Hollow Hill

Bradford College, MA, Ghosts – 2. Academy 1, 2

Bradford College, Bradford, Massachusetts – 11 March 2000

Academy Building – first floor bathroom, second floor radio station area

In the parking lot, James and I met Alan (pseudonym of the ghost hunter and karate instructor described in Gilson Cemetery accounts) and Ann (pseudonym of another ghost hunter and psychic). Soon, we were joined by Samantha Farley, the author of the paper about Bradford’s ghosts and the social implications of ghost stories.

FIRST FLOOR

Our first stop was a bathroom on the first floor, noted for odd condensation though is is an unlikely location for it. It felt a little odd there, but I found no EMF readings in the room. This was what I was expecting: minor “paranormal” energy levels, but nothing dramatic. Nothing that couldn’t be explained by overactive imaginations in an old building.

SECOND FLOOR

Next, we visited the second floor, near the radio station. This had been the focus of the “Amy and the priest” stories.

The area outside the radio station door seemed odd. There was legend of someone falling or jumping out the window there.

Through that window, I could see a windowed passageway from another building, and I felt that it was not good. Something unpleasant had occurred after someone had arrived from that passageway.

The EMF meter showed nothing unusual, with no readings at all except near the radio station door, as one would expect with significant electrical equipment there.

We waited in that area for awhile, because the energy was quite weak but I wanted to try to identify the residual energy impressions. Frankly, I thought this was about as good as it was going to get, on this ghost hunt. If I’d had any idea that we’d encounter an actual ghost later, I wouldn’t have spent so much time and energy on this area of the Academy building.

A student saw us, and asked what we were doing. I replied that I was checking energy levels for ghosts. He informed us that his room was the most haunted on campus, just a few feet away from where we were standing.

Although the EMF meter showed only small readings in his suite of rooms, the wall at the far left upon entering his room, seemed to drip unpleasant energy. “Drip” is the word that impressed me at the time. “Ooze” came to mind, as well.

I informed the student that there were minor readings on the EMF meter, but that the room felt awful and I certainly wouldn’t sleep there. Ann also didn’t like that corner of the room. The others were still out in the hall, by the radio station.

James was experimenting with the pendulum, and by the window, he was getting steady and strong “No, no, no” responses from the pendulum, without asking any questions.

GHOST OF THE BLONDE STUDENT

Now that I had more of a sense of the residual energy–or perhaps it was just the timing–I suddenly “saw” a slender, blonde-haired girl, running in the direction we were walking (from the dorm room, towards the radio station), and into a wall where–in the internal/psychic vision–she ran through a doorway. It was dark past the doorway, so I didn’t know if it was a hall or a room, or the closet described in the ghost stories.

Bradford College - Amy's board

Above is a photo of the place where I “saw” the doorway that the girl ran through. The picture shows a bright white area on the board, near where I saw the door, but this is probably a reflection from my flash in the photo.

This series of images repeated itself about half a dozen times, each time becoming clearer. The girl was about five feet tall, maybe as tall as five foot three, but probably shorter. She was extremely slender. Someone asked me if she was anorexic, but I have the idea that she was merely a child, about 12-14 years old in appearance, and slender due to her youth, perhaps 80 pounds or so.

She had white-blonde hair, unusual in girls that mature, so she may have had Scandinavian or Germanic ancestry. Her hair was slightly stringy, and it reached halfway down her back. It was not thick hair, but not wispy either. It was straight, with a very slight wave towards the ends.

She was wearing a blouse, sometimes I saw it as pastel pink; at other times it seemed pale blue or lavender. The skirt or perhaps jumper, left the strongest impression. I saw it as a school uniform or Scottish plaid, with a brilliant electric blue and vivid red dominating. There was more blue in the plaid, than in most Scottish tartans. It was a very bold print.

Ordinarily I can use clothing to date a vision. However, due to her youth, a skirt–which I’d otherwise describe as late 1960’s–could have been from almost any era. She was outgrowing it, and it was at about knee length or slightly shorter. It looked too small for her.

I mostly saw her from the back, doing the teensy-step kind of run that children do, when they’re trying to sneak around. In one vision, she was out of breath and making a low, shrill noise as if she was terrified. In the others, there were no sounds and she didn’t seem certain that she was in danger. It was as if, sometimes as this energy is replayed, she thinks it could be a game.

GHOST OF THE EVIL MONK

I also “saw” a man in black clothing, with heavy shoes, striding angrily up the corridor that connected the two buildings. He had dark hair, notably darker than it should have been, for the age suggested by wrinkles on his forehead. Then again, he was angry, so perhaps that exaggerated the wrinkles. He had very thick eyebrows, but they weren’t curly. His complexion was fairly ruddy, but that may have been from anger and/or exertion.

I know that he didn’t care if anyone heard him. His footsteps were loud and heavy, and I also heard the swish-swish of cloth against cloth. This could indicate that he was carrying something made of cloth, that rubbed against his pants as he walked. Or he may have been in robes. Or he may have had very baggy pants, which flapped around his legs with each stride.

ENERGY LINGERS AT THE WALL

The visual energy imprint didn’t develop any further, so we took a few photos. Ann’s new camera refused to take photos of the wall where I “saw” the blonde girl. Ann stepped about four feet away, and pointed the camera in another direction, and it worked fine. Returning to photograph the wall, repeated attempts continued to fail.

I took a few photos with my two cameras. I took one photo with the camera that I’ve used at Gilson, that shows me spectral energy through the viewfinder. There was a bright light on the wall when I looked, at about the height a light fixture would be if there was a hall, room, or closet on the other side of what’s now just a wall. It was definitely artificial light, not sunlight or another energy form.

GHOSTS IN OTHER DORM ROOMS

In Bradford, we were approached by several other students who had experienced odd noises in their rooms. About half the rooms measured in the 2-2.8 range with my EMF meter. This is elevated energy, but nothing spectacular. Higher readings were readily explained by electrical equipment, such as televisions, computers, stereos, and so on.

Most of the dorm room stories involved knocking or slapping noises, working their way around the interior walls of the room. Classic poltergeist activity, and often frightening, but nothing to worry about.

In the next article: Bradford College – Academy floors three and four

Bradford College, MA, Ghosts – Summary

Bradford College, Bradford, Massachusetts – 11 March 2000

Bradford College ghosts After hearing about haunted Bradford College for months, a group of ghost hunters explored the legends – and buildings – of Bradford College.

We weren’t expecting ghosts. Most of the stories were so fantastical, we thought they were urban legends.

We were wrong.

The following is a brief summary of our March 2000 paranormal investigation, with links to my (online) reports.

The ghosts were real. We witnessed several of them, and then researched their stories. In some cases, evidence was scant. But, we couldn’t deny what we’d seen, heard, and felt.

Even more disturbing, the pond by the college dorms may be haunted… but it might not be a ghost. Whatever’s at that deeply troubling site, it could be something far darker.

Bradford College has closed. The site is now Zion Bible College. Do not attempt to visit it without permission.

Here’s what we’d heard about Bradford College’s ghosts, before our visit:

BRADFORD COLLEGE ACADEMY BUILDING

Bradford College walkway This building is the main building on campus, with offices and dormitories. The Academy Building is also the site of numerous manifestations, mostly focused on the “Amy and the priest” story.

According to one tale, when the college had been a girls’ school, a student (Amy) had become pregnant by a priest.

He tried to keep her quiet, and she eventually killed herself – or was killed by the priest.

There are several variations of this story.

Our reports:

THE TUNNELS

We visited the underground tunnels linking several Bradford buildings. The tunnels are eerie, and troubling to explore. Our reports:

The stories from Denworth are more recent, but some are almost identical to the Amy-and-the-priest tale from Academy:

A student had an affair with a drama professor, or perhaps she was raped.

He threatened her when she said she was pregnant and would tell the administration. Then, he killed her and the baby. (Or, he killed her when she was pregnant, or some variation of this sordid ending.)

The ghostly student is generally mischievous, playing pranks on people in the theatre.

She does not like to be talked about. She has been heard singing “Hush, Little Baby,” in the upstairs part of the building.

Our visit to Denworth was easily the most dramatic encounter with an actual ghost on the Bradford campus. It was one of our last stops when touring Bradford College.

My report:

Ghosts in Denworth Hall.

TUPELO POND

Tupelo Pond has two ghost stories.

A boy drowned in the pond and that’s why it’s haunted. There’s not much more to that story, at the pond itself. His ghost appears in one or more dorms. (If you have more insights, leave a comment.)
Most locals & former students talk about a more colorful legend. It includes haunted ducks or other wildlife. They also reference a rising mist at night, and a horrific stench, as well.

Those eerie events at the pond are attributed to the text mentioned in H. P. Lovecraft’s famous account of the Necronomicon.

According to local stories, the Necronomicon was buried in a secret tunnel that goes underneath the pond. The tunnel was sealed and its exact location is unknown. Because it’s so evil, the book may be guarded by demons, disguised as ducks… but the ducks’ behavior is so odd, few are fooled into thinking they’re just everyday wildlife.

The mist and stench come from Hell, because the Devil visits “his” book, regularly, usually at night between 10 PM and 3 AM.

My report: Bradford College – Tupelo Pond.

TUPELO EAST AND TUPELO WEST DORMS

These are the sites of a variety of stories, mostly related to the ghost of the little boy who drowned in the pond. He’s heard playing, particularly in the upstairs rooms of these two dorms. Tupelo West was the last stop on our tour of Bradford. Nothing dramatic happened there.

My report: Tupelo West

GREENLEAF HOUSE

One of the most recent stories, where a foreign student (perhaps Japanese) checked into the dorm early. While alone in the building, he left his room, and upon returning, he saw bloody footprints outside his door. In his room, he found an old woman, covered with blood. Variations of this story place the woman in a bathroom, or a reflection in the mirror only, and she’s young and in a black dress or a white gown, covered in blood.

We did not visit Greenleaf House.

Other locations – There are several other, less famous stories of ghosts on the campus. We did not investigate them.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

I revisited Denworth Hall in April 2000. I confirmed the anomalous, high EMF readings in the stairwell approaching the dance studio, upstairs. The fuse box is responsible for elevated readings approximately 8 inches from the box. The other high EMF readings on 11 March 2000 and April 2000 are still unexplained. The girl was still in the area, but I was deliberately blocking communications from her. My purpose in visiting that area was to check the EMF readings in a “non-haunted” context.

I also visited the actual upstairs theatre in the building.

There is a male ghost, or perhaps his residual energy, on the right side of the stage as you are facing it from the audience. He’s tempermental but not malicious. I think he’s from around 1930 or so, but he could be earlier or later.

He’s tall, lanky, wears casual clothing, but he’s not in a tee-shirt from the current era.

His “territory” covers an area of floorspace about 5 feet, square, in the wings but not in the rest of the backstage. I lean towards his presence being residual energy.

There is an entity above the stage, around the metal grid (“catwalk”) far above the stage. I did not like it. It “looked” black and human-sized. At the time, I did not think that it was, or ever had been, human. It seemed malicious to me.

Since then, people have told me another story, this one involving a young woman who hung herself from the catwalk.

To read about the entire investigation, start with our Preparations for Bradford College Ghost Investigation

College Ghosts – Reality and Urban Legends

Creepy stairs at a university - ghosts? Hauntings seem to have increased at colleges and universities in recent years.

Apparitions, “cold spots” and poltergeists are becoming almost commonplace at many schools.

Here’s why people report more ghosts at schools.

The media have increased our awareness of the spirit world.

Each year, new ghost- and paranormal-related films and TV shows spark fresh interest in this subject.

Researchers are making steady breakthroughs in paranormal studies. When ghosts are in the news, people pay more attention to the odd things they’ve noticed… but previously dismissed as “just my imagination.”

And, as more ghosts are noticed, they manifest more often. After years of being ignored, maybe they’re delighted that people are finally paying attention to them.

In addition, websites such as this one are able to inform more students about hauntings at their schools. Once you know what to look for — and where — you’re more likely to recognize the ghosts and paranormal activity around you.

GHOSTS REPORTED AT COLLEGES

College ghosts are reported so frequently — and sometimes for just a brief span of time — that it’s nearly impossible for us to keep our lists up to date.

In many cases, the ghost is a poltergeist and it seems to be following one student. When she changes dorms, so does the ghost.

Poltergeist – From the German meaning “noisy ghost,” this term has been in use since the early 19th century to mean a spirit that makes noise, or otherwise plays pranks… often annoying.

Unlike other ghosts, poltergeists can move from one location to another, following the person they’ve chosen to torment.

Many psychologists believe that poltergeists are not ghosts at all, but some form of psychokinesis or remote activity.

Like many ghost hunters, I take poltergeists seriously. I believe that some — perhaps most — are connected with ghosts or other spirits, and each one usually manifests in the vicinity of one specific person.

Sometimes, a college student’s ghostly encounter is sparked by a contagion of suggestion. One person convinces others that he’s seen a ghost, and his friends and acquaintances start looking for ghosts.

At many colleges, they’ll find them… perhaps more than they bargained for.

Whether or not we list a particular haunting, remember this: Almost every older college and university has reported a ghost at some time.

We’re not saying that every college and university is actually haunted, but most colleges report a ghost or a poltergeist at some point. We can’t personally confirm every story, but when multiple students describe the same ghostly phenomena… we take it seriously.

Hauntings are more commonplace than most people believe.

High levels of stress make colleges a prime target for residual energy hauntings. (These hauntings are energy — not necessarily lingering spirits — that remain in a location and can be sensed by later visitors.)

COLLEGE GHOSTS TO LOOK FOR

Almost every college that reports a haunting offers one of the following stories:

The haunted theater – An “odd feeling” backstage, on stage, or in the auditorium. Sometimes a woman is seen at the door. Many haunted theaters report the ghost of a worker or actor in the wings of the stage.
The haunted locker room – Odd noises, odors, someone whistling, or the roar of the crowd outside when the building (or field) is actually empty.
The haunted dorm – Usually tagged to a suicide (sometimes just a rumor), or one area of the dorm is considered “creepy” and weird. When there was no actual suicide at the dorm, we often find an earlier, documented event that could explain the haunting.
The haunted bathroom – This usually involves something gruesome in a mirror. Usually, it’s a female who looks distressed. Sometimes, she’s wearing evening clothes and applying garish makeup… sometimes leaving it on the mirror.

Here’s what you need to know about haunted mirrors.

While pranksters do write to us regularly, most people genuinely experience something frightening when they report ghosts to us.

This is important: Many first-person reports and “ghost stories” are true, even when they echo urban legends.

Rampant ghost stories aren’t necessarily the product of imagination or simple contagion. They might indicate an undisclosed or undiscovered history that could put some tales — and help some ghosts — to rest.

Little Girl Ghost in the Window?

Our friend Annie brought us this picture, taken by a friend of hers. Annie wanted us to see the figure in the window.

Right away, I saw the small – perhaps winged – figure in the left lower corner of the window. She has wavy hair, and she’s looking across the landscape, perhaps slightly down.

Nice, but… Who knows what these things really are? The figure isn’t distinctive enough to be significant, but it’s a charming photo anyway.

Then I enlarged just that portion of the window.

This is still reading into what may be simple reflections, but look at the right side of the photo. It looks like an enormous face of a cat. There’s something like a huge cat’s eye in the middle of the lower curtain area.

I’m not saying that this is the image of a ghostly girl trapped in an abandoned New Hampshire house, held captive by something with a wicked gleam in its eye.

However, it’s one possible explanation. It’s just not the happiest one, and I don’t think that’s the real story.

I’m sensing loneliness but not terror or even significant fear, but I could be wrong.

No matter what else this is, it’s an intriguing image.

BEFORE YOU GO GHOST HUNTING…

Portsmouth, NH – Real Ghosts, private home – pt 3

(Continued from Portsmouth – real ghosts, private home, part two)

A TRUE GHOST STORY – PART THREE

There were a few more incidents of things casually flying through the kitchen. The faucets turned themselves on more frequently, and with more force. Other odd little things happened, but nothing particularly destructive or frightening. In fact, many of these things struck us funny.

One of the funniest “ghostly” events was when the paper cups would topple in the kitchen. It almost always happened when my oldest daughter was in the kitchen. She did the dishes every afternoon at about three o’clock.

With three children, we have always used paper cups for beverages. It reduces the number of dishes to wash, and the cups were safer for the children when they were small; my youngest liked to chew on the edge of whatever held his beverage. Paper was a vastly better choice than glass. As the children got older, we simply continued to use paper cups for convenience.

Paper cups come in two stacks of 40-50 per plastic-wrapped package. They stand on a level counter easily, and our kitchen counter was level; we’d checked it.

However, when my oldest daughter was in the kitchen, and usually when she was washing dishes, the cups would topple repeatedly. One of us would straighten them back up, make certain that the cups were stable, and stand back. While we watched, the stacks would begin to sag and then fall over, as if someone had accidentally leaned against them.

This didn’t happen just once or twice, but dozens of times. We finally gave up, and learned to leave them sprawled across the counter the first time this happened, each afternoon. Later, we’d prop the cups back up again when my daughter was about to leave the kitchen. Then they would stay in place until the next time she visited the room.

Although the poltergeist incidents ranged from funny to annoying, the bigger problem was the general sense of discomfort we felt in the house. We tried painting the front hall a warm, cheerful yellow with crisp white trim. I displayed quaint country quilts on the walls, and later tried sunny landscape paintings. I bought country-style bleached pine furniture. We read about feng shui and tried a variety of “remedies,” and though they made the house look better, they didn’t solve the problem.

The house still wasn’t cozy and home-like, although we’d been there over six months. Still, the house seemed like an irresistible real estate opportunity, so we stayed. But I was anxious about the fire premonitions, and kept making trips to the storage place with boxes of our belongings, ignoring the illogic and unnecessary expense of it.

More and more, I had the impression that the woman in white was kindly urging us to leave the house, while the man in brown was ordering us out in a sinister manner. I have no idea why I got this impression. The woman seemed to be trying to leave through the kitchen door. The man always seemed to pause abruptly at the door instead of trying to exit. I can’t honestly say that I ever connected their focus on the door, with the idea of leaving the house, but in retrospect it seems obvious.

Nevertheless, I rarely saw the man in brown, and he visually appeared fewer than five times during our year in that house.

Then the neighborhood took a turn for the worse. About three nights each week, I’d answer the door to the police, who were searching for reported criminals. During the day, the police were often on our street, dealing with malicious mischief. Tagging — words I didn’t want my children to see — appeared on walls a few blocks from our house.

My husband and I decided that the house might not be a smart investment, after all.

Then, one night, our next-door neighbors’ truck had been smashed with what looked like a baseball bat. They gave notice to their landlord at the same time we told our house’s owner that we would not be staying.

We prepared to move. It wasn’t much work. Many of our belongings were already in storage on the other side of town.

The story concludes in part four

Ghost Orbs – An Overlooked Question

Ghost orbs are a controversial topic.

Some orbs can be explained as refracted light from moisture, reflective surfaces, insects, pollen or dust.

But – and this is important – false orbs aren’t the big problem I thought they were.

Unfortunately, many ghost hunters took my earlier advice.

Now I’m embarrassed when I hear someone dismiss a credible orb as “it’s just dust.”

Usually, false orb shapes are irregular.

In other cases, you can see the insect or dot of pollen in the center. It’s more solid-looking. Enlarge your photo and take a close look, to be sure.

When it’s a bug, the reflection is usually white. Pollen usually shows up as a solid yellow dot in the center of the orb. It’s not see-through (translucent).

Always rule those things out.

What if you can’t debunk it?

Some of us believe that unexplained orbs – described as photographic anomalies – indicate possible paranormal activity.

But some ghost researchers still insist that orbs aren’t evidence.

The Skeptics’ Arguments

Critical skeptics fall back on the easy answer that every unexplained orb is just dust. Or insects. Or a reflection.

That’s a convenient excuse.

When I ask how much research they’ve done with their own cameras, trying to create fake orbs, they usually change the subject.

Or, they snap back, “I don’t have to. It’s obvious.”

In the years since I wrote this, I’ve met just one researcher who thoroughly experimented with orb photos. He told me he could create convincing, orb-like images with extremely fine powder carefully blown from the surface of a credit card.

Perhaps he can. I’m still trying to replicate that, myself. So far, no luck.

But… Sure, Let’s Pretend It’s All Dust

Okay, let’s say that those orbs are “just dust.” (Important: I don’t believe that’s the universal answer.)

There’s still an overlooked question.

In fact, it’s obvious when you think about it.

Why do we see so many more orbs in photos taken at haunted places?

Why are there dozens of orbs in photos taken at a haunted cemetery, and hardly any orbs at a field just down the street from that cemetery?

If they’re both equally dusty, shouldn’t we see an equal number of orbs in the photos?

Let’s backtrack for a moment.

Ghosts and Physical Evidence

Most ghost hunters point to physical evidence such as doors that slam without explanation.

Or, they’ll talk about lights, radios and televisions that turn on “by themselves.”

Similarly, I’ve heard a broken piano play music at The Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana.

We’ve seen balls roll by themselves, pencils move across tables, and so on.

So, why is it so preposterous to think that a ghost might deliberately lift flecks of dust, to manifest as orbs in our photos?

Remember the movie, Ghost? In one scene, Patrick Swayze – as a ghost – struggles to move physical objects. Fortunately, another ghost shows him how it’s done.

But what about ghosts in cemeteries and other haunted locations? Maybe no one has shown them how to move large and heavy objects. Perhaps a particle of dust is all they can manage.

A ghost that gets our attention with a fleck of dust is no less real than a ghost that slaps someone, rolls a ball across the floor of a deserted hospital, or slams doors in an empty hall.

Debunking Ghost Orb Photos

Many experienced ghost hunters dismiss orbs caused by obvious reflective objects, pollen, insects, and rain.

Those ghost hunters have viewed thousands – perhaps tens of thousands – of orb photos. They know what to look for:

An irregular shape, not a nearly perfect circle
A solid-looking dot or shape at the center of the orb
A solid dot of yellow in or near the center of a pollen orb
A solid white shape inside an insect orb
A solid white or grey dot inside a dust orb
A brilliant white orb, usually an irregular shape, if it’s rain or moisture
A repeating series of circular orbs, usually in a line, if it’s a lens flare from the sun, the moon, or a reflective surface.

If You Can’t Debunk It

The next question should be: Is the dust an anomaly?

If you’re seeing unexplained orbs in photos taken at one location, take photos at a nearby location with similar levels of dust, pollen, and so on. Equal orbs indicate natural causes.

However, if you see orbs in photos at a haunted cemetery but not in photos at the Little League field next door, the real issue isn’t whether it’s dust.

Instead, ask why the orbs only show up in the haunted cemetery.

The answer might be ghosts.