The Doyle Owl is considered to be an unofficial mascot of Reed College[citation needed]. It is a roughly three-foot high, 300 pound (136 kg), concrete statue of an owl that originally occupied the lawn of a Portland resident.[1]. One night in 1913, the owl was stolen from the lawn by residents of the Doyle dormitory, part of Reed's Old Dorm Block. The owl was promptly hoisted atop the dorm building, where it drew the attention and envy of neighboring dorms. According to the 2006-2007 Student Body Handbook, however, the Doyle owl may have originated as an ornament atop the Doyle dorm, from which it was removed as a "dorm memento".[2]
The owl was first stolen in a 1913 dorm war. Another dorm kidnapped nine residents of Doyle, offering to exchange the captives for the owl. This did not work and the "hostages" escaped. The same rival dorm staged a two-hour siege on Doyle, featuring water, mud, and ammonia bombs. Doyle countered by using a firehose but the tradition was born.[1]
Over the years the owl has been stolen countless times[1]. However, an odd feature has accompanied this thievery. Whenever it is stolen, the stealers must flaunt it at a "showing," where elaborate measures are taken to slow and stop the owl from taking flight again. Often the resulting fracas involves the majority of the student body. Pictures of the owl in strange places have become de rigueur; it has been seen in the US at Disneyland, in Seattle, in San Francisco, and in Lincoln, Nebraska[1]. The Reed Office of Admissions feeds the air of myth surrounding the owl, with its website claiming owl sightings in Paris, France, and in Jakarta, Indonesia.[1]
It is reported that the owl was shown in a music video for the band Tears for Fears[1] and was promptly stolen back from the band by Reed students. Other "showings" have included encasing it in ice, covering it in Vaseline while hanging it off the Blue Bridge, setting it on fire (using baking oil) and throwing it out the back of a speeding car. Angel Dawson, a 1983 Reed graduate, devoted her senior thesis to studying the anthropological implications of the Doyle Owl cult-following.[3]
The Doyle Owl most recently appeared on the night of March 30th, 2007. Around 11:30pm a drum began to sound from the front lawn of the college, and shortly thereafter a light appeared between two trees. The owl, bound in an unknown material, was suspended from a chain padlocked to two trees. It had been set on fire and a crowd gathered as the means of removing it was debated. It was learned, shortly thereafter, that the combinations to the locks were written outside of the Hauser Library, and runners were dispatched. Before anyone returned with the combination to the lock, the sheer heat of the fire caused it to come open and the fire was soon put out with a fire extinguisher. The battle that ensued lasted until the early hours of the morning. The aftermath yielded one hospital trip and two cars that had to be towed because their tires were deflated, though none were slashed as has happened in years past. The owl is now suspected to be in the hands of students related to the house known as "The Freebase" and there are rumors that it has traveled to Seattle.