Graveley
Hall
NOTE:
The following story was posted with permission from www.isubengal.com
Is
Graveley Hall haunted or just heated?
10/30/02
By
Amelia Stimpson
The
hair on your neck suddenly stands on end as a chill shoots
through your body. It is as if someone is standing in the
room with you but when you turn around, no one is there.
A ghost story? Some say it can be felt in Graveley Hall.
It may scare those who listen, and in this case all who
read.
Graveley Hall was built in 1939 where it served as a women's
dormitory and later was remodeled into classrooms and offices.
Rumors circulate on campus that Graveley Hall may be haunted.
To some, even the name is symbolic.
"Doc"
Farrens, who works in maintenance, has received numerous
reports over the years of people who "feel a presence"
in the building or hear strange noises. Not to worry. He
explains that the noises come from the steam heat that warms
the building. The heat registers are cold, so when steam
comes into contact with cold metal it makes noises.
"A
lot of noises can usually be tracked back to something,"
Farrens believes. "Once people hear the noise their
imaginations just run with it." According to Farrens,
the fact that people have committed suicide in the building
just fuels the imagination, which leads people to believe
that they feel a presence.
However,
there is another point of view. Lynne Shandy, a custodian
who cleans Graveley, has her own stories. Shandy has never
been afraid of things that we like to call "ghosts"
or "spirits."
"If
I were ever afraid, I probably wouldn't still be doing this
job," Shandy says. She has been a janitor at ISU for
seven years where she has had to deal with several experiences.
Once,
she remembers being alone in a building and feeling a cold
draft coming from an open window in the hall. Not only was
it a mystery to her how the window became open, but after
shutting and locking it, she found it open once again.
"I
closed the window, and then went into the custodial closet,
and when I came back out I found it open again," recounts
Shandy.
This
is not the only account of paranormal experiences. Another
instance occurred on the third floor of Graveley, which
once housed shower rooms. Shandy heard a dripping, which
was strange because the water had been turned off once it
was no longer a dormitory. In investigating, Shandy could
see the water dripping from the shower head, yet the floor
was dry.
Some
events are unexplainable, such as a door holding itself
open that could not otherwise occur without the assistance
of a prop. To Shandy's surprise, when going into one of
the labs in the basement to change a light bulb, she found
herself welcomed by an opened door.
"They're
friendly ghosts - too bad they don't help me clean,"
said Shandy.
It's
like the ghost stories we tell as children; even now a part
of us may still believe. So when your hair stands on end,
and you no longer feel alone in the room, you may have entered
Graveley Hall.
NOTE: The following stories were collected from local
students and co-workers.
Student Union Building
A popular
hangout at Idaho State University is the arcade located
in the basement of the Student Union Building. People have
witnessed many different things happen in that arcade. The
reports range from pool balls rolling around on the pool
table without anyone touching them to the cash drawer thrusting
open like some one is ringing up a customer. There are also
reports of faint screams, noises of something falling and
the feeling of cold chills. Pin Ball machines have been
noted to turn on and off rapidly for minutes on end with
the paddles moving at a rapid pace. The air hockey table
is known to turn on with the score rising continually until
one side seems to have won. There was an account of a loud
banging noise as though all of the lockers were opening
and closing, but when a worker looked around the corner,
there was no one in sight.
Investigation
Notes (10/5/02)
A walk
through of the game room in the Pond Student Union Building
at Idaho State University produced no results. Tracy and
I feel that the strange occurrences described in the above
story result from normal game room noises. The cash register
is aged which could account for the drawer opening on its
own. The help desk is in a location where is would not be
able to view the hallway that contains the lockers and the
desk does not have a clear view of either one of the two
pool halls. A student would be able to knock pool balls,
bang lockers, play air hockey, and make noises without the
attendant seeing them. As for the pin ball machines playing
on their own...this is not unheard of. When games are in
a stand by mode, they sometime show demo games. The temperature
fluctuates very easily due to the many open corridors and
ventilation ducts in the area of the game room.
Frazier Hall
