Squirrels. Little fuzzy creatures with large fluffy tails. Often found in forests or in city parks. However, you can find a large number of them on college campuses, where they exist in droves. While cute and seemingly harmless, there is a chance where one single one can cause near mass hysteria on a campus along with some irritation. That’s exactly what happened this past Wednesday on my college campus when I was planning on writing a very important paper.
The short and sweet version is that a squirrel cut power to the whole campus, except one building. The longer version is something quite bizarre.
Around 5 p.m., the power went out in my dorm building. Since the room light wasn’t on and I couldn’t see the microwave’s clock from my bed, I didn’t know at first. Until I noticed that the Wi-Fi on my computer wasn’t connected. Then, I looked over at the microwave and it was off. Oh, wonderful. I’ve experienced some power outages before on campus and expected it to be up soon after. When it didn’t, I ventured out into the hallway for answers as I heard some people out there. While out there, I learned the whole story. A single gray squirrel had chewed a telephone wire at the transformer and it cut the power to the campus. The culprit didn’t run away as it was swiftly electrocuted due to its poor decision. It lost an arm and was relocated to the wildlife labs for necropsy.
So, my friends and I did what anyone else would do during a power outage. We sat in the darkened hallway (it was after sunset) of our dorm and talked. We had flashlights but they were kept off unless someone was coming down the hallway. Until the confusion began. The resident assistant from downstairs came along and told us we had to leave because we weren’t allowed to be in the dorms when the power is out and it is dark outside. So, we gathered up our stuff, grabbed some pillows and blankets and went to the only building with power, not knowing when we’d get back to our rooms. It was after seven at that time and one of the other dorm halls was on fire. There were a lot of fire engines.
Now here’s where the hysteria begins. People were going crazy without power and hanging around in large groups and goofing around. Thankfully, I stayed right in a comfy chair the entire time. I heard of a room that got broken into and some food was stolen. I heard of a group of boys cat-calling a girl. Beer parties in classrooms. But, I stayed right in my comfy chair in a classroom building and ate a few pixy sticks, a packet of trail mix, and a croissant that a friend brought for me.
With the hysteria came the confusion. When was the power coming back on? Why were only three dorm buildings evacuated? What is going on? Will I have to sleep in the class building without being in comfortable clothes? When can I go back to my dorm?
No resident assistant ever told us what was going on. No security officer told us what was going on. We were all confused and concerned. We wanted to know things and there was a total lack of information. I didn’t feel safe sleeping in the classroom building. I like sleeping behind my locked door for a reason. We stayed in the classroom building for two hours, closer to three maybe. The whole time without any sort of information. In total, the power was out for close to five hours. We didn’t even find out the power was back on in our dorms until another student came over and told us. Even then we were slightly confused. But, we walked back and we were right. The power was back and it was after ten o’clock.
Meanwhile, the dead squirrel got a memorial service of a cross, flyers, and a name. Lightning Squirrel and the DelVal black out of 2017. One squirrel was all it took for the campus to come apart at the seams. I could have finished my paper in those five hours.
