Date Collected
10-29-2018
Place item was collected
Sout
Informant
Sheryl Dority
Point of Discovery/Informant Bio
Sheryl and her family have lived next door to my family for the past 15 years. Sheryl is a nurse and worked at LDS hospital until last year. She now works for IHC as a “digital nurse” assisting in hospital rooms remotely. She grew up in Vernal, Utah.
Context
This event took place at Sheryl’s original place of employment, LDS hospital, when she was in her twenties.
Text
The hospital has large rolls of surgical tubing that comes in bulk. One night shift we got the idea of making a giant sling shot. But what could we launch in our giant sling shot? The idea was quickly formed. We could put someone in an office chair on wheels, and with two of us holding the sling shot and a third pulling it back; we could launch someone down the hall in their chair. There’s a downhill slanted hallway that connects two of the buildings between my floor and another ICU. We decided that would serve as a great ramp and could escalate our speed. Before we knew it, the Human Slingshot Contest had begun. We began shooting off as many staff as possible to see who could go the farthest. Our goal was to shoot through the double doors and into the CCU. We came close… very, very close! No walls we damaged in this contest! Haha!
Texture
Sheryl has told this story many times throughout the time I’ve known her. She sent me this story as an email when many of my collection items fell through. She worked as an ER Trauma nurse, and that is definitely her personality, always ready to help in times of crisis.
Course
ENGL 2210
Instructor
Dr. Lynne McNeill
Semester and year
Fall 2018
Theme
G6: Pranks
EAD Number
8.2.47
Recommended Citation
Monson, Megan, "Human Slingshot" (2018). USU Student Folklore Fieldwork. Paper 496.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/student_folklore_all/496