Camp Pranks

I've tended not to endorse or encourage camp pranks as they tend to sabotage any security that people have. But I have been pranked and a discussion of recent date brought back a fabulously well-planned prank when I was a budding Leader at a YMCA Camp.

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SO...IF YOU HAVEN'T ANYTHING TO DO FOR THE NEXT FEW MINUTES JOIN ME FOR A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY AND HOPEFULLY ENJOY: THE GREAT SNIPE CAPER

I was new, I was excited, I was raring to go and I was about as nieve a new Camp Leader as ever there was one. When I walked into the Leader's Lodge one day a group of my seasoned colleagues were talking about the great snipe feast. I listened in as I picked up some reading material and left. Snipe? I had never heard of it. I thought to myself. A few days later I heard a similiar conversation. I learned later in my psychology course that I had been psychologically set up. Sublimenal messaging or something like that.

It was 8:00 PM on a hot July evening when Muscle Man - as we referred to him called a meeting. "Snipe is a small fat dumb bird, a bit smaller than the size of a chicken that only comes out late evening." "Known for it's succulent flavour, it is easily caught." The word "dumb" didn't register with me at the beginning of the explanation - but the word would come back to wack me over the head, sort of speak, after this escapade.

"Okay," he said, arresting my wondering attention. "You get a candle and a bag." "We will make a lot of noise scaring the snipe and making them run to you." "They will not hurt you but will run toward the candle-light, right into the bag." "Got it?' We all said in hearty chorus form, "Got it!"

It all sounded a bit weird to me but I was in. While I was thinking weird it occurred to me that all the participants, except for the Staff, were like me - first-year Leaders.

Off we went, all jubilant and high spirited. It was dark now. Really dark - not a sliver of a moon or a twinkling of a star. "Okay," says one of the Staffers. "Stand here." "When you hear me call snipe, light your candle and watch for them running toward you..okay?" "Okay," I said confidently, thinking to myself it's really black out here. "Snipe, snipe, snipe!" I heard in the distance. I lite my candle and with bated breath waited patiently for the rush of the snipe.

All of a sudden there was a rustle in the bush and it sounded big. Now I was a pretty big teen and no slouch, but when I heard that noise I panicked. and crushed the candle in my fist instantly putting out the flame. I dropped the bag and sort of hoped snipe or not it would go away.

It was quiet now. It was dead quiet. I called out to the Staffer almost apologetically, "Are you there?" I heard nothing but the creepy sounds of the night. "Are you there?" with a slightly higher voice. Nothing, no response, only night noises.

It is a foreboding feeling to be suddenly alone - like I mean, really alone. I didn't even have a candle or that dumb brown bag. It was just me standing there. Did I say alone? Where was I? Not a clue. All I remember was crossing the Credit River, the direction we had first come. I crawled back over the river; I was soaking wet and for whatever reason famished. I looked at my watch: 11:17 PM. It seemed like a moment ago we were a united crowd and gathered around our fearless leader getting final instructions.

I didn't know where I was or where I was going for that matter. Every now and then I would stop and hear this slight pounding. As I listened intently I realized it was my heart. I yelled out, "I AM LOST!" As I was panting away I heard peculiar sounds. I collected myself and listened intently. "Onward Christian Soldiers." What??? I recognized
voices, they were the voices of my buddies singing, Onward Christian Soldiers. I yelled as loud as I could. "WHERE ARE YOU...WHERE ARE YOU? " They kept singing as I kept trudging through the bush until I caught up to them.

I was so relieved to greet them. At least I now had company while being lost. They all looked as ugly as me - wet, muddy, BUT in high spirits. It was now after 2:20 AM. Will we ever get back to camp? No one to this day knows how a bunch of misguided guys could ever find their way out of a paper bag made it - but we did.

Daylight - how incredibly excited we were to see the sunrise. Things looked a whole lot better in the light.

The rag tagged troop walked slowly down the long Camp road to the so glad to see the dinning hall. Campers cheered us on as well as the Staff and other Leaders welcomed us home like a long lost dog.

GOOD NEWS! After a hot shower and breakfast, we were given the rest of the day off to lounge around. At supper we were invited to the Lodge for a full snipe dinner. As me an my Buddies were chowing down on the snipe one of the other Leaders turns to me and whispers in my ear, "Tastes like chicken." I leaned over and said, "If the cook says it's snipe, it's snipe."

There were other shenanigans pulled on us throughout the summer but this single one is well remembered.

 

That was funny.