St. Olaf College
I attend St. OlafCollege, in Northfield, MN. Being very Lutheran and veryNorwegian, the St. Olaf community doesn't tend to share thestories of the paranormal activity that happens here. There arethree very old dorms on campus, which all have had their share ofghost stories. Here are a few stories of our ghosts...
1) The kid with the red hat
Thorson Hall, which is one of the oldest existing dorms oncampus, is known to be inhabited by a ghost of a child, about theage of 10, who wears a red hat. He doesn't make any noise or movethings around. He just appears every once in a while--he is agood kid in that regard.
One day, about three years ago, a biology student was studyinganimal activity in the woods behind Thorson Hall, when a 10 yearold boy in a red hat walked up behind him--not making a noise.The student turned around, not knowing he was there. Startled atfirst, he jumped back (I suppose I would do the same), but waseased by the child's smile and quiet demeanor. The student,thinking the child was real, said, "Hi," but receivedno response. The little boy sudenly turned around and ranstraight towards the dorm. Just about the time the studentthought the kid would run into the outside wall of the building,the child vanished.
Thinking it was an odd experience, the student told the ThorsonHall director about it. At that time, the director told him aboutthe ghost that lives on first floor, who takes the shape of a 10year old boy who wears a red hat. The student thought thedirector was making a joke until he told others about it, whoknew the same story.
2) Agnes Melby
Melby Hall is another of the three existing original dorms. Twoyears ago was the 100th birtday (I believe it was 100) of AgnesMelby, the woman that Melby Hall is named for. For a while priorto her birthday, students in this dorm noted many paranormalactivities such as moving items, etc. These were all attributedto the ghost of Agnes Melby. There is more of a story here, but Idon't know this one too well.
3) The woman in Hillboe
The last old dorm on campus, Hillboe Hall, is the mostinteresting of haunted dorms at St. Olaf. Well before I camehere, stories of one room in particular make this dorm notorious.
Years ago there was a woman living in a single in Hillboe Hall.For the first couple weeks, things seemed to be fine for her. Butafter a while, her neighbors complained of screaming coming fromher room at night. The college, which tries to cover upeverything, disregarded it. The woman stopped going to classes,and eventually stopped leaving her room. She locked herself inher room for days on end. One day, after a night full ofscreaming, she jumped out of her window, killing herself. Whenthe room was searched, the police found notes written by thewoman saying that there was a woman's voice coming from seeminglynowhere that told her to kill herself. The notes also said thatthe woman's voice told her of her own pain, which drove thestudent insane.
The room was locked up for a couple years. St. Olaf didn't wantthe students to be subjected to the reminder of this room bysomeone living in it--not that they admited to paranormal acts,but they passed it off as schizophrenia. A few years later,however, they re-opened it. A new female student moved in.
The first couple weeks, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.One night, a few weeks into first semester, her neighborscomplained of noises in her room. Again, the woman locked herselfin her room, not letting anyone else in. She stopped going toclasses, and cut-off all communication outside her room. A fewdays later, police got a search warrent for her room and brokein, finding her dead on the floor (I forget how she died, I thinkshe overdosed on sleeping pills). Again, the police found hernotes saying what she heard. This time, there were two women'svoices. One told her about her torment of losing someone sheloved, so she hanged herself in her room. The other voice toldher about hearing a voice in her room that told her about losingsomeone she loved, which drove her insane and, therefore, jumpedout the window.
That room has been locked since that day.
There are a couple other ghost stories, but that is enough fornow.