On Thursday afternoon, Michelle Davies was suspended in the air for more than three hours because of an especially strong gust of wind coming off the Hudson River. Suspended more than forty feet in the air, Davies flew across the entire campus until, after three hours, the wind died down and she was able to touch down on solid ground.
“I’m just happy that the wind finally died down,” said Davies, a freshman undecided. “I mean, I heard that it was windy here, but that was ridiculous. I didn’t think I was ever going to make it back down to the ground.” For the record, Davies weighs 97 pounds, and is not the first tiny person to be taken away by a gust of wind. (See The Circle article from 1994, “Midget Sky Parade.”) The winds off the Hudson River at Marist are, on average, about 59 mph.
Students gathered on the quad to witness Davies’ sky trek, watching curiously as she flew from one side of campus to the other. Said one anonymous witness, “To be honest, I was trying to figure out how to latch on to her. My class was all the way on the other side of campus and she was going there anyway. Why not hitch a ride?”
An hour into Davies’ flight, Marist Security retrieved a ladder but realized after several attempts that they had no way of keeping the ladder stable. Security officer Dave Cena was sent to Vassar Hospital after a 30-foot fall from the top of the ladder.
“We really thought we had it on that third attempt,” said Marist Security head John Gildard, “but as soon as [Dave] got to the top, that thing went straight down. Maybe next time someone should hold the ladder up”¦”
