From Jasen Dixon
Pranks. We all pull them now and again. Some people put saran wrap on toilet seats, others, a flaming bag of poop on the porch will do. For two Ohio men that own the infamous “zombie nativity scene,” no typical prank would do. Dustin Smith and Jasen Dixon thought it would be not only great marketing to promote their controversial decorations, but also hilarious, to place the fake body parts just underneath the surface of a frozen lake.
The men snapped some photos and posted them to social media. Their involvement with the zombie nativity scene is widely known, as it’s been a major news story every year, and decided to have more fun with the post by pretending it was real. After about two
Dustin Smith’s Facebook post.
hours of fun, the men came clean about the prank. “Everyone knew we were kidding especially ‘cause we kept putting the link to the zombie nativity scene site up after every post. Nobody in my Facebook thought it was real,” said Smith.
Nobody thought it was real… except one person who actually called the police. The DNR, Department of Natural Resources, and the men were called into questioning. They posted a video to Facebook shortly after to explain.
We just got out of the interrogation, apparently it’s illegal to get plastic zombies out of the ice
Posted by Zombie nativity scene on Monday, January 9, 2017
Why was a prank taken so seriously? Some unfortunate timing. Two teens had recently gone missing and their last known whereabouts were none other than that lake. Police were sent out to the scene to check out these claims. Smith said, “They said that I was facing up to three charges but when I asked what they were he couldn’t tell me.”
Dustin Smith being interviewed.
The two men didn’t expect such a blow up over their seemingly innocent prank. The police discovered that the bodies were not, in fact, bodies at all and were props.
As of right now, no charges have been brought again Smith or Dixon. Smith says that he thinks the investigation will blow over with no further consequences considering no laws were broken during the prank. On a positive note, they definitely got the word out about “Zombie Nativity Scene” — But maybe we should all stick with the ole Nair in the shampoo bottle trick.
