Anyone who has attended high school likely has a story or two about pranks. They are almost a rite of passage, especially in environments where hundreds, or even thousands, of students are brought together in classrooms, hallways, and cafeterias.
From harmless tricks like covering lockers with sticky notes to more elaborate schemes that involve the entire grade, practical jokes have long been a common part of adolescent life.
They can be funny, embarrassing, or even harmlessly frustrating, but rarely do they cross the line into real danger.
During my own school years, I witnessed my fair share of pranks, some of which were clever, some of which were cruel, but I can confidently say that I never saw one that put a student’s life at risk.
That’s why the events at Lake Travis High School in Texas last year are particularly alarming.
While pranks may seem like harmless fun, there is an unquestionable line that should never be crossed, particularly when someone’s health or safety is at stake.
One such line, of course, is deliberately exposing someone to allergens that they are known to be severely allergic to.
This is exactly what happened to Carter Mannon, a student-athlete with a severe peanut allergy, when his football teammates allegedly decided to sprinkle peanuts throughout his locker.
Carter’s peanut allergy was diagnosed at just nine months old, and his mother, Shawna Mannon, vividly recalled the moment they discovered the severity of his condition.
“We had him sitting on the counter, and my husband was making a peanut butter sandwich right next to him.
Carter reached his hand inside of the peanut butter jar and he ended up smearing it on himself,” Shawna explained to PEOPLE in February 2024.
“He broke out in hives immediately – it was a perfect handprint of hives. And that’s when we realized, ‘Oh, he must be allergic.’”
Despite the seriousness of his allergy, Carter has been able to live a relatively normal life with careful monitoring and precautions.
He was thrilled to make it onto the Lake Travis High School Varsity football team, a goal he had been working toward for years.
However, his excitement was met with a horrifying incident orchestrated by teammates who were fully aware of his allergy. According to Shawna, these same students intentionally placed peanuts in Carter’s locker.
Carter had already faced a frightening episode earlier at school when he accidentally consumed a contaminated cookie. That incident required him to administer two doses of his EpiPen and visit the emergency room.
Shawna explained the gravity of his condition: “His levels are off the chart. You have this big, strong kid, and one little peanut could take him down. It could kill him.”
Indeed, medical experts stress that severe peanut allergies can lead to anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction that requires immediate treatment with epinephrine.
The Mayo Clinic emphasizes that “anaphylaxis needs to be treated right away with an injection of epinephrine. If it isn’t treated promptly, it can be deadly.”
What Carter’s teammates allegedly did went far beyond a typical school prank. According to Shawna, the boys not only joked about the possibility of harming him, but they also seemed to dismiss the life-threatening nature of his allergy.
“They were kind of joking around about it and said, ‘But could it kill you if it touched you?’ And he said, ‘Yes, it absolutely could.
If it got in my nose, eyes, or mouth, that could trigger anaphylactic shock.’ So he told them, ‘Yes, it could absolutely kill me.’”
The following day, before a scheduled football game, Carter’s teammates reportedly scattered peanuts throughout his locker, on his jersey, and even inside his cleats.
The act was deliberate, calculated, and potentially lethal. The moment he discovered the peanuts, Carter experienced an immediate allergic reaction, developing hives on his arm.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, the students responsible reportedly faced minimal consequences: they were benched for two days, forced to switch locker rooms, and required to complete extra runs at practice.
Meanwhile, Carter reportedly faced verbal retaliation from other students in the locker room. Shawna recounted that there was an incident in which someone placed a peanut butter granola bar in his backpack.
Concerned for her son’s safety, she took the matter to the school board. To her dismay, she was informed that the incident did not meet the legal definition of bullying under Texas law.
A representative from the Lake Travis Independent School District explained to PEOPLE:
“Under the Texas Education Code, bullying is a very specific behavior and is defined as an act or pattern of acts that physically harms a student or materially and substantially disrupts the educational process.
Upon concluding our investigation, it was determined that the legal elements of bullying were not met.”
Feeling unsafe and unsupported, Carter eventually made the difficult decision to transfer to another school.
Shawna’s experience sheds light on the significant gap between what is considered legally punishable behavior and what is morally and ethically unacceptable.
Exposing a student to a substance that could endanger their life should never be trivialized as a harmless prank.
The story of Carter Mannon is not just about one boy’s struggle with a peanut allergy; it is also a cautionary tale about accountability, empathy, and the importance of protecting students from preventable harm.
While practical jokes may have a place in adolescence, those that threaten a person’s health cross a line that should never be tolerated.
Carter’s experience underscores the need for schools, parents, and peers to take allergies seriously, to educate students about the dangers of such actions, and to ensure that pranks never put lives at risk.