Bessie on the Dome

Summary

Campus Files: "Bessie on the Dome" – Episode Summary

Release Date: July 2, 2025

---

Introduction

In the July 2, 2025 episode of Campus Files, host Ian Mont delves into one of the most legendary pranks in MIT's storied history: the audacious placement of a fiberglass cow named Bessie atop MIT's Great Dome in 1979. This detailed exploration not only recounts the meticulous planning and execution of the prank but also sheds light on the broader culture of "hacks" at MIT—ingenious, unsanctioned acts that serve as cultural commentary.

---

MIT's Prank Culture and the Legend of Hacks

Mont sets the stage by contextualizing MIT's reputation for elaborate pranks, known locally as "hacks." These acts are more than mere pranks; they are thoughtful, often non-destructive commentaries on cultural or institutional aspects. Mont references historical hacks, such as a 1930s stunt where students welded a streetcar to its rails using thermite bombs, and a Baker House prank involving the displacement of a piano, highlighting the technical ingenuity and creativity characteristic of MIT's student body.

Notable Quote:

Larry Kader describes hacks as more than pranks, stating, "It's definitely a prank, but it is thought of as more of a commentary than just a prank." [14:10]

---

Planning the Great Dome Prank

The episode zeroes in on the late 1970s, a period ripe with prank activity at MIT. Larry Kader, a senior chemical engineering student and member of the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) fraternity, spearheaded the plan to place Bessie on the Great Dome. Motivated by his desire to obtain a herd of fiberglass cows from the nearby Hilltop Steakhouse, Kader collaborated with Aaron Bobbeck and other fraternity members to execute the prank.

Notable Quotes:

Larry Kader explains the initial inspiration: "I said, gee, I've always wanted one of those [fiberglass cows]." [04:21]

Aaron Bobbeck reflects on the initial act: "We were somewhat adrenaline fueled, so we may have had our greater than typical strength." [07:44]

---

Execution of the Prank: Phases and Challenges

The operation was meticulously planned in four phases:

1. Infiltration: On a late October night, the team transported Bessie from Hilltop Steakhouse to the ATO house using a rented van. Despite encountering unexpected challenges, such as Bessie's cement footings making her heavy and immovable, the team successfully loaded her into the basement. [07:15]

2. Strategizing the Placement: Recognizing the impracticality of keeping Bessie at the fraternity house due to space constraints, the team conceived the idea of placing her on the Great Dome—a feat requiring both coordination and technical skill.

3. Ascending the Dome: Utilizing an access panel in the engineering library, Aaron and Mike infiltrated the mechanical areas leading to the dome. The ground team navigated Bessie through the campus to the Great Dome's courtyard without attracting immediate police attention. [21:11]

4. Final Placement and Escape: The climax involved securing Bessie onto the dome using ropes. Despite an initial mishap where knots came undone, the team successfully hoisted her to the skylight atop the dome. Their escape, however, was compromised when campus police unexpectedly discovered them during their descent via the elevator shaft, which had unknowingly been hacked to reroute their journey. [23:34]

Notable Quotes:

Larry Kader on handling Bessie: "I was underneath the neck and was the one to first lift the feet free of the ground." [07:50]

Aaron Bobbeck on the infiltration: "We could just crawl through this access panel into the mechanical part." [22:02]

---

Aftermath and Legacy

The prank garnered significant media attention, with helicopters circling the campus and news crews capturing the spectacle. Despite the high stakes, the fraternity members faced minimal repercussions. The MIT Chief of Police, amused by the ingenuity of the stunt, opted not to impose sanctions. Bessie was promptly removed from the dome by authorities but not before embedding herself into MIT's cultural fabric.

Hilltop Steakhouse capitalized on the prank by using Bessie's adventure as publicity, even designing a special graduation cap for her. Bessie ultimately found a permanent home in the MIT Museum, symbolizing the enduring legacy of the prank.

Notable Quotes:

Larry Kader on media coverage: "There were helicopters flying over and pictures going out over the airwaves..." [28:10]

Aaron Bobbeck reflects on Bessie's place in the MIT Museum: "There's a display and all of a sudden there was the cow." [31:25]

---

Reflections from the Pranksters

Years later, both Larry and Aaron reflected on their involvement. Aaron, now the dean of an engineering school, offered cautious advice to current students contemplating similar acts:

Aaron's Advice:

"Can you explain to your mother why you decided to do this? If the consequences could be significant, you might want to reevaluate." [33:11]

In contrast, Larry encouraged the spirit of innovation that fueled their prankding days:

Larry's Advice:

"Do it. And the more innovative, the better." [33:39]

---

Conclusion

"Bessie on the Dome" serves as a captivating recount of MIT's prankish ingenuity and the lengths to which students will go to leave their mark. Through meticulous planning, camaraderie, and a touch of audacity, Larry Kader, Aaron Bobbeck, and their ATO fraternity brothers immortalized Bessie atop one of the world's most iconic academic landmarks. This episode not only celebrates the prank itself but also honors the creative spirit that defines MIT's enduring culture of hacks.

---

Notable Participants:

• Ian Mont: Host and narrator of the episode.
• Larry Kader: Senior chemical engineering student and ATO member involved in the prank.
• Aaron Bobbeck: Junior computer science and math student, later dean of an engineering school, and co-conspirator.

Production Credits:

• Produced by: Ian Mont, Eliot Adler, Margo Gray
• Executive Producers and Story Editors: Maddie Sprunkiser, Lloyd Lockridge
• Edited by: Chris Basel, Andy Jaskowicz
• Original Theme Music: James Waterman and Davy Sumner

---

For More Information:

To explore more scandals that have rocked American institutions, Campus Files recommends checking out Seasons 1-3 of Gangster Capitalism available on their feed:

• Season 1: The College Admissions Scandal
• Season 2: The NRA
• Season 3: Jerry Falwell Jr. and Liberty University

Have tips or story ideas? Email [e-mail].

---

This summary provides an in-depth look into the "Bessie on the Dome" episode, encapsulating the essence of the prank, the motivations behind it, the execution, and its lasting impact on MIT's culture. It captures notable quotes and organizes the narrative into coherent sections for easy comprehension.

Transcript

[Tina]

At California Psychics, we know some people can't read the career warning signs like your boss. Still not knowing your name.

[Carrie]

You, Tina, Lisa, Sheila, whatever. Get that report to me by lunch, okay? It's Carrie, ma' am. Just get it done, Terry.

[Tina]

So talk to California Psychics and receive the career guidance you need. We only connect you with the very best, so guarantee if your reading isn't life changing, it's free. California psychics. Call 1-800-PREDICTIONS today and get 20 minutes for just $20.

[Kristen Bell]

Ready to level up? Champa Casino is your playbook to fun. It's free to play with no purchase necessary. Enjoy hundreds of online social games like blackjack, slots and solitaire anytime, anywhere. With fresh releases every week. Whether you are at home or on the go, let Chumba Casino bring the excitement to you. Plus, get free daily login bonuses and a free welcome bonus. Join now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Play Chumba Casino today. No purchase necessary. VGW Group VOIP board prohibited by law 21/TNCs apply.

[Ian Mont]

Pranks are a legendary part of college life across the country. You may have heard about the time UW Madison seniors covered their campus quad with 1,000 plastic flamingos as a going away present. Or when Georgia tech's mascot, a 1930 Ford Model A, was stolen multiple times. But one campus, one you might not expect, has a very specific prank culture of its own. One which has books written about it, websites dedicated to it. One which has become legendary not just on campus, but across the region. This is the story of one of those pranks. On the morning after Halloween 1979, residents of Boston woke up to find a fiberglass cow named Bessie standing proud on top of MIT's Great Dome, some 300ft in the air. Just one week earlier, the cow had been standing guard in front of the iconic hilltop steakhouse. This is the story of how Bessie lost her way. I'm Ian Mont. This week on Campus Files, Bessie on the dome. U.S. route 1 runs along the Atlantic coast. It passes through Boston and runs up through a suburb called Saugus. If you drove that stretch of Route 1 in the 70s, you'd be dazzled by monuments to American kitsch. There are dinosaurs here and a cactus as tall as a dinosaur. A leaning tower of pizza. If on your drive you wanted to stop for some food, you've got lots of options. You looking for pizza? Well, stop at Prince's. It's very easy to find. Just look for the 40 foot tall replica leaning Tower of Pisa. It says pizza in big red Letters on the side. If you want Asian food, stop at the puzzlingly tiki themed Kowloon restaurant. If you want steak, look for the herd of giant fiberglass cows guarding Hilltop Steakhouse. But good luck getting a seat at hilltop. In the 70s, it was the busiest restaurant in America.

[Larry Kader]

Frank Jeffrida's steakhouse was sort of a urban famous mafia hangout. There are probably three or four hundred seats in that place.

[Ian Mont]

That's Larry Kader. In 1979, Larry was a senior studying chemical engineering at MIT and Hilltop Steakhouse was a quick half hour drive north of campus. It was founded in 1963 by Frank Jeffrida and it quickly became iconic.

[Larry Kader]

It was also the kind of place that you went when your parents came into town because you couldn't afford to go any other way.

[Ian Mont]

It was on one of those visits that Larry had an idea. It centered around that herd of fiberglass cows just outside the restaurant.

[Larry Kader]

It was a joint idea with one of my pals who was playing hockey out in Saugus. And I had been to the steakhouse a couple of times and he mentioned that, you know, I passed by that big steakhouse and they've got a herd of cows on the front lawn. I said, gee, I've always wanted one of those.

[Ian Mont]

He wanted one of those cows. And he was determined to get one. Then in October of his senior year, Larry had his chance.

[Larry Kader]

I was the IM Cycling chairman, which basically means I organized a yearly road race. And part of that was to have a van to bring bikes back from, from the destination. And so I had a van that MIT had paid for. We had a free night before the road race. So we schemed a way to go and take the cow.

[Ian Mont]

So one week before the race, Larry and a friend drove up Route 1 to case the restaurant.

[Larry Kader]

We had reconnoitered what the traffic was like at 2 o' clock in the morning. A week or so before, one of the guys had a car. And so we had driven out there. We established that cars were pretty infrequent along that route. We didn't want to get immediately flagged by police doing something stupid.

[Ian Mont]

Now, with some confidence he wouldn't be immediately busted, Larry recruited some of his fraternity brothers. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega, or ato.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

I'm assuming the statute of limitations has expired because presumably that would have been some form of felony theft.

[Ian Mont]

That's Aaron Bobbeck. Aaron was a junior computer science and math student at MIT and an ATO brother.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

I'll freely admit to having been part of the initial crew that temporarily liberated the fiberglass cow.

[Ian Mont]

So on a night in late October 1979, the team assembled. They split between the rented truck and Aaron's car.

[Larry Kader]

So we had driven out there. It's probably a half an hour, 45 minute drive from Cambridge. We didn't know what we were going to find when we got there because we had just looked at things.

[Ian Mont]

There were four ato brothers that night. Larry, aaron, and two others. One was put on guard duty While the other three approached their target.

[Larry Kader]

And so we had three of us to kind of hop over the fence and try and lift the cow up.

[Ian Mont]

Larry and aaron were both on cow duty. And almost immediately, they ran into a problem.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

It is the case that driving past it, you, do not appreciate the magnitude of the size of this thing. I don't think we'd actually walked up close to it. So when we got there, it was sort of impressive.

[Larry Kader]

The cow was probably six feet from nose to tail. And the head itself was about as big around as my head and shoulders were. We hadn't tried to lift the cows up or anything like that. Come to find out that it had cement feet on it.

[Ian Mont]

Not only was their target absolutely massive. She was bolted into cement footings holding her to the ground.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

The thing that made it heavy Was not so much the weight of the cow, but that it refused to be separated from the cement footings that were attached to the feet of the cow.

[Larry Kader]

Oh, I would guess it was probably three or four hundred pounds. And some of that was concrete.

[Ian Mont]

But this was their only night with the truck. It was now or never.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

I do think we were somewhat adrenaline fueled, so we may have had our greater than typical strength.

[Larry Kader]

I was underneath the neck and was the one to first lift the feet free of the ground. And then we rocked it back and forth some other way and eventually got it. So all four legs were free of dirt and whatever had been put there. And the other two people were at the back. We just lifted it up from the ground.

[Ian Mont]

They carefully loaded the cow into the back of the truck and headed home.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

For whatever reason, we thought we were so clever, we decided not to go down Route 1 because we thought that the chance that there would be police there of some sort was higher. And so we took some back roads, which really just meant that we were on roads for longer than we should have been with this cow and probably increased the likelihood of getting pulled over as opposed to decrease.

[Ian Mont]

They safely arrived back at the ATO house. All they had to do was get this six foot tall, 300 pound cow into the basement. It was easier said than done, but Leary had some experience with tricky maneuvers.

[Larry Kader]

I had done some time as a mover, summer job kind of thing, and so I had some idea of how you had to navigate around steps. It had a landing and then a right angle turn. And so we just stood her up. And then there were a lot more than four people that were involved once we were moving it down into the basement.

[Ian Mont]

Now living in the ATO house, the cow was given a name, Bessie. And she settled in quickly, maybe a little too quickly.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

You don't really appreciate the scale of this thing until you get it. I think there was a general presumption that once we got in the house, what a cool thing to keep in the house until we sort of saw the geometry.

[Ian Mont]

I mean, it's always tough adjusting to new roommates, especially when that roommate is a giant fiberglass cow.

[Larry Kader]

I would say after three or four days, it was a problem.

[Ian Mont]

Pesi shared the space with a combo pool and ping pong table.

[Larry Kader]

The ping pong players were starting to get very antsy. And so after three or four days, this has got to come to a head. I was the owner of the cow. I had to do something with it and I didn't want to just put it out on Memorial Drive and be done.

[Ian Mont]

Unfortunately, Bessie had become a problem, but they didn't have a truck anymore, so they couldn't quite return her. So, as often happens in a fraternity, a brilliant idea surfaces. An idea that involves the Great Dome, perhaps the most iconic building on MIT's campus. But getting a 300 pound fiberglass cow three or 400ft off the ground and on top of the dome is no simple task.

[Carrie]

You know that feeling when the weather finally warms up and nothing in your closet feels right? Personally, I was there last month and I didn't want to splurge on pieces I'd only wear once. So I decided to give Quint a try. And it was a game changer. Their clothing is high quality and made to last at a way better price than comparable brands. I added their 100% European linen dress to my closet. It's already a go to. And I know it's not just going to be my staple for this summer, but for next summer, too. Quintz makes luxury affordable by working directly with top artisans and cutting out the middlemen. Everything is ethically made, responsibly sourced, and beautifully crafted. So give your summer wardrobe a serious upgrade with quince. Go to quince.com campus for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's Quincus for free shipping and 365 day returns.

[Courtney Harrell]

Quince.com campus Imagine if you could ask someone anything you wanted about their finances. How much do you make? Who paid for that fancy dinner? What did your house actually cost? On every episode of what We Spend, a different guest opens up their wallets, opens up their lives, really, and tells us all about their finances. For one week, they tell us everything they spend their money on.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

My son slammed like $6 for the.

[Ian Mont]

Blueberries in five minutes.

[Courtney Harrell]

This is a podcast about all the ways money comes into our lives and then leaves again, which, of course, we all have a lot of feelings about.

[Ian Mont]

I really want these things. I want to own a house. I want to have a child. But this morning, I really wanted a coffee.

[Courtney Harrell]

Because whatever you are buying or not buying or saving or spending, at the end of the day, money is always about more than your balance. I'm Courtney Harrell, and this is what We Spend, listen to and follow what We Spend and Odyssey original podcast, available now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kristen Bell]

Hi, I'm Kristen Bell, and if you know my husband Dax, then you also know he loves shopping for a car. Selling a car, not so much.

[Ian Mont]

We're really doing this, huh?

[Kristen Bell]

Thankfully, Carvana makes it easy. Answer a few questions, put in your van or license, and done. We sold ours in minutes this morning, and they'll come pick it up and pay us this afternoon.

[Mike]

Goodbye, Truckee.

[Kristen Bell]

Of course, we kept the favorite.

[Ian Mont]

Hello, other Truckee.

[Kristen Bell]

Sell your car with Carvana today. Terms and conditions apply.

[Ian Mont]

In late October 1979, the Ato Frat House had a new tenant, Bessie, a giant fiberglass cow. But in less than a week, the fraternity realized they needed to kick her out. So when someone suggested putting her on top of MIT's famous Great Dome, the idea quickly gained steam. Now, if you didn't go to mit, this probably sounds insane, and it is. But it's less insane than you might think.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

Good hacks always had some sense of humor to them. Hacks, by definition, would not be condoned by people like myself, currently, as a dean of engineering.

[Ian Mont]

That's Aaron Bobick. He's talking about hacks, a term used to describe a long history of audacious, unsanctioned pranks on MIT's campus. But the term prank, while accurate, doesn't quite capture it. Here's Larry Cater.

[Mike]

It's definitely a prank, but it is thought of as more of a commentary than just a prank. There is a formal definition, and I'll do the best that I can with it. But it basically is something that is a wry look at what is going on in culture and is generally a non destructive thing that is perpetrated in plain sight.

[Ian Mont]

It's hard to say what or when the first hack was, but they at least went back to the early 1900s. In the 30s, a group of five students, including a future dean of MIT, welded a streetcar to its metal rails by distracting the driver and setting off small thermite bombs to weld the wheels in place.

[Mike]

And you could also do hacks to other groups. You know, you could rig up stink bombs and put them down the smokestack of places that had offended you.

[Ian Mont]

And as you'd expect from MIT students, hacks are often technical or vaguely scientific.

[Mike]

There were various strange events, like Baker House, which is a big dormitory on campus, throwing a piano off of the top of the roof and measuring the volume that it displaced in the ground. So that certainly was not a non destructive hack. And some of them were just finding a weird place in the infrastructure of MIT that you could shimmy into, sort of like cave exploring and then writing your name on the wall.

[Ian Mont]

And as it turns out, cows have long been a key part of hacks. In 1928, a group of students walked a live cow up to the roof of a dorm on campus. And because cows can walk up but not downstairs, she had to be tranquilized and hauled out. ATO has its own history of hacks, especially ones on Halloween night.

[Mike]

ATO had done several things on Halloween in the 60s. They had made the Great Pumpkin appear on the dome at MIT by using orange cells over the searchlights, hanging sheets, and painting a jack o' lantern face.

[Ian Mont]

So if you're an ATO brother who needs to get rid of your new roommate, Bessie the cowboy, and Halloween just so happens to be about a week away, then putting Bessie on the dome isn't just a solution to your problem. It suddenly seems like a good idea. Here's Larry.

[Larry Kader]

We started casting about for how it was going to happen. If Halloween was on a Friday, then probably by Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, we had a tentative plan. Volunteers to go up in the dome and do some mountaineering were established.

[Ian Mont]

One of the ATO brothers named Mike knew of an access panel from the engineering library which sat under the great Dome. That access panel led to an elevator mechanical room, which just so happened to have access to the top of the dome. Here's Aaron.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

I think it was Mike who said we could get on top of the dome and some other Folks said, look, we'll walk the cow up to the roof and then you guys will lower a rope or something and we'll just pull it up.

[Ian Mont]

So the teams were assembled and a plan formed. Well, Aaron says calling it a plan is generous.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

It may be extreme to say that it was a plan. Again, you're giving us way too much credit. Basically, there was a lot of spontaneity in all of this.

[Ian Mont]

Either way, there were two teams. The ground team, which included Larry and a crew of other ATO brothers. They'd be responsible for getting Bessie in place for the lift. The dome team would consist of Mike and Aaron. They'd be responsible for lifting and placing Bessie. The plan had four phases. Get the dome team in place. So on Halloween night, Aaron and Mike packed a climbing rope and went to the engineering library where they camped out until closing time.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

We had to get into the library while it was still open and hide out. And then they closed it. And this was hours, hours before they brought the cap. I mean, the library was not open all night, so they closed it. So what time's a reasonable library closing time? You know, 10 o' clock, I have no idea.

[Ian Mont]

The dome crew was now in place and had evaded detection as the library was closed for the night. Phase one was complete. Now for phase two. Get Bessie in place. This phase is a bit more complicated and requires an understanding of the dome, which would be Bessie's new home. The Great Dome is on the very top of what MIT creatively named Building 10. It's a big building. From the front you'll see a tall, probably four story limestone structure. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is carved into a limestone face supported by Greek style pillars. The top of the building is mostly flat, but at the center of the roof is a circular platform some 30 or 40ft tall. On top of that platform is the giant 100 foot wide great Dome. The ground team's objective is to get Bessie onto that lower roof just under the platform on which the dome rests. Because directly under that dome is the Barker Engineering Library where Aaron and Mike are in position. So the ground crew began phase two. Here's Larry.

[Larry Kader]

So it was a 10 minute walk normally, and so if we did it in a half an hour carrying a 150 pound cow, that would probably be about usual. I don't remember what the moon situation was, but I remember the walk along MEM Drive being pretty dark. We didn't meet any campus policemen or any of that sort of stuff. And we just walked down and into the courtyard of the Great Dome and then found an open door, which in those days was not hard.

[Ian Mont]

The first part of phase two had gone smoothly. Larry could feel the anticipation building.

[Larry Kader]

We didn't want to get found out before we had do what we set out to do. We didn't want to have to abandon the cow because it was our cow. And certainly we were excited that this great idea had been dreamed up by the hive mind of ATO and we were making it a reality and following in the footsteps of our forebearers and all that sort of stuff.

[Ian Mont]

Now that Bessie was inside Building 10, they just had to get her to the roof. So they found an unused stairwell.

[Larry Kader]

Possibly there were people that were kind of sent out ahead to make sure there wasn't any janitor or other traffic that would call the wrath of God down on us. But it was pretty uneventful.

[Ian Mont]

Once at the top of the stairwell, they encountered a locked door. Behind that door is the lower roof, the one that had the platform and the dome on top of it. Luckily, they were prepared.

[Larry Kader]

Well, I will not name names, but there were people that had summer jobs that allowed them to have keys to physical plant spaces. And in the normal way of things, those keys kind of came to still reside with them. And then from time to time, they'd be passed down from an older person to a younger person.

[Ian Mont]

With key in hand, they got access to the rooftop. While the ground crew got Bessie in position on the roof, Aaron and Mike were climbing up the dome. Here's Aaron.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

There was just an access panel between sort of the public part of the library and the mechanical part of the library. You're supposed to go in through a door that's locked, but there was an access panel that, for some reason, a, existed. I don't know why it existed. And B, was unlocked. I don't know why it was unlocked. And C, Mike knew about it, and I don't know why he knew about it, but you put all those things together, we could just basically crawl through this access panel into the mechanical part. That's the part that services the elevators and other kinds of things. And it has a door out to the dome.

[Ian Mont]

Both teams were finally in place. Phase two was complete. Now was time for phase three. Bessie on the dome. This phase is dead simple but probably most risky. They needed to attach a rope to Bessie and lift her another 40ft or so to the circular platform where Mike and Erin would carry her by hand to the top of the dome. Here's Larry on the ground crew.

[Larry Kader]

They signaled us and dropped the rope down and tied it on. We had to have a pretty ad hoc series of how we tied it up. I had some experience tying knots and knew something about ropes and lifting things and that kind of jazz. But the first time we hauled it up, then the knots came undone.

[Ian Mont]

The crew nearly dropped Bessie on the final and riskiest part of her journey, but thankfully, she wasn't high enough to do any damage. So they refastened the knots and tried again. Here's Aaron on the dome crew.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

The way it works, there's this kind of walkway around the dome with a wall in front of it and you're leaning over that one person would pull, and the other person would hold onto the rope behind them. So this way we had two sets of hands on the rope, which also provided safety for the person in the front doing the pulling.

[Ian Mont]

With this setup, they managed to get Bessie all the way up. On the very tip of the great dome is a flat, circular skylight which lights the library during the day. The dome crew placed Bessie on the skylight. Before leaving, they attached a note written on an IBM punch card. The note read something along the lines of, I lost my way from hilltop steakhouse. Please return to owner.

[Larry Kader]

They got it all the way to the pinnacle of the dome. They attached the note, and then we were all done. All of us standing around the base were, you know, high fiving and saying, isn't this cool? And aren't we really something?

[Ian Mont]

But they weren't done quite yet. They had the fourth and final phase to complete the escape. For the ground crew, phase four was easy. They just went back down the stairs and walked 10 minutes back to the ATO house where they could celebrate. It was more complicated for Mike and Aaron.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

So we go back to the ladder. You go into a door, and you're into the mechanical area. Well, you would go to the hatch to go out to the main library, but those doors are locked. We evaluated our option, and I'm pretty sure it was not me who decided, because remember Mike? I think Mike was the mountain climber. I think it's his rope. I think it's he that suggested we could rappel down the elevator shaft to the elevators. And I, like a numbnut, said, sure, why not?

[Ian Mont]

So Mike and Aaron got in touch with a member of the ground crew who would ride the elevator up to the fourth floor just below the mechanical room.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

They would then freeze the elevator, push stop on the elevator. Then we would climb down so that we could get in through the ceiling hatch of the elevator.

[Ian Mont]

Mike and Aaron carefully rappelled down the elevator shaft, landing on top of the elevator car. They got the emergency hatch open and climbed inside. And it seemed that they were home free.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

We went down to the first floor. Then we were happy. All the dangerous part was done.

[Ian Mont]

But crucially, none of them knew that the elevators had been subject to hacks of their own.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

I think somebody had sort of been reprogramming, you know, so that you press one button and it would go some other floor. So we learned this obviously later, and.

[Ian Mont]

They were blissfully unaware that the elevators were under surveillance, possibly due to these hacks.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

And then we literally opened the door and there's the campus police.

[Natalie Morales]

With a Venmo debit card. You can Venmo more than just your friends. You can use your balance in so many ways. You can Venmo everything. Need gas? You can Venmo this. How about snacks? You can Venmo that. Your favorite band's merch. You can Venmo this. Or their next show. You can Venmo that. Visit Venmo me debit to learn more. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp bank and a pursuant to license by MasterCard International, Inc. Card may be used everywhere. MasterCard is accepted. Venmo purchase restrictions apply.

[Unknown]

The this episode is brought to you by Polestar. There's only one true way to experience the all electric luxury SUV Polestar 3, and that's to take a test drive. It can go from 0 to 60 in as little as 4.8 seconds with the dynamic handling of a sports car. But to truly understand how it commands the road, you need to be behind the wheel. Up to 350 miles of range. The 3D surround sound system by Bowers and Wilkins. It's all something you have to experience to believe. So book your Test drive for Polestar 3 [e-mail].

[Ian Mont]

The four phase operation of getting Bessie on top of the great dome had gone off almost without a hitch. At the very last second before escape, the dome team was caught when the elevator door opened, revealing campus police. Fortunately, it seemed the police didn't know about Bessie yet.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

They had no idea that anything more than somebody holding the elevator had happened. They were pretty relaxed about the whole thing. They said, were you guys fooling around in the elevator? And they said, are you all MIT students? We said, yes. We said, okay, give us your IDs. So we just gave them our IDs and they said, you know, campus police chief will call you in the morning.

[Ian Mont]

Mike, Aaron and another one or two ATO brothers who had helped with the elevator escape, headed back to the ATO house to await their fate. Early the next morning, Bessie was found.

[Larry Kader]

The news had picked it up and there were helicopters flying over and pictures going out over the airwaves and it made the front page of the Globe and I don't know what else.

[Ian Mont]

With helicopters buzzing over campus, the small group of busted ATO brothers went to see the MIT Chief of Police.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

Well, he just told us that he was commuting into work and he hears on the radio the traffic copter, says it looks like there's a cow on the top of the MIT dome. And I believe he said something like he almost wet himself laughing. And he basically kind of let it go. And I don't even remember if he said, don't do things like that again, but he didn't have to. But it all worked out pretty well. There were no sanctions.

[Ian Mont]

Feeling invincible after meeting with the police, Mike and Aaron walk outside to see their handiwork. Unfortunately, there was already a crane being set up to hoist Bessie off the dome, but there was a TV crew set up to capture it. Mike and Aaron wandered over. One of the crew members asked if they knew anything about it.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

Yeah, we were trying to be so cool and coy. We said, well, we would imagine that if it were being done, that this is how it might be done.

[Ian Mont]

Mike and Aaron were interviewed for a story which broadcast on the 6pm news later that night. But for Aaron, that wasn't what mattered.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

You know, it's funny, the whole TV thing, I don't want to say it was anticlimactic, but that was not the big deal. The big deal is that we had done it. I do remember being bummed that they got it off the roof so early.

[Ian Mont]

By 9 or 10am Bessie was back on solid ground. While Mike and Aaron had been caught by campus police, Larry wasn't Well, not by MIT.

[Larry Kader]

My mother called me at about 10 o' clock the next morning to ask if I had anything to do with this. To which I had to say yes, because they knew that I had some sort of designs on the Frank Jeffreitas Steakhouse cows for a while.

[Ian Mont]

Bessie made her way back to Hilltop Steakhouse, where she was cheerfully welcomed home by Frank, the owner of Hilltop.

[Larry Kader]

My buddy who worked there said that that was one of the best pieces of advertising that Frank ever had, was to have it taken to MIT and then returned to him.

[Ian Mont]

Frank was quick to take advantage of the press. He made a special graduation cap for Bessie Tassel and all Bessie's time on the dome was one of the first in a long string of dome related hacks in the 90s. A replica MIT police car complete with a box of of Dunkin Donuts was placed on the dome. In another hack, it was draped with cloth to resemble Captain America's shield. The culture of hacks has only grown at mit. It even has its own section in the MIT handbook. As for Larry and Aaron, they both graduated and went on to have successful careers of their own and have both visited campus in the years since. Aaron recalls one particular visit to the MIT museum where something jumped out at him.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

I noticed there's a display and all of a sudden there was the cow and in fact the picture that shows better picture of Mike and not great picture of me that picture is on. The description doesn't have our names, it just has the date that it happened.

[Ian Mont]

Bessie's brief time on the dome was part of the MIT Museum. And it turns out there was more than just the photo. While Bessie was returned home to Saugus, she wouldn't stay there forever.

[Kristen Bell]

A final roundup at the Hilltop Steakhouse.

[Ian Mont]

The iconic restaurant officially closes its do.

[Kristen Bell]

This evening, but not before customers give.

[Ian Mont]

It a rousing send off. In 2013, Hilltop Steakhouse closed permanently. It was no longer the most visited restaurant in America. And after closing, memorabilia from the restaurant was auctioned off. But not included in the auction was Bessie the cow. She was donated to mit, where she remains in the MIT Museum archives. She's also stuck with both Aaron and Larry in in a less literal way. Here's Aaron later.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

When I was a faculty member at mit, we had this retreat and there was apparently a small fiberglass calf nearby, and some of my students put it in the bed that I was using at this retreat as an acknowledgement of my pedigree, if you will.

[Ian Mont]

And here's Larry.

[Larry Kader]

Oh, it's definitely one of the central things I think about certainly this as the achievement, if you will, putting a capstone on something my senior year, for example, it's definitely one of the bigger things.

[Ian Mont]

At the end of our conversation, we asked both Aaron and Larry what advice they had for MIT students who were contemplating hacks of their own. Aaron is now the dean of an engineering school. So that was a bit of a complicated question to answer.

[Aaron Bobbeck]

You know, there's a very simple acid test, right? Like, can you explain to your mother why you decided to do this? And I think before you go ahead and do something that has the possibility that if it doesn't work out, the consequences could be pretty significant, you might want to reevaluate, but maybe that's the experience of no longer having most of my hair.

[Ian Mont]

Larry, on the other hand, had a much simpler answer when we asked him for words of wisdom for MIT students currently contemplating a hack of their own.

[Larry Kader]

Oh, absolutely. Do it. And the more innovative, the better.

[Carrie]

Campus Files is An Odyssey Original Podcast this episode was written and reported by Ian Mont. Campus Files is produced by Ian Mont, Eliot Adler and me, Margo Gray. Our executive producers and story editors are Maddie Sprunkiser and Lloyd Lockridge. Campus Files is edited, mixed and mastered by Chris Basel and Andy Jaskowicz. Special thanks to Jenna Weiss Berman, J.D. crowley, Leah Reese, Dennis, Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney, Hilary Shaw, Sean Cherry, Laura Berman and Hilary Van Ornam. Original theme music by James Waterman and Davy Sumner. If you have tips or story ideas, write to [e-mail].

[Natalie Morales]

I'm Natalie Morales of 48 Hours. So much of our reporting focuses on the stories of victims who didn't survive. But what about those who live to tell? I survived a violent home invasion. There's no earthly reason why I'm alive from 48 hours. This is it could have Been Me.

[Tina]

It makes you grateful for everything you have.

[Natalie Morales]

You know you can follow and listen to it could have Been Me on Tuesdays in the 48 Hours podcast feed on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.