Legendary Prank on 'Little House' Set Leaves Costars Laughing and Cringing

In a recent mini cast reunion, the stars of the beloved TV series 'Little House on the Prairie' reminisced about a legendary prank pulled by the late Michael Landon on the show's set. According to the recollections, Landon, who played the patriarch Charles Ingalls, orchestrated a terrifying practical joke that left his co-stars and their families shaken at the time.

The prank involved Landon holding a baby, walking behind a chimney, and then returning with a baby doll instead of the live infant. When Landon then "tripped and threw the baby," the mother of the child, who was portraying the Ingalls' daughter Grace, let out a horrified scream. While the cast members can now look back on the incident with some laughter, they admit it "wasn't funny in that moment."

The assembled 'Little House' veterans, including Jennifer Coleman-Donati, Dean Butler, Patrick Labyorteaux, Alison Arngrim, and Pamela Roylance, all shared their recollections of the shocking prank. They acknowledged that even out on the prairie, some jokes can go too far, as this one clearly did decades ago on the set of the beloved family drama.