A tall teenage boy stands in front of a large, dark house on an affluent block of Capitol Hill. His cronies scramble hastily around him, pulling cheap, flimsy utensils out of a backpack and stabbing them into the grass in the front yard. In just a few minutes, their work is done, and the lawn shimmers as the dim streetlights reflect off shiny white plastic. The kids bolt away, doing their best to restrain their giggles as they imagine the unpleasant surprise which awaits the homeowners in the morning. That house, as they say to each other, just got totally forked up.

“Forking is a pretty simple concept,” says one enthusiast. “You get forks. I mean a lot of forks. And you stick them into someone’s lawn.” Forking is just a dot on the map of the huge world of pranks. Mischievous tricksters have tried everything, from classics like the ol’ saran wrap on the toilet seat, to more original schemes such as the less-classic hot glue on the toilet seat.

Mischief attracts people from all walks of life. Some people may consider them troublemakers or delinquents, but, “People don’t usually think that I’d be that kind of person,” says one anonymous student. “But when I’m out there, I’m not just some academically-oriented kid with a 4.0. I have fun.”

University of Washington student Karin Frank is a prankster who defies stereotypes. Frank, who was a sophomore last year but now attends the UW Academy, doesn’t initially come off as a huge mischief-maker. But appearances can be deceiving. “Pranking is about being witty and innovative,” she says. “There’s lots of satisfaction in plotting and executing a good prank.”

Frank knows her fair share about good pranks. “On the last day of school last year I bought a few pants and shoes from a thrift shop, stuffed them with newspaper, and propped them up in the stalls of the second floor girl’s restroom. I set up a tub in the middle stall to constantly trickle water into the toilet for authenticity. Then, to increase traffic, I put trash bags and signs over toilets on the upper floors. Everyone looked so confused walking away right before the bell, it was beautiful. I later heard from some of my sister’s friends that a bunch of people had supposedly passed out in the second floor restroom stalls.” Sure, Frank’s prank mildly inconvenienced a significant amount of people. Still, all in all it was basically harmless. She does say, however, that there are some lines which simply should not be crossed. “There is an ethics to pranking. If it hurts someone, it’s not funny.” Above all, she says, “Always keep in mind: What would Fred and George do?”

Not everyone, however, follows Frank’s morally virtuous philosophy to practical joking, and pranks are not always all in good fun. They can be more malicious than hilarious; closer to a hate crime than a joke. “My house got egged three Fridays in a row,” says one girl. “It ruined the paint and cracked a window. Other people seem to think it’s pretty funny, and yeah, I used to think so too. But now that I see what it’s like to have it happen to me, I just think it’s immature and ridiculous.” Yet even the victim has been a predator herself. “My friends and I TP’d four houses in a night once,” she says. “But now I feel terrible about that. I completely regret my actions.”

Despite the agony and frustration which they can cause, many teens continue to deliver testosterone-charged mischief. “It was Halloween, 2007,” narrates one boy. “We took a poop in a bag in the QFC bathroom. We rubbed it on some kid’s window, pelted the house with a few dozen eggs, and got out of there.”

No matter how disgusting, pranksters like these sometimes still try to justify their ‘jokes’. “I never aim for windows,” says one student who claims to be notorious for his egging. “And I don’t do it to be mean, I do it because it’s exhilarating.” Another says, “I don’t think of what I do as ‘malicious’. I just consider it ‘shenanigans.’”

Others don’t try to disguise their intentions at all. “A good prank should hurt everyone,” says sophomore Noah Neighbor. “And benefit no one.” Sophomore Michael Cunetta adds, “Watch out if you decide to pull a prank on your parents,” he said. “You might end up egging your own house.”

Whether pranksters are stabbing forks or smearing feces, they are probably just average kids. Teenagers have a lot of stress and a lot of energy, and it all has to be released somehow. Some devote themselves to a sport or get passed-out wasted every chance they have: pranking is just another outlet that all kinds of different people use to blow off steam. So if your house gets egged this weekend, don’t just assume it’s that jerk in your neighborhood who’s held a grudge against you since seventh grade. It could be the kid in your Spanish class you’ve never heard say a word, or the math team out having fun together. A prankster cannot be characterized.