As far as pranks go, having a man dressed up as a terrifying owl monster creep up on people scoping out an abandoned children's hospital is pretty good. What a great way to get some laughs out of people screaming for their lives because they thought they were going to be devoured by a monster. Just hilarious!

This haunting was set up by Scottish filmmaker Lawrie Brewster as promotion for his new movie, the appropriately titled Lord of Tears. He explains the planning that went into it:

"The St Mary's Children's Hospital prank was carefully set up over a period of several weeks, where we assessed how often visitors went to the hospital and what times they were most likely to appear."

"Once we were confident that our unfortunate victims were most likely to appear during a certain day and time, we lay in wait."

The video is a collection of what Brewster said were the "best reactions," and you really do feel for the poor guy featured in the second clip—he huddles into the fetal position, awaiting death.

"The second reaction was the most primal and emotional and perhaps expresses the true terror we all hold in the face of the uncanny."

"We had to stop the prank and escort the man from the ruined hospital and share with him some sandwiches and a flask of tea."

Get scared, get snacks, call it a day.

[H/T Uproxx]