In honor of going to a Horror Movie night this weekend, I thought it’d be fun to share some stories about various haunted places on Indiana University’s campus! I took a Supernatural Folklore class last semester and learned all about local haunts. I’m sure I’m not the only one fascinated with the idea of ghosts, so have fun reading and maybe even visiting some of these places (I’ve yet to see a real ghost, myself)!
1. Indiana Memorial Union
There are three known ghosts haunting the IMU. The first is this old janitor who used to clean around the Tree Suites. It’s said that you can find an old man cleaning away at night if you go into the Tree Suite hallway.
The second ghost is a dog which roams the IMU grounds. I have no idea where it came from, but supposedly it runs around the Union. Reminds me of the Nancy Drew game, Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.
The third isn’t really one ghost; it’s more of a bad feeling. Before IU offered counseling services, a lot of students used to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of the Union. Since then, IU offered CAPS and closed access to the roof. Supposedly, the roof is now haunted by all the poor students who took their lives up there.
2. Career Development Center
The old Career Development Center is also haunted. The building is now used for Folklore, I think. Girls used to go to the man who worked there to get illegal abortions. The man would abort the baby and then hide it in the wall (I’m kind of skeptical about the hiding babies in the walls part). Now, you can hear babies crying and scratching sounds coming from inside the walls. No thank you.
3. Read Dorm
This is the most confirmed and seen ghost at IU, for sure. Nearly everyone here has at least heard of the Read ghost. The story goes that she and her boyfriend were having an argument one night when he lost his temper and stabbed her to death. Now she haunts the floor in her blood-stained yellow dress, crying. I’ve read some stories of encounters with this ghost, and all of them are terrifying. I'm forever thankful that I lived in McNutt.
4. House on Walnut
During my folklore class, we got to go into the archives of the library and read accounts of different legends and hauntings around campus. The one I read involved a house on Walnut Street. A family used to live in that house: a mother, father, and little boy. One day, the little boy was playing with a red ball. It tumbled down the stairs, and he ran to chase after it. But he tripped and fell down the stairs, hitting his head and dying. Now, it’s said that the red ball still appears at the bottom of the stairs along with the sounds of someone falling down and crying. One can also hear and see the boy running around the house laughing. The house is now owned by a law firm and is used as their office. If I worked there, I would not work after dark.
5. IU Auditorium
It seems like most auditoriums are haunted; maybe there’s something “Phantom of the Opera” about having a theater ghost. Anyway, the story goes that there was this construction worker working on the lights above the stage. He fell off the scaffolding and plummeted to his death. Now, there’s a blood stain in the middle of the stage that never seems to go away, no matter how many times they’ve repainted or refinished the stage. I’m excited to say that I performed with my dance team on said haunted stage. I’m not going to lie; throughout the routine, I definitely watched the ground, trying to find that blood stain.
That’s all! If you want to read more about some of the stories listed here and more, here’s a cool article describing other legends: http://inside.indiana.edu/features/stories/2014-10-30-urban-legends.shtml.
In other news, this is my tenth post! Which means I've posted every week for ten weeks now! When I started this blog, I had no idea that I'd actually post every single week. I'm usually pretty bad at staying consistent with things like this. But somehow, I've managed to update every week! I just want to thank you all again for reading! Also, I just finished writing Chapter 40 earlier this week! I am so close to finishing; it's actually making me really sad. But once I finish, I'll finally post a summary of my novel, so everyone will finally know what it's about!
In other news, this is my tenth post! Which means I've posted every week for ten weeks now! When I started this blog, I had no idea that I'd actually post every single week. I'm usually pretty bad at staying consistent with things like this. But somehow, I've managed to update every week! I just want to thank you all again for reading! Also, I just finished writing Chapter 40 earlier this week! I am so close to finishing; it's actually making me really sad. But once I finish, I'll finally post a summary of my novel, so everyone will finally know what it's about!
Until next time!
-Emiliana Maye
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