Heavy Doors
by Jack Rogers, Daniel Johnson, and Mason Vargas, edited by Abiageal Filon
Hands clenched on the handle; feet squared to the target. A thrust met with a lean, and finally some daylight creases in. The individual pulls themselves through, triumphed and accomplished, and sits down ready, three minutes late for class. Murphy Hall at Arcadia University has a reputation for making something as accessible as doors hard to open. All throughout the building it’s an unbelievable assortment of unique styles of doors, matched with varying heaviness. While some doors are built like Goliath, others have you bracing for impact just to go flying through the door like some sort of psycho.
The Scale
So, we decided to test each of the doors on the first floor and test them on our own personal heaviness scale. A 10 on the scale being, “I’d rather lift up a boulder”, and 1 being “Is there even a point of having a door there?” The testing was vigorous and scientific, as we each put our own muscles to the test and opened the door ourselves. The results that we found shed a lot of light on the legends of the Murphy Hall doors.
Music Dept. Door
A true monster of Murphy, this door ranks number one on the list of heavy doors. Located in the back of Murphy, this door serves either as a guard for the rest of Murphy or as a roadblock on the way to just two classrooms and an office. Made primarily of wood and glass, this door has a reputation for making entrances into the depths of Murphy a living nightmare. This door is equipped with an automatic opener which can be helpful for many, however, it seems that it contributes to the door’s heavy nature. All of that combined led our skilled and experienced raters to give this door an 8 on the scale.
These videos should give you a good idea of how opening this door feels:
First video courtesy of @PreacherLawson on YouTube
Second Video Courtesy of @CalebCity on YouTube
Doorway to the Digital Graphics Rooms
The door that gatekeepers the Monster of Murphy, the door that leads to the ceramics room is no pushover itself. This door connects the back of Murphy Hall with the entire west wing of Murphy. It leads to the graphic design room and while it is not as bad as the Monster of Murphy, it’s almost just as annoying having these two heavy hitters back-to-back. Our testers gave this door a 6 on our scale and the duo of this door and the Monster of Murphy make one of the most hated duos in all of Arcadia.
Courtyard Side Entrance
A surprise for all of our door testers was the doorway to the courtyard in the media hallway. We had thought that this door due to its heavy materials and because it was a passageway to the outside, would have been heavier, but we were sorely mistaken. With a simple push, this door opened with ease like a breeze bringing a smile to our tester’s faces. It was good to know that in a building so infamous for its heavy doors, some hope prevails. This door receives a 2 on our scale.
Stairway Entrance
As our testers continued on throughout Murphy, some of the fear that had previously been in their hearts had been alleviated. However, fear quickly returned after turning a corner and seeing one of the most terrifying pieces of infrastructure in all of Murphy Hall. Made of heavy metal and glass, this door makes muscles strain just by looking at it. One of the most simple designs in the building, this door is no-nonsense and straight to the point. A closer look shows the numerous battle scars it has received from previous students it has defeated. What was going through the minds of our testers, no one could really be sure, but they knew they had to go through with their plans in order to save future students from possible mental and physical pain. After a cautious approach, the door gave way. The result couldn’t have been predicted even by the most talented seers. This door was all bark and no bite. The door swung open with relative ease receiving a 2.5–3.5 on our scale. Was this a sign that maybe the doors of Murphy Hall would not live up to their infamous legend?
Front Entrance Door
As the door that leads students into the lion’s den, most think it will get better after opening this door and getting into the building. While this door doesn’t quite live up to the standards of the building’s toughest, this door is no pushover either. Our testers rated the door a solid 6, and it could really piss you off on a bad day. On those bad days, it can almost taunt you showing just how close you are to the other side from the window next to it, but it’s never as easy as you think.
Door After/Before Front Entrance
Potentially the most heinous door of all, but not why you might think it may be. Our testers only scored this door to be a 4 on our rating scale. In general, this door would not look menacing at all to most individuals: a thin door with a large middle window that invites itself to be open. The strength is nothing to write home about, but this door was built to take your guard down for what is to come. While the entrance door is somewhat of a gatekeeper showing the potential of the other doors, this door was solely designed to make you think the entrance was the scariest there was.
Door to 108
By far the most classy, and sophisticated door in the building, but also one of the lightest to many people’s delights. This door is a connector to one part of the building with the rest and the ease of opening the door is up there with any door in the building. Our testers gave the door a score of 2 on our heaviness scale and it was one of the lightest doors we encountered.
Door to the break room
The last door we tested was these double doors that lead to the break room right before you get to the courtyard. These doors are very unspectacular in many ways, they look like the quintessential half-assed doors that are not super heavy, but not an easy passage either. Though much like people may expect from these rickety doors, one side ranked heavier than the other. The left door came in at a 4, while the right door came in at a 5 from our testers.
While some of Murphy Hall’s doors are standing nightmares, the majority of the doors did not live up to the horror stories that are told throughout the building. The mystery of why Murphy Hall became so infamous for its gateway guardians remains unsolved, but these reporters can’t help but wonder if Murphy Hall wants to keep the secrets of its long history by making the legend of its entrances so frightening.
