It’s ok, no reason to have nightmares. It was done in a spirit of fun, and was taken that way. We made it obvious enough that a couple strangers on the street laughed.
But it does prove a point in line with the OP, even in the 1960s, people were a lot more trusting. We weren’t waiting for boogie men around the corner, and we didn’t assume things we bought were out to kill us if they didn’t have Consumer Report approval.
Zoggie - I could be wrong, but I think Runadoc was referring to this neighborly thing happening in bigger cities too, not just Smalltown, USA.
I love this thread, even though it’s making me sad for the baby I’m expecting, so many changes, so much less fun 
I remember when kids used to play outside all day in the summer and after school, rather than sit at home and watch TV/play on their computers.
I just recalled some pretty outdated stuff from my dad. first of all i should tell you that he spent every summer until he was 18 on a peach farm. So by the time he was 9 he was one of the best drivers on the farm. Imagine letting your 9 year old nephew drive around at 5 in the morning on a ten year old tractor with no headlights to set out peach baskets for the workers.
Any of those old toys that were like guns. Just aboutt every male member of my family has hurt something with one of those. older dopers: remember potato guns? My uncle put one in his ear and pulled the trigger. Once after they stopped being made , I found one in a flea market with my mom. I was still young at the time so i begged for it, but remembering what uncle tommy did my mom didnt exactly jump at the chance.Also my dad has shot my aunt in the tooshy so Pop-Pop bent it in half and threw it away. Those old gun toys werent required to have the orange thing on them to make sure they were fake, Were they?