Soaked late-night walks, shadowy figures in your dorm, room, or strange voices calling out in the night, many college students have bizarre stories from their time pursuing higher education. Some of these stories can only be reckoned with if explanations are sought from the great beyond. Today, we’re looking at the most haunted college campuses in America.
The University of Iowa
The University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, is the state’s oldest college. The school boasts a long and illustrious history of academic success, graduates going on to become highly successful members of society, and a legacy of hauntings.
Career Hall: The school’s initial dorms, which were built in 1913, have been the source of multiple local legends, the most notable of which follows three female students, who took a suicide pact after learning. They were all horribly wronged by the same male student. It’s said that their spirits can be witnessed to this day, roaming the halls of the dormitory.
Mysterious voices, bathroom apparitions, bizarre photography, and moving objects are common sightings. It’s thought that the three girls show up in the corporeal plane when student roommates or college friends have disagreements, almost as if the anger and tension lure their spirits back to earth momentarily.
The University of Georgia
some schools have not just one ghost, but an army. The University of Georgia, located in the city of Athens, is one of those schools. The school even celebrates its haunted history by giving walking tours of all the great haunting locations around Halloween.
One of the local legends suggests that a former art student, James James, is haunting the art building because his name is sporadically painted across the walls and floors.
Another local myth is the joe brown hall staircase, which is a creepy stairway that goes nowhere. The rumor is that many years ago, the staircase led to an entire floor. But that was sealed off when a student committed suicide and reportedly haunted anyone who set foot on the floor.
The University of Georgia also has many ghosts associated with greek life- a murdered daughter, mysterious crying, bodies buried behind frat houses, and the ghostly visage of a hanged woman all are regularly spoken of as completely real.
The University of Montevallo
Condie Cunningham was a normal student, attending the University of Montevallo in 1906 when an unfortunate accident occurred. She was cooking in her dorm room when the curfew alarm startled her. She dropped alcohol onto the stove, which then lit her robe on fire. Her body was severely burned. She was taken to the hospital, where she died two days later.
It’s said that Condie’s screams can still be heard when the wind blows late at night and that occasionally, she can be seen running down the hallways of the dormitory, screaming, her hair and clothes on fire.
Wells College
Wells college in aurora, new york might not be the most famous college. But it sure has some famous ghost stories. There are so many stories, in fact, that the school has erected an archive for all of them.
The most common citing is that of max, the security guard, who hasn’t worked at the school in over 100 years. He passed away in a fire around the turn of the century. It’s said that he’s often spotted tinkering with locks, fixing windows, and muttering to himself.
There are also many sightings of students who have died from fires, committed suicide, or been thrown out of third-story windows. Objects moving and apparition sightings are all very common at wells college. People are so used to the otherworldly dimension intersecting with their own that the nurses have painted the door of the college hospital as a warning against spirits.
Supposedly, a student-led to the death against it many years ago, and they couldn’t get any other shade to stick to it other than blood red.
Kansas state university
Kansas state university is home to many paranormal specters. However, the most famous one is an eerie figure that has an odd predilection for sports.
Former Kansas State football player nick has been seen around the memorial stadium at odd hours of the night. The rumors that are associated with these sightings are linked to a player whose parents were driving to a game, but died in a car crash.
Legend says that at the exact moment the parents left the earthly plane, nick stood up, as if struck by a bolt of lightning. At that exact moment, he was tackled and landed at an unfortunate angle, dying in the process as well.
Now, on dark and stormy nights, or whenever there’s an especially packed stadium, Nick shows up to see the field he died on. Many attendees have said they’ve run into the sad young man with crystal blue eyes. Their stories all in the same way. They see him walking away. He turns around and whispers, “good game.”
Fordham University
Fordham University was founded in 1841 and was established by the Jesuits. The hallowed and respected halls of this new york institution still produce some of the most important scholars to this day.
That’s not the only thing Fordham university still generates, though. They supposedly still have ghosts of the original Jesuits who founded the school, calling the grounds home. The reason for the haunting of the school grounds is that the auxiliary building that the school has expanded into a once Jesuit graveyard. Other supernatural sightings have happened in the various halls around campus, which many people have attributed to the fact that the Jesuits do not approve of the students’ behavior in those locations.
One of the most common places to see apparitions is the Fordham medical student wing, where all the practice cadaver autopsy and surgeries happen. This also, too, offends the Jesuit spirit’s moral sensibilities.
Kenyon College
people from all walks of life are mesmerized by fire its raw destructive capability, its speed, and the fact it typically leaves a wake of tragedy behind it. In 1949, Kenyon college in Ohio suffered a fire-based tragedy. The old Kenyon building, located in the heart of the campus, suffered an accident, burned to the ground, and took the lives of nine students.
The building was rebuilt, but the ghostly spirits of the nine students have lurked in the halls ever since. To this day, people say they mysteriously smell the scent of smoking wood, see embers in the air, or hear people calling out for help.
Ohio University
Room 428 of the Wilson Hall on the Ohio University campus is often cited by students as one of the most haunted places in the entire united states.
According to local myths, a student died in room 428 while attempting to practice astral projection. Ever since then, there have been stories by subsequent occupants of the room that swear they’re being watched.
There was one student who witnessed the walls seeping blood. He then, just a few short days later, took his own life. Multiple counts of students who entered the room coming down with tuberculosis caused the college’s leadership to take things into their own hands.
Across campus, at the ridges building, there was another exceedingly bizarre happening, where the silhouette of a body would appear on the floor of one of the rooms. Despite the school’s cleaning staff attempting to remedy the situation, he would reappear overnight.
Jefferson hall also has numerous ghostly sightings attributed to it. One girl claimed to be plagued with visitations of a young woman, clad only in a hospital nightgown. She would silently plead with the student to help her, and then slowly evaporate into thin air.
Georgetown University
Georgetown is where they shot the exorcist. It’s very creepy, and like many of the locations on this list, has a long history of apparitions. But one story about Georgetown surpasses all the rest.
A student allegedly opened a portal to hell. Founded in 1789, Georgetown is the oldest catholic university in America. Despite its devoutly religious background, many students and visitors to the campus have witnessed the unexplainable.
Healy Hall, one of the buildings on campus, has five floors. But only four of them are accessible. According to the stories the students tell to this day, the fifth floor is cursed.
A student in the 1970s was attempting to open a gate to hell and partially succeeded. As such, the school has shut off that floor completely to the general public. Alternate tales tell of a botched exorcism or even a priest who is murdered there for attempting to expose crimes of the clergy. Regardless of what the truth is, there’s something very wrong with the fifth floor of Healy Hall.
Gettysburg College
The civil war is something that will linger throughout American culture for the rest of the nation’s existence. That’s to say nothing about the fact that urban legend suggests that civil war soldiers still lurk around the dark corners of Gettysburg college.
According to a security guard, he was taking the elevator to investigate strange noises, when he discovered that an entire floor of the building he was charged with watching over had been transformed into a bloody medical bay, soldiers writhing in pain, doctors running to and fro, and the immediacy of human life on display.
Stories of a little boy who died in the action of war lost soldiers, and even undead horses, all are commonplace around the residents of Gettysburg college campus.
