U. of Iowa Doesn’t Know Why Its Fight Song Blares From an Empty Building in Niagara Falls

[Updated (1/27/2016, 3:17 p.m.) with expanded comments from a university spokesman.]

A University of Iowa spokesman said on Tuesday that he had “no clue” why the university’s fight song is being played, week after week, in a vacant building in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The mystery was first reported by the Niagara Gazette, which says the song has been repeated on a loop, for several hours at a time, on “most nights for roughly six months.”

The Gazette quoted a local business owner as saying that he had no idea why the music plays, and that his customers had complained. The building’s owner, Thunderfalls LLC, did not return the newspaper’s requests for comment.

The Associated Press reported that the chef at a nearby restaurant said hearing the fight song is “torture.”

The Gazette reported on Tuesday that the Niagara Falls police are now investigating.

On Wednesday, Tom Moore, a university spokesman, said in an email that officials had “asked around, but so far, everyone here is mystified. We do not have an Alumni Association group in the area, although we know there are Hawkeye fans everywhere.” He added that the university does not hold the rights to the anthem.

Here’s a marching-band performance of the song: