The “Loon” during the summer of 1965 listed the favorite pranks of the girls. “Short sheeting Reb’s bed, croquet balls in Archie’s mattress, cold cream in someone’s sheets, purse hidden near the fire bowl, bristles were taken off a toothbrush with a jackknife, the honor banner was hidden, a fluffy slipper was hidden in a bed and mistaken for a mouse, sand in a counselor’s bed, false mice in bed, hid Mel’s alarm clock in the back of a crate and set it to go off at 3 a.m., plastic frog in a bed and campers croaked and pajamas tied in knots.”
Jodi Tripp (1957+) said one of the sillier things she recalled from camp included a counselor who constantly used a rolling pin on her hips and thighs to get the fat off, but the most fun was hearing the girls scream when they discovered frogs in their bed.
Shaving cream was a favorite in the early sixties for Elaine Engibous and Cheryl Short. Both had vivid memories of squirting shaving cream in the hands of sleeping girls, then tickling their noses with a feather, hoping to witness a face full of the white foam. Jenifer McLogan (1965-71) was also part of the short-sheeting and pillow cases filled with shaving cream crew during her time at camp.
Toothpaste on doorknobs was common, but Carol Wahl (1974-75) said some of the older girls decided to decorate the cinder block bathroom walls with toothpaste, instead of their own cabin. The director was informed and the girls were directed to clean it up or their parents would have to be called to explain why they needed new toothbrushes.
Sue Robson (1970-71) admitted the girls took it a step too far one year when they pulled every trick they could pull at one time on one counselor who ended up leaving in tears. Brooke Sauve (1949-51) said their favorite trick was waiting for the counselors to undress in the dark and then they would all shine their flashlights on her. “We called it spotlight on youth,” she laughed.
“Slel’s poor white suit finally got ripped by a “ripping maniac”. Sid by name,” quoted the article from a 1953 “Loon”. “But, revenge was had as Sid’s pink nylon pants came down with Old Glory at flag lowering. A more hilarious time was never had.”
“We were little devils at camp, short-sheeting beds and running bras up flagpoles,” said Stephanie Patterson, (1961-65) who admitted she was always in trouble. She was not alone, as Pat O’Tool confessed to being a huge prankster. “Some of my deeds blew me off the map. I undid the docks and floated them over to Camp Mahn-go-tah-see. I helped run the counselors’ bras and panties up the flag pole and collected the frogs to put into our counselors’ beds.”
“I’m best known for my pranks,” laughed Nancy Michelson (1962+). “They threatened to send me home. We were so full of ourselves as teenagers and we didn’t take kindly to new counselors, so when they put a young new one in our hut, we did terrible things to her and they had to replace her with “Beanie”. The only reason we didn’t get kicked out was due to the fact the Director’s niece was in on it, too.”
“We used to get boxes of jelly donuts and flush them down the toilets. We took the counselor’s bed outdoors. We pretended we were sick and would go the nurse in the middle of the night in our pajamas. Once on a canoe trip, we agreed collectively as a group to drop our canoe paddles in the water at the same time. What were we thinking?” she said.
Were you part of any pranks or were you one of the counselors that had to endure the nonsense?