Coe College – Cedar Rapids, IA: Helen Roberts, the Voorhees Hall Clock and the 1918 Flu

Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has one of the better-documented campus ghosts in the state. Helen Roberts was a first-year student from Strawberry Point who died of influenza in October 1918, a few weeks into her first term. Her parents gave Voorhees Hall a grandfather clock in her memory, and the college itself tells the story of her ghost. Even Coe’s own sources disagree on how long she had been on campus and exactly where she died.

What the record says

Helen Esther Roberts was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Roberts. According to her obituary in the Elkader Register and Argus of October 24, 1918, she was born in Strawberry Point in December 1899, graduated from high school in 1918 and left for Coe on September 10. She was taken ill on Monday, October 14, and died on Saturday afternoon, October 19, of pneumonia following influenza. Her body was brought home and buried in Strawberry Point.

Her death came as the epidemic reached Cedar Rapids. Coe’s own account says the city counted 200 cases on October 9, closed schools, churches and public meeting places, and reported 2,375 cases by October 24. Coe professor Charles T. Hickok and his wife attended the burial. Her parents donated the grandfather clock to Voorhees and endowed a scholarship in her name that Coe still awards.

Voorhees Hall was a gift from the family of Ralph and Elizabeth Voorhees in 1914, and the whole residence quadrangle was open by the fall of 1918, according to Coe’s campus history page. The hall was fully renovated in the summer of 2000.

The legends

Coe says the stories had become a permanent fixture by the 1970s. Reported encounters include a figure or cold breeze near the clock, phone calls with a weak girl’s voice on the line, locked doors, electrical items that switch on and off and pictures that fall from walls. The college says Helen is rumored to disapprove of men visiting the women’s residence halls, and that members of her sorority, Delta Delta Delta, report more sightings than others. Coe describes her as a friendly ghost.

In 2000 the clock had its own webcam, a “GhostCam” on Iowa.com, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Claimed sightings included an image of her face reflected in the clock. A freshman who lived across the hall from “Helen’s old sickroom” repeated her roommates’ stories about a CD player, electrical glitches and a door lock, while other students were skeptical and said nothing had happened in that room.

More recently, KHAK reported in 2022 that a student living in the former infirmary room, which the station called the room where Helen died, described wall hangings falling and the sound of glass shattering. The station said the clock has been in several buildings: first Voorhees, then Clark Hall during renovations, and now back in Voorhees.

What the record does not support

• How long she was at Coe. Coe’s 2018 account says she died three weeks into her studies. The campus history page says two weeks after the quadrangle opened, and KHAK says she fell ill after two weeks. Her obituary has her leaving home on September 10 and falling ill on October 14, about five weeks apart.
• Where she died. All sources place her death in Voorhees. Coe’s 2018 account says the exact location is unknown and research points to the second floor. The campus history page says the third-floor east infirmary. KHAK says she was moved from a second-floor room to the third-floor infirmary.
• A piano, bedcovers and the clock’s move to Stuart Hall. Older ghost directories report that she plays a piano, pulls the covers off students and that the clock went to Stuart Hall in the early 1970s. The college’s sources do not mention these, and KHAK places the clock in Clark Hall instead.
• An architect’s photo. A story that an architect photographing the 2000 renovation caught a student on a staircase appears in those directories with no source.

Visiting

Coe College is at 1220 First Avenue Northeast in Cedar Rapids. Voorhees is a working residence hall, and public access was not confirmed, so contact Coe College before visiting and do not expect to see the clock. For a way to plan an outing, see How to Run a Campus Ghost Walk This Halloween.

FAQ

Who was Helen Roberts?

Helen Esther Roberts was a first-year Coe student from Strawberry Point, Iowa. She died on October 19, 1918, of pneumonia after influenza, at age 18.

Where is the Voorhees clock?

KHAK reported in 2022 that it is back in Voorhees Hall after time in Clark Hall. Its exact location was not confirmed.

Is Helen’s ghost dangerous?

No. Coe describes her as a friendly ghost, and KHAK reported that she has never hurt a student or staff member.

More haunted schools in Iowa

Read about Luther College in Decorah.

Sources

• Coe College: A Coe ghost story, 100 years in the making (Oct 16, 2018)
• Elkader Register and Argus: Helen Roberts obituary, Oct 24, 1918 (IAGenWeb transcription)
• Coe College: Voorhees Hall history
• The Chronicle of Higher Education: Web Site Fosters Campus Spirit (Oct 20, 2000)
• KHAK: The ghost of Helen Roberts still haunts students at Coe College (Oct 14, 2022)

Top image: Sinclair Memorial Chapel and Auditorium on the campus of Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Photo: Bobak Ha’Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons