OnlineAthens: UGANews: Student burned at frat 12/01/04
Chip’s Cliff Notes Version:
[Name removed because I don’t want this to show up on Google when the guy searches his name] was engaged in a drinking rite inside the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house at 990 S. Milledge Ave. involving 190-proof grain alcohol and a lighted oil lantern at about 3:20 a.m. when his clothes burst into flame, severely burning his upper torso, according to police.
…
“My understanding is they were having some type of activity that involved grain alcohol,” police Capt. Mark Sizemore said.
…
According to interviews with fraternity members, the room in the frat house where the ritual was being performed was in darkness, save for the light from an “Aladdin style” oil lamp that sat atop a podium next to a bottle of Everclear, which is 95-percent pure grain alcohol, police said.
…
When officers arrived on the scene, the floor of the frat house was littered with cans and bottles of beer, folding chairs were scattered about and the odor of burned hair lingered in the air.
…
One source knowledgeable about the incident, who asked to not be identified, said that Lambda Chi Alpha traditionally engages in a drinking ritual while playing the Steppenwolf rock song “Magic Carpet Ride,” which makes mention of Aladdin’s lamp.
The lyrics go, in part:
“Last night I held Aladdin’s lamp
And so I wished that I could stay
Before the thing could answer me
Well, someone came and took the lamp away
I looked around, a lousy candle’s all I found.”
Sammons denied his fraternity engages in such a rite.
