150 Years of Chatham Ghost Stories
In 2019, Chatham is turning 150 years old… it’s exciting while also a tad spooky! It’s no secret that Chatham is known to be haunted, and even boasts legendary ghosts like the “Blue Lady” or the mysterious ball-bouncing child ghost of Fickes, sometimes called Billy. We asked students and alumni to share the unsettling, creepy, and downright terrifying experiences they’ve had while sleeping in Chatham’s mansions or studying in our halls. Reader beware—these tales are not for the easily spooked!
Mellon, Most Haunted:
“One night, a group of us living on Mellon Hall's third floor heard loud banging coming from somewhere above the ceiling. We all ended up in the hallway and heard what sounded like someone picking up the end of a metal bed and dropping it onto the floor. We speculated about the possibilities, including thinking raccoons were in some small attic space under the peaks of the roof, but the sound seemed too loud for a small animal. One brave soul climbed on a chair and looked through the small trap door. After finding no explanation, the conclusion was that Mellon had to be haunted by the ghost of some sad servant girl.” — Katrine Geha Kirn ‘70
“I was upstairs in Mellon Hall working on the newspaper one evening by myself. I had left my friends at dinner to go look over a few more things. I was the only one up there when I heard a distinct male voice say my name. I looked around but didn't see anyone. This definitely spooked me, so I grabbed my things and ran down the back staircase, where it felt like someone was following me. I ran back to the dining room and sat down with my friends. One of them said, ‘You look like you've just seen a ghost!’ I said that I didn't see one, but I thought I had heard one! They volunteered to go back upstairs and look around. I decided to stay where I was. I made sure that I wasn't up there alone again.” — Kathleen Ayers, '80
“I was returning to my room at Mellon Hall on a beautiful sunny day. As I walked passed the glass block windows of the pool, they lit up and I could hear splashing and a child's laughter. I remember thinking how nice it was that there were swimming classes for neighborhood children on the weekends and mentioned it to a friend when I caught up with her at the dorm door. We both realized it was a weekday. I turned back to see the windows dark and no sound coming from the pool. Only then did I learn the story of a child who had somehow gotten into the pool years before and drowned. Others had also heard stories of the child who haunted Mellon pool.” — Katrine Geha Kirn ‘70
Spooky Sounds, All Around:
“I had dinner one evening with two friends and told them I was going to the library to do some research after. We all walked back to the quad; they went to the dorm and I went to the library. I was down in the basement, looking through Psychological Abstracts, when I heard a noise like someone pounding on the door of one of the study rooms. I was pretty sure I was the only one in the basement. When I heard the noise, I looked up, and the noise stopped. I went on with my research and the noise resumed. When I turned around and looked up, the noise stopped again. This happened a few more times, and I decided to find who was making the noise. I went over to the doors of the study rooms and heard the noise again, but none of the doors were moving. I began to get scared, so I turned around and collected my things. The banging continued as I ran up the stairs. I mentioned this the next morning to a few of the library staff that I knew. We went downstairs and nothing looked amiss. One of the staff tried banging on the doors, and it sounded like what I heard, but much quieter. It never happened again.” — Kathleen Ayers ‘80
“I lived in Benedum Hall during my sophomore year at Chatham. It was 1982. There were so many “Claude” stories, complete with the ones involving him dying at war and his girlfriend, Maude the maid hanging herself in one of the rooms that a friend occupied on the 3rd floor. Anyway, we all liked to sit together down in the living room because it was so beautiful. This mansion was like no other. And while the Mellons boasted the first swimming pool, the Benedums had the first in-house bowling alley down in the basement. We were all sitting up in the living room studying and chatting when one of us looked up because we heard the sound of pins being knocked over. We heard more and more bowling sounds so we decided to go downstairs to investigate. Going into the basement was rather creepy so we did it in groups. We carefully tiptoed around until we found where the bowling alley was and realized that there was nothing there, just some old bowling lanes. But certainly no workable bowling alley! Apparently the ghosts were having an incredible time. We headed back upstairs rather quickly, to say the least.” — Anne (Butler) Ferguson ‘85
The Blue Lady Blues
“I have an emotional support cat and I lived in Fickes last year where the Blue Lady would haunt other students. However, my cat was friends with her. There were times he would meow at walls and chase things that I couldn't see. Because she liked my cat she never did anything to freak me out. I consider myself lucky. I don't live in Fickes anymore but I hope she has another cat friend.”
— Madeline Hennessey, Sustainability ‘22
“I met the Blue Lady last year in one of Woodland Hall's dorms. I was doing an overnight Lacrosse Camp for three days and sharing a double dorm with another Lacrosse camper. I woke up that night and looked at my surroundings: at the end of my bed I saw a shadowy figure standing there, looking at me. The figure looked like it could be a woman's figure. It was tall, lean, and the head was facing towards me. In terror, I looked at my roommate and she was hiding underneath her blanket. I did the same and stayed up until sunrise. To this day, I am still haunted by that night and sometimes hesitate when I go near Woodland Hall.” — Haley Hughes-Gill, History ‘22
“One evening, my roommate, Aria Dietrach, and I were in our dorm, relaxing on our beds. Aria was watching Netflix on her iPad when she looked up to the ceiling to see faint fingerprint trails running to the end of her bed. There were scratch marks and more trails on her ceiling. She asked me to come over to her bed and to look and I freaked out when I saw it. Aria said the fingerprints looked small and lean, like an adult woman’s. Neither Aria or myself made those marks above the bed.”
Still craving more haunted history? This video, produced by student Tess Weaver in 2018, outlines some of the most well-known Chatham ghost stories.
We hope we don’t keep you up too late, ChathamU! Happy Halloween & Happy Haunting!