Cunjurin’ Round
The mystic arts are alive and well in Missouri. Photos // Enrique Macias/Unsplash
Most Mizzou students are probably familiar with the name Middlebush, a major building on the MU campus. Built in 1959, it sits at the well-trod corner of 9th Street and University Avenue in Columbia. The U-shaped structure, generally home to classes from the College of Arts & Science, is named after the University of Missouri’s longest-running president, Dr. Frederick A. Middlebush. He had joined Mizzou in 1922 as an associate professor of political science and public law.
Middlebush was a major player in Missouri and the country. He was a member of President Harry S. Truman’s anti-Communist Committee on the Present Danger, which also included Edward R. Murrow, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Samuel Goldwyn.
He was also a water witch.
Folk magic was a defining practice of Ozarks culture from the beginning of European settlement, and the practice of water witching—commonly called dowsing in Missouri—is just one example. These practices are not scientifically backed but are sworn by adherents to get results. You might assume this sort of thinking died out thanks to the scientific revolution and its aftermath, but practical, science-minded Missourians have been using folk magic for decades.