
A large pumpkin impaled on the spire 173 feet up caught the attention of Cornell students, faculty, and staff who were strolling by McGraw Tower on a brisk autumn morning on Wednesday, October 8, 1997.
The pumpkin remained atop McGraw Tower for 158 days, enduring a grueling fall, a severe winter, and a brief spring. Two questions were posed by Cornellians: Whodunit? Is it true?
No one was aware.
Like swim tests, Dragon Day, or commemorating Theodore Zinck, Cornell history is intricately linked to the mystery surrounding the pumpkin.

Thanks to coverage in The New York Times in late October, word of the practical joke gained long-lasting notoriety. Until Halloween, the Cornell Daily Sun published a daily “Pumpkin Watch” feature. Additionally, Matt Lauer conducted a live campus interview with Sun Editor-in-Chief Hilary Krieger ’98 for the “Today” show. A pumpkin-themed story and photo from the Associated Press made their way into hundreds of newspapers. Radio interviews were accepted from all around the country by the Cornell News Service, which was the forerunner of the Media Relations Office. MTV and CNN both ran reports.
Playfully, the campus lost its mind. Pumpkin lyrics for the Alma Mater were created by Cornell Chorus and Cornell Glee Club. A webcam from Olin Library provided live images 24 hours a day, which was new at the time.

The university constructed scaffolding to repoint the mortar on McGraw Tower in January 1998, after a century. The partially rotten pumpkin remained intact.
Provost Don M. Randel organized a competition for students to judge whether or not the pumpkin was real early in the spring semester.
Pumpkin samples were snared by physics majors Jon Branscomb ’98, Eldar Noe ’98, Fred Ciesla ’98, and Samuel J. Laroque ’98 using a remote-controlled balloon and some Rube Goldberg creativity. They discovered that the cored gourd provided ventilation, enabling the pumpkin to dry naturally while writing a thirty-page report. According to the report, it had turned into “a leathery husk, that could cling to the spire for decades.”

The media excitement persisted. The Chorus and Glee Club sang, “Far above Cayuga’s waters, with its waves of blue, stands our noble orange pumpkin, glorious to view,” during a feature report about the pumpkin that aired on ABC News’ “World News Tonight” in March. The lyrics were displayed at the bottom of the screen, and viewers could follow along with a bouncing pumpkin.
Randel was supposed to climb McGraw Tower in a gondola lifted by a crane on Friday, March 13, 1998, in order to get the pumpkin.
The group won top prize of $250, and each team member was given a signed lithograph of Charles Schulz’s “The Great Pumpkin” cartoon and a Cornell pumpkin T-shirt.
For the removal, Cornell faculty, staff, and students congregated in Ho Plaza. Many wore celebratory pumpkin T-shirts, Cornell dairy served pumpkin ice cream, and staff members created cakes shaped like pumpkins and the tower.
Related Topic You Might Find Interesting:
- Death Valley’s sailing stones mystery SOLVED
- The mysterious GIANT spherical stones
- Poland’s Krzywy: The Mysteries of the Crooked trees
However, mishaps with pumpkin parties do occur. A gust of wind caused the gondola to crash into the pumpkin during the crane test, breaking it and sending it smashing onto the scaffold planks, frozen solid from the previous night’s chill.
Following the pumpkin’s removal from the scaffold, Randel appointed John Kingsbury, a plant biologist, to head a commission to investigate it.
The culprits behind the pumpkin haven’t come to light twenty years later. However, in April 1998, the issue of whether the gourd was real was settled. The Kingsbury commission verified the object with a fitting fanfare in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall, summarizing it in four words: “It is a pumpkin.”

What Was the Beast of Gévaudan?
Between 1764 and 1767, a mysterious animal called the Beast of Gévaudan terrorized the French village called Gévaudan. It attacked and killed about 100 adults and children. While most believe it was a wolf, some say it may have been a wolf-dog hybrid, hyena or even a lion, but without any genetic evidence, the beast will remain a mystery forever.

The mysterious secret of Dr James Barry
Before women were allowed to enroll in medical school, Margaret Ann Bulkley studied medicine and assumed the identity of Dr. James Barry for 56 years while dressing as a man. After 46 years of service as an army doctor officer, her secret was not made public until after her death in 1865.

What Caused The Mysterious Patomskiy Crater in Siberia?
Discovered in 1949, the Patomskiy Crater resembles a huge convex cone with a funnel-shaped recess and a rounded hill in the middle, which looks like an eagle’s nest with an egg nestled inside it. The crater’s origin is a mystery that has baffled scientists for decades.

Qasr al-Farid, the Lonely Castle of the Nabataeans
The remote tomb of Qasr al-Farid, situated in the Saudi Arabian desert, dates back to the 1st Century CE. It was built by the Nabataean people, who also built Petra in Jordan. This site has remained largely undisturbed.

The Mystery of Puma Punku’s Precise Stonework
Pumapunku's stone blocks were meticulously carved and polished to interlock with neighboring stones, forming a puzzle-like structure. The joints between them are incredibly precise. These characteristics show an intricate knowledge of descriptive geometry and stone cutting, indicating the use of highly advanced technology that would have seemed impossible at the time.

The Mysterious Disappearance of Frederick Valentich: Australia’s Most Baffling Aviation Enigma
In 1978, Pilot Frederick Valentich and his plane disappeared in Australia. His last communication was “Melbourne that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again… (two seconds open microphone)… it is hovering and it’s not an aircraft…”

The mysterious GIANT spherical stones
Mysterious spherical stones ranging in size from a few millimeters to several meters have been discovered in Crimea, United States, Russia, and New Zealand. There are many theories from various geologists, but none of them are clear.

The 1978 Lufthansa Heist: Unraveling the Mystery of America's Most Infamous Airport Robbery
During the 1978 Lufthansa heist, robbers infiltrated JFK Airport, restraining employees and holding a night guard hostage. They escaped with $5.9 million—worth over $27 million today. The crime, linked to the Lucchese crime family, remained unsolved for decades, with most suspects vanishing

What is secret behind the Australia’s mysterious pink lake?
Lake Hillier in Australia maintains a bright pink hue all year round. Although no one knows for sure what causes the unique coloring, experts speculate that it might be the result of high salinity, a pink bacteria called “halobacteria,” and a salt-loving algae species called Dunaliella salina.

Chocolate Rain in Switzerland: How a Factory Malfunction Turned Olten Into a Sweet Spectacle
In 2020, chocolate 'rained' from the sky in a town in Switzerland. This incident was caused by a ventilation system malfunction at a chocolate factory in Olten. Strong winds then carried the snow-like cocoa powder and spread it around in the immediate vicinity of the factory, covering cars and other things in chocolate.

What Is the Taos Hum? The Strange Low-Frequency Noise Heard in New Mexico
Since the early 1990s, residents of Taos, New Mexico, have reported hearing a mysterious low-frequency noise called the "Taos Hum." This strange, persistent buzzing or droning sound is only audible to a small fraction of the population and has baffled scientists and locals alike. Despite extensive investigations, the source of the Taos Hum remains unresolved, making it one of the most intriguing acoustic mysteries in the modern world.

Inside The Mysterious Death Of The Famed Gothic Writer Edgar Allan Poe
Hours before his death Edgar Allen Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore. He was incoherent, wearing another man’s clothes, and unable to explain how he got there. The cause of his death is an unsolved mystery.

Top 10 Mysterious And Least Explored Places On Earth
Some people believe that there is nothing unexplored remaining on earth but the world doesn't cease to surprise us with its mysteries. Today I'll tell you about the lost places of the planet and animals that live only there.

Recipient of suicide victim's heart kills himself 12 years later
In 1995, Sonny Graham received a transplanted heart from a suicide victim. He then committed suicide in the very same manner as the donor.

The story of a boy who claims to be on Mars: Boriska Kipriyanovich
Boriska Kipriyanovich, who lives in Volgograd, Russia, claims he lived on Mars before being resurrected on Earth on a mission to redeem humanity. What we know about him is as follows:

The Amazing Hanging Stone in Siberia Has Defied Gravity Since the Ice Age
The unbelievable "Hanging Stone" of Siberia weighs around 300 tons and has been hanging off a 1,000-meter cliff since the Ice Age.

El Ojo, The Mysterious Rotating Island
In the middle of South America, a strange and nearly perfectly circle island moves on its own. The central landmass, known as 'El Ojo' or 'The Eye,' floats on a pond of clear and chilly water, looking strange and out of place in comparing to its surroundings. The bottom appears to be solid in compared to the marsh around it.

Mystery of 300-year-old mummified mermaid is being probed
There is a 300-year-old mummified mermaid with 30 centimetres tall and features a human-like head, two hands with what appear to be fingernails, and its lower body that look like a fish tail. The “mermaid mummy” is being probed by Japanese scientists in an attempt to unravel the mystery of its existence.

Mysterious ghost ship found with mummified captain inside [SOLVED]
German captain had been sailing the world for 20 years. It was unknown when or how he died or how long the ghost ship had been adrift

Mahabalipuram: The mystery behind Lord Krishna's butterball that defies gravity
Krishna's Butter Ball is a massive rock in Mahabalipuram, Tamilnadu, India, that is perfectly balanced on a slope. An attempt was made in 1908 to remove the rock for fear that it would roll down and destroy nearby homes, but the efforts were wasted.

Mystery SOLVED: blood Rain in India
The dissemination of spores of microalgae has been identified as the origin of the 'Blood Rain' phenomena, according to a new study by Indian and Austrian experts. Since 1896, reports of intermittent red-colored rain in portions of Kerala and Sri Lanka have been coming in. The most recent one occurred in 2013 over Kerala.

The birth or sign language in Nicaragua
When 50 deaf Nicaraguan children who did not know sign language were placed in the same classroom, they created their own sign language. Scientists are still researching the unique spontaneous appearance of language, as well as its own evolution and training of grammar.

Poland's Krzywy: The Mysteries of the Crooked trees
In Poland, there is a forest with 400 crooked trees that have a 90-degree bend at the base of their trunks. Despite of numerous possibilities, the real reason and how it evolved remain a mystery.

Sandy Island: The Phantom Island That Fooled Maps and Google Earth for Centuries
Sandy Island, charted since 1774, was long considered a phantom island in the Coral Sea. Despite appearing on maps and Google Earth, it was "undiscovered" by scientists in 2012, revealing only deep ocean instead of land. The island's existence was likely a cartographic error or a misidentified pumice raft.

Death Valley’s sailing stones mystery SOLVED
The mysterious "sailing stones" of Death Valley have confused experts for years. The massive stones appear to travel over the dried lake bed known as Racetrack Playa in California's Death Valley National Park, leaving a path in the cracked mud behind them.