An MIT student dressed in a black-and-white striped shirt went to the Harvard football stadium every day of one summer, blowing a whistle while scattering breadcrumbs or birdseed to coax neighborhood pigeons down onto the field. At Harvard’s opening game of the season, upon the referee’s first whistle, it’s said that hundreds of pigeons descended onto the field, causing a half-hour delay.
– The Harvard MIT Pigeon Prank has been proven to be a myth, but it remains a delightful story nonetheless. (Always suspect a myth when a story is absent of dates and names.)