Cod-Napping

The Sacred Cod

I missed this item yesterday, but on April 26, 1933, the Sacred Cod of the Massachusetts House of Representatives was stolen by members of the Harvard Lampoon:

On April 26, 1933, members of the Harvard Lampoon magazine stole the Sacred Cod as a practical joke in an event that came to be known as "The Cod-napping".
Three members of the Lampoon staff pretending to be tourists, sneaked a pair of wire cutters into the State House and, when no one was looking, cut the cords suspending the cod. They hid the cod in a flower box that they had brought for that purpose and left the State House with it. An anonymous call tipped off State House officials that the cod was missing. The theft was considered a major one, with the House of Representatives declaring that it would not legislate without the cod present. The Harvard Crimson investigated the theft themselves and determined that the Lampoon was behind it. On April 27, the Crimson gave the staff of the Lampoon an ultimatum to give the Sacred Cod, by midnight, to them and allow the Crimson to take credit for returning it or they would go public with their findings. After not receiving a reply from the Lampoon, the details of theft were printed in the next morning's edition of the Crimson.
The Massachusetts State Police were called in to assist with the search for the cod. They went so far as to dredge the Charles River, in hopes of recovering the Sacred Cod.  The authorities also found out that a member of the Lampoon staff was on board a plane heading to Newark, New Jersey. They searched Logan International Airport and wired the authorities in Newark to search the plane the student was on when it arrived, but the cod was still not recovered.  The office of the mayor of Boston also received a call saying to "tell the Mayor that when the Sacred Cod is returned it will be wrapped in the municipal flag, now flying in front of City Hall" and to "Try and catch us when we cop the flag."
Two days after the Sacred Cod was stolen, the Harvard University Police Department received an anonymous phone call informing them on how to get the Sacred Cod back. This led to the Harvard University Police following a car without a license plate in West Roxbury. After 20 minutes, two men, dressed in collared shirts with the collars turned up and hats pulled down, jumped out of the car and handed the cod to the police before speeding away. The cod was not wrapped in the municipal flag as threatened.
On April 28, the Sacred Cod was again hung in the rear of the House Chamber, over the public gallery, only this time it was hung 6 inches (150 mm) higher to prevent future thefts. No charges have ever been filed against anyone for the "Cod-napping", and the details on the whereabouts of the cod, during the 50 hours it was missing, never surfaced.
The next threat to the Sacred Cod came in 1941, when the Aluminum-for-defense Collection Drive in Massachusetts was mistakenly informed that the Cod was made of aluminum, and asked that it be donated to the war effort. Christian Herter, the Speaker of the House at the time, informed the drive that the Cod was created 43 years before aluminum was discovered. Herter passed the request along to the Massachusetts State Senate where another fish emblem is displayed.
In 1968 the Sacred Cod disappeared for a second time. it was found three days later behind a door in the House chamber.

I can tell you from experience that folks at the Massachusetts State House are pretty serious about that thing.  They really bragged it up on a tour of the State House.  I'm sure glad they got it back.  And now you can continue your day.