Plossibilities

12/27/2025

12/27/2025

11/29/2025

Most people today don’t realize just how wild the Cabbage Patch craze was in Pennsylvania, but Wilkes-Barre became ground zero on Nov. 27, 1983. Locals still call Black Sunday at Zayre’s on Spring Street. Nearly 1,000 people packed the entrance before sunrise, all for a shot at the year’s hottest toy. When the doors opened ten minutes early, the crowd rushed inside, taking all 240 dolls in under half an hour. The rush turned violent. Five women were hospitalized, including a woman who ended up with broken ribs and a broken leg just trying to hang onto her doll.

Police, security, and even an assistant manager holding a baseball bat couldn’t slow the frenzy. Boxes were flying, people were leaping to catch them, and checkout lines stretched almost the length of the store. It’s one of those uniquely Pennsylvania snapshots in time, when a department store in Wilkes-Barre briefly turned into a full-scale stampede, all thanks to a toy with a birth certificate.

A wild, true piece of Pennsylvania holiday history.