UW Science Hall Haunted

Rumors

• Said to be haunted on the fourth floor. Sightings of beakers falling off the shelves one by one have been reported numerous times. The floor is used mainly for storage today and not many people go up there.
• In areas like the current teaching assistant offices, which were once dissection labs, there are reportedly strong odors of blood, flesh and formaldehyde on occasion, as well as strange electrical problems, like flickering lights.
• In the back stairwell by the offices, is a door between the third and fourth floors with the inscription: “Open me and enter thy doom.” Opening it leads only to a wall with admonitions such as “The dead are still alive in Science Hall.”

Possible Connections

• Home of the anatomy department in the north wing of the fourth floor from the time the Medical School was founded until 1956. That was the last year an anatomy dissection was performed in the hall, yet in 1974 someone found a stray human foot in the attic with its skin and one toenail still remaining. There was a morgue in the basement of the building, so students frequently saw hearses drop off caskets at the building's rear. Cadavers for anatomy students to examine were transported from the basement to upper floors using a pulley and winch “cadaver lift” system located in the north rear tower.
• During construction one person was killed in the basement from falling equipment.
• Rumors about “dumpster chutes” for cadaver disposal are unfounded; they were fire escapes that were dismantled during a remodeling in the 80s.

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