Pranks are a hard thing to get right. Lean too much one way, and you're pulling a stunt that's not particularly risky, surprising, or funny for anyone involved. But if you lean too much the other way, and you can potentially go from jovial banter into something much more upsetting.

Thanksgiving prank using "pregnant" turkey:

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Regardless of where your sense of humour lands with pranks, or whether you think sometimes people can go a little too far I think most of us can agree on one thing: none of us would react too well if a real heart got posted through our letterbox.

One second year student from The University of Manchester faced this horrific sight, however, when a lamb heart was posted through her door last Thursday. Beyond the initial shock and revulsion, Aoife Sherry was more than a little confused over who was responsible and pondered why they would do such a thing.

It first made the rounds online, picked up by student culture site The Tab, when a photo of the gruesome parcel was posted on an Instagram story.

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"Someone has posted an actual heart through our letterbox what the f**k I hate Fallowfield," Aoife wrote on her Instagram story. Eventually they realised that it was the heart of a lamb (likely bought from the butchers), and not a threat as she feared, but it didn't exactly make make the situation any less grotesque.

Not too long later, it was later revealed to be a prank from a few of her friends.

"It was posted through my letter box on Lombard Grove yesterday evening, at first I thought it was a death threat but it has emerged that the culprits are my friends George, Luke and Tom (who run the event Big One)," she explained to The Manchester Tab.

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Initially, she'd assumed it was a creepy message of some sort - perhaps in the same vein as the iconic horse head scene from The Godfather - but according to her it was just a petty prank from people she knew. "Either they've started to partake in ritualistic satanic foreshadowing or they're just freaks," she explained.

Though the mystery isn't entirely solved just yet, as no one is admitting to being involved - and some are shifting the blame away from themselves. Luke, one of the friends the student accused, flat out refused the idea that he took part in the scheme, and even suggested that Aoife was the one behind it all.

"Aoife put it through her own letterbox in search of clout," he said, according to the Tab.

It was then reported that one of her flatmates later returned the package back to the sender, according to Aoife, who said they "went and threw it through their window". After all that, I'm betting they're not going to try it again anytime soon.

Student has an actual lamb heart put through her letterbox