Researching
haunted high schools across the country was so much fun, we decided to do it again, this time focusing on colleges and universities. While the following list contains disturbing material, keep in mind that most of the stories are just that, rarely backed by anything beyond hearsay or the occasional eyewitness account once or twice removed. However, that doesn't make these tales entirely false. Ghosts can be a deceitful bunch, and the stories behind them could be even more twisted than we believe them to be. So put down the books and strap on a proton pack; it's time to tour the scariest haunted colleges in America.
Georgia Regents University (Augusta, Georgia)
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As it turns out, being in close proximity to a graveyard full of Civil War era soldiers practically welcomes ghosts with open arms. However, the stories of dead Confederate soldiers roaming the Walker cemetery near Georgia Regents University (formerly Augusta State University) aren't the only scary things happening here. Along with the belief that several buildings on campus are home to paranormal activity, one specific tale claims that in 1861, Emily Galt lived in what is now Bellevue Hall. Engaged to be married, her fiance joined the war despite her pleas against it. When he was killed, the grief-stricken Emily etched her name in a second story window pane with her engagement ring before leaping to her death. While it is now believed that she was actually shipped off to an insane asylum, that doesn't change the numerous accounts of people hearing ghosts arguing in the building late at night. They are believed to be the voices of Emily and her fiance fighting, and haven't stopped despite the pane being removed years ago.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana)
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If you're a fan of faceless nuns who terrify anyone they come in contact with, then Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is the campus for you. Foley Hall was supposedly where a former nun used to paint portraits of people. She was said to be very meticulous, especially when it came to the faces, which she would always paint last. While doing a self-portrait, she fell ill and later died, leaving the face of her portrait unfinished. Since then, people claim to have seen the nun in the building on numerous occasions. The fact that she had no face and disappeared before their very eyes seems to be the telltale sign that it's her. Foley Hall caught fire and was torn down in 1989, but paranormal activity throughout campus persisted, with the Conservatory next door said to house pianos that play by themselves. Buildings such as Le Fer Hall are believed to be haunted, as well, with students claiming they've even felt ghosts touch them while they were sleeping.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois)
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Along with the school's English Building (pictured) being allegedly haunted by a young drowning victim from back when it was a women's dorm, there lies a far more sinister apparition lurking on campus. You've already read of the Faceless Nun, but we assure you that she's Casper the Friendly Ghost compared to U of I's faceless man. Rumor has it that he was first spotted several years ago by a sorority sister on the steps of her dormitory one evening. He had no discernible face and wore a gray uniform. Since then, two suicide attempts by hanging have taken place around campus, with one resulting in death. There were eventually suspicions of foul play for both cases, but the suspect was never found. Others claim they've seen the faceless man watching them as they sleep in their rooms, only for him to retreat into the closet and disappear.
Penn State University (State College, Pennsylvania)
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Penn State is so infested with ghosts that it has its own A&E reality series based around their Paranormal Research Society called "Paranormal State." Seriously, there are way more stories out of this campus than we can list here, but among them include the spirit of former student Betsy Aardsma roaming the Pattee Library (pictured) after her murder in 1969, a poltergeist in the 1990s at the Keller Building assumed to be the result of a student suicide, and even a phantom mule named Old Coaly who students believe was one of the mules who helped construct the campus in 1855. And we didn't even mention the numerous sightings of former university president George W. Atherton and his wife Frances near the Old Botany Building.
University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana)
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It's not often that any haunted location, let alone a college campus, is the site of a celebrity ghost, so to speak. Former Notre Dame football star George "The Gipper" Gipp is the exception to such a statement, however, as ever since his death from pneumonia and streptococcus back in 1920, he's said to roam the halls of Washington Hall where he used to reside. The story goes that he spent his last healthy night sleeping outside the building during a snowstorm due to getting locked out after curfew. Unlike most of the other ghosts we talk about, Gipp is said to be an especially cordial spirit, never doing anything more than appearing over a students shoulder or perhaps giving them a light pat on the back before disappearing. Don't let your guard down too much, though. The campus is said to inhabit many less friendly apparitions, as well, including the angry spirits of the Potawatomi Indians. It is believed the campus' Columbus Hall is built on their burial grounds.
California State University Channel Islands (Camarillo, California)
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It wouldn't be a haunted colleges list if we didn't include at least one school that was repurposed from a mental institution. More specifically, California State University Channel Islands was built on the old grounds of Camarillo State Mental Hospital, which housed the developmentally disabled and mentally ill from 1936 to 1997 and was considered one of the county's most notorious mental health facilities. While this is the first location on our list that has no specific ghosts tied to it, that doesn't mean the campus isn't as creepy as all get-out. If you're lucky, you'll see or hear a ghost walk into an abandoned room and disappear. If not, you might have one lock a door on you or violently throw an object across the room. This location has such a creepy vibe that it was used as the psychiatric facility in the 2002 horror film "The Ring." It is also said to be the inspiration behind jazz musician Charlie Parker's song "Relaxing at Camarillo" and quite possibly even The Eagle's "Hotel California."
Wells College (Aurora, New York)
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An all-women's institution until 2005, Wells College is home to a now infamous bleeding red door. If only they knew where it was. Back in the early days of the school there was said to be a particularly bad influenza epidemic. A room in the campus' Main Building was designated as a temporary morgue for dead students. The door to the room was painted red as a warning not to enter. Over time, the room was obviously no longer used as a morgue, and the door repainted. However, no matter how much paint was added, the red color bled through as a reminder of what had transpired there. Sadly, due to the building being renovated into a dormitory, the door was placed elsewhere in the building and no one knows for sure which one it is. But this is only one of the horrifying myths the school has become famous for through the years, as in the early 1990s, they officially began to
archive a few of the more enduring spooky encounters for future classes to shudder at.
Huntingdon College (Montgomery, Alabama)
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With a name like "The Red Lady," you know the ghost haunting Huntingdon College has got to be pretty frightening. Rumor has it that a former student by the name of Martha, or perhaps Margaret, was forced to attend the school by her wealthy father despite living in New York and not wanting to move to Alabama. She was never able to make friends, and became more cold and alienated from everyone as time passed. She was described as having a penchant for the color red, too, which makes sense considering she was eventually found dead in her room cloaked in her red bedspread, wearing a red robe, and with red bleeding from her slit wrists. Ever since the suicide, her vengeful spirit is said to give off an eerie red light (particularly on the anniversary of her death) while roaming the halls of her former residence on Pratt Hall's fourth floor. Pratt Hall has since been turned into the school's Department of Education and Psychology.
Interestingly, before the school was relocated and named Huntingdon College in 1910, it was Tuskegee Women's College. Even then, the school was said to he haunted by a different Red Lady, this one said to emit a similar red glow as she glided up and down the upper floor of residence hall Sky Alley wearing a red dress and carrying a red parasol.
Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio)
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If you're going to wrap up a list of the most haunted colleges in the country, why not do it with one that is said to house the "Gates of Hell," otherwise known as the school's south grounds entrance. The gates themselves are said to harness the power to send anyone straight to hell if they pass through them as the bells of the nearby Church of the Holy Spirit signal midnight. Of course, while that may be totally untrue, the story of the deaths of nine students in a blaze that wiped out the Old Kenyon building in 1949 is anything but. Ever since, they have been said to haunt the grounds, along with an assortment of other strange apparitions throughout campus. In fact, Norton Hall, Lewis Hall, Manning Hall, Caples Hall, Werthheimer Hall, Shaffer Hall, and Hill Theater are all supposedly haunted by at least one ghost.
Ohio University (Athens, Ohio)
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Wait, seriously? There's a school located in an even scarier spot than the "Gates of Hell?" Apparently so, but it's still in the state of Ohio. Famously one of the most haunted schools in the world, Ohio University seems to be a bit of a victim of circumstance. You see, the entire campus is located at the center of a
pentagram whose five points each represent a different cemetery surrounding the school. If that wasn't hair-raising enough, it's caused quite a large amount of spectral activity throughout the grounds, with each building said to be inhabited by at least one ghost. Of all of them, Wilson Hall is thought to have it the worst because of its supposed location at the dead center of the graveyard pentagram. In particular, Room 428 has even had to be permanently sealed off due to an incident in the 1970s involving a female student practicing astral projection jumping out the window to her death. It is said she was behaving very strangely and speaking in tongues before plummeting to the ground below. Couple that with sightings of an entire phantom basketball team, the spirits of previous instructors and various other unexplainable supernatural phenomenon, and Ohio U is the perfect end to our list.
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