The corners of McKinley and Riverside avenues on Ball State University's campus were relatively quiet with the normal hustle and bustle of students shortly before noon Monday.
Soon after noon, when the crosswalk chirped like a cardinal, someone screamed "PILLOW FIGHT!" and a group of about 40 students began flinging and throwing their pillows in all directions.
Then, 30 seconds later, the intersection was back to its normal state.
The idea for the pillow fight came from a Facebook group called BSU Flash Mobsters. The group is for anyone who is interested in participating in a flash mob.
A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief period of time, and then quickly disperse.
Senior philosophy major Brandon Parks started the Facebook group and helped set up the pillow fight at the Scramble Light.
"The flash mobs are all about having fun," he said. "I have a friend at Purdue that organized some flash mobs, so I thought it would be a fun thing to try here."-á
Parks said he was happy with the outcome of the event.
"There wasn't as many people as I thought," he said. "I think [it was] because they just forgot, but everyone that did go had fun so it was a success."
Freshman creative writing major Brady Knepp, a participant in the pillow fight, considered it one of the funniest events he had ever seen.
"It was hilarious," Knepp said. "I couldn't stop laughing.-áIt was really spontaneous and caused good confusion on campus."
Parks said the chance of someone getting hurt was always a possibility, but the flash mob was as civil as a flash mob can get.
Trent Lannan, sophomore and pillow fight participant, noticed a few "near" injuries.
"I saw a couple people almost fall over, but I don't think anyone got injured," he said.
Parks said Ball State can expect more flash mobs in the future.
"They can happen anytime and anywhere," he said.-á"They are going to be more secretive in the future, but I can promise there will be no vandalism, and no one should get hurt from the flash mobs."
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