How One House’s ‘Christmas Vacation’-Inspired Decorations Prompted a 911 Call

There’s never enough Christmas lights during the holiday season. Some neighborhoods go as far as having holiday decor competitions to see who can have the brightest and most flamboyant homes, true to theme. While most deecorations bring out the holiday cheer, it makes some people detest the season even more. There’s always at least one Scrooge-like character ready to ruin the mood. Or, there’s one who opts to take part in a prank to ruin Christmas for everyone. According to a December 2021 report from TMZ, one person chose the latter.

Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold character in the Christmas film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation inspired some holiday shenanigans. One man created a decoration prank based on the movie’s most popular scene that’s now floating around the internet.

In a now-viral TikTok video the decoration’s creator shows how he constructed the homemade decoration to look like the character Clark dangling from his roof as he hung Christmas lights. The prank even comes complete with audio, making it appear as if the struggling man is shouting for help. It was enough for neighbors to get the police involved, thinking the dangling character was real.

In a separate video, the local fire department races to the scene. They try to help out the fake decorator. But it is unclear if the emergency responders were in on the prank and fake help, or if they were real. If they were real, there’s no telling what happened when they discovered it was a fake.

The 1989 holiday classic that inspired the prank, Clark Griswold ( Chase) wants to have a perfect family Christmas, so he pesters his wife, Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), and their children, as he tries to make sure everything is in line, including the tree and house decorations. Things don’t go as planned and major chaos ensues throughout the film.

The movie plays in heavy rotation during the holiday season. It was a major hit in its time, earning $70 million at the box office and debuting at No. 2 at the box office opening weekend.