Some fall for famous boots

If you’ve been frantically calling an out-of-state phone number in a Gazette Lost and Found ad to claim Elton John’s psychedelic platform boots, pull off the love beads and put down the bong.

You’ve been punk’d.

And you’re not the only one.

Prankster Rory Emerald of Los Angeles, an artist when he isn’t pulling people’s legs, said Tuesday that he’s had more than 50 calls responding to his ad:

“FOUND: Elton John’s psychedelic Platform boots and Kaleidoscope Collection.”

We won’t include Rory’s number to save you the long-distance charges, although Rory would be glad to talk with you.

Rory said the ad was placed only in Tuesday’s Gazette, but by midday he had received calls from across the country and Canada as word of it spread from friend to friend and then onto the Internet. One caller with a suspicious British accent demanded his boots back.

“They just flip out,” he said. “They think it’s just hilarious. They know it’s a prank, but it just does something to them.”

Rory said he started pulling his gentle pranks via free newspaper ads in 2005. His first prank ad was in the Santa Barbara News-Press during the height of Michael Jackson’s trial on sexual assault charges. Rory’s ad said he had found a prosthetic nose on the grounds of Neverland, Jackson’s weird home/amusement park.

Since then, Rory has gotten hundreds of calls — and national press attention — from 50-plus prank ads he’s placed all over the country. Among Rory’s “finds”: dictator diva Eva Peron’s gown and diamond scepter; the original bottle in the “I Dream of Jeannie” TV show; the Partridge Family’s wildly painted bus; and H.G. Wells’ time machine.

Rory said folks who spend the time and money to call him have a good laugh, although he has disappointed a few naive collectors.

It wasn’t all laughs, though, when he placed an ad in the San Diego paper reporting he’d found a baby panda bear wandering near the zoo.

“The Chinese consulate got involved,” he said. “They thought one of their pandas was actually wandering around. I had to do some explaining.”