Lightbulb Eaters Spread Hobby Here

Thirty-four years to the day after Lothrop Withington, Jr. '42 downed a live goldfish before onlookers in the Freshman Union, a sophomore sat in Lowell House munching away calmly on a lightbulb "for dessert."

Although it was "rather tasteless," at least before adding salad dressing and crunchy granola, the sophomore--who asked not to be identified--said it was not the first he had eaten in public this year.

"At the beginning of the term, I must have gone through bites of at least half a dozen light bulbs at parties," he said. "But I don't eat neons or flourescents because they give me gas."

His feat, held last Thursday night before an incredulous crowd in the Lowell House dining hall, has been corroborated by several witnesses.

"I bet him $5 that Nixon would quit within two months," Ken Isaacs '75, one of the witnesses, said yesterday. "He mentioned something about being able to eat lightbulbs, and I said I would double the bet if he did. It was for real--he ate four or five pretty big pieces.

Glassy Appetite

The sophomore asked to remain anonymous because he is under consideration for a local job which might be unavailable if his appetite for glass became known.

Jay Bennett '75, a Quincy House resident less shy about publicity, admitted that he is one of about 10 Harvard students who eat lightbulbs.

"You just chew it enough so that it turns to dust," he said yesterday. "As long as you chew it, there is no problem." Bennett said that he initially worried about the chemicals coating the glass, but doesn't anymore--"if they are harmful they sure don't work very quickly."

The practice began last year at a party in Grays Hall when Bennett remembered a Sports Illustrated article about a football player who "they said was so mean that he eats glass."

"I thought that wasn't valid," Bennett said. "Anybody can eat glass." After he took an initial chomp out of a bulb, others at the party said they wanted to try it.

"I've never eaten a whole one," Bennett said. "There are always friends who want to eat it with me."

Margaret S. McKenna, '70, assistant to the director of the University Health Services, said last night, "Oh God..you are kidding," when told of the glass eating. Asked if injuries could happen as a result of it, she said, "Sure its possible--it's glass."

Bennett said he coughed blood for a few days after swallowing an insufficiently chewed piece of a whiskey bottle, but has not had trouble with lightbulbs.

Harvard students do not seem to be alone in the rush to test their endurance in unusual ways. George Berman '75, a Lowell House resident, said Saturday that the Thursday dining hall incident paled before antics at other colleges.

"That's nothing," he said. "At UMass they get into clothes dryers, turn them on, and see how many times they can go around without throwing up." The record to date is 100 times, Berman said