On a dark Wednesday night, our Chief Copy Editor, Mike Gagliardi, and I set out on a spooky adventure. What were we searching for? Ghosts- and the truth that this school has been hiding from us about Herring-Cole.
Herring-Cole is one of the University’s oldest buildings, meaning it’s bound to have a few ghosts lurking in its shadows. Look it up online, and there are various stories about who haunts this building and why. What is known is that the building is a popular spot for local séances, or anyone searching for a spook.
When Mike and I arrived, we were hoping the building would be dark and empty (as the best haunted buildings are). Unfortunately, there were a few studious individuals completing work. Did they know they were in the midst of a spirit hotspot? So as not to disturb the living, Mike and I went down into the basement to see what could possibly lurk below.
In order to communicate with ghosts, I downloaded the extremely legit ghost hunting app, Ghost Detector Radar Camera. It immediately told us there were a few different ghosts in the back room of the basement, furthest away from the front door. Not enough proof for you non-believers? We found plenty more.
Because I’m dedicated to the profession of ghost hunting, we shut off all of the basement lights and I climbed into the cabinet shelving unit, with Mike closing the doors behind me. Lying in what I imagined was the same as being buried alive in a coffin, I attempted to summon any ghosts that might be downstairs. Though I made no contact with them, I’m sure that I will be haunted by the asbestos that I encountered in there for years to come.
We also discovered eerie hospital-like curtains near the cabinets that separated off a small part of the room into a rectangle. Could this be a former hospital area where they sacrificed patients? Or is this where locals hold their séances and contact the dead through Ouija boards? Pretty spooky to me.
We then decided to quietly investigate the upstairs balcony portion of the building. We crept up the stairs, so as not to bother the students who seemed concerned by our investigation. We made our way around the balcony, slowly investigating each nook and cranny. We even pulled on books on the bookshelves in case they opened a secret passage, but no such luck was granted to us.
All was not lost upstairs; the scariest thing we found up in our entire investigation was one of the old books on the bookshelf that had the N-word in its title. How that book is still up there for everyone to see is frankly horrifying.
Mike and I took one last look in the basement downstairs, in case the ghosts had gotten over their shyness and decided to come out of hiding. We had one final spook when we passed a door labeled “KEEP LOCKED AT ALL TIMES.” Could this be the door to the rumored catacombs below the building? Or was it protecting the campus from something, something sinister?
After our investigation, can we conclude that Herring-Cole is truly haunted? You’ll have to go check it out yourself if you want to know. If anything, Mike and I created a beautiful friendship while waiting for ghosts that night, and that’s what truly matters in the world of the living.