Bradford College, Bradford, Massachusetts – 11 March 2000

Pre-visit preparations

Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much at Bradford. Many ghost stories at colleges like Bradford have scant foundations, and are actually stories traded among students as a way of bonding, being part of the community, and other psychological benefits.

Samantha Farley, of Bradford College, has written an excellent study about this, The Ghostly Legends of Bradford College. Her thoughtful report is what sparked this visit to Bradford College.

On the morning of March 11th, I received a new quartz pendulum in the mail, and decided to try it as part of this ghost hunt. Since I wasn’t expecting much at the college, I thought it would be a harmless way to practice using a pendulum for ghost hunting.

Before leaving for Bradford College, my son (called “James” in this and other Hollow Hill pages) and I independently asked the pendulum questions about the various legends and locations at Bradford. In the process, we learned that specific questions are necessary to get any results at all. We repeated our questions, sometimes several times, to see if the results would be consistent; they generally were. We also obtained nearly identical results:

Greenleaf House – pendulum didn’t move when asked if it was haunted.

Tupelo East – very little pendulum movement.

Tupelo West – enthusiastic circling, indicating positive hauntings.

“The Tunnels” – referring to a network of underground tunnels, connecting several of the older buildings. When I asked about the tunnels, the pendulum remained still. When James tried a variety of questions, the pendulum finally indicated that there was “something weird” there.

Denworth Theatre, upstairs – no response.

• This may be because I misunderstood the name in conversation, thinking it was “Danforth” when it was Denworth. I’d asked the pendulum if Danforth Hall was haunted.

Denworth Theatre, downstairs – delayed response, in the affirmative.

Academy – consistently even, positive response.

Based upon this, I decided that we’d start with Academy, the site of the “Amy and the priest” stories, and then check the tunnels. Then we’d explore Denworth, particularly the downstairs, and finally the Tupelos. If time permitted, we’d check Greenleaf House, just in case the pendulum was wrong.

I was wholly skeptical of encountering anything notable on this casual ghost hunt. I’ve witnessed hauntings at colleges in the past, and they’ve always received far more publicity than the manifestations warranted.

I packed two cameras plus extra film, a notepad, the pendulum, and my EMF meter. We left for Bradford College, to meet other ghost hunters at the campus at 3 p.m.

Next, read about our first investigations at Bradford College – Academy, first and second floors

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