There Really is a Ghost in my House

Universities can be spooky places it seems. One of my all time favourite Freedom of Information requests (I do have a list) from a while ago when I was working at the University of Nottingham sought details on

the number of complaints we have received from staff/students/visitors about haunted buildings, ghosts or other paranormal phenomena on our premises in the last 10 years.

They also requested to know what action was taken and how much did the action cost. I can confirm that the information was not held.

North America leads the way

Hauntings are clearly very commonplace in the US higher education sector as this Chronicle report from a few years back noted:

At the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, locals say the Temple Building, home to the department of theater, speech, and dance, has long been the site of paranormal activity. Campus legend tells of a young carpenter who fell from the building’s attic to his death on the stage, four floors below. Students report a cold, clammy feeling at one spot on the stage, and Juliana Hagemeier, the department manager, says that people sense a similar chill at one place in the attic, even on 100-degree days.

Other reported noises, of tap dancing on the empty stage and applause from an empty balcony, could be the work of another ghost, Dallas Williams, a onetime department chairman. He was known for throwing chairs when excited or annoyed, and the sound of thrown chairs is occasionally heard in empty rooms, Ms. Hagemeier says. The eeriest happening that she experienced involves donated clothes that had been stored in a closet. She found them stuffed in nooks around the building, and some had bloodstains.

There is a ranking?

There are plenty of rankings of course and US universities do well in this one from THE. Actually it is the Times Higher Student section which features a league table of sorts (it is a top 9 though for some reason). Among the institutions cited there is, of course, the University of St Andrews – it features in almost every list of haunted institutions. But there are a few others too including:

2. Gettysburg College, US

University campuses that are located on the sites of past battles are fertile ground for ghost stories. Gettysburg College, the site of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War is one example.

There have been sightings of armed sentinels crossing the campus and of the “blue boy”, a little boy whose face is entirely blue. The basement is also thought to be haunted by bloodstained Civil War doctors. 

6. Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

A woman with long braided hair and no face haunts a road that runs alongside the Chinese University of Hong Kong and preys on young men who are walking alone. 

8. Penn State, US

It is claimed that “more than half a dozen sites” on the university campus offer the opportunity of spotting ghosts and spirits, including The Quarry, The HUB-Robeson Center, Atherton’s Grave and the Schwab Auditorium among many others. 

One of the most well-known ghosts that can be felt on campus is that of the university’s seventh president George Atherton, whose grave is located on campus. There have also been sightings of the ghost of his wife, Frances, who is said to haunt Old Botany by looking out of the window to keep an eye on her husband’s grave. 

Not to be outdone

QS also has an international listing of course (although it only runs to five entries) and features St Andrews in the top spot:

1. University of St Andrews

Dating back almost six centuries, the University of St Andrews is incredibly historic. As well as being Scotland’s oldest university, it’s also one of the most haunted universities in the world – purportedly home to about half a dozen Scottish-accented ghosts…

St Rule’s Tower in St Andrews Cathedral is frequented by a ‘ghostly monk’, who ensures the safety of visitors venturing forth into the tower. The ‘white lady of St Andrews’ is another regular visitor whose youthful beauty, white frock and nocturnal strolls across the cathedral grounds, particularly in the months of October and November, continue to inspire much awe and gossip in the eerie corridors of the university.

3. University of Toronto

While the University of Toronto is widely known for its strong academic reputation, it’s also another of the most haunted universities around – at least according to its student publication, the UofT Magazine.

Christie Mansion, a building on the university campus, was apparently the site of an illicit love affair and untimely death, circa 1870. The mansion’s owner, Robert Christie, was a rich businessman who kept his mistress hidden in a secret chamber behind his library: the infamous room twenty nine.

After much despair, Christie’s mistress hung herself from the rafters with her bedsheets. The subject of many books, including John Robert Colombo’s ghost map of the Canadian city titled Haunted Toronto, the poor captive’s fate continues to inspire tales of hauntings and mysteriously locked doors…

The best of the league tables

If I were forced to produce a ranking of pointless and utterly tenuous Halloween-related league tables then this one would definitely be top. Produced back in 2023 by an organisation called the Knowledge Academy (not currently on the OfS Register) this ranking has its own methodology and everything.

A few of those institutional highlights are worth a read:

1. The University of Liverpool

Founded in the nineteenth century, Liverpool’s primary university is deeply tied to historical figures from years gone by. With its world-renowned Abercrombie Square named after British General Sir Ralph Abercromby who died in the Battle of Alexandra in 1801, the University’s historic buildings serve as a reminder of the ghosts of yesteryear.

It’s no surprise then to find the North West establishment at the top of our list of the most haunted universities in the UK. With 275,108 memorials within a two-mile radius and 23 recorded instances of paranormal activity, Liverpool University achieved an exceptional average score of 8.28.

2. The University of Bath

The University of Liverpool is not alone at the top though, with the University of Bath in joint first place. 

Despite being founded over eighty years later than Liverpool University, the University of Bath can lay claim to some supernatural heritage of its own. With the city’s nearby Theatre Royal said to be a favoured haunt of lovesick eighteenth-century ghost The Grey Lady, Bath has more than enough haunted history to captivate the most ardent horror enthusiast.

With a monumental 2,317 listed buildings in close proximity and 27 counts of paranormal activity, the southwest city also received a final rating of 8.28.

As you can see, with criteria including number of cemeteries nearby, number of listed buildings and definitive counts of paranormal activity, this is a methodology to be scared of.

I’m assuming the company believed it would get some good HE business from all of this but not sure it is really going to fly.

More possible nonsense

In the UK St Andrews, Durham, Southampton, Cambridge, Exeter and Oxford are among those listed as haunted in this Telegraph piece. It also reports that ‘Big Bertha’, the spectre of a six foot tall matron wearing a brown overall and with her hair pulled back into a bun is understood to be a familiar sight to those who live and work on one of the campuses of the University of South Wales (formerly the University of Wales Newport campus).

Meanwhile, back in the US:

In 2001, ghost hunters visited Mansfield University of Pennsylvania to investigate the legend of North Hall. Built in 1874 as a women’s dormitory, it is reportedly haunted by a ghost named Sarah. The original Sarah, a student in the late 1800s, leapt to her death from the top of a circular, six-story staircase. Photographs taken in 2001 at night were said to reveal images of a woman’s torso and a head peering around a pillar. An audiotape recorded at the same time purportedly captured a breathy voice chanting “never, never, never.”

Employees at Oregon Health & Science University, in Portland, have experienced mysterious events in a building that was once used as a clinic. The night cleaning crew has reported slamming doors and buckets that overturned for no reason. The elevators in the building frequently skip the fourth floor and open their doors without warning when people approach them. “I’m not a superstitious fellow, but our building is haunted,” says Merwyn R. Greenlick, a professor emeritus of public health. He always makes a point of saying “thank you” to any unseen passengers on the elevators.

And to wrap things up we have the story of the headless ghost of St John’s College Oxford:

Legend at St John’s College has it that the library is haunted by the ghost of Archbishop William Laud, a former Chancellor of Oxford University, who had a lot of involvement in the building of various parts of the college, including the library. His ghost is said to be headless (Laud had been beheaded in 1645 for supporting Charles I), and to disturb studious students by kicking his head along like a football.

Even further afield there is a rather ropey Thai horror flick ‘Haunted Universities’ in which students confront ghostly activities at universities in Thailand. I’ve still not quite got round to watching it.

So, it seems there really are some really rather spooky campuses out there. Roll on Halloween.