Tales From the T - The Vampire

Craziest thing I've ever seen on the T:

A few years ago, I was taking the Red Line from Davis back into Boston and saw some guy get on at Harvard wearing a black trenchcoat, a red shirt, a pair of jeans, and some Vans. So, of course, my first though is - are you some sort of vampire?

Once the train made it through the slow curve, he stood up, grabbed the long bar near the ceiling that runs parallel to the seats and started to do some gymnastics. Then, he somehow hooked the back of his knees over the top of the bar and hung upside-down for the entire trip to Park Street. He was hanging from the bar like a vampire!

Everyone in the car kept looking at him, then looking around not sure whether to ignore him, laugh, or be scared. After we pulled into Kendall and saw him swing a bit and hang on as we rumbled over the switches before the station, the consensus of the subway car was amazement and amusment.

I've looked at the amount of clearance between the bar and the roof of the car, and its only a few inches. So somehow, this guy managed to get his shoes and legs through that space and hang there for the trip from Harvard to Park. That not only takes some serious strength, but also some really REALLY skinny legs. Plus, how can you hang that long and deal with all the blood rushing to your head?

In typical Boston fashion, no one said a word to this kid, and everyone whispered and snickered to their friends. I'll never forget, when we hit MGH, some guy got on and did a double take and nearly fell over when he noticed this guy. But, at that time, all of us in the car were used to the situation and satisfied with it, and looked at our new passenger with the "What's the big deal? So there's a guy hanging from the bar. Deal with it" type attitude.

As we rolled into Park Street, he successfully flipped himself down, took a bow, and got off the train. At that point, I knew I'd have a story for the ages.