On the night of October 7, 1997, [1] an unknown individual or group of individuals placed a pumpkin on the lightning rod of McGraw Tower at Cornell University, 173 feet (53 meters) in the air. The pumpkin was nearly 2 feet (61 cm) in diameter, [2] and university spokesman David Brand would later state that the pumpkin was carved to fit the rod. It was also later theorized that the person who placed the pumpkin emerged through a trapdoor and climbed the steep roof of the tower to do so. [3]
An unidentified object was noticed on October 8, [3] and it quickly became famous. [2] The university organized a student contest to identify the object without leaving the ground, and physics and engineering students used weather balloons, including one with a hypodermic needle to take samples and another with a remote controlled drill and video cameras. [3] Once it was identified as a pumpkin, the university placed an orange fence around the tower with a sign stating "Beware of Falling Pumpkin". [3] A website for the pumpkin was created which was viewed 700,000 times, [3] and featured a dedicated online webcam feed. It was the subject of a daily feature in the student paper called "Pumpkin Watch", as well as coverage from Associated Press and MTV. [2] Despite this, the university also stated it would consider bringing charges against whoever placed the pumpkin, however some students proposed amnesty and one archivist for the university offered to take a sealed envelope containing the name of the person who placed the pumpkin and open it in 5 or 10 years. [3]
Plans were made to retrieve the pumpkin on March 13, 1998, the final day before spring break. This would have entailed the university's provost, Don Michael Randel, ascending next to the tower in a crane bucket to retrieve the pumpkin, intended to be viewed by hundreds of spectators as well as news media gathered around the tower. Celebrations would have included the sale of pumpkin ice cream, commemorative T-shirts, and an ambulance which would have transported the pumpkin to a laboratory where a team of horticultural researchers would have analyzed it. A practice run was performed with the crane 45 minutes prior to when the pumpkin was intended to be removed; at 9:17 am, either a gust of wind or error from the crane operator caused the crane's empty cage to knock the pumpkin off, and it fell 20 feet (6 meters) onto a scaffold that had been put up to repair the tower. 200 people had gathered by 10 am, and they watched Randel retrieve the pumpkin from the scaffold in the crane and give it to a Cornell scientist. [3]
20 years following the placement of the first pumpkin atop the tower, reporter at the New York Times and former editor-in-chief of the school paper Farhad Manjoo called the event "the greatest prank in Cornell history" and that there was "no downside" in the pranksters coming forward as "all of that has passed now. Now they're just legends." [2]
- ^ Crawford, Franklin (2007-10-31). "10th anniversary of the great Cornell pumpkin prank, and we still don't know whodunit". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
- ^ a b c d Domonoske, Camila (2017-10-31). "After 20 Years, Can Cornell Finally Bust Open Its Great Pumpkin Mystery?". NPR. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
- ^ a b c d e f g McFadden, Robert D. (1998-03-14). "A Pumpkin and Hoopla at Cornell Go Splat". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
On the night of October 7, 1997, [1] an unknown individual or group of individuals placed a pumpkin on the lightning rod of McGraw Tower at Cornell University, 173 feet (53 meters) in the air. The pumpkin was nearly 2 feet (61 cm) in diameter, [2] and university spokesman David Brand would later state that the pumpkin was carved to fit the rod. It was also later theorized that the person who placed the pumpkin emerged through a trapdoor and climbed the steep roof of the tower to do so. [3]
An unidentified object was noticed on October 8, [3] and it quickly became famous. [2] The university organized a student contest to identify the object without leaving the ground, and physics and engineering students used weather balloons, including one with a hypodermic needle to take samples and another with a remote controlled drill and video cameras. [3] Once it was identified as a pumpkin, the university placed an orange fence around the tower with a sign stating "Beware of Falling Pumpkin". [3] A website for the pumpkin was created which was viewed 700,000 times, [3] and featured a dedicated online webcam feed. It was the subject of a daily feature in the student paper called "Pumpkin Watch", as well as coverage from Associated Press and MTV. [2] Despite this, the university also stated it would consider bringing charges against whoever placed the pumpkin, however some students proposed amnesty and one archivist for the university offered to take a sealed envelope containing the name of the person who placed the pumpkin and open it in 5 or 10 years. [3]
Plans were made to retrieve the pumpkin on March 13, 1998, the final day before spring break. This would have entailed the university's provost, Don Michael Randel, ascending next to the tower in a crane bucket to retrieve the pumpkin, intended to be viewed by hundreds of spectators as well as news media gathered around the tower. Celebrations would have included the sale of pumpkin ice cream, commemorative T-shirts, and an ambulance which would have transported the pumpkin to a laboratory where a team of horticultural researchers would have analyzed it. A practice run was performed with the crane 45 minutes prior to when the pumpkin was intended to be removed; at 9:17 am, either a gust of wind or error from the crane operator caused the crane's empty cage to knock the pumpkin off, and it fell 20 feet (6 meters) onto a scaffold that had been put up to repair the tower. 200 people had gathered by 10 am, and they watched Randel retrieve the pumpkin from the scaffold in the crane and give it to a Cornell scientist. [3]
20 years following the placement of the first pumpkin atop the tower, reporter at the New York Times and former editor-in-chief of the school paper Farhad Manjoo called the event "the greatest prank in Cornell history" and that there was "no downside" in the pranksters coming forward as "all of that has passed now. Now they're just legends." [2]
- ^ Crawford, Franklin (2007-10-31). "10th anniversary of the great Cornell pumpkin prank, and we still don't know whodunit". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
- ^ a b c d Domonoske, Camila (2017-10-31). "After 20 Years, Can Cornell Finally Bust Open Its Great Pumpkin Mystery?". NPR. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
- ^ a b c d e f g McFadden, Robert D. (1998-03-14). "A Pumpkin and Hoopla at Cornell Go Splat". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-19.