The Rabid Fox Story

After my father swore it was mostly true, I figured I'd better tell the promised Rabid Fox Story. When my father and his brother, Harold, were middle sized boys of indeterminate age, they found a dead fox in the barn at the Old Simon's Place. Well, you can't pass up an opportunity like a dead fox just lying there at your feet, so they quite naturally dragged said fox into the Old Simon's Place itself and arranged it just so behind a door on the second floor. One does have to admire their willingness to work hard for a joke.
Then they went in search of "the girls," otherwise known as Carolyn and Marilyn, and invited them to go with them to explore the aforementioned empty house. Now, one would think the girls should have been highly suspicious of this offer, but they were apparently bored enough to fall for it. As they walked through the fields toward the house, the boys regaled the girls with tales of rabid foxes and the horrible death that would surely befall anyone unlucky enough to come face to face with one (complete with raving madness, horrific pain, and lots of foaming at the mouth, no doubt).
They all entered the house together and climbed the stairs. Once the girls were entirely inside the chosen room, the boys closed the door and screamed "Fox! Fox!" I am told that the girls broke land speed records getting out of the room, the house, and across several acres of fields to get back home while their brothers laughed their asses off.

I'll edit this with appropriate details as the kibbitzers provide them - like whether or not they left the fox there to rot in the room.
Note: Dad read this over and I added "Old Simon's Place". He tells me there may have been more partners in crime, but since he wasn't positive, I allowed them to remain nameless to protect the possibly but not probably innocent.