#science hall

[postcardaday]

postmarked 1906

[iowacitypast]

Macbride Hall in winter, The University of Iowa, 1950s?

Creator: Kent, Frederick W.

Source: https://islandora.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Aictcs_15759

[uwmadarchives]

Spooky UW Mystery Novel

This time of year, the University Archives often gets questions about haunted buildings on campus.  Most stories revolve around Science Hall, often stemming from the long tenure of the anatomy department in the upper reaches of the building..

Anatomy classroom in Science Hall.  

But another contributing factor to the myth of Science Hall was the now mostly forgotten mystery novel, Don’t Look Behind You, by Samuel Rogers. 

Rogers came to Wisconsin in 1919 as an instructor in English, but he switched to French in 1920 and remained as a French professor until his retirement in 1960 (he died in 1985).  In addition to his scholarly work on Balzac, he was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 1950, he also wrote 6 novels and 3 mystery novels. His book Dusk at the Grove won the $10,000 Atlantic Monthly Novel Prize in 1934.

Samuel G. A. Rogers

The mysteries, Don’t Look Behind You (1944), You’ll Be Sorry (1945) and You Leave Me Cold (1946), are set in a Midwestern university town named “Woodside” that is obviously Madison.

At the end of Don’t Look Behind You, Daphne, a nursing student, is chased through the upper floors of Science Hall by her would be killer,  Rogers had taught in Science Hall early in his career and according to his oral history “I think I got the idea from thinking what a lugubrious place Science Hall was, and trying to write a story, the end of which would be someone being chased by a homicidal maniac up through the stairs of Science Hall, ending up in what used to be--I don't suppose it still is--the morgue.”

The book was read as part of Chapter A Day on WHA radio in the fall of 1944, and a version was broadcast as part of the first season of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1962, starring Jeffrey Hunter and Vera Miles.

Happy Halloween!

--David Null for the University Archives

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For more information about UW campus history, contact [email protected] or visit library.wisc.edu/archives. On, Wisconsin!

[iowacitypast]

Science Hall at original location on Pentacrest, The University of Iowa, circa 1904

Creator: unknown

Source: https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Aictcs_14119

[iowacitypast]

Old Capitol, The University of Iowa, 1925 or 1926

Creator: Kent, Frederick W.

Source: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ictcs/id/1036

[iowacitypast]

Pentacrest, The University of Iowa, between 1902 and 1905

Creator: Calvin, Samuel

Source: https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Aictcs_1076

[iowacitypast]

Science Hall at its new location north of Jefferson Street, The University if Iowa, 1900s

Creator: Unknown

Calvin Hall, formerly known as the Geology Building and the Old Science Building, was moved from its original location on the Pentacrest in 1905.

Source: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ictcs/id/14144

[iowacitypast]

Science Hall at original location on Pentacrest, The University of Iowa, 1904

Creator: Unknown

Description: Building was moved in 1905 northwest across Jefferson Street to its present location. Was formerly known as Old Science Building.

Source: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ictcs/id/14117