THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
GAME DAY
Page 6B
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 118 ISSUE 50
The hand that feeds you
halloween
0. 25.2007
vacant hallway in two south can leave you wondering if you're really alone.
Hoc we p.r Gu an pri
The far south stairwell is allegedly haunted. Rumors of strange noises circulate among Corbin residents.
convince you," she says.
"One person who isn't convinced Michael Shermer, publisher of necistic magazine and monthly columnist for Scientific American,
"Paranormal investigations are costly a waste of time," he says. people never turn up anything scientifically."
Shermer says that the investigations are done for fun and compares them to reading a Philip King ghost novel. And while he doesn't believe, he can understand why many people do. "I think it taps into a deeper psychology of a need for belief in miracle afterlife," Shermer says. "If you could prove a ghost or poltergeist, you could prove that afterlife. In day's world, you're supposed to
believe in proof instead of faith."
Another person who doesn't believe in spirits is Raymond Higgins, professor of psychology at KU, who has organized a seminar on the psychology of the paranormal. "People want to believe in something above and beyond material aspects," he says. "Believing in the paranormal implies an immaterial component to us."
Higgins says that paranormal investigations are like a search for one's soul and sees no evidence that convinces him of paranormal phenomenon. His seminar is focused on getting people to look at what qualifies as evidence.
"What you typically see is eyewitness, 'this happened to me,'
type things," he says. "They had some experience they couldn't otherwise explain."
Before we continue the security rounds in Corbis, I ask to take a walk inside the infamous trash room where the girl supposedly committed suicide. My escorts look at each other for a minute and then agree that it would be okay. At first I thought they might be hesitating because they were trying to decide if I was allowed in the room, but I soon realized it was because they were afraid of what was inside.
As I reach for the knob, I look in the small rectangular window of the door and see a figure move past. Startled, I jump back, and then move in slowly to find that
Do you believe in ghosts?
Nike Forsac, Houston senior kind of. I'm from Africa, so we a lot of traditions and you are a lot of ghost stories.
Levi Williams, Garnett sophomore – Yes, because I've seen a couple of ghosts. We were staying at a relative's house and the wife had just died, and I was sleeping in the living room. In the middle of the night, a recliner started rocking and the next morning they said it was her chair.
Josh Renken, Olathe junior - No. A belief in ghosts would be a belief in religion, and I'm kind of agnostic.
the lights are off inside and the figure is only my reflection. I open the door and feel a moment of tension walking into the empty, pitch-black room. Scared of what might be waiting for me in one of the four corners, I practically leap for the light switch. Flipping it on, I see that the room is completely empty except for the trash and recycle bins huddled against the wall. A deep closet on my left holds a large sink and a few custodial supplies. Further along the left wall are two doors. The first door is locked. The second requires some force, but does open. It doesn't contain much more than a mop and some cardboard boxes.
Then, on the top shelf, I see a blue wooden box with the name Elizabeth written across the front in red marker. My mind begins to race. Was Elizabeth the girl who had supposedly committed suicide in this room? I look inside the box for clues, but it is empty. Taking another look, I decide that the box is too fresh-looking to have been kept here over the years, and that surely if it had belonged to the young woman in question, someone would have removed it before converting the room.
I put the box back on the shelf and head towards the door, thinking that my first ghost hunting experience has been a big bust. As I walk past the sink closet, though,
something catches my eye. Inside the closet hangs a dry-erase board that had been written on in black marker. The girls, still waiting by the door, had noticed me stopping to study something and asked what I saw. I insist that they come look at what I had found, because otherwise they wouldn't believe me. Still hesitant to enter, they demanded that I read the message aloud. So I do.
"Stop using my room. This is where I took my life. Let me be," I read.
Horrified, the girls told me numerous times to shut up and claimed that I was lying. I tried to show them the proof, but I think they would rather believe me than step foot in the room.
GHOST TOWN The most haunted places in Lawrence
The Eldridge Hotel - Room 506 supposedly contains a portal to the spirit world. Witnesses have reported lights flashing on and off and breath marks on freshly cleaned mirrors.
Lawrence Community Theatre
- Props have been reported to move on their own, and lights are known for malfunctioning in the old theatre. Also, many say they have the feeling they are being watched (in a theatre? No way!).
Haskell Indian Nations University - There are numerous buildings on campus that house ghosts. One is the auditorium in which spirits can be seen watching a show and girls can be heard crying backstage. Hiwatha Hall is said to have a ghost that opens and closes doors, even ones that are propped open. Legend also has it that a girl hung herself in the basement of Pocahontas residence hall and some have seen visions of the same girl hanging from the ceiling. Haskell has embraced these legends by giving a haunted campus tour on Halloween night.
Stull Cemetery - Said to be the seventh gate to hell, this spooky cemetery is so popular it has been closed off to the public.
KU's Sigma Nu Fraternity
The legend goes that the mistress of a former governor hung herself in the frat house and now haunts residents every year.
Wakarusa Valley Elementary School - A dark figure roams the halls of the school in the early evening and through the night, according to custodial staff who say the ghost wears a dark cape and hat.
Source: www.theshadowlands.net
The four south trash room in Corbin Hall is shrouded in mysterious stories of a girl who supposedly hung herself in the closet.
ine Loeck/KANSAN
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