Halloweekend is almost here, collegiettes! Prepare yourselves by reading up on some of Penn State’s most infamous hauntings. Below is a definitive list of the most haunted places on campus, ranked from least to most spooky. Read on if you weren’t planning on sleeping tonight.
10. Old Coaly/Watts Hall
Old Coaly was a beloved mule that served campus in the 1850s, who hauled limestone to the site of the original Old Main. Although he passed away before the turn of the 20th century, some students believe that Old Coaly never truly left campus. After his passing, Penn State kept his remains on display in various locations across campus. In the 1990s, when he was residing in Watts Hall, various students reported hearing hooves traipsing the hallways as well as other mule-like sounds — not to mention some reports of seeing a mule chilling out in the residence hall. Coolest haunting ever! Some more recent students have claimed to still see the paranormal mule, so keep your eyes peeled Watts residents. Old Coaly’s skeleton is now proudly on display in the HUB, if you’d like to give him a visit. Talk about a friendly ghost.
9. Brumbaugh Hall
This one hits close to home, because I live there right now! Yikes. Lucky for me, there are no ghosts reported on the floors of this East Halls dorm, but one of the most well-known urban legends around campus is that on Halloween night, an axe murderer arrives at Brumbaugh Hall. This legend originated nearly 2 decades ago when psychic Jeanne Dixon prophesied that a mass murder would happen in the tallest female dorm on the East Coast — which at the time was Brumbaugh Hall — on Halloween night. Brumbaugh may be co-ed now, but does that make the prophecy void? We’re not sure, but chances are you’ll find me sleeping on a friend’s floor elsewhere on Oct. 31 just in case.
8. Ghost Walk
The ghost walk is long gone, but some of the haunts from the former path may still linger to this day. The ghost walk was once a trail connecting Park Ave to Pollock Road. It could serve as a romantic path to walk with your lover on moonlit nights, or simply a great way to get from one side of campus to the other speedily. But in the 1860s, the path turned dark after a student reportedly froze to death while walking there to get home from class. Since then, the student has remained one of Penn State’s many spooks. His apparition was reportedly last seen in Burrowes Building, which was built on top of the trail, but no sign of him has been reported since. Did he get lost in the ghost walk’s history? Or is he still out there, roaming Burrowes late at night?
7. Old Botany
Built in the 1880s, Old Botany is certainly one of the oldest buildings on campus — but not the most haunted. It is said that the ghost of Frances Atherton can be seen peering through the top floor window, keeping watch on her late husband and deceased president of the university, George Atherton’s grave — which is conveniently situated directly across the street. So next time you’re walking on Pollock Road late at night and feel like you’re being watched, there’s no need to hustle along faster. It’s probably just a friendly ghost.
6. Beam Hall
Beam Hall was originally built as a dorm building in 1957, then converted into office spaces in the 1980s and is now a dorm building once again. Before being converted into office spaces, a young man supposedly hung himself from an exposed pipe in the second floor men’s bathroom and has been haunting the building ever since. If you ever suspect a ghostly presence in your North Halls dorm, now you know why.
5. Tener Hall
Tener, my neighbor building in good old east halls, is seriously spooky. The eighth floor is supposedly where most of the haunting takes place, but the entire building has had some creepy incidents throughout the years. The paranormal activity there is supposedly the work of one ghost in particular — that of a resident who jumped or was pushed from the rooftop. To this day, no one is quite sure how the student ended up plummeting from the top of one of East’s towers. But since the death, eighth floor residents of Tener have reported paranormal incidents — including hearing a girl scream, hearing voices and even being woken up by sensing figures by (or even in) their beds. Another spooky Tener Hall occurrence was reported in a 2012 Valley Mag publication about a rose that never seemed to die. A few years back, a framed photo of the girl who fell from the top of Tener and a vase of roses were placed outside the commons. For weeks the flowers remained perfectly fresh, even though roses typically die in a few days — especially in the winter. One person recalled the vase, saying, “the flowers were there for over a month and never died. There was a pretty bad snowstorm and through the storm and afterwards, the flowers remained the same. It was very bizarre,” (Valley Mag).
4. Keller Building
Sorry Keller residents, this one gets creepy. In the 1990s, a student reportedly felt a presence in his bed late one night. Terrified, he sprinted to his RA for help. When they returned to his room, the door had been locked from the inside and they could hear things banging around the dorm. When they finally were able to enter the dorm had been completely ransacked by a possible poltergeist. The apparition residing in Keller is likely the ghost of a student who had committed suicide there earlier.
3. Pattee Library Stacks
This may not be the most haunted place on campus, but it is definitely the creepiest, making it high on our list. In November of 1969, 22-year-old Betsy Aardsma was deep in the basements stacks when she was stabbed and murdered. To this day, the murder has yet to be solved, and only the bravest Penn State Students are ever found studying in the bottom levels of Pattee. Late night crammers have said that they’ve heard the scream of Betsy Aardsma through the stacks, and some even claim to have seen dried blood on books and shelves. One student studying over Thanksgiving break in the stacks even claimed to see the late ghost of Aardsma. Perhaps the most chilling claim made was by Grace Shin. Her story was published in a Daily Collegian article in 1998 where she claimed that while browsing the satanic collection of the stacks in the occult section she felt someone touch the back of her neck. She bolted from Pattee but later that night woke up completely paralyzed in a pool of sweat. If you’re feeling daring, venture down to rows 51 and 52 where the murder occurred to see chilling messages scribed across shelves saying things like “Help! It’s me Betsy” and “REDRUM” (murder spelled backwards). Is it just students messing around, or the ghost of Betsy Aardsma? I’ll leave that to up to your interpretation.
2. Schwab Auditorium
Schwab makes number two on our list for a slew of creepy reasons, but don’t let them keep you out of the auditorium. The ghosts there are freaky but not malicious. Multiple theatergoers have reportedly seen apparitions, witnessed chairs staying down on their own as if someone is sitting in them, seen lights flickering, heard footsteps while alone, felt themselves gently being scratched and even seen objects moving by themselves. Who are these poltergeists stirring up terror in playgoers? Most believe there are at least three — if not more. The first is the ghost of the late Charles Schwab, who founded the construction of the auditorium. An avid theater goer and lover of the arts, it’s no surprise that he is still there to see the shows in his auditorium. It is also believed that the ghost of an old janitor resides there and a female apparition has been seen before in the auditorium as well.
1. Runkle Hall
Sorry Runkle residents, this building is definitely the most haunted place on campus. If you’re on the third floor, I seriously advise you to stop reading at this point. I’m not kidding. This floor alone is rumored to have at least 11 different spirits residing there — according to an Ouija experiment back in the 1990s — with the heart of ghostly activity occurring in rooms 318 and 313. According to a Daily Collegian article published in 1998, an RA was awoken by loud banging in her dorm. The sound got louder and louder, but it wasn’t until her bed reportedly started to “heave as if it were breathing” that she fled the room. When she returned, her door was locked from the inside. In 1994, room 318 took an even more terrifying turn as another RA unlucky enough to reside there reported hearing a loud banging, seeing the lights turn on and off, feeling the bed heave and creepiest of all hearing a “disembodied voice that spoke incoherently” (Haunted Places, by Dennis William Hauck; Daily Collegian).
Runkle’s ghostly activity doesn’t stop there though. A Spanish-speaking ghost is believed to reside in room 313, as a past resident reported that her TV would change itself to a Spanish-speaking channel even though neither her nor her roommate watched it. The resident once brought an Ouija board into her room, which spelled out words in Spanish. On top of that, room 313 residents have also reported fans turning on and off by themselves, things flying from walls and the door locking itself sporadically and swinging open without any human interaction. To top things off for Runkle residents, the study room is also haunted! One student reported seeing a ghostly old woman sitting in a chair there who disappeared seconds later, while many others reported that furniture would often move around by itself, the door would lock and unlock without help and loud noises would come from in there while no one was inside. If you’re planning on living on campus next year and have any say where you’re going, I’d stay away from Runkle at all costs.
Stay safe out there collegiettes, clowns aren’t the only thing to look out for this halloweekend.
Photo Credit: 1