The lights in your dorm room are off and you’re getting ready for bed. That’s when you see a shadow out of the corner of your eye but ignore it because it’s probably just your roommate getting up to use the bathroom. But wait… your roommate has left for the weekend. You suddenly become increasingly curious. Did you actually see someone or is your imagination just in Halloween mode? But now you feel a strong sense that someone is watching you. Your heart starts pounding. Your thoughts start racing. What do you do?

Supernatural events on a college campus are not unnatural. Especially when college students study until the late hours of the night, running on little to no sleep. Old buildings creak and crack making one’s mind wonder to of course the only possibility— ghost! Old dorm buildings are perhaps the most haunted. Some buildings can be up to one hundred years in age, meaning logically, there had to have been something spooky happening within those years.

In the sleepy town of Demorest, Georgia lies Piedmont University, a college founded in 1897. Piedmont is ranked as the #1 Safest Campus in America by Niche in 2021. Although the college may be safe from crime and substance— how safe is the campus from what is already inside their own walls?

The first story we received about some paranormal activity on campus comes from two roommates who live in Wallace Hall, a dorm building that is among one of the oldest at Piedmont University. Built in 1959 and primarily a girls dorm, Wallace is a two-story building with 26 bedrooms. Each bedroom shares a connecting bathroom with another bedroom.

“My roommate and I believe that there are two ghosts in our bathroom, a male and a female. A few days after moving in, I heard a male’s voice whisper the word “hey” in my right ear. My roommate has heard a female’s voice singing every now and then when she gets close to the door. I’ve woken up a couple of times exactly at 3:33AM to a strong sense of someone’s staring at me and have seen a figure standing in our bathroom door with the door cracked open. Every day we hear 3 knocks on our bathroom door every couple of hours as well.”

No incidents have ever been reported in Wallace Hall to explain this paranormal activity. But in an attempt to make the situation lighthearted, these two roommates have decided to call their visitors Hanako and Nene from an anime about ghosts.

Our next stories come from the one student who has had many different spooky experiences throughout her years at Piedmont. Her first story is set in Getman-Babcock hall, the oldest dorm on campus. Built in 1942, the co-ed dorm also has two rooms that connect with a bathroom.

“My freshman year, when hurricane Irma hit, my best friend and I were packing to go home and we were in my dorm in the communal hall in Getman-Babcock (GB). GB is notorious for being haunted, so this really didn’t surprise me. My best friend walked out of my room and stopped dead in her tracks. I walked out and asked what was wrong, and she just told me to look at the fire exit door. There was a girl standing there, facing the door, standing completely still. We only know it was a ghost because of the fact that I was the only one in the communal hall that was still on campus.

My junior year, I lived in New Bedford. One day, I was in class and my suitemate was sick so she didn’t go to class. She texted me asking if I was home from class yet, and when I said no, she said, ‘I just heard someone open your door, put stuff down, walk into and out of the bathroom, and get in your bed.’ I had heard something similar the day before but chose not to say anything.

Last year, we were living in the Village, and one of my roommates was sitting in our living room. She was sitting super still, staring at our window, when I walked out of my room. I asked what was wrong, and she said she saw something run by our window, but didn’t hear anyone talking, a door close, or footsteps.”

 Now that you’ve heard a few haunting tales, maybe you’ll be more alert when you see a shadow at night or hear an unusual sound. After all, you never really know what’s been living in your room before you… happy spooky season.