Jennifer Lewis, Class of 2004

Dude, I think the fourth floor of South Mandelle is definitely haunted. My sophomore year (2001-02) I lived in 413 S. Delle with my roommate. One night, we were both sleeping (it was about 4 in the morning) when I suddenly woke up, coughing. When I stopped coughing I looked up and hovering near my bed was this being. It was really hard to describe, as it seemed to have several shapes at the same time, but I got the distinct feeling that I was being *watched*. That that was what had woken me up. I stared back for a couple seconds before I realized that there should not, in fact, be anyone there staring at me (my roommate was still asleep). As soon as I thought the word "ghost" I pulled the covers over my head and started praying. I had my eyes closed, but for a few more seconds I could still see the image of the being superimposed on my eyelids, the same thing that happens when you stare at a bright light for a while and then look away. When I pushed the covers off again, the being had gone. I eventually went back to sleep that night, but it was only the beginning of many strange sightings in that room. Another time I woke up to see what I thought was my roommate sitting in her chair across the room, only again, my roommate was still asleep. This other being (this one was definitely a woman) seemed to throw something at me, like a fast moving ball. The ball disappeared under my bed. She and the ball disappeared after a few seconds. I also saw other things, balls of light moving around the room and other beings, but those two were the most intense experiences because of the sense I had that I was actually interacting with the beings. After moving out of that room, I never saw as many things of that nature within such a short period of time again.

[December 21, 2005]

Melaine Otto, Class of 1989

A friend of mine was exploring the MHC site and forwarded this area to me, knowing I had some odd experiences there when I was a senior living in South Mandelle. I just about fell over when I read Beth Dunn's experience!!

Okay, so there we were, October 1988, and just getting into our senior year at MHC. We had all pretty much heard of the 'ghost' of S. Mandelle, and all had smiled, like "Okay, uh huh" at this. We were psyched to be there, getting things like Disorientation ready, etc. (Oops! No, we never did that "D" word, ahem!) Well...

Slightly out-of-the-norm things had been going on, but nothing that you could really believe, thinking (naturally) that you had just missed your toothbrush on your way to the bathroom even though you could have sworn you'd taken it with you. It had just been really windy and caught the air pressure in the hall at this top level kind of funny and that is why some of our windows liked to suddenly blow open. That sort of thing.

I lived at the end of the hall, left side out of the elevator, in the end room right near the kitchenette. I don't know if this is the 'tower room' some other people list or not, but it is distinctive from the outside, and a great room to get if you are still a student reading this! Anyway, one day, I walked out of my room and noticed that our end of the hall's fluorescent lights were out. I figured someone had flipped a switch for our end of the hall. There was something else odd with lights, too, but my memory is not clear on this as I had just brushed it off as an old dorm's erratic electricity. In fact, it was safe-feeling to assign it to that reason! (Though a few of my really down-to-earth and widely-traveled friends on that floor did have some peculiar experiences. When I gave an interview for the MHC News later, the Head Residents pulled me aside and said "darn! I had almost put that whole October thing out of my mind!" as they had had some strange experiences too, but you'll have to get them to tell you.)

One day, as October wore on, I stepped into the elevator with another dorm member (and I wish I could remember who it was!) and two of the underclasswomen. The freshmen (okay, first-years -- the term was just changing) were all spooked out about 'our' ghost, and the other senior and I were telling them, no, they would be fine; yes, the ghost wouldn't give the elevator any trouble (we HOPED!), etc. We got to the top floor (4th), and as we stepped out of the elevator, I glanced down the hall to my right, and one by one the fluorescent bars turned off as I watched. Feeling the hair raising on the back of my neck, I looked to the left toward my room and the sunny window at the end, and watched those light-bars do that same domino thing. O-KAY, NOW I was creeped out. We all were like "Eek!" and edged closer together. Then, as this whatever didn't seem to be in any way threatening, I decided to make nice with the ghost or whatever it was. I had taken to jokingly referring to her as "Matilda", and decided it might be better if I had a little talk -- real quick! -- with her. I assured her that we liked the dorm; we seniors had no ill intent for our plans with the first-years and would take care of them, could she perhaps just relax? We were cool with her if she wanted to hang out, but really, we were good people, she shouldn't worry.

You could find any number of seniors addressing empty air politely that month! Aside from what I thought was a small scrape-tread sound (yes, overhead) beyond my footsteps once or twice, that was the last of our experiences with her if I remember correctly. And she was okay with us I guess, because if anything, that building felt like it was aware of us and sort of felt welcoming and safe for the rest of the year. Strange but true.

So maybe Beth was right, her presence just wanted to be acknowledged. These days, if I go back to the dorm, I always say 'hi' to "Matilda", just in case. It never hurts to have manners!

[December 19, 2005]

Kristen Skerry, Class of 2008

Alright, so I live on the 3rd floor of Prospect Hall and I believe that I've had a couple "haunting experiences" in the bathroom on that floor. The first time was at 2:00 in the morning one day during my first semester here and I was completely alone in the bathroom. No one was there when I went in and no one came in while I was there. I was brushing my teeth in the third sink and had my back to the rest of them , but when I turned around, the first sink's faucet wasrunning full blast. So I shut it off and turned around again, only to find it running when I faced it again! I checked the shower and the attached kitchenette and the stalls to see if someone was playing with me, but there was no one there. Then another time early in the morning, I was alone in the bathroom once again and distinctly heard a stall door slam shut and lock. A little freaked out, I went around the corner to where the stalls are and all the doors were wide open. Finally, on more than one occasion when I was showering and thought I was alone, I'd randomly feel a cold rush of air strike me and I'd get the feeling that I wasn't alone. As soon as the coldness goes away, so does the feeling. So I don't know if this is all coincedence since no one else on my floor has shared similar experiences to mine, but I'm certainly convinced that Prospect has a playful poltergiest confined to the 3rd floor bathroom.

[May 6, 2005]

Melissa Thorsnes Varvil, Class of 1995

Back in the Fall of 1993, my roommate and I were living on the fourth floor of Porter Hall, in a converted triple. About 3:00 in the morning, something woke me up from a dead sleep. Nicole and I had our twin beds next to each other, with an end table in between them. Floating above my roommate I saw a ghostly woman in white. I could tell she was female, but she didn't seem menacing at all. I couldn't really make any sound and she vanished. I woke up Nicole; she was naturally pretty scared, but we managed to get back to sleep. A funny side note. I wasn't planning on telling anyone else the story, but the next day it had spread throughout our floor. The next night, we decided to stay in our friend Leila's room, since her roommate Nikki was gone for the weekend (Safety in numbers!) We had just turned out the light when Leila started screaming, "There's something above your head, Nicole!" Turns out it was a fern Leila had hanging over her futon! My friends have lots of personal stories of their own. I hope they share them!

[March 29, 2005]

Beth Dunn, Class of 1993

I spent my freshman year ('89-90) living on the fourth floor of South Mandelle, in the second to last room down the hall on the left. Although I had heard many ghost stories about MHC within weeks of arriving on campus, I hadn't heard any about South Mandelle. North Mandelle was supposed to have some sort of moaning woman in the fireplace, but I didn't think much of that. One night, I was walking from the bathroom back to my room after taking a shower. The hallway had a series of flourescent lights going down the length of it -- something like 10 or twelve lights every few feet or so. As I walked, the light over my head went out, then came back on after I had passed beyond it. Then the next light that I passed under would go out, only to come back on after I had passed. I heard distinct, slow-moving footsteps above me as this was happening. I got back to my room (almost all the way down at the end of the hall, across from the kitchenette), and nothing further happened in my room. The general feeling was just that of somebody wanting me to know she was there.

[December 19, 2004]

Gretchen Burch, Class 0f 2008

OK on the first week of school, there was a great rain storm, there was a wind so at first I thought it was the wind but the storm ended. And there was still this banging sound all through the halls of South Mandelle on the fourth floor. It continued for weeks it was as if there was this pounding of the fists, someone is trying to escape from the tower. The storm was the ghost coming back, she knew it was a new year.

[undated]

Summer haunting

It was my first year at a summer camp located at Mount Holyoke. We had a night where we all got told ghost stories about the dorm we were staying in, Pearsons. That night everyone was very creeped out so we all either stayed in other peoples rooms or a councilors room. My roommate and I were trying to put on a brave face by staying in our room. But then I thought I saw light coming from the closet door so we moved into the councilors room. Then we read the Ghost Page and go even more freaked out. But I was tired so I went straight to the spare bed. I was fast asleep in bed but my roommate we freaked. She said that around 3:00 am she heard high heel footsteps on the third floor, right above us. But know one was staying on the third floor and all the doors were locked. She said she also heard scratching in the closet.

[July 2, 2004, anonymous]