Tag Archives: prank

First Year DOC Trip Raid

Title: First Year DOC Trip Raid

Informant info: SuHyeon Kim is a ’19 currently enrolled at Dartmouth College. She is from Daegu, Republic of Korea, and is hoping to do a double major in Government and Economics. She is currently the chair of BSLS (Big Sister, Little Sister) and works for the McLaughlin snack bar.

Type of lore: Customary, Prank

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed alone at Dartmouth College. The informant was asked to retell any rituals she knew associated with any aspect of the Dartmouth Outing Club.

As an international student from Daegu, Republic of Korea, coming to Dartmouth was SuHyeon’s first time coming to the United States. Although she is proficient in the English language, SuHyeon is not used to the American culture that coming to college came to her as a big transition. In the process of the transition, she participated in the Dartmouth Outing Club trip, the Organic Farming section. During her trip, she heard from her trip leader various folklore related to the Dartmouth Outing Club trips, including this raid prank.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file)

Item: When we were having lunch on our second day, I heard this story from my trip leader. Our trip leader told us that when she was having her trip, she and her tripmates were hiking to their campsite. They were heading to the cabin camping section and while they were walking, they walked by a random topless hiker with a huge beard. The trip leader, when the hiker passed by, told the tripees that there were violent hippies that lived in the mountains nearby and that they attacked and robbed many innocent hikers. They were walking and walking when they finally arrived near their cabin and the campsite. They found that one of their other trip leader was tied to the tree, injured, screaming “Run, run away!” And two other mysterious looking people came out of the forest, threatening and chasing the tripees. So the tripees ran away for their lives. And later they found out that this was a joke prepared by the trip leaders. But the thing was that one of the tripees was a varsity marathon runner and that he ran too deep into the forest that the trip leaders had a very hard time finding him. From then, this joke was banned from the trips.

Informant’s comments: 

Sadly, she did not experience a prank as such during her own DOC trip but heard from her friends who were tricked into similar pranks.

Collector’s comments:

Tags/Keywords: prank, raid, Dartmouth Outing Club, trips

Doc Benton Legend

Title: Doc Benton Legend

Informant info: SuHyeon Kim is a ’19 currently enrolled at Dartmouth College. She is from Daegu, Republic of Korea, and is hoping to do a double major in Government and Economics. She is currently the chair of BSLS (Big Sister, Little Sister) and works for the McLaughlin snack bar.

Type of lore: Verbal, Tradition, Legend

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed alone at Dartmouth College. The informant was asked to retell any Dartmouth Outing Club rituals she knew.

As an international student from Daegu, Republic of Korea, coming to Dartmouth was SuHyeon’s first time coming to the United States. Although she is proficient in the English language, SuHyeon is not used to the American culture that coming to college came to her as a big transition. In the process of the transition, she participated in the Dartmouth Outing Club trip, the Organic Farming section. Although she could not recall other rituals associated with the DOC, she could clearly remember the Doc Benton legend. She heard of the legend with all the other tripees on her last day of the first year DOC trip at the Lodj from a trip leader, whom she does not know the name of.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Item:

This is a story annually told to first year DOC trip tripees on the last day night of their trips. Everyone is gathered in front of the Lodj to be told a story about Doc Benton, who is a doctor gone wrong, rumored to murder people. This folklore’s biggest feature is that it has nearly never have been documented nor written down. The only time it was written down was for a scholarly journal, according to the Dartmouth Outing Club Wiki. Another feature is that at the end of the story, the trip leaders surprise and scare the tripees by screaming at the climax.

Informant’s comments: SuHyeon stated that as she is recalling the general plot of the legend, she is not sure about the details of the plot.

Collector’s comments:

Tags/Keywords:  Benton, Dartmouth Outing Club, legend, scary story, prank

Traditions – Cherry Pie

Title: Traditions – Cherry Pie

Informant info: Matt Menezes. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran (2004-2013) . Informant was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division and deployed twice to Afghanistan (2007-08, 2008-09) as well as spent two years as a drill sergeant for basic combat training (2011-13).

Type of lore: Customary/Verbal Folklore, Tradition, Ritual, Prank

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Informant was asked about any traditions during their time in the military. Informant discussed the initiation ritual in which a paratrooper would have to fill their pockets on the first jump.

Associated file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/11vv5a27kzlycgq/Dartmouth_Folklore_Collections_Matt_Menezes.mp4?dl=0

Transcript:

Item: [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: I don’t know if this still goes on, but one of the traditions is usually since I was a paratrooper and one of the things they usually make you do is on your first jump in the division is they make you fill your cargo pockets full of cherry pies.

Informant’s comments: Informant smiled widely remembering this tradition.

Collector’s comments: Initiation rituals such as this one are very common throughout many different military units as well as groups of all kinds world wide. A common activity that is shared as a common experience by all members of the group.