<p>In the most recent issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly, an article lists the author’s top ten picks for best Princeton pranks of all time. Much of the rest of the issue discusses the careers of alumni who are doing standup comedy in clubs or have taken comedic roles in movies.</p>
<p>I think you might enjoy this lighter side of Princeton:</p>
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<p>"Take an environment that can generate the Triangle kickline, Cane Spree, and the Nude Olympics, let it percolate for 250 years or so, add a pile of 18-year-olds and The Daily Princetonian’s annual joke issue, and you would expect some pretty spiffy student pranks to break out. </p>
<p>You would be right.</p>
<p>From the discovery of the first 500-pound farm animal on the top floor of the first dorm, Nassau Hall, in 1756 – roughly 10 minutes after the first undergrads took up residence – students have approached with zeal and craft an array of jokes, hoaxes, and physical gags that beggar the mature imagination and often social propriety.</p>
<p>Here, counting down, are Princeton’s top 10 pranks – at least in this reviewer’s mind:</p>
<p>. . . </p>
<p>“And the No. 1 Princeton prank of all time: On the Friday afternoon of Houseparties in 1963, the desperadoes swung into action: A car was parked across the Dinky line [i.e. the small train that runs right to the Princeton campus], four horses rented from a nearby stable, masks and ¬six-shooters acquired, “victims” prepared. The Great Train Robbery went off like clockwork, with four students riding out of a John Wayne film to hold up the blocked train on its way to campus, fire a couple blanks, “kidnap” four dates and then – after politely refusing the wallets and gold ¬jewelry offered by clueless commuters – galloping into the woods, the eight men and women hanging onto the horses for dear life. The conductor arrived at Princeton station with the honor of being the victim of the only railway holdup in the United States since 1923; the perps rode over to Cap and Gown in full regalia, stopping by Bo Diddley’s live set on the front lawn. Thence they rode west, into the sunset and the mists of legend.” (continued)</p>
<p>[Princeton</a> Alumni Weekly: Pranks for the memories](<a href=“Issues | Princeton Alumni Weekly”>Pranks for the memories | Princeton Alumni Weekly)</p>