The ghosts that haunt us
Penn State sites rumored to have spooky visitors

By SCOTT SWINDELLS
Collegian Staff Writer

The haunted dungeon at Simmons Hall this weekend might not be the only place on campus to experience a close encounter with ghouls and goblins.

Penn State has a handful of its own ghastly tales of hauntings, poltergeists and even a mule too stubborn to leave his campus after his death.

These are our legends, investigated, told and retold by Penn State students for many years and for many more to come. Use them wisely.

Runkle Hall

This North Halls dormitory might just be the most haunted place on campus. Or so the many legends surrounding the building and, in particular, its third floor, would have you believe.

In 1992, a resident assistant complained about a loud banging that kept her awake at night. Later, as the banging got louder, the RA's bed began to heave as if it were breathing. She fled her room, and when she returned with friends she found herself locked out.

According to Haunted Places, by Dennis William Hauck, a similar incident occurred in 1994, involving blinking lights, loud banging and "a disembodied voice that spoke incoherently" in the same room -- 318. This RA also reported her mattress and bed were "breathing."

Jummi Bullock (junior-advertising and marketing), the RA who currently resides in 318, believes the problem has moved down the hall to room 313.

Here the resident is Jess Kademenos (freshman -musical theater), who reported her television set frequently turning itself on to a Spanish channel, which neither she nor her roommate watch. She also described incidents of self-opening and locking doors, flickering lights, a fan that turns on and off by itself and things that fly off the wall.

"One of my friends that lived (in Runkle) in 1994 saw an old woman in a rocking chair at the end of the hall," Kademenos said. "But I think one of the haunts is probably an Hispanic-American."

Kademenos said experimentation with a Ouija board in her room spelled out words in Spanish, and told her that the room is inhabited by 11 different spirits.

While the floor's study lounge is popularly fabled by residents as the "ghost room," housekeeper Migka Lodoski remembers one student's repeated experiences with the room as being genuinely frightening.

"The chairs and furniture were sometimes moved around the room when (the resident) came home, there were loud noises coming from inside when no one was there, and the door seemed to lock and unlock itself and even swing open by itself," Lodoski said. "She told me she was very afraid to be there alone."

Many students in the dorm blame the haunting on a student who is said to have hanged himself in the stairwell.

But according to the Sept. 7, 1982 edition of The Daily Collegian, the hanged student was found between the third and fourth floor of nearby Leete Hall, not Runkle. The source of the disturbances is still unsolved.

Beam Business Administration Building

This building was once a residence hall, but was converted to office buildings about 10 years ago. Campus legend says the dorm was shut down because of poltergeist activities centering on the second floor men's room, where a man is said to have hanged himself from an exposed pipe above the stall next to the door.

The Beam Building was originally built as a dorm in 1957, a year which saw several student deaths. Both Runkle Hall and Leete Hall were constructed in the same year.

Fred Fotis, director of Housing Services, said he does not know why the building was converted, and when questioned, no one currently working on the second floor of the building or its Department of Accounting reported witnessing or even hearing of any strange occurrences.

But if an eerie feeling is enough ghost-hunting for you, just enter the room and look around. The pipe is still visible just below the bathroom ceiling.

Old Coaly at Watts Hall

If you go into the game room or study lounge in the basement of Watts Hall, the only thing out of the ordinary you might encounter is how nice and modern the posh, hotel-style residence seems when compared with most dormitories on campus. But if you happen to hear the noisy braying of a mule coming from behind the door of a basement storage room across from the laundry room, you might be hearing Old Coaly. Coaly was one of the original pack mules that worked to build Penn State in the 1850s. When he died, his remains were preserved and displayed in Old Main. After the fire in the early 1900s, his remains were temporarily stored in the basement of Watts Hall before his skeleton was displayed in the ‘60s at the Agricultural Building.

Since that time, a mule -- presumably Coaly's ghost -- has been reported standing in the hallway outside the storage room and sighted in the first floor hallway. His noisy braying was been reported to RAs in the past, but none of the current residents or RAs had any reports of the phenomena or even knowledge of the legend when questioned.

Perhaps the ghost of the old pack mule has finally moved, satisfied with the recognition he received from the HUB eatery that bears his name, Coaly's Cafe. How's that for a stubborn mule?

Other Campus Ghosts

According to Collegian archives, there was once a legend of the Brumbaugh Hall ax murderer. Upperclassmen would often tell freshman that an ax murderer visits the hall on Halloween night, causing many frightened freshmen to spend the night elsewhere.

According to the Oct. 31, 1986 edition of the Collegian, this story comes from psychic Jean Dixon's prediction that a mass murder would occur at the tallest female dormitory at a large eastern school. In a letter to the Collegian, Dixon refuted the relevance to Penn State, but students continued to tell the story for years.

Two spirits also haunt the area around Old Botany Building, across the street from Schwab Auditorium. According to legend printed in the Sept. 13, 1928 edition of the Daily Collegian, a student attempting to walk home during a blizzard in the 1860s froze to death along a path surrounded by two rows of evergreen trees in a wooded area where Burrowes Building stands today. The shady path was called "Ghost Walk" by students because of its eerie appearance at night. At the time of the student's death, the walkway led right up to Old Botany.

The attic of Old Botany is also said to house the ghost of Frances Atherton, wife of former Penn State President George Atherton. She is said to peer out the front windows of the attic so she can watch over the grave of her husband, located outside Schwab Auditorium.

Lights have been reported to go on and off in the attic, a locked room to which no one who works in the building has access.

Pattee Library

Finally, the most popular spot for campus haunting stories seems to be the stacks of Pattee.

But according to Catherine Grigor, who works at Pattee, no reports of anything strange have been documented. Most students seem to say only that they've heard it's haunted, nothing more. The few who claim to know something about the legend itself usually mentions a murder in the stacks.

The fact behind the legend involves the death of Betsy Aardsma, a student murdered in the stacks in 1969. Her murder remains unsolved.

But Grace Shin (sophomore-business) believes there is something strange going on in the stacks.

"My friends and I were looking through satanic stuff in the occult section of the library when I felt someone touch me on the back of my neck," Shin said. "None of my friends or anyone else was in the aisle when I turned around, and then the timer made the lights in the aisle go off and we booked out of there."

Shin said later that night she woke up paralyzed and unable to call over to her roommate. Her pillow was soaked and she felt like she had been crying, but she did not know why.

"I haven't gone back to the stacks since," Shin said.

But if something scary is going on in the stacks, chances are, students are more afraid of studying for those Halloween mid-term exams.

ILLUSTRATION: Lela Kometiani Schwab Auditorium Old Bottany (attic) Burrowes Building (former site of the "Ghost Walk") Pattee Library (the Stacks) Beam Building (2nd floor men's room) Runkle Hall (Ras room, study lounge on 3rd floor) Leete Hall (stairwell between 3rd and 4th floors) Brumbaugh hall (will the murderer come this year?) Watts Hall (basement and 1st floor)