Is The School Really Haunted?!
Well, here's my post. I have posted now Morgan...so there! giggle.
Anyways, so while my great job has kept me so busy and quite full of joy(*sarcasm*), I have come across stories of the school being haunted. It's amazing what you find out from people in the lunchroom, walking across campus to do mail, or even just mowing the district lawn.
So here's what I've found out so far:
1) One of the Eberhardt rooms is haunted. Maybe you girl's dorms people didn't want to know this. And maybe you don't want to know that it was because she committed suicide in her closet. Hmmm. Oops!
2) The Second place I've heard is Schwermann Hall, specifically the 3rd floor. There have been reports that a girl has been seen running down the hall while maintainence staff are up there....and it's the middle of the night when nobody else is around. Also, they have heard a baby crying up there too. Now, there apparently was a fire in the Schwermann hall area around the 40's or 50's (the cafeteria and laundry room used to be located on the bottom floor where the furnace is now located). It was thought that nobody parished in this fire, but some people wonder if it's true.
3) The final location I have heard is that the library is haunted. Now, working here myself, I cannot say that I have seen anything unusual enough to attribute to ghosts (nothing more than computer gremlins and such), but co-workers and maintainance staff have stories nonetheless. First off, my supervisor has apparently heard walking above her when nobody else has been in the library. Another co-worker has heard music coming from only ONE speaker out of the whole library. But apparently they have been much bizarrer instances (that I haven't had specific examples of yet), so much so that it even caused a maintainence staff to quit. She apparently had some really really bizarre stuff happen while she was cleaning in the night and decided she couldn't put up with it, so she quit.
Now there are people that are surprised that certain other areas aren't haunted because of accidents and deaths that have happened (I even know about one of the instances cuz I was in high school at the time), but that's not what this blog is about. It's about the possibility of actual hauntings (if that makes any sense).
However, I'm not sure where these stories are from or how they came about. I don't even know how I feel about ghosts being real. I believe that the spiritual world is very real. I believe that spiritual warfare is real. But ghosts? I'm not sure. I'm not sure if that would be included in the spiritual world and such, or if it's just angels and demons and our living souls.
So, here I pose the question: What do you think? Do you think ghosts are real? why or why not? If you do, where do you suppose they come from and why are they not in heaven or hell?
Oh, and if you have any concordia haunting stories...please, do tell. I'm curious. I don't know what I think about ghosts being real, but I still love to hear the stories.
posted by Astley @ 9:18 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
here's what i found online...
Alberta - Edmonton - Concordia College - On certain nights you can hear a choir sing in the boys dorm areas that seems to be coming from the walls. Late at night, there are sounds of slamming doors even though no one is around. An African American female teacher has also been seen wandering the halls, and has been figured that she was a teacher in the 1960's era. Schwarman hall is another area that has reports of being haunted. From class doors that slam before your eyes to being able to see your breath.
Well, I lived in Eberhardt for eight months and I don't remember any strange occurances (at the end of december of my first year, i'm pretty sure jen mac. and i were the only ones there for a good three days or so, and nothing weird happened) But I am curious to know which room it happened in.
As for seeing your breath in Schwermann hall... thats cuz its so freaking cold up there!!! (Hey Concordia... DOUBLE GLAZED WINDOWS. get some)
I've heard rumours about the singing choir, but it was supposed to be heard in Alumni Hall which was engulfed by a fire (the patio used to be where the original gym and santuary were before they were destroyed by the fire; an old set of cement stairs to the back stage area still exists, but they now go into a cement ceiling just under the patio). I've worked security and custodial for Concordia about 7 years now, most of the time alone during the midnight shift. The only singing I've heard is either myself (which usually creeps other people out when they don't see me around; the echoes are great there, especially in Tegler Centre) or students in the dorms.
Have I heard slamming doors? Yes, and it only seems to happen when certain doors are open or not closed properly and the air flow system kicks in, or wind blows against the windows (not all the windows are well insulated; if you walk on the roof areas overlooking some windows, you'll find that some of the exterior windows have actually fallen off and shattered), or something similar. I get a similar thing happening at my place when I leave the bathroom window open. Is it creepy? Sure, and the reality that you're alone only adds to the tension. Are there ghosts? I personally haven't seen any; but then again, maybe they're afraid of me? :)
As for seeing one's own breath; technically, this happens when your breath is so many degrees warmer than your surroundings. I mean, we see steam coming from a hot cup of coffee or tea or something in the summer but we don't think it's haunted. The same applies with our breath; I've seen my breath on warm days while consuming hot chocolate and the like. Humidity also plays a role.
I haven't heard of any suicides happening in Eberhardt, but next time I see the ghost I'll ask her! Seriously, I haven't seen or heard anything in that place aside from the insects and creaking pipes and the like---a sound that is not uncommon for older or newer buildings since it's caused by temperature and various other factors which cause parts of the building to expand, contract, shift, etc. at different rates and intervals. Add being alone in the building when it's dark both inside and outside, and then add an active imagination which has been influenced by television (X-Files, etc.), movies (Signs, etc.) and other media which use scenarios like these as the backdrop for tension and the 'expected unexpected', and what you end up with is a intense situation! After all, you never know for certain if you truly are alone in those places . . . do you? ;) I've been creeped out by the silence, but I haven't seen anything more than a mouse---and that's at Goldbar Campus! (Want to see me jump out of my skin? Try being alone on an entire self-contained campus in the middle of the night, having all the lights off except in your office, and hearing a noise in the hallway but not seeing anything . . . then, after turning on the lights and checking everything, finding nothing and turning everything off again and going back to work only to hear that noise again . . . getting closer and closer, and suddently---there it is! A mouse!) It's no ghost, but I've heard that the main campus has mice as well. :)
I suspect the library is a combination of these things. I've had to work in there during the midnight shift, and I think the most intimidating thing is that it's split-level and there's enough space between the shelves and stacks that you're almost certain that someone's there. However, when you pay more attention, you notice that it's mostly a trick of the imagination because the gaps and different speeds that objects move in relation to our movement and their distance from us give the illusion that something else is possibly there in the distance and moving, too. It only intensifies because we only see part of the picture (of what's on the other side a few stacks over) through the various shaped and sized books in the stacks and the gaps in between them and the shelves above and below them. Of course, these shelves also make noises of adjustment alone with the individual study desks and noises from the Wayne Gretzky Way outside and the air flow system and the sometimes oddly placed staircases, doors, etc. Sometimes it seems like I'm Jurassic Park, and so I expect to see the eyes of a Tyrannesaurus Rex staring back at me when I look out the upper floor windows! See how the imagination can play games with us? Sometimes I think the only ghosts at Concordia are the ones that our paranoia and fears invent.
When I was training Commissionaires at the main campus and later took a custodial job during the midnight shift, I'd sometimes be asked by them if certain parts were haunted. At first I'd laugh, but when I saw that they were serious (or when they told me that certain places gave them the creeps, or that there was bad karma somewhere, etc.) I'd tell them that I wasn't aware of anything. Besides, if ever I had the feeling that something wasn't right or that I was being watched, I'd simply take a moment in prayer, rebuke any unseen demons in the name of Jesus, and began singing to God and Christ Jesus. If there was anything, I know that Jesus and his angels would take care of it---unless my singing scared them away, first! ;) But here again, maybe the rumoured singing that was heard in the guy's dorms was actually just me singing downstairs in the Cafeteria somewhere between midnight and 6am?
Oddly, a wiring problem mixed with a powered speaker can sometimes pick up a radio signal (media, hand-held, cb, etc.) and broadcast it on one or more speakers (depending on the location of the wiring problem). I've heard that happen numerous times, though I'm not entirely certain why (I wasn't paying attention in tech class during that section, I guess). :) It happens, no big deal.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, modified (of course) by various elements like magnetic pull / gravity, barriers, enforcers, etc. So what can be said about 'ghosts' or the supernatural? Oddly enough, I do believe that both 'ghosts' and the supernatural exist. However, in light of God's Word, I would limit authentic 'ghosts' or 'phantasms' to either demons, phenomenons or illusions (e.g., the northern lights, which I heard were once thought of as being dancing spirits, etc.).
Anyway, I'll have to continue this at a later date. Other priorities beckon me! :) Farewell!
- Roger :)
theres also the singing from the boys dorm walls at night (best discribed as a choir)...the african american woman that walks down the halls of the school (thought to be a teacher in the 60's)and the little girl in the white dress at eberhart that likes to hid behind the tv.
not to mention there was a sucide in boys dorm the year b4 i came...
dude i should have read the comments b4 i posted!!
but yeah for knowing about the other sucide and the little girl!
wednesday is my birthday! eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! we're going to the standard! you should come!!! :D it's going to be fun fun fun
Well, I asked my boss if he was aware of any suicides, murders or deaths on campus (including the dorms) over the past decade, but he commented that he was unaware of any. Since he's the head of Plant Operations and has been here for over a decade, I thought he'd be a reliable source.
With that in mind, Leah and I are aware of at least one possible suicide that happened out front of the campus, when a car went off Ada Blvd and into the woods (near the wooden stairs going down toward the golf course). The driver of that vehicle apparently was doused in gasoline, and either the vehicle burst into flames or the guy set himself on fire inside the car. At any rate, one of the Seminarians (Jason Schultz) and his wife (Regan) saw the incident, and while she ran to call 911 Jason tried to rescue the driver who burned to death. (Uncertain of the details, but I seem to remember him saying that the guy got out of the vehicle before he died.) Numerous students also came out and witnessed the ordeal.
Another incident that happened off campus involved a former UCEP graduate who attended Concordia University College of AB for about a year or two. A really nice guy, actually; I knew him from Goldbar Campus and was trying to put his life together after a rocky divorce. If I remember correctly, the last person to see him alive was his daughter, who he spent the day or afternoon with before returning to the custody of his ex-wife. After no one had seen him for several days or weeks, someone followed a terrible odour down the street to the downstairs apartment where he had hung himself. I think he left behind a note expressing his struggle with depression and an apology to his daughter for killing himself.
Aside from those (all of which happened off campus), I'm not aware of any suicides or deaths at Concordia. I'll keep looking, though. :)
- Roger
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