Iowa Fight Song mysteriously returns each night to vacant Niagara Falls building

By Vanessa Miller, The Gazette

University of Iowa officials are scratching their heads about a news report out of Niagara Falls that the Hawkeye fight song has been heard playing on repeat inside a vacant building in the upstate New York community since last summer.

'We have asked around, but so far everyone is stumped,” UI spokeswoman Jeneane Beck said, adding that Iowa administrators learned about the issue from news reports. 'Apparently Hawkeye fans are everywhere.”

UI Athletics Department spokesman Steve Roe said his checking has failed to produce possible Hawkeye connections.

'Sort of an odd story, but not one that anyone here is connected with,” he said.

The university doesn't hold the rights to the song, which was written by Meredith Wilson in 1951. Niagara Gazette reporter Philip Gambini told The Gazette that he stumbled upon the story as his newspaper's offices sit across the street from the empty building that mysteriously plays the Iowa fight song on a loop every day from about 4 to 11 p.m.

The building in question sits in a commercial-residential district and neighbors at least one restaurant where patrons have complained, according to Gambini. Some residential tenants above the restaurant also raised the issue.

'Not everyone is an Iowa fan,” Gambini said.

Despite the complaints, he said, the music isn't blaring or terrorizing the neighborhood.

'There is no base to it,” he said.

To identify the song, Gambini said he asked around and then cross-referenced reports it was the Hawkeye fight song with music on YouTube. But he hasn't been able to get to the bottom of why it's playing. And the building's owner couldn't be reached for comment. Since the Niagara Gazette's initial report Monday, numerous news agencies have picked up the story - including Deadspin and Sports Illustrated. And on Tuesday it was circulating on social media - with some calling it good luck after the university's historic football season and its basketball team now ranked No. 3 in the nation.

'Don't let them turn it off!!! Too many good things happening!” one Hawkeye fan posted on Twitter.

In a follow-up report Tuesday, the Niagara Gazette reported Niagara Falls police now are investigating the matter.