A Haunted Higher Education
Craig Fisher, PA, USA
March 2004
I work for a private women's college in the North Eastern part of the United States. I have worked here for over ten years and in many different departments (currently in the Security Department), all of which gave me access to many dark and gloomy places on Campus.
Although not all my experiences have been in the dark and gloomy areas of Campus, some have been in bright areas as well.
A little history of our College: we have a famous ghost on campus named "Wanda" who supposedly hung herself after being jilted by a boyfriend in the attic of one of our residence halls. Our Campus has a very beautiful setting we our on the edge of a large city in PA. with lots of trees, grass, and a mixture of old and new buildings. We do however have a lot of ghostly activity. I will start off with some of my own experiences and then tell you some stories that have been passed down through the Security rank and file.
My first experience happened on summer break when I worked in Custodial Services. I was cleaning up the trash from the spring semester after the residence halls had been closed for the summer. Now in the summer only certain staff members can access the closed buildings mainly Security, Maintenance or other Custodians. This Residences Hall has a "T" intersection at the garbage room and you look down the hallway to the only outside access to that floor and I can assure you I was the only one in the building at that time. I was picking up the garbage and saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I saw what appeared to be a woman dressed in white go north in the hallway in front of the garbage room door (this is the hallway to the rooms and not the entrance hallway which is east and west). I went out in the hallway and looked around but no one was there and all the rooms where locked because of summer and no one could have unlocked a door and gone into a room without me hearing or seeing them. I went back to picking up the garbage and looked up to see this woman dressed in glowing white float passed me going south in the hallway. Needless to say I did not finish picking up the trash and got out of there as fast as I could.
My next experience happened when I was in training for Security. I was being given a tour by one of our Lt's. and we went up to the attic of the Residence Hall where Wanda is supposed to reside. When my Lt. opened the attic door (which opened toward me) I felt the coldest breeze I have ever felt go right through me it was almost like someone walked through me and out the other side. I started to sweat a very cold sweat and my Lt. asked if I was ok? I said I think so, and she touched me and said how did you get so cold. I told her I did not know, but it was from what ever went through me. Now I forgot to mention that it was July about 100 degrees in a non air-conditioned building.
The next incident I have I was working when another Security Officer had an incident. I got a call at our Office from this Officer who was out of breath asking me if I had any problems in our Science Building. I told her no, but I do not like the basement of that building it gives me the creeps! She said that she was walking down the hallway in the basement of that building and heard someone walking up behind her, when she turned around no one was there. When she started walking again the footsteps got louder and something pushed her up the hallway.
The next incident I have has been told to me by other Security Officers.
This happened in the building that houses our Art and Music Departments. One night when one of our Officers was locking the building up and all the lights where off in the building he was making one last walk through the basement, his flashlight lifted out of its holder on his belt, turned on, and set itself standing upright on the floor with the beam pointing towards the ceiling. The Security Officer ran out of the building so fast that he almost got hit by a patrolling Officer in one of our vehicles. When the other Officer final stopped the Officer that ran out of the building they both went back in and found the flashlight still on and standing upright, the flashlight was grabbed and both Officers exited the building rather quickly.
The only experiences I have had in that building is my squelch on my radio will always turn itself on when I walk through the basement of that building.
The last thing worth mentioning is that we have a picture hanging up in one of the buildings of the person and his wife who the building is named after. In the picture the man and his wife are dressed in 1960's style winter clothes and the door to the building is opened behind them. In the doorway of that building you see a woman dressed in a 1920's style short sleeve dress, the only thing about the woman in the doorway is that she is transparent and you can see the rest of the interior of the building through her!
I hope you enjoyed my ghostly encounters at a College and if more things happen I will surely let you know! Thanks for reading.