"Yes but something we are becoming accustomed to at the present time amongst our young" I remember going to bad taste fancy dress party at a local RAF base in the 80s and the pilots turned up as the remains of the Challenger crew. Bad taste is nothing new.
hard to say just from the photo, Ellipsis, that looks like a generic theme park ride. I'm prepared to take the reporter's word about severed legs, but they're not in the picture.
* The event is called the "7 Legged" but the students called themselves the "7 Legless"
* They then went and posed for photos on a Smiler-type ride
* Then, quote, "They got into the formation of The Smiler ride and on the back row they had limbs hanging off"
* Nottingham University is quite close to Alton Towers - 36 miles according to Google Maps