In the Dark : Unexplainable Experiences with the Paranormal Investigations club
By J. Hunter
It's a commonly held belief amongst CoMo's paranormal enthusiasts that Stephens College is probably the most haunted place in town. Given our school's extensive history being the second oldest women's college in the states and predating the formal existence of the city of Columbia, that's just to be expected. Tales of separated civil war lovers and crying babies long past permeate throughout our rumor mill, with each cycle exaggerating them more and more. But why wouldn't they? Stories like them have fascinated people for generations, giving our school a sense of transcendence and filling our day to day lives with whimsical horror. At least, until you become the story.
As Vice President of the Paranormal Investigations club, it would be incredibly ironic for me not to have experienced something unexplainable on campus, or at the very least heard of someone else's. And I'm not talking about the movie level terrifying experiences that feature in your favorite amateur YouTube ghost hunting videos. I'm talking about those tiny, everyday things. A chair not being where you last saw it, a paper falling off a desk, the faint sound of someone calling your name when you know you're alone. The things that aren't enough to scare you, but still make you uneasy. Truly, the greatest highlight of the Stephens Experience.
Our Paranormal Investigations president Elizabeth (Eddie) Devine, like me, has certainly encountered this. The day before Thanksgiving, Eddie had found themselves in a predicament. It was nine pm, their phone was dead and they had locked themselves out of their room. There wasn’t much cause for distress, since they had managed to catch the attention of a passing person and called security to unlock the door. But still, they were stuck in the hallway alone at night. When talking about this with the club president, they mentioned a feeling of unease that came over them while waiting. It wasn’t a fear inducing feeling, Eddie said it had managed to slide over them almost unnoticed until it was almost a physical sensation. “It felt like someone was peacefully watching” Eddie said, “Like this person was coming to unlock the door from the other side.”
This feeling didn’t come alone. There were small noises coming from their room, noises that disappeared when they went to call security. The sounds kicked back up when Eddie came back, this time in the hallway. According to Eddie, the noises were almost akin to knocks and small taps that sounded like they came from the building and not the other residents. But the sounds and watching eyes weren’t distressing, if anything, Eddie stated that the feeling was reassuring.
Just before security got there, the noises spread into the laundry room, right across from where Eddie was waiting. The noises weren’t loud in any way, but it was just loud enough to track the movement. It remained there for a little, hovering between the hallway and the laundry room like a sentry standing guard. Until the dryer turned on.
There was no one in the laundry room, from where Eddie was waiting, they would’ve seen someone walking into the room, or at the very least heard their footsteps. They would’ve heard the dryer open and close, heard the beep of the button being pressed to start the machine. But there was nothing except for the watchful eyes of an invisible entity and the unusual taps of a normally silent building. When asked, Eddie said the dryer turning on by itself didn’t feel startling at all. In fact, they mentioned it just felt…expected. “There was nothing to be afraid of, it just made sense.”
Security came to open the door not too long after that, interrupting the surprisingly peaceful space in the hallway. According to the club president, that feeling of being watched didn’t go away until after they were back in their room, when the door was shut and locked. Like a silent guardian, it seemed to both me and Eddie that what occurred in that hallway seemed to just be looking out for the lonely student in the hall. This isn’t the only time something like this has happened. Students from across campus have noted the feeling of being watched from just about everywhere on campus after dark, especially when alone. I myself have had similar experiences like this, particularly in Dudley Hall.
But it’s stories like these that give our school character. Each building carries with it a rich history, with their own backgrounds and people that make them unique. From the Blue Ladies of Pillsbury to the spirit of Sarah Wheeler in Senior Hall, every tale and rumor adds to the complex web of Stephens College, strengthening the bonds we have with the very ground we study on. The ghosts of our past help shed light on the women who walked before us, bringing us and our history out of the dark.