- Talk about a cliffhanger.
There’s nothing wrong with pulling a little prank. But it’s just good form to clean up after the joke to show you’re not actually doing anything malicious.
Nobody apparently told that to the Canadian college students who left a Volkswagen Beetle hanging upside down from a cliff face.
In late March, a bright red Beetle mysteriously appeared on a cliff known as a popular rock climbing destination near Squamish, British Columbia. It took a while, but eventually a group of engineering students from the University of British Columbia claimed responsibility for the bizarre stunt.
Well, they got their media attention and could high-five each other for a nation successfully pranked. Unfortunately, it seems that the students had no intention of taking the car down afterward.
The car stayed hanging on the cliff until state authorities went to take it down. In the aftermath, the students have managed to make enemies of everyone around them.
The local authorities are upset because they had to spend money to get the potentially dangerous car back on solid ground. Rock climbers got angry because their favorite climbing spot was closed down. And then the local First Nations were incensed after the students desecrated a sacred rock formation.
To all would-be pranksters, let this be the takeaway from this story: don’t hang cars from anything.
The Red Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle appeared on a cliff face known locally as the Papoose, overlooking Highway 99 outside Squamish. It was painted bright red, with the letter E in white on its roof and a stylized Canadian flag on its hood.
And that’s about everything that anyone knew for a while.
It soon became clear that the car was hanging by two metal cables that were fixed to the top of the cliff. The vehicle had been gutted, being little more than a shell bolted onto a wooden frame.
However, that letter E on the roof clued some people in on the car’s origins. Those in the know recognized it as the signature of University of British Columbia engineering students, who had pulled similar stunts before.
Indeed, a group of students soon claimed responsibility for hanging the car off the cliff.
Public Reaction
The students likely weren’t expecting to be praised for their prank. And the public sure wasn’t laughing.
People from across the spectrum quickly condemned the suspended vehicle. British Columbia state authorities quickly expressed their anger at the hijink.
According to B.C. Parks, the car posed a “serious public safety threat.” It didn’t appear to be attached to the cliff in any way besides the cables, so a strong storm could cause it to swing around like a pendulum. Additionally, if the cables were to break, the car could fall onto the busy highway.
Consequently, B.C. Parks closed off all access to the Papoose until the car was removed. That upset the local rock climbing community, who love the cliff for its challenging nature.
“I really love climbing on The Papoose, and unfortunately, I can’t right now because there is a car that could fall on me. The cliff is not a place for pranks,” Jesse Godlington, a local climbing guide, told the CBC.
The Native American Squamish Nation was also outraged at the college prank. According to a statement from the nation, the Papoose is a “sacred site” located within its territory.
“Placing or hanging anything upon it is extremely disrespectful both to our [people], and to our land. We sincerely hope that in the future, people treat it with the respect it deserves,” the Squamish Nation wrote.
Previous Pranks
The Beetle has since been removed from the Papoose. However, if historical precedent is anything to go by, it’s just a matter of time before the engineering students strike again.
They seem to think hanging automobiles from unlikely places is hilarious. They’ve done so several times before, ever since the early 1980s.
Perhaps their most famous undertaking came in 2001. The students suspended a similarly red VW Beetle with the letter E on it off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Not every car hanging has ended well, though. In 2009, the cables holding a Beetle in the air off the Second Narrows Ironworkers Memorial Bridge in Vancouver snapped, sending the car plunging into the sea below.
At that time, the police arrested five UBC engineering students, and they faced $5,000 fines. In the end, however, they were able to make up for the prank with community service.
Want to read about more harebrained student antics? Check out our article about questionable high school pranks.