A Real Horror Show

It’s the spookiest time of year when everyone is jumping on the Halloween bandwagon in a desperate attempt to promote their service/product/selves and show just how in touch they are with higher education and all its haunted happenings. And then add a ranking to the mix. No way can this post be labelled as spooky opportunism of that kind.

Most of the allegedly haunting nonsense which follows has appeared before here and I’m certainly not too frightened to repeat some of it. After all, that’s just what all those AI-generated posts will have done (only slightly more rapidly).

So let’s look at a selection of campus-related hauntings and horrific rankings then.

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.

Don’t be scared but there are some really spooky rankings

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…

Don’t forget Wales

This one is from a long time ago but 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).

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 (they are apparently a global firm and “the market leaders of on-site & bespoke learning solutions” but still yet to appear 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

Some other institutions have plenty of scary stuff to offer:

University of Oxford

According to this student guide there is much going on at this most ancient seat of learning including:

Tutors walking through walls at Jesus, a ghost and disembodied footsteps roaming Wadham’s quad, and a ghostly porter at New College Chapel.

Trinity Chapel’s rumoured hauntings were reignited in 1966 when the chapel organist dropped dead on the newly built organ, giving rise to tales of a hostile spirit. The verger reported seeing a woman dressed in black in the chapel when he was cleaning one morning, who disappeared when he turned his eyes away for a moment.

St John’s College library is where you’ll find Archbishop William Laud, beheaded in 1645, kicking his head around the floor.

There are plenty more of these highly credible tales from other colleges too.

University of Cambridge

Like Oxford, Cambridge’s sheer age means that it has had plenty of time to generate and sustain some throughly believable supernatural folklore. This page from a tour company has a handy list of of some of the most haunted colleges, including:

St John’s College is one of the most paranormally active colleges in Cambridge—perhaps unsurprisingly, as it’s built over a 13th-century hospital and burial site. The most infamous tale is that of Robert Grove, who returned from a trip with a disturbing prophecy from a ghostly visitor. Within months, three men tied to the vision were dead, and the tale has been passed down for generations.

King’s College might be famous for its stunning chapel, but it also harbours some terrifying tales. One of the most chilling is that of a student who kept a coffin in his rooms—and who was later found dead inside it. Every year on the anniversary of his death, screams are said to echo through the Gibbs building where he once lived.

Corpus Christi’s Old Court has been continuously inhabited since the 14th century—and it shows. The college has several ghostly tales, including that of Dr William Spencer’s daughter, Elizabeth, who accidentally left her lover to die in a locked cupboard. Her spirit is said to roam the college searching for him, while his ghost is said to haunt the room where he perished.

University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh is sometimes claimed to be one of Britain’s most haunted cities and the University shares in that reputation. According to the Freshers Guide there have been a few spooky goings on at the University over many years although I am not sure there are many who would describe George Square Library as “historic”, despite its Basil Spence brutalist pedigree:

At the University of Edinburgh, the historic George Square Library is rumoured to be home to a number of ghostly visitors. Students and staff have reported mysterious cold spots, unexplained sounds, and even fleeting apparitions among the bookshelves.

Additional ghostly occupants at the university include the phantom bagpiper of George Square, whose haunting melodies can sometimes be heard echoing through the night (not after 10pm please), and the restless spirit of a former medical student who roams the halls of the Old College, believed to be seeking redemption for his dark deeds in life.

This will finish everyone off

Back in the US, there are a couple more to share:

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.

Elevator ghosts indeed.

FOI: another scary story

One of my all time favourite Freedom of Information requests (yes, of course I 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.

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