Hauntings At Dominican: DU Students Share Their Ghost Stories
By Stacy Portilla and Angela Romano
portstac@dom.edu , romaange@my.dom.edu
Staff Writer, Features Editor
As you walk through the Dominican University campus, do not hesitate to invite in the creepy feeling that may come over you as you notice the neo-gothic architecture masked by the crawling ivy of the ancient castle-like buildings. The real mystery, though, lies within the rooms of the school where the people who have passed on to the next life are said to remain. What better time to question these legends than All Hallows’ Eve?
Dominican University, formerly known as Rosary College, was bought by the Sinsinawa Sisters in 1922 and is home to some of the oldest ghost stories in River Forest. We’ve all heard them, everything from the mocking faces in the Social Hall to the orbs of light and ladies in white. Whether or not one believes, few have gone to the Lund Auditorium alone at night, stayed in the 4th floor of Lewis longer than they had to, not had goose bumps walking through the chapel at Priory or even second-guessed themselves hearing noises through the concrete door on the 3rd floor of Power where two nuns supposedly hung themselves.
The Fine Arts Building seems like any other art building at a university, a place where creative minds come to showcase their talents, right? Musicals and plays are performed for students and surrounding community members but behind the scenes there is something much more eerie. Senior Kendall Monaghan witnessed events that will keep her forever wary of being in the building alone.
“Last winter, I worked the Eileen Ivers concert. Everyone was leaving around midnight but I had to stay and work on my director’s skit that was due the next day. I was in the lower Lund storage area pulling furniture to the Martin by myself. As you can imagine many unexplained things went on during those hours. I heard noises, saw shadows and had the lights randomly go out on me. At 2:45 a.m., I was all the way in the back of the lower Lund storage pulling out a rolling chair. Once I got it, I moved it through the open door and went back for the desk. As I was dragging the desk, I started hearing noises. It was my chair, and as I looked up from my desk I saw my rolling chair start to move slightly. I had already explained to security when they were passing at 12:30 a.m. why I was there on my own, and no one had been there since. I was the only one in the entire building. The odd thing was the rolling chair didn’t just roll away due to uneven ground or anything like that. My rolling chair jumped up the step and rolled itself around a corner to get back to its place where the other chairs were stored. Then I started to hear more noises than before. Suddenly, I saw a strange shadow in the windows of the room that looks into the Martin and I decided it was definitely time for me to leave.”
The Fine Arts Building may not be the safest place, since lost souls find this a good place to roam. Senior Mike Shallow had his first experience last year. According to Shallow, he was in the piano room on the 4th floor of the Fine Arts Building late at night when he quickly realized he was not alone. “I was playing piano, and a man in a tan suit and hat appeared in my peripheral vision; he wasn’t the haunting type, but by the time I turned to get a better glimpse of him, he was gone,” Shallow said. But Shallow is not the only one who believes this. Peter Ciura has had similar experiences.
“Walking through Fine Arts at night I have seen a number of things that I cannot explain. I worked security during the summer and would walk around the campus from 4-12 p.m. At 10:30 at night in the Fine Arts building I came across an older lady sitting in a chair on the fourth floor by the piano room. I had no idea who she was but the campus is open to the public so I really didn’t think anything of it. I had gone up there to see who was playing piano at 10:30 on a Friday during the summer. While I was looking in the piano practice room I asked her if she had been playing the piano. She didn’t say anything and when I turned around there was nobody in the chair and there was no possible way she could have gone out either exit without me seeing her. I have also heard a number of strange voices at times when nobody was in the Fine Arts building. These included the chair where I saw the lady sliding into the wall a number of times, foot steps in the theater and weird voices.”
We move on to Lewis Hall, the building of academia where there is never a lack of teaching and learning. If you think you have reached a safe haven, think again. Consisting of four floors, Lewis Hall is filled with its own unusual occurrences that lead students to believe that this building is haunted as well. The fourth floor has a quiet, uneasy feel to it, the kind of quiet feel that makes you wonder if you are truly alone. Up here, the art classrooms and old photo-lab usually remain empty. Having to work on projects up here late at night keeps most students in a state of high anxiety. If you want to use the bathroom, you might as well hold it. The bathroom doors squeak when opened, and you can quickly feel the temperature change even if the windows aren’t open. The paper towel dispensers go off on their own, and the bathroom itself has a weird musty smell that leaves an uneasy feeling in your stomach. Like the fashion lab in the basement of Fine Arts, students almost always work in pairs at night to avoid being there alone. Many students have said they have felt disoriented or confused while working there at night.
If you want to escape the fourth floor, the only way out is down, and with every floor you get closer to the basement, where you can tell students must not belong. During World War II, these secret underground tunnels were used as a fallout shelter. Now open to students, the long narrow hallway from the workout area to the Technology Center causes you to walk cautiously around each corner as you pass unfamiliar openings, small wooden doors and storage spaces that contain old pianos covered in cobwebs. This hallway, with its yellow walls and tiled floor, looks like a scene from “Alice in Wonderland,” and has been said to play with the minds of those who walk it.
The secrets that are hidden in the many wings of the dormitories may be stories to some, but for those who live there, there is no stronger truth. The resident halls are said to have been the scene for three of the most devastating deaths in the university’s history. Anyone who has even walked through Power Hall and seen the concreted doorway has to have wondered why it’s there and what’s behind it. No one who has heard the screaming and crying that leaks from the cracks in the plaster can say that haven’t questioned if the story is true. Many students believe that when one of the sisters discovered she was pregnant, she hung herself inside the room late at night leaving only her faint screams to be remembered. After her death, another woman moved into the room and claimed to have heard voices telling her to do the same and she did. Yet another sister was said to have died, depending on which story one has heard, from being pushed or jumping down the elevator shaft. At night, sometimes her last scream can still be heard in the dormitories. Students may consider commuting to avoid living here, but those who don’t must suffer the consequences.
If you need to get away from the ghosts and spirits that surround you at the main campus you may want to walk or take the shuttle eight blocks east to the Priory, although this may be worse. Rumors continue to swarm about the open, door-less room that Priory students call the laundry room. It is located in the basement and it is said to have beena morgue. Leaving the laundry room leads you down the black and white checkered floor to the Great Hall. I guess you could compare it to the yellow brick road from “The Wizard of Oz” because what happens on that path to the Great Room leaves you looking over your shoulder after every step.
Going upstairs may seem like the safe choice, but in this instance, that’s not the case. With the second and third floors looking like a scene out of “The Haunting,” you find yourself feeling uncomfortable walking to your room and scared to walk to the bathroom alone. The main sitting areas on each floor overlook the chapel and, at night, a dark, lonely chapel can cause uneasiness even in the most Catholic students. Junior Kate Seitz lived at the Priory last year and has experiences that may prevent her from ever returning to that building.
“I live in Ohio, so I rarely went home on the weekend last year. Considering a lot of people do, I was often left alone on the weekends at the Priory. It was a Saturday night and I was one of the few people left on my floor. I decided to take a shower before I went downtown to meet a few friends. Our bathroom was never locked, so I always got a little nervous when no one was around. I decided to bring my iHome in the bathroom and listen to music while I took a shower, so it wouldn’t be so creepy. When I finally got in the shower, I started to feel a little less nervous. I noticed something above me and quickly looked up. There was this cloud above me, I thought maybe it was the steam from the shower, but it was perfectly shaped right above my head. Then I felt light poking on my back. I thought it was my imagination from working myself up so much before getting into the shower, but I looked again and it was still there hanging over my head. The poking wouldn’t stop, so I turned off the shower, quickly got dressed and left the Priory as soon as I could.”
There’s one last place on campus you need to know about: the old Science Building. It sits behind Lewis Hall, and at a quick glance, it’s easy to overlook. You may have noticed an ambulance there last week, but if not, here’s why. Junior Jinny Fester was developing film in the photo lab in the early afternoon when she suddenly got light-headed and fainted, hitting her head against the wall. When she regained consciousness, she fainted again. According to Fester she “ate, had a good night sleep and nothing seemed wrong.” After being taken to Rush Hospital in Oak Park, the doctors found nothing wrong with her. Some may have some medical explanation for the fainting, but being the oldest building on campus, some may think otherwise.
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