sleeve flannel shirt with blankets and a golf club bag, tying it together and then sticking a Halloween mask on the top. In person it looked ridiculous. It was almost 8 feet tall and the mask barely stayed on top. It would have to do.

    Morning of the Date - Chase and head to a nearby park that is very secluded, doesn't have any lights come on at night, and is more of a picnic type of area. It has lots of thick patches of tall trees scattered throughout the park. There aren't any playgrounds at this park. Like I said, more for picnics and such.

    Our "urban legend" for this prank was going to be as follows: The designer of the park was very obsessed with the park. He poured his heart and soul into designing the park so that is was perfect. His only child, a teenage son at the time, felt completely neglected by his father when he designed the park. In order to get back at his Dad for ignoring him he decided to commit suicide in the park by hanging himself. Thus ruining the park and the memory of it for his father for the rest of his life. The "legend" says that if you stand next to a certain rock in the park at night and shine a flashlight to the left, then turn it off, shine the flashlight to the right, turn it off, and then shine the flashlight straight ahead you will be able to see the boy hanging from the tree where he killed himself.

    Not the best urban legend story, but it would have to do for our prank.

    To prep we hung the disastrous mannequin up from one of the tree limbs so that it would look like someone had hung themself. We used a rope long enough that we could let the mannequin down and pull it up by hand as needed. That way there wasn't a mannequin hanging there all day long... We picked out a rock that we could park our car by and stand next to shine the flashlight at the mannequin. It was about 75 feet away from where we hung the mannequin. We rehearsed a time or two on how to shine the light and such. We also had other friends that were going to help pull the mannequin up when we were on our way.

    The other half of the plan was that when we got there with our dates that the mannequin would be pulled up into the tree and another would be hiding just a few feet from where the mannequin hung.

    Date Night - Post Dinner Chase, Kristina, Angie and I went and toured a few of the local haunted sites. True to her word, Angie didn't really get spooked or scared at any of them. I worried a little bit that she might scoff at our prank attempt. Finally it was time to head to the park where we had our mannequin setup. This was before texting was a thing, so we had to come up with an excuse to call our friends that were helping out that we were en-route. We come up some goofball reason and managed to get a quick call in that had a cryptic message that we were on our way. I think it was a "Shoot! I need to call my uncle about something I'm helping him with early tomorrow morning" kind of thing.

    We arrive to the park. In the car we had filled the girls in on the urban legend of the park. They both said they had never heard this one. They had already been aware of the other urban legend spots we previously visited. I was slightly worried they might be suspicious when they mentioned they weren't familiar with it, but neither hinted at any suspicion.

    It was totally dark outside. I think it must have been cloud cover that night because we even had a hard time finding the rock. We did finally find the rock. It was about 20 feet from where we had parked the little 2-door car. So we saunter up to the 3' tall boulder with our dates in arm. Chase wielded the flashlight. After 30 seconds of confusion about which rock we finally confirmed we were in fact at the right rock. We all hunch over the boulder and Chase points the flash light left and turns it on while saying, "First the father looked for his son to the left". Just shadows on the trees for 3 seconds. Click. He turns it off. He then says, "Next they looked to the right". Click. The light illuminates for another 3 seconds. Click, it's dark again. "And then the father finally found his son straight ahead..." Click. The light barely makes it to the tree holding the mannequin. Its far enough away and lit poorly enough that you have to squint to see the outline of a person hanging in the trees. I hear Kristina give a little gasp. Angie's grip on my arm tightens. Just enough time had passed to think in my mind "HOLY. SHIT. That looks so real...” That's when my friend hiding in the bushes lets go of the rope holding the mannequin in the tree. The mannequin crashes down with a loud thud. Kristina stands straight up. Angie now has a death lock on my arm. Half a second after the mannequin hits the ground, another friend bursts up from where the mannequin had just landed and starts screaming and running towards us.

    I have the biggest smile in my heart at this point. I felt like an orchestra conductor mid symphony during a flawless performance.

    As my friend stood up, started screaming and running toward us, Kristina and Angie are scrambling to get their footing and get back to the car. Of course to go along with it, Chase and I start doing the same. Kristina, in pure instinct mode, pushes Angie out of the way causing Angie to slip, fall and hurt her foot (not noticed until later). My walking dead friend is getting closer and louder. The girls are screaming hysterically, people are shoving to get in the car. We start the car and squeal the tires while pulling away. Obscenities and questions fill the air in the car. 10 seconds later Kristina starts screaming - "That was Henderson! That was Henderson! I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!”

    The gig was up. Chase and I start laughing as Kristina throwing punches at Chase’s arm. Not just play punches, these were legitimate, I Hate You punches. Angie looks like she is on the verge of an anxiety attack, still trying to piece together what just happened. I slowed the car down, turned around and headed back to the scene of the crime.

    As we get out of the car to meet up with “Henderson” and Eric - the mannequin dropper, Angie’s adrenaline has worn off and realizes she had hurt her foot pretty baldy. A solid rolled ankle resulting in a nasty sprain. I felt bad about that, but I did feel great when the girl who doesn’t get scared said, “I’ve never been so scared in my life!”

    Mission accomplished.