Long after the administration has left and the custodians have made their final sweep, the Mary Reed Building comes alive. How else do you explain the hair-raising stories of both the custodians and Campus Safety officers?
These stories include unexplainable noises, flickering light, alarms triggered when the building is locked and empty. Not to mention books strewn around rooms and white faces in the small windows of an old, internal elevator.
The Mary Reed Building has long been rumored to be haunted. In fact, it has become a stop and story on all prospective student tours. But the stories aren’t so funny when the building is empty and it’s midnight.
This past Friday there was a special midnight tour of the Mary Reed Building led by Andrew Gress, a Campus Safety officer the reasons that most custodial staff and some Campus Safety officers refuse to enter the building after hours alone is that strange things happen there.
Arguably, the most haunted room is on the main floor, the DuPont Room, located on the southwest side of the building. The room, which features a large, eerie picture of Catherine DuPont is filled with book shelves, which in itself is unremarkable.
However, what is remarkable is that all the shelves have door screens on them. The reason behind the screens is that frequently custodial staff would open the locked door in the morning and find the books flung around. Other strange things happen regularly.
“There is an office that is always locked and we don’t even have keys and regularly the alarm will be triggered at eleven at night,” said Gress.
Another phenomenon that is bound to raise the hair on the back of your neck occurs in the basement archives that used to serve as the university library.
“People will report that this deserted chair often feels warm, as if someone just got up from it,” said Gress. Not included on the tour was the old elevator that leads to the top of the tower and a private office. On top of the tower is an old artillery sight left over from World War II.
While the Mary Reed Building is surrounded by many legends, by far the most frightening building is the Iliff School Building across Warren Circle. In that building the reports of “extracurricular” events is down right creepy.
Once when two Campus Safety officers were in there doing a sweep on opposite ends of the building, suddenly they both heard chanting, but found the building to be empty. Many Campus Safety officers refuse to even set foot in that building.
University Hall, while not exactly haunted has had some strange occurrences recently including an infestation of bats that had to be removed. In reality this building might be the scariest for students. After all, the registrar and cashier offices are located in the building.
