The Runaway Skyscraper

Originally published in 1919, The Runaway Skyscraper is an early and imaginative time-travel tale in which a modern office tower is hurled back into prehistoric Manhattan.

When a sudden temporal disturbance uproots an entire New York skyscraper from the twentieth century and deposits it thousands of years in the past, its occupants must confront both survival and adaptation. Cut off from modern infrastructure and surrounded by an untamed landscape, the building's engineers and workers struggle to understand what has happened-and how to return home. What unfolds is a briskly paced speculative adventure that blends technological ingenuity with frontier resourcefulness.

Written decades before time displacement became a staple of science fiction, the story demonstrates Murray Leinster's inventive mind and early contribution to the developing genre. Compact and concept-driven, The Runaway Skyscraper stands as a landmark example of imaginative problem-solving and speculative narrative from the formative years of American science fiction.

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