7 Weirdest Things You’ll Find in the Basements of Academic Buildings

By Chase Harrison

Oct. 16, 2015

1. A Sex Dungeon: Thanks to generous funding from the Uncommon Fund, RACK, UChicago’s BDSM Club, there is now a fully equipped sex dungeon in the basement of Levi Hall! Spots are going fast, so make your reservation for the space ASAP.

2. Wick House: Tired of schlepping all the way out to Broadview, all of Wick House currently resides in the basement of Culver Hall. House culture has never been more tightly knit!

3. One-Hundred Thousand Copies of Dean John Boyer’s The University of Chicago: A History: Talk about embarrassing! Dean Boyer told his publisher to print thousands of copies of his new book, confident that it would be a best seller. You can find 100 thousand of those copies in the basement of Cobb Hall

4. A Bathroom: I know this one seems really crazy, but in the basement of the Classics Building, there’s an actual, authentic bathroom. Bet you thought no academic buildings had these!

5. The Core: A gigantic iron-nickel alloy ball lies in the basement of Blake Hall. Be careful, it’s known to be 10,800 degrees Farenheit!

6. A Giant Furnace: In the basement of Rosenwald Hall is a massive furnace that the Office of Admissions fuels with the files of rejected applicants. Now you know why the building always smells like dying dreams… and burning paper!

7. The Tomb of William Rainey Harper: The weird smell of Harper Library is not due to old books, but rather the embalmed corpse of our first President, William Rainey Harper. Many students have been known to pray to Harper’s lifeless body during finals week.