Harvard Student Paddles Massive Pumpkin Across Boston's Charles River

A Harvard student managed to fulfill his dream of paddling a vessel carved out of a massive pumpkin across the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14. Benjamin Chang, a senior at Harvard University, originally posted to Reddit in search of a forklift that would help him transport his oversized pumpkin. "It is my life's dream to row a giant pumpkin down the Charles River and I have finally saved up enough money to purchase one," Chang https://www.reddit.com/r/CambridgeMA/comments/16xnmpl/help_borrowing_forklift_to_ride_a_pumpkin_down/?share_id=yu9KcctwQxP1pcyYfO-mI&utm_content=2&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1 wrote . While he'd originally asked for a 900-pound gourd, the self-described "pumpkin lover" told https://www.tiktok.com/@wbznewsradio/video/7290146618114919723 WBZ News Radio that the pumpkin ended up being about 1,500 pounds instead. This video recorded by Thomas Wheeler shows Chang paddling along the river in the hollowed-out pumpkin boat, as a crowd watches on and chants his name. "I didn't think it was possible," Wheeler told Storyful, "but they got the pumpkin in the water and it was floating." Chang also provided rides in his pumpkin boat in exchange for donations, as he told https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/17/metro/qa-what-its-like-row-giant-pumpkin-across-charles-river/ The Boston Globe that his voyage "doubled as a fundraiser for a Harvard lab that supports student-led biology research." (Footage by Thomas Wheeler/Storyful via Getty Images UGC)