Kate “Robin” Mertes, class of 1978

There’s a gray bridge that crosses over the waterfall from Lower Lake down into the Stonybrook River. Supposedly some time during spring exam period, a girl who was a senior was going to fail one of her courses which meant she was not going to graduate. She was very distraught and she went onto the bridge at midnight and plunged a knife into her heart after she had perched herself up on the ledge and tied a rope around her neck and to the bridge. Of course she fell after she’d stabbed herself, and screamed as she fell – she hadn’t quite killed herself – and the scream just rang out all over the place.

People sort of looked out their windows and wondered what was going on, but figured that as usual somebody was having a good time. That night someone came across the bridge and head a voice saying, “I’m down here!” and leaned over the bridge and saw the body swaying back and forth and went and called Security. They hauled her up and said, “Well, she’s been dead for nearly an hour, you couldn’t possibly have heard any voice.” And every night during final exams in the spring, the scream rings our and anybody going over the bridge hears, “I’m here!”, and you can see here swinging down below; only she’s alive and waves up at people and does all sorts of things like that.

[1977]