Swallowing live goldfish became a wildly popular fad among college students during the spring of 1939. Although the rage only lasted a few months, swallowing goldfish has become synonymous with foolish and short-lived fads.

The craze began in March 1939, when a Harvard University freshman took a bet that he would not swallow a live goldfish. He gathered a crowd to watch, swallowed the fish, and collected $10 from his classmate. Soon the word spread to other colleges. Other students began to take up the challenge, swallowing more and more goldfish each time to top the last record. By the time students were downing dozens of live, wriggling goldfish to uphold their school's honor, the Massachusetts legislature stepped in and passed a law to "preserve the fish from cruel and wanton consumption." The U.S. Public Health Service began to issue warnings that the goldfish could pass tapeworms and...