Have you ever been into a haunted house? Well, as a student at Fordham University, you might just be living in one. Fordham is known for being one of the most haunted college campuses in America, with a number of ghost stories to back it up. Being built in 1841, there has certainly been enough time for ghosts to accumulate within our many halls. This Halloween, you may not need to watch any scary movies as they could be coming to life in the room next door.
That was the case for the Resident Assistants (RA) in the summer of 2003, working in Queen’s Court before any students had moved in. During their rounds around the hall, they would repeatedly find the mattresses of the beds propped up, rather than lying flat, and despite their efforts to fix them, they would continue to find them back as they were. One night, one of the RAs was woken up to a knock on their door, and opened it to find an elderly Jesuit who stated, “Someone must have been praying pretty loudly if they got me up at this hour. Sorry about that, it normally stays at the other end of the hall, but it must have gotten out. Don’t worry, I took care of it.” From that night on, the RAs never found the mattresses in the wrong position again. Thankful for the helpful Jesuit, the RA sought him out. However, when they described the man, they found that the Jesuit matching that description had died 10 years earlier. What had this undead Jesuit done to cast out the spirits that had haunted the halls of Queen’s Court?
The reasons behind the hauntings is unknown, but in Finlay Hall, there is certainly a history that could have been the cause of all these unexplainable events. Prior to becoming a dorm, Finlay was the location of Fordham University’s medical school. The basement of Finlay was also home to a large number of cadavers used by students for their studies. Today, students have reported waking up to seeing figures leaning over the lofts in the room watching them. Some have even stated that they have felt cold hands choking them or pulling at their feet, as if they were a cadaver being tagged.
These frightening tales have certainly given Fordham a spooky reputation. Even the producers of “The Exorcist” chose to film in our very own Keating and Hughes Halls. This film follows the story of a young girl who developed odd behaviors and was later declared to be possessed by the devil. A few of the scenes were filmed in both basements which has led to even more urban legends surrounding these halls. In Keating Hall, for example, students have experienced the feeling of being watched or even have felt a hand tap them on the shoulder when there is no one there. Had the filming of this bone-chilling movie left an entity behind in our halls or did this uneasy feeling linger within Keating since the beginning?
Even this year students have reported paranormal activities such as LED lights randomly turning red in the middle of the night or hearing strange noises outside their door at a time when there is typically no one awake. Is this the fault of electrical wiring and sharing a residence hall with so many other students, or is there more at play here? Could it be that all of these stories passed down through the years are true and the campus is really haunted? Either way, people have taken the precautionary measures of signing up to have their room blessed just in case there were ghosts still lingering somewhere in their room.
If you are looking for a good scare this spooky season you may not need to go far. From the ghostly Jesuit wandering the halls to the knowledge of what had laid in the basement of Finlay before it was turned into a dorm, there are urban legends lurking around every corner. Each hall has its own story that has been passed down between generations of Fordham students. The question is are you brave enough to go looking for them, and what you will find if you do?
