|
By James Dempsey
Why the poor greenhouse became a target for pranks and vandalism is an enigma lost in history, but nevertheless there have been many conspiracies to attack the unoffending hothouse over the years.
The classics and physics departments are most often named as the perpetrators. E. Thomas Mitchell '70 recalls the classics department plotting to build a catapult with which to attack the greenhouse—a plan that evidently never got beyond the drawing board. Then again, classicists are not known for their mechanical aptitude. Mitchell also remembers a third-year classmate who managed to get the physical plant's bulldozer started and aimed at the greenhouse. Apparently the dozer ran out of fuel, averting disaster.
Grounds superintendent Jim Long, who has been at Holy Cross for 48 years, also recalls a group of students in the 1970s planning to buy an old car after finishing their exams and crashing it into the greenhouse. "It didn't pan out," he says. "Either they chickened out or didn't have the money."
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!
|
