Urban legends continue through IU's history

In the more than 190 years since IU was founded, dozens of legends — some lighthearted, some sinister — have come and gone.

One lasting legend involves a doctor who performed illegal abortions in a building along North Jordan Avenue.

He supposedly put the fetuses in the walls and floor of the building.

Students said when they walk by the building at night, they sometimes hear babies crying.  

Professor of folklore John McDowell has taught a class about myths and legends at IU and even has a website dedicated to these stories.

He said stories can sometimes release us from reality.

“You have the possibility of finding deeper meaning and even resolving some of life’s basic mysteries,” he said.

McDowell said there are differences between the words “myth” and “legend” — a myth usually is “outside of history.”

“Typically, a myth is a story that helps us understand how certain types of practice got started,” he said.

He said legends usually take place in a familiar world but still involve “a remarkable experience.”

Many IU buildings are rumored to be the home to spirits who used to live or work in those buildings, McDowell said.

One such story centers around Richard Dorson, a man who was in charge of the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology for many years.

He died of a heart attack in 1981. His office used to be at 504 N. Fess Ave.

One student said that as she walked by the building at night, she saw a silhouette in the window where his office used to be.

McDowell also said people say the lights in Dorson’s old office would flicker on and off at night.

He said through myth and legends, people try to get “past the limitations of here and now.”

“One of the biggest boundaries we all face is the boundary between life and death,” he said. “(Stories) offer us new ways of thinking about the meaning of life.”

McDowell said he hopes to continue his IU folklore class in spring 2014. “I think any community of people tell stories about things that happen,” McDowell said. “It’s an effort to make sense out of experience.”