It was a typical scene on a typical day at Tufts: A group of people had assembled at the bus stop on Professor's Row to wait for the Joey. As usual, the bus arrived, pulled to a stop, and the doors swung open.
But what happened next was anything but ordinary.
Much to the confusion of onlookers, 25 of the people waiting for the bus simultaneously fell to their knees and began waving their arms as if they were worshiping the bus, exalting it with praises such as, "Oh, you're beautiful! Oh, Joseph!" and "You're so beautiful and blue and white!"
After continuing in this manner for several minutes, the worshippers quickly dispersed, departing without a trace and leaving witnesses with only the knowledge that the strange trend of "flash mobs" had arrived at Tufts.
Loosely defined, flash mobs involve a random group of people who separately receive instructions to arrive at a particular place at a particular time, and commit the same bizarre action all at once. At Tufts, a group of students has recently picked up the peculiar trend, organizing itself via the Facebook.com group "Tufts Flash Mob," which had 143 members at press time.
When students join the group, they send their cell phone numbers to the group's creator, freshman Jake Singer. Singer then sends a text message to all members with instructions and information before each flash mob event.
"[Singer] sent out mass texts to people, and I got it five minutes before it was going to happen," sophomore Lisa Goldberg, who was part of the first mob, said. "You could tell that people were kind of nervous if it was going to go right, or if people were going to do it, or if you were the only one there."
Singer said that he was inspired to start the group after watching a video online with his neighbor, freshman Martin Solomon.
"I'd heard about flash mobs that started in New York City," Singer said. "[Solomon] showed me a video of a flash mob in Japan, and we both got the idea to start [the Tufts flash mob group]."
Though Singer runs the flash mob's Facebook group, Solomon continues to play a role in the group as well.
"We brainstorm ideas together," Solomon said.
Solomon described the brainstorming process as considering "what would be weird to see and multiplying it by 100 - things that are random and make no sense." The group's description lists similar requirements, declaring that, "Every event is supposed to be funny, but also peaceful."
After the initial demonstration, however, Solomon and Singer are struggling to keep members of the Facebook group interested in the group's quirky events. Their second event, which took place on the stairs between the campus center and the bookstore, was ultimately unsuccessful.
"We had a whole bunch of people lined up on the sides of the stairs," Singer said. "When someone passed by, I'd give the signal and everyone was supposed to surround the kid and start shouting, but it didn't work out."
Solomon explained that the second event was more difficult to pull off, due to the need for coordinated timing. He said future flash mob events will be simple - and entertaining as well.
"You have to think of things that can be explained quickly through a couple of text messages," he said.
Aside from having the right kind of plan, Singer said he and Solomon are also looking for more thrill-seeking Jumbos to become involved. He said only about 15 people were at the second event.
"I didn't do the second one and I was right there," Goldberg said. "I guess I wasn't in the mood for it."
Currently, Singer has 75 people on his call list, while there are 143 people in the Facebook group. He said he would like more members, but doesn't want the group to lose its underground feel.
"There's 5,000 people in the school, so if everyone's in it, that wouldn't work," Singer said. "A thousand would be a bit much ... about 500 would be perfect."
Solomon agreed.
"I don't want it to be mainstream," he said. "At the same time, I want more people to show up."
Solomon and Singer noted a steadily growing stream of recruits online. "I think it's getting more popular every day," Solomon said. "More people join the Facebook group every day."
So what's next on the flash mob's agenda? Member suggestions on the group's message board include public pillow fights, human pyramids on the president's lawn and, of course, streaking.
But when Singer was asked about the flash mob's future plans, he simply smiled.
"That's top secret," he said.
