ISSUE NO. 23 • OCT. 23 - OCT. 29, 2013 • HIDDEN ISSUE
HIDDEN UC
Ghosts, bombings, abandoned buildings and suicides. We’ve got everything you need to know about the secrets of the University of Cincinnati.
HIDDEN UC ISSUE / WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23, 2013 / PAGE 2
Kara Driscoll @kardadri @pdidion
SPORTS EDITOR
Joshua Miller @josh_tnrsports Jake Grieco @Rosewater_Eliot
ARTS EDITOR NEWS EDITOR
Ryan Hoffman @ryanhoffman3 Emily Begley @begleyeg
COLLEGE LIFE EDITOR PHOTO EDITOR
Phil Didion
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
THE
ASK
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE, RANDOM PLACE ON CAMPUS?
DID ANY OF THE FACTS IN THIS TABLOID SURPRISE YOU?
WHO IS ONE “HIDDEN” PERSON ON CAMPUS THAT STUDENTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?
WHAT UC ERA DO YOU WISH YOU COULD EXPERIENCE (IF TIME TRAVELLING EXISTED)?
ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING WEIRD OR HAUNTED FOR HALLOWEEN?
I can’t explain my love for McMicken, especially McMicken at night. That building is majestic.
OH GOD. THE SKIN BOOK.
I’d have to say the wonderful women who clean Swift Hall at night. They’re awesome and they hate when I play Miley Cyrus at 1 a.m.
WORLD WAR II.
It’s my favorite time of the year, witches.
On the bridge connecting the top floors of Swift Hall and the Steger Center is where I’ve done my life’s best work.
... There is a book made out of skin on this campus ... just, why?
There are several members of the UC Journalism Dept. that will never receive enough praise for the mental hell that we [The News Record] put them through.
The early 1960s, when UC was ruling the college basketball world.
I’m fulfilling a life-long dream and dressing up as Ron Burgundy and The Channel 4 News Team. And yes, my apartment does smell of rich mahogany, and I do have many leather-bound books.
McMicken lounge. It’s a great place to watch countless YouTube videos. Someone yelled at me for listening to music. I had headphones in. I’m still upset.
THERE’S A BOOK MADE OF SKIN.
The tank top homeless guy that hangs out around Wheeler. Hopefully he busts out his winter clothes soon.
I would love to be at UC during the disco era. Don’t judge me. I could totally roller disco.
Getting drunk in clothes that I don’t normally wear somewhere I’m not usually at. It’s just like Easter.
Not really random, but the Catskellar.
Decapitation, suicide at the observatory and a possible body entombed in the walls of Crosley Tower; how could you not love page 5.
Not enough freshmen know the greatness of Greg Hand.
The ’60s, duh. Read some of the archived News Records and realize the greatness that was the TNR editorial staff.
If I can find my childrenssize, onesie green power ranger costume then absolutely. If not then absolutely.
I love studying on the hill outside of Swift Hall when the weather’s warm.
The story about the skinbound book was really interesting — and slightly terrifying.
So many of the professors in the journalism department have amazing experiences in the field.
I’ve always thought that it would be fun to go to school in the ’80s.
Halloween is my favorite holiday, and it’s definitely going to include some candy.
Outside The News Record Office. Many hours have been spent there taking out my frustrations on a wall with a soccer ball.
Skin. Book. You know the story.
Greg Hand. You might know him by name but the dude is pretty cool if you actually get to meet him.
Whenever we create hover-boards, that’s where I want to be.
Trying to pass my Logic exam. Hey, doing school is weird.
EDITORS *Insert a Buffalo Bill joke of your choosing*
....why didn’t I think of that?
Because two of my favorite lady editors ran TNR at the time.
HIDDEN UC ISSUE WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23 / PAGE 3
Rare Books Library home to skin-bound book Hair still visible on book of poems bound with human skin, written by freed slave Phillis Wheatley BEN GOLDSCHMIDT NEWS EDITOR
Some people wonder how their lives would appear in a book, but few wonder what it would be like to literally become the binding of one. “Anthropodermic binding; that’s the polite term,” said Kevin Grace, University of Cincinnati rare books archivist. “It’s the one students always ask us about.” UC’s Rare Books Library is home to a collection of poems that is bound together by human skin. Naturally, UC has done its homework on the book due to its rarity. It was donated to UC in the 1950s by Burt Smith, who was a nationally famous bookman living in Cincinnati. He had three copies, and he donated the other two to the Cincinnati Public
Library and Rutgers University. The book is a compilation of poems written by Phillis Wheatley, the secondever published African-American poet and the first-published African American woman, according to a review published by the University of Western Australia. Wheatley was sold into slavery in Boston at the age of 8 and was named after the ship that carried her in, Phillis. She took the family’s last name, Wheatley — a common practice during that time period. She learned how to read and write from the Wheatley’s 18-year-old daughter, Mary, who gave her a rare-quality of education — especially for a slave, let alone a woman at the time. Wheatley went on to write poetry that would eventually be published. Some copies were printed when she accompanied the Wheatley’s son, Nathaniel, to London. The skin-bound book UC owns is from London, Grace said. “Bottom line, this was a British custom
primarily in the 18th, 19th century — it probably died out in the mid-19th century around 1850 or so — but they would take the hide of an executed criminal and create a memento out of it,” Grace said. “When I say [anthropodermic binding] died out, I mean that literally and as a pun too, I guess. And basically that’s what these were.” Although UC has owned the book since the 1950s, the university was quiet about it until recently. “We never said much about it because, frankly, it’s a controversial topic,” Grace said. “The content is by an African American. So the first assumption people are going to have that it’s going to be her skin, which it’s not.” It’s impossible to figure out who the skin belonged to, or even if it matches the books at Rutgers University and the public library. Grace and a few colleagues took it out to UC’s Tanner Research Laboratory in Winton Terrace to examine the book. Researchers at the lab determined that
the spine and the corners of the book were bound in human skin, and the rest was sheep skin based on the pattern of the hair follicles. “Our first thought was, well can we do a DNA analysis to see if it matches up with the public library’s,” Grace said. “The answer was no. The hide has been dyed and tanned which removes all that possibility. Actually if you look at it deeply enough through a microscope you can see even a hair coming out of one of the follicles.” The mystery keeps students and visitors interested. Every month the Rare Books Library hosts lectures called 50 Minutes One Book, where researchers and academics will talk about rare books in the archives. Every year the library starts the series with Wheatley’s book of poems, Grace said. “It’s gruesome and awful and fascinating,” Grace said. “And everything else that goes along with it.”
Mick & Mack: How UC’s iconic cats wound up on campus EMILY BEGLEY COLLEGE LIFE EDITOR
PROVIDED
UC students and Mick in front of McMicken in 1905, before the building’s reconstruction.
Atop their perch outside the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, two extravagantly carved lions, Mick and Mack, stoically stalk students as they bustle between classes each day. Although the statues have become well-known icons at the University of Cincinnati, the lions have not always called campus home. Mick and Mack’s original owner was Jacob Hoffner, a wealthy real estate man who lived in a Cumminsville estate. He took pride in his lavish gardens, which later became Jacob Hoffner Park, said Kevin Grace, university archivist and Archives and Rare Books Library head.
While guarding the entrance of Hoffner’s estate, Mick and Mack were a talking point among guests who visited the gardens. The statues were based off of the Medici lion statues in Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy. Hoffner was intrigued by the piece and had the artwork replicated. “When he saw something that interested him, when he came back, he would make copies of it,” Grace said. After his death in 1894, Hoffner’s estate became a Cincinnati Park. The statues remained on site for 10 years until ownership was given to UC. Mick and Mack were transported to their permanent home outside McMicken Hall in 1904.
HIDDEN UC ISSUE WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23 / PAGE 4
Ghost story: Classics professor haunts Blegen Library Students may, may not be alone in University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library EMILY BEGLEY COLLEGE LIFE EDITOR
In the depths of the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library, students can lose themselves among towering shelves of antique tomes and timeless documents. The library is home to an array of uncommon collections including historical newspapers, theological marvels and compendiums from renowned writers like Shakespeare.
“There are a lot of strange air currents, and there is banging from time to time.” Kevin Grace, university archivist and Archives and Rare Books Library head
PHIL DIDION | PHOTO EDITOR
Cool temperatures, dark lighting and metal shelves create an eerie atmosphere in the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library. Rumor says the ghost of a classics professor roams the room.
But the books may not be the only unusual entities that call the library home. For more than 40 years, a rumor has circulated about the presence of a ghost in the Archives and Rare Books Library, said Kevin Grace, university archivist and library head. It is supposedly the spirit of a classics professor who died in the early ’60s. Although little information is known about the ghost, the tale remains alive in stories passed from student to student. The spirit has been described as an older, short man of about 5 feet 3 inches donning a Tweed jacket and cap, Grace said. The library’s atmosphere is fitting for such a rumor — dark, cool conditions maintain and protect the rare volumes, Grace said. Books and documents are lined on metal shelves, and the room’s temperature is kept at 60 degrees with 50 percent humidity. A life-size cutout of previous UC president (2003-2009) Nancy Zimpher also stands in the shadows.
“It’s a spooky place,” Grace said. “When we’re up there working, it’s usually just one of us at a time.” Working alone, the library’s visitors contend with heightened senses, exposed to noises propelled in the silence. The Archives and Rare Books Library is situated on the eighth floor of Blegen, which has been part of UC for more than 80 years, according to UC libraries. The building’s age may account for some strange noises associated with the ghost. “There are a lot of strange air currents, and there is banging from time to time,” Grace said. ROAR Guides, a volunteer group focused on helping prospective students make informed decisions about college, gave their own interpretation of the tale during Welcome Weekend in their Myths & Legends Tour. Although some students and guides claim to have personal experience with the ghost, guides were not able to confirm or debunk the rumor. So is the rumor fact? Students are invited to make their own conclusions the next time they climb the stairs to the library and are left to determine if the strange bumps so frequently reported are simply the work of aging architecture or a scholarly spirit thumbing through one of his treasured volumes.
MADISON SCHMIDT | CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
A hair-raising UC Myths & Legends Tour given during Welcome Weekend took participants by Blegen Library. Guides described the resident ghost as an older, short male wearing a Tweed jacket and hat.
HIDDEN UC ISSUE / WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23, 2013 / PAGE 5
Hauntings on, around UC’s campus; true or not UC guru Greg Hand gives inside scoop on possible ghost, apparitions spooking students, faculty Crosley Tower
Students and faculty in Crosley Tower claim they see fleeting apparitions and hear odd sounds like gentle sighing. The source, they believe, is a construction worker entombed in the concrete walls of Crosley. The unusual construction process demanded no interruptions and so the rumor developed that some poor construction worker slipped and fell into the [concrete] mix one day. The options were to scuttle the building or keep on pouring. Commerce won and the poor fellow’s ghost still wanders the gloomy halls, looking for a way out. The only problem is that no one died during the Crosley construction.
Cincinnati Observatory
I was myself a witness to a possible paranormal event involving the Cincinnati Observatory in Mt. Lookout, which is owned by UC. It was 1997, and I was researching the history of UC basketball I co-authored with Kevin Grace. I had just discovered an early UC basketball player named Smith and was trying to find out what happened to him. In this case, I found another Smith, an astronomer, who committed suicide at the Observatory in 1943. He was in poor health and had just learned that his son was missing in action during World War II. Early on the morning of Sept. 29, he went to the Observatory and hung himself from the telescope. In 1997 the University of Cincinnati still operated the Observatory and my science writer tried to call the astronomer to set up an interview. She called me in to hear the strange sounds made by — we thought — the broken answering machine. It sounded like someone shouting in a garbled voice, very far way. We later learned that the answering machine was broken and had been removed. The date was Sept. 29 — the anniversary of the astronomer’s death.
‘The gateway to hell’
Once upon a time, the University of Cincinnati had a Dental School. The Dental school operated downtown and never moved to the UC campus, but yearbooks from the time list the faculty and graduates of this college. Among the students at the UC dental college in February 1896 was a fellow named Scott Jackson. He came from a well-to-do family in Greencastle, Indiana and had studied dentistry for a while in Indianapolis before transferring to Cincinnati, where he roomed with a fellow student named Alonzo Walling. Before leaving Indiana, he had met, courted and seduced a young lady named Pearl Bryan, who found herself with child.
On pretense of visiting relatives in Indianapolis, Pearl came to Cincinnati to meet with Jackson. On hearing her situation, Jackson dosed Pearl with cocaine and attempted an abortion. The process went horribly wrong, and Jackson and Walling took poor pitiful Pearl across the river to Fort Thomas, where they murdered her and chopped off her head. Pearl’s body was discovered and identified by tracing the manufacturer and sale of her shoes. Jackson and Walling were brought to trial and executed by hanging from the gallows behind the Newport courthouse on March 21, 1897. It was the last public hanging in Campbell County. Pearl’s head was never found, and this is where this ghastly story escalates. Pearl’s body was found in
“The process went horribly wrong and Jackson and Walling took poor pitiful Pearl across the river to Fort Thomas, where the murdered her and chopped off her head. Pearl’s body was discovered and identified by tracing the manufacture and sale of her shoes ... Pearl’s head was never found”
U.S. President William Henry Harrison. The corpse of John Scott Harrison, who died in 1878, turned up at Ohio Medical College on Sixth Street downtown, and the ensuing attention to the highprofile case led to legislation that eventually legalized voluntary body donations. Harrison was re-interred out at North Bend, and no one records his ghost haunting our Medical College.
University Pavillion
Anyone who worked in Beecher Hall, which sat where University Pavilion is located today, knows it was haunted. One now-retired employee stated that, “there is no question there are ghosts. I don’t like to be alone in here after dark. I’ll be here by myself, and I’ll hear voices out in the hall. I’ll stick my head out, but there’s no one there.” I am not aware of any leftover ghosts from Beecher haunting University Pavilion, but I could be mistaken.
Kevin Grace, UC rare book archivist
the vicinity of a slaughterhouse, built in the 1850s, abandoned by the 1880s, and rumored to be used by a satanic cult. It is said that Pearl’s head was taken to this slaughterhouse to be used in one of the diabolical ceremonies performed there. This gruesome building was later occupied by a nightclub and tavern called Bobby Mackey’s Music World, which is rumored to be one of the most haunted, and most sinister, locations in America, the topic of books and television documentaries. According to urban legends and modern folklore, the location allegedly houses a “gateway to hell” and is haunted by multiple spirits including that of Pearl Bryan. While Jackson and Walling, the only UC students ever hanged for murder, must haunt some other place, there is no record of them on this campus.
Medical College
In the mid-1800s, Cincinnati had a dozen medical colleges and they all needed cadavers for research and teaching purposes. With no legal way for people to donate their bodies to science, medical schools would pay grave robbers to provide corpses for anatomy instruction. Often if freshly buried bodies weren’t available, an inebriated saloon patron who stumbled into the wrong dark alley could easily become the next victim of that involuntary body donation program. Cincinnati’s most famous grave-robbing victim was the youngest son of
PHIL DIDION | PHOTO EDITOR
Some students and faculty report seeing ghosts in Crosley Tower, but there is no record of anybody ever dying in the towering concrete building.
HIDDEN UC ISSUE / WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23, 2013 / PAGE 6
Looking back on UC basketball’s forgotten home Home to golden age of UC basketball sits hidden, mostly vacant among architectural changes JOSHUA MILLER SPORTS EDITOR
Athletic facilities come and go, especially amidst the arms race that college athletics has become. Unlike most college campuses, two historical athletic buildings remain on UC’s campus. Nippert Stadium — the third oldest college football stadium still in use in America — is the obvious thought that comes to mind when discussing old stadiums at UC. However, the arena that played host to the greatest era of UC sports remains on campus as well, very much hidden by the architectural overhaul encountered during the past decades. Unassuming in nature and rectangular in appearance, UC’s Armory Fieldhouse, which is awkwardly bound to the eastern-most end of the Campus Recreation Center facility, directly behind its successor — Fifth Third Arena — appears nothing more than an aging building left over from campuses past. Built in 1954, the Armory was home to UC basketball from Dec. 16, 1954 to Feb. 14, 1976. In the 22 years that the Bearcats prowled Armory Field house, they advanced to nine NCAA tournaments, four National Invitational Tournaments and won seven conference championships. But it is the six-year stretch from the 1957-58 season to the 1962-63 season that forever etched UC and Armory Field House into college basketball history. During that span — in which Oscar Robertson won three-consecutive national player of the year awards and broke the all-time NCAA scoring record — UC compiled a record of 160-16. The Bearcats reached five consecutive NCAA Final Fours — a feat matched only by UCLA — and won back-to-back NCAA National Championships in 1960-61 and 1961-62, both of which were won against Ohio State University. The Armory, cluttered and decaying, now serves as an indoor practice facility for UC’s track and cross country teams. Renovations have been kicked around several times in recent years, but there are no set plans in place at this time. DEC 18, 1954
UC defeats Indiana 97-54 in the first ever game at Armory Fieldhouse.
DEC 6, 1957
UC wins first of 72 consecutive games at Armory Fieldhouse (an NCAA record at the time).
JAN 17, 1956
UC hosts Xavier at the Armory for the first time, winning 71-66.
PHIL DIDION PHOTO EDITOR
Top: Armory Fieldhouse in the present day, as UC’s indoor track & field and cross country training facility. Bottom Left UC Center Larry Wiley (No.23) fights to win the jump ball against the University of Houston. (1960, Provided by the university) Bottom Right: UC forward Paul Hogue (N0. 32) sets a screen for Tony Yates (No.20). (1962, Provided by the university.)
FEB 6, 1960
OCT 19, 1972
UC great Oscar Robertson Breaks the All-Time NCAA Scoring Record against Houston.
MAR 8, 1958
With an 80-68 victory against Xavier, UC closes out the regular season, winning its first of six consecutive Conference championships.
George McGovern stops at Armory Field House during his 1972 campaign for President, which was chronicled in Hunter S. Thompson’s notorious book “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.”
DEC 7, 1963
With a loss to Kansas, UC’s 72-game (exactly 6 years and 1 day) winning streak at the Armory finally ends.
1972
The University of Cincinnati Women’s basketball team begins playing at the Armory.
FEB 14, 1976
UC’s men’s basketball team plays its final game at the Armory, a 60-45 win over St.
Armory Fieldhouse 1954-Present
PRESENT
Since the early 1990s, the Armory has served as an indoor practice facility for UC’s track & field and cross country programs.
SEPT 12, 1989
Fifth Third Arena hosts its first athletic event, signifying the end of the Armory’s event hosting life.
HIDDEN UC ISSUE WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23 / PAGE 7
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HIDDEN UC ISSUE WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23 / PAGE 8
CCM graduate moves from Corbett to Broadway Dream role achieved; UC gives opera student sturdy foundation for success JAKE GRIECO ARTS EDITOR
Even stars can hide in plain sight. The University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music produces some of the best musical performers that grace the Broadway stage. Bill Nolte, who graduated from CCM in 1976 and has been performing ever since, is one of them. He has been in 11 Broadway shows including “Cats” and many other performances. He is currently playing Tony in Frank Loesser’s musical “This Most Happy Fella.”
What was your audition like when you applied to CCM? Oh gosh, it was down in the dance wing. I remember I brought my pianist with me from Bowling Green and I sang something from “Hello, Dolly!” I think I sang, “It only Takes a Moment” and a Cornelius monologue and “How Are Things in Guacamora.” Two songs that I just liked to sing; I didn’t know anything about the shows. Then for opera I think it might have been something as basic as a Vacai exercise. I didn’t really know much about opera. It’s pretty basic. A Vacai exercise is a book that everyone that studies seriously, classically has to take I think that’s what I chose to sing to get into the conservatory. What was the University of Cincinnati like when you were enrolled? I really just stayed around the conservatory. I didn’t go off [campus]. Every once in awhile I’d venture off and see a production in the theater department. I didn’t go to football games or have other classes. I went over to union three or four times a week to have lunch with friends. There was some kind of Mr. Eds or Mr. Jim’s steak house that was our big splurge for the week. I had great memories of it because I got to work, I got to learn to be an artist. What CCM shows were you in?
PROVIDED
Nolte as the Cowardly Lion in CCM’s 1974 production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
What was your life like before attending the University of Cincinnati? I was a farm boy from northern Ohio who wanted to be a painter. I really didn’t discover I could sing until I dropped out of art school after my graduation from high school. Then I went to Bowling Green as an art major, switched over to a music major when I found out I could sing. I don’t know how I got it in my head that I wanted to go to the Cincinnati conservatory, but I went down there and auditioned and they offered me a scholarship in opera. So I took the scholarship in opera. I was from a small town; my parents ran a gas station. The arts were always important to me, my grandma insisted on that and saw that I took piano lessons and art lessons, and I knew that I wanted to be a watercolor artist.
My first show was “Wonderful Town” then the end of that year I did “Albert Herring.” The next year I did “Ben Franklin in 1776” which was great. At the end of that year I think we did “Marriage of Figaro.” I did Don Basillo in that. The next year I did “The Poor Sailor” and I did the Lion in “The Wizard of Oz.” All of them were really challenging roles and really diverse. I’m grateful for that. I got really broad training when I was there.
I would like to do some more Tony’s. I feel like I have a real handle on Tony, not a lot of people can do Tony and understand Tony the way I do. There are some other roles that look interesting. I would like to continue making art, as a watercolor artist and as an actor. I wouldn’t mind doing some straight acting in TV and film. Unfortunately, when you are a Broadway actor and singer, you are stuck in that pigeonhole and it’s rather hard to break out of that. I want to stay in New York. I would like to travel more. I went to Italy for two weeks right before I started “This Most Happy Fella” and I can claim it on my taxes as research. Do you have any great stories from your college days? I do have one. My first year there we were rehearsing “The Wizard of Oz.” I got let go early and I was walking over near the Corbett Theater. I don’t know if its still there. There was a little [walk way] that you could walk across and look down on the patio. I looked down and there was smoke coming from down in the patio. I thought, “What is that?” I walked over to see where the smoke was coming from and like a book or something was lit. I started to go towards it to put it out and a fuse started going off so I ran like a crazy man and a bomb went off and shattered all the windows in the Patty Corbett patio. I ran up to the top of Clifton and went in the Baskin Robins and called the police. Then I immediately called my mother and said, “I almost got blown up by a bomb, Mom!” They were of course horrified but I couldn’t wait to tell them.
What’s a normal day like when you are in a Broadway show? I get up between nine and ten. I have breakfast. I make coffee. I read the New York Times online. I check email. Sometimes I paint. I’m a watercolor artist. I paint regularly when I’m not in a Broadway show, every Wednesday night with a group. I like to cook. I like to garden up here at my lake house. I met my partner in 1983, kind of when my luck changed when I got “Cats.” We’ve been together for 30 years and we’re thinking about getting married. You’ve already accomplished a lot, what’s the future like for you?
PROVIDED
Tony is Nolte’s dream role. “This Most Happy Fella” will hopefully feature Nolte for quite some time.