By Matthew Consolini

Collegian Correspondent

Looking to get into the Halloween spirit this year? You may not know it, but the University of Massachusetts has plenty of its own chilling and creepy ghost stories that just might keep you entertained this All Hallow’s Eve.

The UMass History Club led about 80 students on its annual campus ghost tour Wednesday night, where they recounted the more famous ghost stories of UMass to the crowd of curious students.

According to Ilan Goodman, co-president of the Umass History Club, there has been a long-standing tradition in the club of passing down these ghost stories among members over the years.

It all started in the late 1980s when Patrick Browne, a history major, started doing research on the ghost stories that he had heard from students on campus. Browne, who is now director for the Duxbury Historical Society in Duxbury, passed down his research to the History Club. Though it’s not for certain if spirits actually haunt the campus, each story is based on actual events. Browne’s research came from Massachusetts Daily Collegian articles, which can be looked up on microfilm in the university library. The annual event draws a very large crowd each fall.

“It’s the big event of the year,” said Katie Flynn, co-president of the History Club.

Though some of the students didn’t believe in ghosts, they were still eager to hear the stories about the campus.

“I like scary stuff, but I’m not usually scared by it,” said Camille Torros, a junior history major.

“I don’t know if I would say that I believed in the supernatural,” said Dave Mussnack, a senior history major, “I try to amass evidence before making a conclusion.”

Goodman and Flynn led the students in the dark to the Munson Annex, a former veterinary lab built in 1898. According to Browne’s research, a horse had trampled a woman in the building. Later, a frightened secretary resigned because she could hear a horse screaming and running down the hall.

Next on the tour was the Old Chapel, which sat ominously despite the lampposts surrounding it. It is here that in 1920, a car hit a student who was on his way to ring the chapel bells. According to legend, the spirit of this student can be seen trying to make its way to the tower. Flynn said there is also a crypt under the chapel, from which eerie noises can also be heard.

Draper Hall was next on the list. “I hear weird things in my office in Draper,” said Kate Boschert, a first year resource economics graduate student. “It’s possible it could be haunted.”

It is said that the spirit of a young co-ed peeks at visitors from the shadows in Draper Hall, and unlike the other UMass ghosts, she is desperate for human contact. There are also the spirits of two cooks who used to work in the kitchen. One day they got into a heated argument, and one grabbed a knife and stabbed the other. It’s been said that screaming can sometimes still be heard from the kitchen. Boschert said she has never heard human voices, but still believes that the building could be haunted.

Students living in Mary Lyon may be sharing their dorm with a visitor from beyond. In the back stairwell a lonely freshman hung herself, only to be found days later. According to Flynn, some residents claim to smell a strange odor in the stairwell that has no visible source. Others claim the lights flicker when people use the back stairs.

Orchard Hill also has it’s own ghost. John B. Howard, a student and editor of the Collegian in 1929, was with a friend picking apples in the orchard one day. Howard fell from one of the trees, landing on the ground. His concerned friend went to help him. Howard got up and said he was fine, except he could not open his eyes. This seemed strange to his friend because his eyes were in fact open. The two walked to the infirmary, then in Northeast, but on the way Howard died of his injuries. Legend has it that on certain nights, you can see the form of Howard walking down the path from Orchard Hill.

A spirit is also said to haunt Greenough. At the turn of the century, each dorm was headed by a house-mother. During this time, a widow and her boy lived in the dorm. One winter the child became very ill and died. Many years later, a resident assistant heard the sound of a ball being bounced in the hall. She went to investigate, thinking it was residents engaging in hall sports. She found nobody, but the sounds persisted on a regular basis. One day she saw a boy with a small ball in the hallway. When she approached the child, he immediately vanished. To this day, it is said you can hear the little boy bouncing his ball around the hallways. Shannon McPhee, a senior comparative literature and English major, said she knows students who claim they’ve heard it.

So if you think you can’t find something creepy to do this Halloween, take a tour along the haunted paths of UMass. As Flynn said, “it’s our job to keep these traditions alive, but it is up to you decide what you do and do not believe.”

Information from this article was supplied by notes from the History Club.