For many, high school is full of unforgettable memories. But every once in a while, a story emerges that becomes a legend.
This one was made when a harmless hallway game turned into a full-blown protest that the whole school got involved in.
In the following story, a student’s playful prank leads to a protest that no one saw coming.
Here’s how the legend of Limbo Jimbo was born.
The legend of Limbo Jimbo
I’ve been out of high school for over a decade, and people still talk about the Legend of Limbo Jimbo, so I figured I’d share it where I know it’ll be appreciated.
At the time of this story, I (18 at the time) was a senior, and my brother Jimbo (16 at the time) was a sophomore.
My brother has always had a unique sense of style and, to this day, consistently rocks a brand of sweatpants overalls called Swoveralls.
Back in high school, his favorite look was to have one long sweatshirt string and one short one.
Sometimes, in the hallway, one of his friends would grab the long sweatshirt string, and they would play limbo with people going to class.
Students and teachers loved it, and they still managed to get to class before the bell.
The principal probably didn’t see this coming.
One day the principal (who was in her first year as principal and on a power trip), walked up to them and told them to go to her office.
Once there, she told them they were in trouble for bullying, alleged they made two students cry, blocking the hallway, and otherwise being delinquent.
They explained that even teachers participated, and if anyone asked them to move, they would have done so happily.
She didn’t care and gave each of them a week of detention.
Here comes the revenge. Someone made a group on Facebook: Free Limbo Jimbo!
From the Facebook group, which garnered nearly 200 members in less than 12 hours, a plan emerged.
The following morning, everyone was to gather outside the school for one thing, the one thing that could bring us all together:
A limbo protest.
This must’ve been hilarious to watch.
We stood outside for all of homeroom and first period. Posters were decorated, shirts were made, and students chanted, “Free limbo Jimbo, free limbo Jimbo!”
When the second-period bell rang, we took action.
A large speaker played the limbo song as nearly 200 students climbed into our school one by one.
Our principal was furious. She tried to take down names for detention, but there were too many of us.
When the last bell rang that day, my brother, myself, and about 20 other students walked to the detention room to pay our debt to society.
The detention supervisor took one look at all of us and said, “I marked you as attended. If you run, you might still catch the bus”
And there you have it.
Today I dug out my old limbo shirt and happily wore it to commemorate the greatest protest in all northwestern NJ regional high school history.
That was an epic protest!
Let’s see what readers over at Reddit had to say about this.
This person views it as an important lesson learned.
Seems like few people know what swoveralls are.
This is an excellent question!
According to this comment, swoveralls are overpriced… but not on Amazon.
That’s iconic!
They will never forget Limbo Jimbo.
If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.