5 Students Allegedly Hang Massive Dead Shark Inside Florida High School For Prank

A massive dead shark has been found hanging at a Florida high school. Investigators believe a group of students hoisted up the carcass as part of what might be a senior prank.

Staff members at the Ponte Vedra High School in Jacksonville arrived at the school at around 8 a.m. Thursday to find the dead shark hanging from the rafters over a flight of stairs. School officials said five high school students hung the gigantic creature inside the school premises using two sets of cables.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is currently investigating the incident, according to the Miami Herald.

“At approximately 9 p.m. ... (5/4/22) a group of five high school students at Ponte Vedra High School hung a gutted shark on the rafters of the school courtyard,” Alex AuBuchon, public information director for the wildlife commission’s Northeast Region, was quoted as saying by the outlet.

“We have learned the shark was harvested Tuesday night (5/3), gutted, and stored in a freezer prior to being hung,” AuBuchon added.

The school staff had the shark taken down soon after the grisly discovery was made.

The St. Johns County School District said surveillance footage captured the five students hanging the shark up the previous night. The video was handed over to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, according to News4JAX.

Photos of the shark were shared on social media, and some students admitted it was an unexpected start to their morning.

“It’s kind of gruesome. I’ll be honest. That’s a pretty big shark too,” Julian Chandlee, a Ponte Vedra High junior, told the outlet. “It’s in the main courtyard. There are some steps that go up to the main hall, and that’s right over the steps, so it’s in a pretty major spot.”

Cooper Gottfried, a sophomore at the high school, said, “I was going to first period, and there was this massive shark hanging from the ceiling, and it smelled really bad. I was really shocked. I just didn’t expect to see that in the morning.”

Jim Gelsleichter, Ph.D., associate professor of biology and director of the Coastal and Marine Biology Flagship Program at the University of North Florida, commented on the photos and told News4JAX, “My gosh, the first reaction was, ‘How’d you get that up there?’ Those sharks are very heavy.”