Sometimes, a casual comment can spark a mischievous plan that no one saw coming.

What would you do if your dad jokingly suggested a prank that involved the whole town?

Well, these two brothers take their dad’s off-hand remark to heart and set out on a late-night mission that leaves the whole town talking.

Here’s what happened.

Yeah, Dad. That would be VERY funny!

I grew up in a small town in rural America. My town had its own well-read daily newspaper with a staff photographer who was somewhat of a local celebrity.

This is important later in the story.

As a lifelong horticulturalist, my father strongly favored live plants in a home’s landscaping and loathed manufactured lawn ornaments of any variety.

When I was a teenager, a very popular lawn ornament came into fashion in our area known as “Lawn Sheep.”

Basically, it was a piece of plywood cut in the shape of a sheep and covered with black, white, or brown faux wool – along with other accessories that made them look like sheep.

They had stakes on the feet, so you could put them in the ground to stand upright.

The dad had no idea what he was about to inspire.

There were different sizes, too, so people created little ‘sheep families’ in their front yards.

My Dad HATED the lawn sheep and often had snide comments when he saw them.

My older brother and I were in the car with Mom & Dad one day, and we passed a football practice field (known to all as “the East Field”) that is in a small valley and very viewable from two busy streets.

My dad pipes up from the driver’s seat, “Wouldn’t it be funny if someone gathered up all the lawn sheep in town and put them down in the East Field, like they were grazing?”

They began to devise a plan.

My brother and I locked eyes in the back seat and replied, “Yes, Dad. That would be VERY funny!”

Soon thereafter, my parents went out of town for the weekend, leaving my brother and I alone.

On a Friday morning, we agreed that it was time to hatch our Dad-inspired plan.

I recruited another friend, and we spent the day driving around town, writing down the addresses of houses with lawn sheep in their front yard. We’d record how many sheep, the colors and sizes.

We then went home and created address tags for each of the sheep – so the homeowners could get their sheep back after we rustled them.

Here’s where it all played out.

Around 11:00 that night, we began driving to each of the addresses we had written down.

My brother drove the van, and my friend and I would run up, snatch the sheep, run back, and throw them in the van. While driving to the next house, we’d affix the address tags with packing tape.

We had scoped out well over 100 lawn sheep earlier in the day, but by 1:30 am, we had only gathered 35.

We decided that was enough, parked near the end of the field, ran with as many sheep as we could carry at a time, and planted them in a random group in the middle of the field.

We returned home, looked up the phone number of the newspaper’s staff photographer, and called his house at 2:00 am (mind you, this was in the pre-cell phone/pre-internet days, even before caller ID was a thing).

When he answered the phone, I told him, “Report to the East Field with your camera at daybreak. There’s a picture waiting for you!”

“What do we have there?” he asked.

“Sheep grazing,” I replied, and then quickly hung up.

They planned that prank down to the last detail!

Let’s check out what folks over at Reddit had to say about it.

Here’s a similar story.

This person also has a similar experience, but not as well planned.

Yet another person who likes to play harmless pranks.

It’s a great prank, indeed.

Now, that’s a prank!

It’s safe to say the town probably never forgot that night.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.