A snipe hunt is a type of practical joke or fool’s errand, in existence in North America as early as the 1840s, in which an unsuspecting newcomer is duped into trying to catch an elusive animal called a snipe. Although the snipe is a real bird, a snipe hunt is a quest for a nonexistent creature whose description varies.
That’s a new one for me. I did a lot of work for vets, so the more common pranks made their way into stories, but I think that one tops them all lol.