The pigs in the May River High School story are what most people notice right away. It’s difficult not to. The animals can be seen wandering the polished hallways in photographs taken inside the building, as if they had just been released from a pen—which, in fact, they had. The pigs, however, begin to seem like the least peculiar aspect of what transpired in Bluffton, South Carolina, on the evening of May 14.
The school sits in Beaufort County, on the edge of the Lowcountry, in a town that has grown faster than almost anywhere else in the state over the last decade. May River High opened in 2016 and still has the look of a new building, all glass and brick and wide corridors. By Friday morning, those corridors were coated in syrup, soap, toilet paper, olive oil, and pickles. There was an inflatable mechanical bull set up outside. Furniture had been overturned. The district claims that fire extinguishers were discharged inside the building for no apparent reason.
It seems like everything has changed because of that final detail. You tell a story at reunions about a few pigs trotting through a hallway. The cost of cleaning up after spraying fire extinguishers indoors is high, and it might be the biggest expense on a bill the district is still trying to figure out. Additionally, it’s the kind of thing that makes a practical joke illegal.
The way the students entered is what drives the narrative farther into the bizarre. A custodian working for ABM, the facilities contractor, allowed students to enter the building on Thursday night, according to a message sent to families by the Beaufort County School District. The entire situation is reframed by that one sentence. It wasn’t a break-in. The door was opened by someone using a key. Officials are currently unwilling to publicly discuss whether the custodian believed they were assisting with a harmless custom or had another arrangement. They keep saying, “The investigation is active,” which is a courteous way of saying, “Don’t ask.”
Senior pranks have a long history in America, and the majority of them are forgettable and foolish. Saran wrap on the restrooms. The principal’s office has a goat. A water tower was painted by the class of 2003. May River appears to have had higher goals in mind, and ambition is typically where things go wrong. The call was made to Beaufort County Animal Services. A case was opened by the Bluffton Police Department. In a message to staff, the principal, KaRon Webb, thanked them for working over the weekend and subtly requested that they refrain from posting about it online. This is a sort of acknowledgement of how the story was already progressing.
The students who completed this might have considered it a sort of performance piece. Pickles, the mechanical bull, pigs—the whole carnival. Reading the district’s cautious statements gives the impression that the adults in charge are attempting to determine how seriously to take it. The district has issued a warning that vandalism, trespassing, theft, and damage to school property may result in punishment, reparations, and even criminal charges. A lot of work is being done by that language. The seniors of this year and most likely those of next year are the target of this warning.
The picture of those pigs strolling past lockers in the fluorescent lights, serene and perplexed, sticks in your mind. They were carried in by someone. This was planned by someone. Additionally, a group of eighteen-year-olds in Bluffton are waiting to find out if the most hilarious night of their high school years will stick with them as adults.
