Illinois high school seniors play 'all-time best' prank on principal, hire bagpipes player

No one is doing old-school pranks quite like a group of seniors at an Illinois high school, who hired a professional bagpipes player to tail their principal for an hour. 

It didn’t take much convincing to get Scott Whitman, a Pipe Major for Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums, on board. He liked the idea from the start. 

"I used to teach high school for 7 years. We all know what senior pranks can look like. Some can be destructive, others leave messes. I had a lot of respect for them figuring something out that avoided all that and was funny,” Whitman shared with the Peoria Journal Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. 

The request was pretty surprising to Whitman, who usually plays at funerals, weddings, or birthdays. It was his first senior prank request. 

"I probably went through 20 different tunes. I went through my whole repertoire. He (Robison) walks fast. I felt like I was jogging, but he was a great sport about it. Classrooms were emptying out, people were laughing, dancing, it was great. I loved doing it," Whitman shared.

Billy Robison, principal of Richwoods High School in Peoria, was followed through its halls from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. last Thursday. 

“I had a great time with the guy, he was phenomenal. Teachers were coming out of classrooms to see what was happening. Kids following along,” Robison said.

Mariachi band was expensive and out of the way

Maggie Moore and Pierce Hill, tennis playing seniors, were scrolling through Pinterest for senior prank inspiration.

“I was looking at mariachi bands …  the idea was to have them follow (Robison) around. But it was around Cinco de Mayo and prices were really high, and they were all based out of Chicago,” Moore shared. 

Bagpipes came to mind as Moore began to think about other possibilities. She thought about how much she liked playing Scottish music when growing up. "It was Plan B, but it worked better," she said.

Moore and Pierce did a quick Facebook search and landed on Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums, a group of accomplished musicians. 

"Everybody loved it. People started dancing to it, clapping to it, following it. He went from the main office, to the gym, then upstairs to the top floor, down and out and a block outside. Probably a mile and half,” Hill said. 

Terry Cole, Richwoods High tennis coach, said the seniors went about it in the right way. They bounced the idea off him, then athletic director Jeff Crusen and cleared it with school administrators, all while keeping Robison in the dark.

“I thought it was hysterical," Cole said. "There's this one part where Billy is walking across the gym trying to talk to someone while the bagpipe guy is behind him, playing. The bagpiper never asked for anything. Maggie got him a $100 gift card. The whole thing was light-hearted and funny."

'All-time’ best prank 

Moore and Hill pulled off a difficult feat. They executed a well thought out prank that left “nothing broken, no one hurt and no mess to clean up,” Principal Robison said. 

It will forever be known as the “all-time best prank … I loved it."

"I love bagpipes. The kids didn't know that. He showed up at the office and started playing, and said, 'I'm gonna follow you around for an hour.' I said 'OK, let's go.' He gave the kids their money's worth. Everyone had a great time,” Robison shared. 

The clip of the prank has been a topic of conversation online, cementing its place as a solid prank. 

"It was a lot better than I hoped," Moore shared. "I didn't realize they were going to be as loud as they were. We ended up going outside. Mr. Robison loved it."