Hidden away in a Mr.Bean lunch box filled with hotel soaps, extracted chicken DNA, and folded napkins lies a little black velvet pouch. Within the pouch is a sausage. Not just any sausage, but Sammy the Sausage. The unique thing about Sammy, is that he is 18 years old.
Sammy belongs to English teacher Ryan McCallum. On April 24th Sammy turned 18. Sammy has been all over the world, and has become an overnight internet sensation. It all started 18 years ago, when McCallum was a sophomore at Buffalo High School.
“I didn’t enjoy the school brunch menu because it was at the same time at lunch. So I made a statement by going to the front of the line and taking a breakfast sausage” said McCallum. “I was a really stupid kid.”
McCallum had kept a locker for Sammy to stay in near his for the rest of his high school career.
“On the outside of the locker we had a sign to slide numbers in and out of to show how old he was in days” said McCallum
When McCallum became a teacher, he would show Sammy to his students and they were fascinated by the aged sausage.
“I think I had heard about Sammy before” said Junior Jay Mason “When I saw it, it had shock value. I didn’t expect it to be that surprising.”
Once Sammy was known to students, they started to bring him along when they went on trips and vacations. Sammy has been to every U.S. state and on every continent except Antarctica.
“It was really fun to bring him to the Dominican Republic.” said Junior Emma Rodelius “All my friends there loved him and when I went back in March, they were disappointed I didn’t bring him again.”
On April 25th, a day after turning 18, Sammy made his star debut on Reddit.com. McCallum posted about Sammy and his story and travels. He also answered people’s questions on ‘why’ for over four hours . Currently the post has 12,000 up-votes and 10,000 down-votes and the photo of Sammy has over 800,000 views. And the numbers are rapidly rising.
“I am just waiting for the day that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) confiscates him, or another government disposes of him.” said McCallum “But until that day, I will continue to enjoy the many stories that Sammy is able to create.”
