By Emma Shortall
Multimedia Editor
Saint Michael, according to the St. Michael’s College website, is “a spiritual warrior in the battle of good versus evil.” One would think that our college would be far from haunted. However, stories from students would say otherwise.
“My freshman year, I came into work [in McCarthy], I just needed to paint the floor…the whole booth and [John Devlin’s] office dark, like pitch black, and that’s where the light board is, that’s where all the controls are for different cues and things like that with all the lights on stage. So I came in, turned the work lights that we have here on and started mixing the paint to paint it black. For some reason the paint was just refusing to mix together like it was just oil, it was so weird I couldn’t get it to work… I come out and the lights are cycling through cues like someone’s pressing the buttons up there. I was like, that’s weird, who else is here, no one else is here. There are two buttons backstage that is supposed to take control if anything is happening in the booth. So, I hit the take control button and it stopped cycling through those cues and it starts to go to one spotlight to the center of the stage where I need to work…I’m like real freaked out at this point because that should be a kill switch, that should stop anything that’s happening… I come out and I’m like ‘Sister Sarah, please don’t mess with me I just need to work, please leave me alone, it’s going to be okay, we’re going to be okay’, and all of a sudden all of the cues just start rapid firing, like one after another.” – Kate Bell, ’20
“We decided to do a fun night sleeping over in St. Eds, because why not …the night was normal, nothing happened at night. But, early in the morning, it was still dark …I heard the door open and close, and I woke up and looked but there was no one there, not a soul. I was like okay, that’s weird, and fell back asleep. In the morning, we were cleaning up, and [my friend] had a ring on, it was a snake that went in a circle, it didn’t completely close, it was open-ended on each side. We were cleaning up and she was like ‘Taylor do you see my ring?’ I was like ‘No I don’t see it, I don’t know where it is.’ We were looking everywhere for it, we laughed, packed up everything… All of a sudden I was like something’s itchy. I reached down, and I was itching, and wrapped around my bra strap was her ring as she was telling the story about her missing ring. I hadn’t changed my bra that morning, but I had changed my shirt, I had put on a new shirt. Never once had I noticed that the ring was on my bra strap until she was telling the story.” – Taylor Donnelly, Resident Director
“Before I left for the airport I locked my door to my room [in Townhouse 215] and shut it, and that’s how I thought I left it. I came back and went upstairs, and my door was wide open as if it had never been shut, but the door was still locked…[Earlier that day my roommate] Katie came home and said that it was open when she had left for work that morning, but then it had closed when [my other roommates] Ivory and Talia had gotten up. By the time I had gotten back from the airport, it opened back up.” – Emily Koswick, ’20
“Random lights [in the Theater] started turning on. It was the shop light turning on, that’s a literal switch and there was no one in there. The shop light turns on, and the loading dock light does not turn on. There’s only one way to get into the shop, and that is through the loading dock, which has a motion sensor, so the light has to turn on. It doesn’t make sense.” – Kenzie Wright, ’21
“I have a pendulum…There are many things you can practice with it, like talk to loved ones who have passed, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. I’m still a novice. I did try to see what was going on [in Joyce fourth floor]… We tried to figure out a name, and we really couldn’t. We found out it was a good spirit, or say they say.” – Lindsey Duquette, ’21
Want to go Ghost Hunting?
Lindsay Stevens, a Paranormal Investigators of New England case manager tells us how:
“All you need to start out is an audio recorder. This has always seemed to be our biggest piece of evidence and works well.
I would however caution the choices of location. Investigating outside proves to be much harder with the natural elements, possible obstructions if investigating any place like woods, as well as an overall more creepy feeling.
I would also caution anyone who thinks about investigating their own location. This can in turn attract things into their home, and has the possibility to turn into much worse situation.
Always go with a partner, and stay in contact with one another. Most importantly always remember, it does not need to be around a holiday such as Halloween to experience activity. It happens every day, all around us.”