Widener Basement Noise Has Mysterious Origins

Harvard students and library employees are expressing curiosity and confusion over a series of loud noises which interrupt the usual calm in the walk between Widener and Pusey libraries.

The sound, which is reminiscent of a cannon being fired in the distance, may originate from a fan room underneath the metal grates on the east side of Widener, Frank Lamentea, assistant business manager of the library, said yesterday.

Lamentea and other library employees did not know the cause of the noise, but several employees thought it was caused by furnaces or other machinery in the basement.

Flushing Toilets

"My guess is that they're shutting off a fan or something downstairs," Lamentea said. He was unaware of the noise until it was mentioned to him.

Personnel at the Harvard Police Department and the libraries division of the Buildings and Grounds department were also unaware of the noise.

"It sounds like a great deal of water being whooshed through a pipe," Judy Stalker, a secretary in the Widener business office who has heard the sound several times, said yesterday.

Several Yard freshmen have heard the noise while walking between the libraries. "It sounds like one of those big Chinese gongs," Caroline Quillan '80 said.

While none of the freshmen interviewed fear the noise, many were curious about its exact cause.

"I thought it was a toilet flushing, but it was a little loud for that," Debbie Danielpour '80 said.

Monsters

"It could be a subway coming under the grate, or gas being released, Bob Hsiung '80 said. "Or maybe it's the monsters who live in Widener," he added.

"I just hope it isn't haunted," John Ward, a staff assistant in the Widener business office, said.