I had a science teacher who used to shock us for fun. One day the whole class held hands in a circle while he cranked this device he had built and we all got shocked. He said Benjamin Franklin used to do this at parties.
Van de Graafs or Wimshurst machines (the kind of static electricity generator stuff Ben Franklin would play around with) are harmless because their maximum current output is too small to disrupt vital functions in most persons.
Alessandro Volta with his voltaic piles was flirting with more danger, and I haven’t ever heard of a Volta party. A couple of Walgreens economy packs of 9 volt batteries (they are easy to click together in series) would do the trick for a sufficiently stupid crowd.
A lot of the things that Ben Franklin did in his day will get you killed today... Including STDs...
Mark