In (dis)honor of the 19 Hendrick Hudson High School Seniors accused of sneaking into their school and placing alarm clocks throughout the building during a botched senior prank (see Accused seniors banned from commencement at www.LoHud.com), we thought it was worth a look at the top five school pranks, middle school, high school, or college pranks of all time:
Number 5: A Sticky Situation
What better way to get out of taking finals than to keep students and teachers from getting to their respective tests. As students of Independence High School in San Jose, California figured out, this can be accomplished quite simply with a bottle of super glue and some toothpicks.
In 2006, a group of sneaky seniors took it upon themselves to glue all of the doors in their high school shut in the middle of exam week, thus delaying the start of their end-of-the-year tests. The school had to use blow torches to open the doors and exams had to be pushed back a day because of the inaccessibility of the classrooms. According to the local paper, the principal was not amused.
Number 4: Sale Away
“Entire School For Sale” read the 27-square-foot red banner that graced the front of Cape Fear Academy in North Carolina. Also printed on the sign—the school’s phone number. Combined with the 20 smaller “for sale” signs placed strategically across the school’s campus, it was enough to trigger interest from a group of local real estate agents enquiring about either purchasing or helping to sell the school. Of course, there was one problem, the school was certainly not for sale. The next day administrators placed an ad in the local paper confirming as much. No word on what the asking price was.
Number 3: Rats!
Though never officially confirmed, local legend has it that Eastview Middle School in White Plains was the setting for one of the most devious pranks ever to befall the halls of academia in Westchester. Annoyed at an overbearing faculty, a group of middle school students decided to release rats throughout the school. While this alone would normally be enough to fluster any school administrator, the devious group of pre-teens went one step further. They spray-painted a number on each of the four vermin they let loose. Except…they skipped the number three.
Rats one, two, four, and, five were quickly captured. After weeks of fruitless searching, the disgruntled custodians finally learned that rat #3 never actually existed. It is unknown if the offending students were ever caught. What is clear though is that they had a good seven days of laughs at the school’s expense.
Number 2: Washington “Flips” Out.
What was supposed to be a glorious show of support (televised throughout the nation) for one of the best college football teams in the country turned into a comic endorsement of a rival school.
For the 1961 Rose Bowl, the cheerleaders for the University of Washington Huskies had spent weeks planning an elaborate flip-card show. The plan was to have the team’s adoring fans hold up cards spelling out “Go Huskies” and other supportive phrases throughout the game. When the cheering masses held up their cards to display the 12th image, something went seriously wrong. Instead of reading “Huskies” the cards spelled out “seiksuH.” Confusion reigned. The crowed collectively wondered how such a perfect mistake could have been made. The answer would follow as the 13th flip-card image revealed who was behind the insidious prank. As the cards turned, a nation-wide audience found themselves staring at thousands of Washington Huskie fans holding up white pieces of cardboard spelling out “CALTECH.” Though it took weeks of planning, 14 students from the California Institute of Technology had just pulled off one of the greatest school pranks of all time.
Number 1: A Prank for the Birds
Pavlov would be proud. Rumor has it that a Massachussets Institute of Technology student spent a summer dressed in a referee’s uniform spreading bird seed across the Harvard University football field. Every day, after sprinkling the avian food across the grass, the sinister student would blow a whistle. As weeks passed, the birds learned to swarm whenever a man in a striped suit summoned them. The referees at Harvard’s first home game, however, were unaware of this. As they blew their whistles to signal the start of the game, flocks of pigeons arrived on the scene. A half and hour later, the grounds crew was still shooing away the hungry flying pests.
