My Favorite Practical Joke from College

The alumni magazine from my college, Cedarville University, recently asked for submissions of our favorite practical joke at college. Here's what I submitted:

I used to play lots of practical jokes, but my favorite took place in Maddox Hall my junior year. I always took my stereo with me each year to college and this particular year, I took a sound effects record. One of the effects on the album was an emergency with lots of sirens and fire truck sounds. It occurred to me that it might be pretty funny to put my stereo speakers in the room window (the one facing the courtyard) and blast the emergency sound effect as loud as I could.

I never dreamed of the response I would get. Almost immediately, girls came running out from their rooms looking for the tragedy. They ran out in their night gowns and robes. A crowd ran down one hall and when they got to the end, someone yelled, "It must coming from the other end!" The mob turned and ran down the hall towards the open end facing Lawlor (the guy's dorm). As more and more girls poured out of their dorm units, it became clear we should silence the sounds and put the stereo speakers back in their place before getting caught. It stirred up quite the commotion. Ma Printy (the resident dorm mom) never made an appearance that night, but she did send out a few student RAs to see if they could find the culprits. A friend of mine was the RA in the unit next to mine. She had a sneaky suspicion it was me, but she never turned me in. We laughed for weeks.