Begin watching at 1:25 for optimal spookiness
That's right! Every day you walk past not one, not two, but SIX haunted locations on the Penn State campus. So, in the spirit of Halloween, this week I'm going to give you the low-down on all the ghostly happenings here in Happy Valley.
The first location is Schwab Auditorium, which some of you may have just been in to see Rock of Ages last weekend. Surprise!
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| It just screams scary |
Schwab is a theater and the main venue for Thespians, and if you know anything about theatre, it's no surprise that it's a theater that is haunted. What is surprising is that there are multiple ghosts said to frequent its 900 seats. They include Charles Schwab, who funded the building's construction and was said to have loved the productions put on in the building so much that his spirit remains to watch them. There are also reports of a janitor and a female presence, along with stories of seats flipping and staying down like someone is sitting in them when no one is there. On the spooky scale, I'd give it 3 skeletons out of 10 just because it's a theater, it'd be weird if it wasn't haunted.
Fun fact: the ghost(s)/paranormal presence in the theater is affectionately referred to as the "Schwaboo."
The next location is right nearby, and that is Old Botany.
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| Aww look it has a face on the roof! |
Old Botany is right across the road from Schwab, and interestingly enough, these buildings are connected. On the Pollock Road side of Schwab, believe it or not, a former president of the university is buried.
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| I'll give you one guess for what his name was |
The story goes that after George Atherton died, his family and the university wanted to give him a personal burial and pay respect to the fact that he basically brought proto-PSU back from ruin, so he was buried on campus, not in a cemetery, but right outside a frequently used building because why not. Now, his wife Frances keeps an eye on him and his grave from the windows of Old Botany. So, if you happen to be passing through on Pollock Road in the wee hours of the morning, go say hi to President Atherton, and maybe give little ol' Frances a wave while you're at it.
The next two spooky sites are residence halls in North and East. They're both more of an urban legend, but apparently there is a Spanish ghost in the North dorms that really likes to watch Telemundo and will flip any TV channel to it, and in one of the towers in East there is the ghost of an axe-murderer and a general feeling of dread on the upper floors.
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Although, who doesn't get a feeling of dread just being in East?
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Our next ghost is not bound to one physical location, he prefers to gallop around campus. For those of you that remember Old Coaly from my previous post on Old Main, awesome! Feel free to skip down a few lines! For those of you who have no idea who this beloved mule is, I'll give you the abridged version: Old Coaly was one of the workhorses that helped construct Old Main by dragging limestone from a quarry to be hewn into blocks to construct the building, and he quickly became a sensation on campus, and was very nearly the school's mascot. He was known for his hard work and dashing good looks (just kidding), and his bones were preserved after his death. They can actually still be seen in the HUB today, so if you were ever wondering why a horse skeleton was in the HUB, now you know!
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| Can you imagine that? The Penn State Old Coalys? Ha! |
Anyway, anywhere that his bones go, Old Coaly seems to follow. People report hearing the sound of his shuffling hooves and the occasional bray or whinny.
The final and perhaps most infamously haunted location on campus are the Pattee stacks.
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| I'm already creeped out |
Stacks 50 and 51 in the library witnessed the still-unsolved murder of grad student Betsy Aardsma way back in 1969. She was in the library early at around 4 in the morning, being a good student, when she was stabbed in the heart by an unknown assailant, and died from blood entering her lungs. The perpetrator was never caught
Now the stacks area of the library is already pretty shady, it's very cramped and dimly lit with low ceilings. Add being a homicide scene on top of that, and you get one pretty creepy atmosphere. I visited the stacks today and can attest that a bad feeling is had by all who go to the basement floor. So, the next time you decide to spend a late night in the library, try not to think about this post. (Sorry).
Penn State is a pretty spooky place, although most of the ghosts seem to be of a more benevolent nature. In the end, on the creepiness scale, I'd give our campus 9 ghastly ghouls out of 10.
Photo of the Pattee Stacks courtesy of Wikipedia
All others courtesy of Penn State
I knew the story of Frances Atherton and Old Botany and Betsy in the Stacks but I had no idea about the others. I love that the ghost that haunts Schwab is called "Schwaboo". Loved it!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post, but now I'm going to be terrified walking by Old Botany and Schwab early in the morning. In my dorm in Atherton, there is apparently a ghost named "Gum Shoes" who walks around the upper floors, but I hope to never run into him. Your post was extremely interesting, as well as a little tiny bit terrifying.
ReplyDeleteIt is so cool how you analyzed all of the scary places on campus, especially because Halloween is coming up! Reading this made me a little uneasy because it's kind of scary how many people have died here. I also did not know that there have been people who have been buried on campus. Super weird. Great post (:
ReplyDeleteYour posts continue to be not only interesting, but creative! I love this week's theme considering Halloween is only 10 days away. I was also not aware of most of these "ghost sightings," but I think we can all agree that we need to remove those bad hombre ghosts from North. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI knew the story about the stacks ghost, but all the others were new to me. Knowing that I walk by most of these places every day is a bit unsettling, but it was fun learning about them, too. Keep up the good work.
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