(David Wang | Student Life)

WashU students were greeted by the Graham Chapel bells upon their arrival to campus this semester, ending three years of intermittent silence caused by a trifecta of lightning strikes. The bells now chime every quarter-hour between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily, with the WashU alma mater playing at noon.   

Jeff Allen — manager of the Harvey Media Center, an entity under Event Management that helps oversee the Chapel — told Student Life about the series of lightning strikes that damaged the bells and the challenging process of restoring them to their current state and ringing routine. 

“Graham [Chapel] is kind of our problem child and our baby as well,” Allen said.

The bells, which are actually an electronic device, began ringing in 1984. They had gone on largely uninterrupted until late 2021 when the Chapel was struck by lightning, destroying the electronic controller clock and rendering the system non-operational. 

Following eight months of repairs, the bells resumed ringing in April 2022. A few months later, the chapel was once again struck by lightning, which weakened the bell system, though the bells continued to ring. 

During commencement weekend in May 2023, the chapel sustained its third and most severe lightning strike, which effectively destroyed the entire bell system and damaged the Chapel’s organ and audio-visual (AV) system. 

“Lighting strikes are very, very powerful events, and depending on where and how they hit, they can spray electromagnetic radiation everywhere,” Allen said. “Electronics don’t typically like to see outside electromagnetism or extraneous electricity all of a sudden getting dumped into them.”

Allen said that after the third and final strike, repairs of the organ and AV system were prioritized over the bells because they are both used frequently for Graham Chapel events. Once this repair work was completed in January of this year, bell repairs began. The project was completed on Aug. 7, and the bells resumed ringing the following day. 

Several students that Student Life spoke to, including sophomore Lindsay Roth, said they were pleasantly surprised by this resumption.

“I’m glad they’re back,” Roth said.

However, other students that Student Life spoke to were less enthused by the ringing.

“They’re alright,” sophomore Nasir Sims said.

Regardless of their thoughts on the ringing, students were astonished to learn that the “bells” in the chapel are not actual bells, but rather an automated, harpsichord-like device. The ringing sound occurs when strings are plucked in response to electronic pulses sent by a central controller device; this plucking emits a faint noise that is amplified through four large speakers.

None of the students interviewed knew that the bells were actually an electronic device, and they expressed feelings ranging from fascination to dismay.

“I guess you can fake it till you make it,” sophomore Tanisha Paul said. “It’s still nice pretending that we have a nice little bell ringing every 15 minutes.”

Allen says he is hopeful that the bells will continue to chime for the foreseeable future without further interruptions.

“It’s nice to hear them ringing again, because there had been so much bad luck with Graham [Chapel] the last three years,” Allen said. “I’m convinced it’s cursed.”

Editor’s note: This article was updated on September 13 to correct a quote that was previously misattributed.