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By James Dempsey
"Did someone really bring a cow up to the third floor of Lehy?" wonders Colleen Riley '91. "And did it need to be hoisted by crane out of the window because it refused to go down the stairs?"
Tom Patton '86 reports hearing of a similar incident at either Fenwick or Beaven, but his bovine was less fortunate than Riley's. "It is said that the cow wouldn't or couldn't walk down the stairs," he says, "so the school ‘offed' the cow and had a meal or two out of it."
Ken Martin '74 reports a version taking place on the fourth floor of O'Kane, where the creature was shot and removed by janitors—and Heather Drinan '92 heard of similar events in Carlin. Michael Foster '70 was told of someone taking a horse to the roof of Kimball.
The legend is partly true. According to Fr. Kuzniewski, the College, at one time, maintained a farm where Loyola Hall is now located. "The farm once produced all the dairy products for the College as well as potatoes, apples and forage for the cattle," he says.
In the early 1960s, there were still some cattle and sheep grazing on the hills of campus, says Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., '49 and some pranksters led one of the cows into Hanselman Hall. The animal was taken upstairs, as the legend tells—and did indeed balk at descending. Eventually the hesitant heifer was persuaded to return to terra firma without the assistance of cranes or firearms—however, it was evidently a stomach-churning experience for Bessy. "There was a good deal of cleanup afterward," remembers Fr. Brooks.
The College cows provided amusement to students for many years. The Daily Diary, maintained by the College minister, refers to at least a couple of incidents, such as the one recorded on Monday, May 2, 1955: "Fr. Minister interviewed 3 boys, the Police and the father of one of the boys who had been apprehended chasing the cows pastured on the college terrace. Conciliation was attempted rather than severity in view of the future." Just 10 days later, the cowboy wannabes were at it again. "Conducted by Father Welch, the students held a song fest," reads the entry. "Afterward, 100 hurried to the pasture to let out the four guest heifers and bull, but were interrupted."
Nor are the animal pranks restricted to male students. M. Christine McLaughlin '81 remembers Laurianne Florio '81 leaving a pig in a friend's dormitory room. The friend's roommate was less than a meticulous housekeeper, and the presence of the pig was meant to reflect this characteristic.
"The roommates were a kind of odd couple, one neat and one sloppy," McLaughlin remembers. "Laurianne somehow acquired a piglet in Paxton—she conned a farmer into loaning it to her. Joan (Donovan) worked at Kimball Friday nights, and when she walked into the dark room and found a pig there, she went bananas."
The young women laughed over the joke, gave the pig a bath and put it in the maid's closet until they could return it the next morning.
"The problem was the guys from the fifth floor found out about it," McLaughlin continues, "and they were saying, ‘Hey, there's breakfast on the hoof for tomorrow'—so we slept in the hall to guard the pig."
Read more Myths & Legends:
"The Fenwick Exorcism"
The Jeane Dixon Axe Murder Rumor
"Letters to Tomorrow"
The Cow That Came in From the Cold
The Plot Against the Greenhouse
The Naked Bunch
The Immurement of Father Crowley
The Lord of the Rings on Mount St. James?
More myths and legends...revealed!
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