Haunted halls: Buildings rumored to receive visits from beyond the grave

Students may laugh at stories of Old Main’s hauntings, but somewhere deep in their hearts, many believe that when the doors shut of their own accord, it’s not just an air pressure issue.

The stories of the Old Main ghouls are endless, especially with it being the oldest building on campus. Its history is what gives it that extra allure for novice and wannabe ghost hunters. The building burned April 21, 1985, taking the roof down with the ash and flames. When it was rebuilt, the fourth floor, the one that so many of the “activities” occur on, was built. Bryan Hall burned down March 27 of that same year, an unfortunate or perhaps eerie coincidence.

The fires were caused by different sources, though. Bryan Hall’s fire was caused by a student leaving their tanning light on and Old Main’s fire was electrical.

Students tell stories of the elevator following them from floor to floor with no passengers, opening, empty, on the fourth floor.

“I don’t think anyone has died on campus,” said Ruth Dorrel, the Franklin College Archivist. But that hasn’t stopped people from believing spirits could haunt the idyllic small campus.

Charlie, the ghost of Old Main, is believed to be a French student or French professor who died in Custer Theatre, which was a chapel in its former life. Students from the 1970s were said to feel his presence while playing the piano.

According to the archives, The Franklin staff held a séance in Custer Theatre in the 1970s to learn more about Charlie by using a Ouija board. Late that night, multicolored lights allegedly shone behind student Vic Zacharie.

But there is more than just one rumored ghost on campus. The residence halls also may get to experience paranormal activities.

In the 1992-1993 school year, according to Charissa Bihl’s article in The Almanack, there were strange happenings in the Elsey basement. A baby’s cry was heard in the walls and a glass candle holder shattered in front of the owner.

Lights in Cline Hall were known to go off and on, frequently.

Johnson-Dietz , built on the Bryan Hall foundation, are also said to be “haunted.” According to local legend, a sorority pledge was butchered by an active sister and shoved into the ventilation shaft, a trunk or a bottom drawer in a dresser.

When Bryan Hall burned down, a photographer for The Franklin found a woman’s face in the smoke. Was the fire really caused by an irresponsible student? Or was it caused by the pledge’s ghost?

Allegedly, there are fraternity spirits in the houses of Kappa Delta Rho and Lambda Chi Alpha. KDR’s Owen is more well-known than Lambda Chi’s Mary, probably because of the annual Owen Halloween party. The evening starts out with a member or alum telling Owen’s story, a love story culminating in slaughter.

Lambda Chi’s Mary is said to be a child who can’t move on. Mary K. Overstreet was the daughter of Zachary Overstreet, who had owned the land on which Lambda Chi rests upon. Nothing exists about Mary except for her gravestone in Greenlawn cemetery. She was two years old when she died. Her mother, Mary C. Overstreet, is buried with her husband’s other two wives. Mary K. is buried on the other side of the cemetery, away from both parents.

Not many people have had a spooky encounter with the paranormal.

“I haven’t experienced anything,” said Fred Witzig, a history professor, whose office is located on the fourth floor of Old Main.

Witzig said that he and his colleagues often joke about the ghost, but that’s it. Students on the other hand, feel wary about late night classes or review sessions in Old Main.

“There’s more of a hesitation than they’d admit,” said Witzig.