Ghost Walk tour highlights campus haunts

From the jingling of keys at the Indiana Memorial Union and a ghost of a girl running around Read Center in a bloody nightgown, there are alleged hauntings at IU.

On Monday night, the Folklore and Ethnomusicology Student Association organized a Ghost Walk throughout campus, which highlighted stories that took place at buildings throughout campus such as IMU and Read.
 
Beware of some of these ghosts that may accompany students as they head out to trick-or-treat today.

Folklore haunting

Richard Dorson, former director of the Folklore Institute, said he loved the institute so much that he didn’t want to leave.

A lamp post outside turned on the year after he died.

About a year later,  it mysteriously turned off. It is said when someone checked the light, he realized there was no power source.

Allegedly, a shadowy figure of Dorson can occasionally be seen upstairs, and water can be heard running in the men’s restroom.

Mysterious orbs

In 1984, a fire occurred at the old Zeta Beta Tau house, now a vacant lot at Fess and Eighth streets. Israel Edelman, a former ZBT member, died in the fire, later determined to be caused by arson.

Photos taken at the existing lot during the Ghost Walk one year revealed orbs in the area, which is said to signify the presence of ghosts
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The La Casa Lady

A woman who lived in a house on Seventh Street loved looking out the window. The tour guide said she also didn’t like the dark. After she died, IU bought the building, and it is now La Casa Latino Cultural Center.

La Casa staff members have reported hearing strange noises at the center. The ghost of a woman has been seen running down the hallways, the guide said. Furniture has been out of place and people have heard typing on a type writer, which had been boarded up.

Professor of Folklore John McDowell said some staff members quit because of the occurrences.

The patio of doom

Each day students dine and socialize on what has been called the Patio of Doom, located outside the IMU Starbucks,  Ghost Walk tour guide and IU almunus Daniel Peretti said.

Many people have jumped to their deaths on the patio from the fifth floor of the old hotel, which is currently the Student Activities Tower. A dog is also rumored to have jumped.

Some have reported ghosts of those who have jumped, including the dog, roaming the IMU. The Student Activities Tower elevator also is said to almost always stop on the fifth floor.

The painting with a grin

The woman in a painting in the Federal Room of the IMU has been reported to grin at people through the crack in the door. The woman, a former commissioner of the arts, asked someone to paint a portrait of her. It is said she ended up hating the painting before it was even finished.

There is also a lingering scent of candle smoke and perfume in the room, which is said to be attributed to her.

The boy with the attitude

There was a young boy who frequented the Tudor Room at the IMU about 20 years ago. As the story goes, he went crazy when a tapestry was removed from the room and threw chairs in the room.

The boy is said to have died in a fire, and since then, individuals have reported hearing the noise of a young boy throughout the room.
The building manager’s legacy

A former building manager at the IMU simply loved the building, Peretti said. Since his passing, he has been still seen at the IMU.

Staff members have reported seeing him off in the distance in the hallways. They have also seen his burgundy jacket, as well as heard screeches and the jingle of his keys.

Strike spurs a shot

Under the Back Alley bowling alley in the IMU lies a boarded up shooting range. At times when a person gets a strike, gunshots have been heard, a student on the tour said.

The cries of children

In the basement of the Career Development Center, a doctor is said to have performed routine abortions. Some report they have heard the cries of children in the CDC.

The bloody girl running the halls

A man and his girlfriend got into constant arguments. One night, the argument got so bad that the man, a medical student, pulled out a scalpel and cut his girlfriend’s throat, killing her,  one of the Ghost Walk tour guides said.

He then put her body in the basement of Read, where she had lived. Some have reported her ghost running the halls of Read in a bloody night gown.