Gabrielle (4:26)

I don't have a lot of like.

Derek Hayes (4:27)

Knick knacky stuff for the kids to mess with or anything. And if I did, it would be on my desk which is up in the front one corner. This is coming from the back corner of my room, right next to where the breaker box is in my room. Again, my room is an older room and it's coming from like that exact area which is like a little tiny corner in my room. It's like misshapen in the room too because it tips back and it goes a little further back. So I guess going off the phrase of I teach middle school, I'm not really afraid of anything, which I've heard a lot. I had no fear. I walked straight back in the dark. I didn't even turn on my light. I don't know why I wasn't thinking to turn my lights on, but I just walked straight back to where the noise was coming from. And I could still hear it, but there was nothing I could see back there. I even turned my phone flashlight on to try and figure out like, okay, is this something going on? Is something back here? Did something get in here? No.

Gabrielle (5:36)

Could not figure out what it was.

Derek Hayes (5:38)

Finally turned the lights on. The breathing noise stopped completely when the lights were on. But while the lights were off, I kept hearing it. Even as I was going back to the light switch, I kept hearing it again. It's older. There was the breaker box right there. I know there's pipes because when it rains or every once in a while, I do really hear the noise of like the pipes draining or water moving through the pipes. But this did not sound at all like that noise. I've heard the noise enough times at this point it sounded like somebody actually like taking these slow breaths. I still to this day have absolutely no idea. I've never heard it since. And nobody was in the building at that time. The only other person in the building.

Gabrielle (6:29)

Was the principal and his office is.

Derek Hayes (6:33)

On the complete other end of the school. So he was nowhere near me. So I have no explanation. I don't know what happened, but that's my story. Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks. Bye.

Derek Hayes (6:50)

Thank you for calling in, Gabrielle. A strange breathing sound in the classroom. Like I said, unsettling. And why only in the dark, I wonder. That might be the most ominous detail. Well, it's crazy stuff, Gabrielle. And we thank you for kicking us off here this evening. Now, folks, I know it's a bold claim, but I'm going to make it. Almost every school has paranormal activity, or they seem to anyway. There's just something about them. And you're gonna learn that firsthand here this evening right after this message from tonight's sponsor. There's something about summer that makes me want to feel my best, which is why I've been prioritizing making healthy meals at home more often. And Green Chef, the number one meal kit for clean eating has really helped. With that, Green Chef makes it easy to spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying the great summer weather. And with their new heat and eat meals, I can enjoy a delicious meal in just three minutes. Green Chef's recipes feature fresh organic seasonal produce and 100% responsibly sourced proteins to help you build lasting healthy habits without the hassle. Enjoy salads that are ready in just five minutes, protein filled breakfasts or nutrition rich smoothies to fuel your day. Green Chef is here to nurture all your nutritional needs with 80 plus dietitian approved weekly meal options. Green Chef makes it easy to find the meals that fit your lifestyle. Pick from Mediterranean gluten free, plant based, protein heavy. There are even gut and brain health and calorie smart options too. The recipes change every week and with week to week flexibility, you can adjust your plan to match your mood and your schedule. This week we had tropical shrimp and bacon rice balls with mango salsa, roasted cashews and coconut cilantro. It was delicious and because all the ingredients were pre measured, it makes cooking easy and no food was wasted. The unique flavor combinations make healthy eating so much more enjoyable. So make this summer your healthiest yet with Green chef. Head to greenchef.com monsters and use code five zero monsters to get 50 off your first month. Then 20 off for two months with free shipping. That's code five zero monsters@greenchef.com forward slash five zero monsters. There's also a link in tonight's show notes.

Ray (9:52)

There's a major shift.

Derek Hayes (9:56)

Million dollars for.

Derek Hayes (9:57)

The now next up, we venture to the land of Lincoln. Please welcome Taylor out of Illinois.

Gabrielle (10:06)

Hi Derek It's Taylor from Chicago. I live in the city Copper, but have lived all over the Chicagoland area and went to high school in Elin, Illinois, which is fairly close to the state city of Chicago. There's lots of different legends surrounding odd things around the area of Elgin. So when I was in high school, I had a best friend who lived across the street from this elementary school, which is a public school system in Elgin called Channing Memorial Elementary School. And this school will in the area appear on Elgin haunted places list because it actually was the site of Elgin's first city cemetery. And if you know where this school is and how Elgin is laid out, it's kind of in a valley. So the town is two sides of a hill. And then you have the downtown area in the valley. So it's sort of a central location to know have a cemetery. So when the town was first founded, it was their first cemetery. And when they removed, you know, the body, they left and relocated the cemetery. They ended up not using the ground for a little bit of time.

Derek Hayes (11:39)

And then they eventually.

Gabrielle (11:42)

In the 1970s, the school decided that they wanted to add a horse complex field. So they started digging and they actually found some bodies under the ground where they would have had burial when it was a cemetery. And so as we know, cemetery relocation is tricky. And especially, you know, Bath didn't have technology to help you. And so I don't know if it was a nefarious thing or not, but the bodies were never relocated, and they relocated them. And there's a marker in the very back of the grassy area of the field if you go to the school today that says, you know, this was the city's first cemetery and all that. My best friend in high school actually used to live across the street and she lived in an old Victorian house. And when we would go to her house, she would, you know, always tell me that people would tell stories about the school and how they would see weird things in the school. I believe she went to this school. I hear like children footsteps running on the roof of the school. Janitors appear it. And there are even some talk about how janitors would be figured inside the school and one that had even hanged themselves. Now, where the origin of that would have been, I don't know. But that was one of the stories of a ghost that was named in the school. Well, we never saw or heard anything at the school, but this row of houses that my friend lived in, they were all these old Victorians. The houses themselves were not necessarily biased. They were apparently haunted to varying degrees. And one night I'm sleeping in her room. It's probably 10 or 11 at night. The lights are all out. Her room was on the very top floor, right under the attic. And so randomly, everything is quiet. I hear footsteps, like someone's walking in the attic bus me. Then like a rocking point, like a rhythmic back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. This goes on maybe for like a half hour. And I definitely didn't realize what it was at first because I thought it was like a noise outside, you know, since the room faced the street and there were like plenty of old large windows. And, you know, it was like summer. So, you know, people would have been outside, you know, doing whatever they were doing. And I get up and I look to see if my friend is late, and she is. She looks back at me and she says, this is what I talking about. And I just said, what is it? And she said, you don't know. It just happens sometimes. And I had it happen to me maybe once or twice. But he actually moved out of that house probably about a year and a half later. But, yeah, I suspect that those houses probably were once on the property of that cemetery, based on the way that the school and the neighborhood was laid out, because her house was definitely built after the cemeteries have been there and the stories that we heard about other people having phenomenon and the school itself having phenomenon, don't make me wonder. Thanks so much.

Derek Hayes (15:55)

Thank you, Taylor. A school built over a former cemetery. There's a pretty good horror movie in there somewhere, I bet. Zombies in elementary School. Sort of like the Goonies meets the Walking Dead. Someone get Hollywood on the phone. Well, it's truly terrifying stuff, Taylor, and we thank you again for sharing it here with us. Now, folks, if you too have a story you would like me to share here on the program, give my hotline a call at 888-6089. That's 888-608-NIG HT. Or you can record your story using the voice memo app on your phone and email it to me at Monsters Among Us podcast gmail dot com. And don't forget to have your youngsters call into Monsters Among Us Junior Season 2 drops on August 27, which is a little over a week from now, so your young one still has plenty of time. That number is 833-MAU-kids. And our email over there is Monsters Among Us. Jrmail.com okay, this next entry comes to us from Ray in Parts Unknown.

Ray (17:24)

Hi, this is Ray. And this break happened about two years ago. May. It was around midnight. I was in RA at siu, which is Southern Illinois University Cormorant, and someone knocked on my door. It was close end of the year and so this one girl was like, hey, there's someone in the next room over. Now the room has been empty for about three months, so no one should be in there. And it wasn't maintenance for anybody because it was midnight. So to kind of make her feel safer, I went to go get the key, opened the door, and it was kind of weird because I made sure that she wouldn't be there just in case something was in there. I opened the door and there wasn't really anything there, but the room was kind of like in a mess. Now I know that it wasn't the people that lived there or anything because like I said, it was empty for a while. So I kind of fixed it up pretty quickly and just said, hey, there's nothing in there or whatever. So I left. And about 2am she knocked on my door again. And I was upset at this time because I thought this was over. And she said, well, now there's someone in my bathroom and the room. So I grabbed the key again and there was nothing there. But I remember clearly turning off the light and when I opened the door, the light was on. So I was like, huh, that's weird. Turned off the light. But then as I turned off the light, I heard someone in the bathroom move. And I know that it wasn't her or anybody else, that she was by herself. So I opened the door quickly and there was nothing there. I just kind of pushed off saying, hey, we're just weird sound. It's kind of empty. You have one more night here and then you leave. So let's just leave it there. So, so then about 5am again she left my door. She said, seriously, something opened my door. This is getting creepy. So I went to go into her room now just to make sure. And it was weird because the bathroom door is of her side because it was two rooms next to by the bathroom. I went to go look and the door was open and I know I locked it. So I went to check the bathroom again. It was all messed up again, so I assumed it was her. She swore it wasn't her. So I fixed it up again. I didn't really get any messages or anything about that because it was just a weird coincidence on one day. But it was still kind of creepy and I don't know how to explain it. I hope that someone appears as some kind of monsters of their story too. So thanks. Have a good day.

Derek Hayes (20:24)

Thanks, Ray. Colleges, universities, technical schools, none of them are immune. Nearly all of them seem to have some sort of ghostly reputation. And according to the national center for Education Statistics, There are roughly 6,000 post secondary educational institutions here in the United States. This includes all public, private, non profit, private, for profit, degree granting and non degree granting colleges and universities. So that's 6,000 opportunities for more paranormal interaction. And when we come back, I have several more stories that take place in these places of higher learning and other educationally specific ghost stories right after this. The fact of the matter is you're the prosecutor on Cincinnati on Saturday night.

Derek Hayes (21:24)

I'm here on the job site with Dale who's a framing contractor. Hey, good morning. Dale traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance for all his business vehicles. We're here where he needs us most.

Derek Hayes (21:34)

Yep, they sure are.

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Katie (21:46)

Look at me.

Derek Hayes (21:47)

Take a deep breath. I'm good. So good. Get a commercial auto insurance quote today@geico.com and see how much you could save.

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Ray (22:11)

Simple.

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Derek Hayes (23:08)

The reason why I said what I.

Ray (23:09)

Said is it wasn't to prove out that you were wrong.

Derek Hayes (23:12)

Now, as promised, I have several more spooky stories for this back to school episode. Like the following sent in By Anonymous in California.

Derek Hayes (23:25)

Hey, Derek. This is an anonymous call from Los Angeles, California. But this story took place at Mount St. Mary's University in Brentwood, California. To set the scene. It was my second year of college, but first year living away from home in 2021, my first year was online due to the pandemic. So I was really, really eager to make friends and establish myself in a community. So I was able to find a housing community through my campus ministry, work study job. So I decided to live in this spiritual living community. And this community was going to take place on the third floor of a housing building called Brady Hall. Now, Brady hall was named after Sister Margaret Mary Brady, the university's first president, and was the very first building to be built on that hill in Brentwood in the 1920s, before the luxury houses and wealthy established themselves there. Many people criticized the sisters for wanting to establish a school there because of how far it was away from the city. But sure enough, we see now that Brentwood is like super close to ucla. That's a really big populated area now. So just for a little perspective on where the university is situated, it takes about 10 minutes to drive up to the school through a neighborhood. So to get back to our story, I had a roommate in this dorm that I was staying at, and she was more of a homebody than me, so she was always pretty much home. And me being the party animal that I was, I would always come home at really late hours of the night, which my roommate always expected and she knew and we would always communicate. So for context, you know, this dorm had really wooden, creaky floors. And one particular night my roommate was asleep, and she had woke up because she thought she had heard me enter the dorm. And, you know, this was a common occurrence. And she would always hear the wood creak on the floor. And that's kind of how she knew I was home. So she was facing the wall of our dorm, and she had turned around essentially to greet me during those early hours of the morning. And when she turned around, because she heard the noise, nobody was there. And, you know, had came home later on in the next morning, and, you know, she told me this is what happened, and I really do believe her. And I have a feeling that something was in her dorm, our dorm, that night, to be specific. But I really just can't find a logical explanation on how the floor would creak without pressure being applied, because there was no way. So when she had told me this, I just felt really bad because I hadn't been there. And I could imagine the fear that entered her body, essentially, that just needed to know no one was there. Thank you for allowing me to share this story. I feel like a lot of universities hold a lot of history, and oftentimes these places hold so much energy. My bosses would always tell me, these spaces, they're just really old, and maybe there are sisters present roaming around the dorm. So thanks so much for the show, and I really appreciate it. Me and my family listen to it all the time. Thanks, Garrick.

Derek Hayes (26:37)

Thank you, caller, for taking the time. See, even our mystery caller agrees. There's just something about these places, something creepy that is. And this next entry is yet another example of that. From the Hoosier state of Indiana, please welcome Katie to the show.

Derek Hayes (27:06)

Hi, Derek.

Katie (27:06)

My name is Katie. I'm from Indiana. I was calling because I went to school in Muncie at Ball State, and it's just like a really miserably haunted place. Pretty much everybody I know that lived up there, like, they had creepy stories about houses that they lived in and everything. I had a theory that the whole city just kind of, like, died. It was like a boom town, and then it shriveled up. And my boyfriend now says that that's the plot from Ghostbusters, and that's not real, but I don't care. I think it's real. So I guess I have two stories. One is there's a house on north street that the sorority I was in, we didn't have sorority houses. It was just kind of like houses were handed down via leases. We just made sure that they always went to people we knew. And everybody who lived in that house, they had a creepy story. A couple of them that I know. One of the girls was sleeping in her room, which is, like, at the front of the house. And she said she woke up in the middle of the night, and there was just, like, this older man sitting at the foot of her bed. She was like. He just kind of had his head down. He was, like, bald and a little bit heavier, and he was, like, looking down. And she just said he looked, like, so sad, which I feel like is the overwhelming feeling of Lindsay. And he just kind of, like, sat there for a little while, and she stared at him and eventually just kind of faded away. Another one was one of the girls got home, was the only one there, went inside and heard something that made her like, oh, I don't know. I should be the only one here. But it felt like there was somebody else. So she just left and went outside out front and called One of her friends. And while she was standing there, all of the lights in the house turned on all at once. And then they all turned off. And then her front door just slammed.

Derek Hayes (28:58)

Shut up.

Katie (28:59)

So she called the cops because she was like, I'm not going back in there alone. I understand that this is probably not a person in there, but I need an adult to come look and walk through and tell me that it's okay. And they never found anybody. And she ended up staying there, I think, for the rest of the semester and then moved out. I do not understand why anybody willingly moved into that house with these stories, but everybody did. So then I lived on Rec Street. Me and my best friend lived upstairs. It was like a loft where it.

Derek Hayes (29:32)

Was kind of two rooms, but there.

Katie (29:33)

Weren'T any doors separating it. The staircase just came up the middle, and then there was a wall on either side. So we had our own space, but we didn't have doors. And then downstairs, my brother and his best friend lived. I mean, everything was just kind of normal. Like, this is, like Muncie. So it was, like, kind of creaky and old, and it wasn't too creepy. But we had a friend who would come over and do his laundry at our house because he lived in the dorms and you had to pay to do your laundry, which is stupid. So we were like, yeah, come over and we'll do that. So he had been over earlier in the night doing his laundry. And Brian, one of my roommates, was in the kitchen. The door leading down to the basement is in the kitchen. Laundry was in the basement also. I can't remember if I said that. And we were all in the front room hanging out, drinking. And Brian yelled for me that Joe had yelled my name. He was the friend that was doing his laundry. And I was like, joe left like, an hour ago. There's nobody here. So he was like, I swear to God, somebody just yelled your name twice. And I was like, okay. So we kind of, like, crept over to the stairs and, like, looked down and yelled down. We didn't hear anything. And I was like, I'm not going down there. And my brother was like, yeah, same. So we just never went down there. I'm very much of, like, the don't investigate camp. So that was a weird moment. And then, like, a couple weeks later, I was at my 8am class, and my roommate that shared the loft, like, upstairs part with me texted me. And she was like, what did you need last night? And I was like, I wasn't home last night. I stayed at our friend's house because we walked everywhere. And I had to leave very early to walk there, and it was too early, so I would just stay at my friend who lived right off campus for that class. And I was like, I wasn't home last night. Like, what are you talking about? And she said that she had woke up. And she said that there was a girl standing in the doorway between, like, our connecting rooms, like, at the top of the stairs. She said she had really long, dark hair. So did I at the time. And she was kind of silhouetted from the light downstairs, so she couldn't really see anything. She said she just stood there and stared at her. She thought it was me. And she was like, are you being so weird? So she just was like, okay, weirdo. And, like, closed her eyes and kind of, like, rolled away and was like, I'm just not gonna think about you being creepy as hell. So that was very weird. And I was like, okay, well, that wasn't me. I'm gonna be home in a little bit. We can talk then. So I got home, and she was talking to my brother and Brian already about what had happened. And they told us that they had seen. And my brother had. Had dreams about this girl with dark hair that was, like. He described her very much like the ring. Like, it was, like, in her face. And she was just kind of, like, just being creepy, like, weird. Brian said that he would see somebody out of the corner of his eye. And it was just kind of like, you know, whatever. I'm not gonna worry about it too much. But that's kind of where we left it. And I would hear when I was downstairs by myself, I could hear people walking around upstairs in our room. And I always just kind of ignored it and was like, okay, whatever. So this is my senior year, so I was doing my thesis. So I would stay more and more at my friend's house. Cause I was like, I don't want to stay in my creepy haunted house with a girl with long, dark hair that looks like me that's creeping on people and walking around at all hours of the night. Like, I'm not interested. So I kind of, like, bailed. And then my friend that lived upstairs with me graduated a semester before, so she left about halfway through our lease up there. So it was mostly just my brother and Brian that were living there. And they said, like, they would hear things, and it got weird. And then there was one night where my brother was trying to sleep. He had, like, a test or something the next day and he was like. It was just like there was this heavy breathing behind me all night, and it just kept getting louder and louder and louder. And he said he finally was just like, please shut up. I have a test. I do not have time for this. And he just, like, lost his mind about it, which is very typical of my brother. Like, he's not the most sensitive, I guess. So they just kind of dealt with it, is my understanding. And I just left and never really dealt with it. Like, I would go pick up clothes and that sort of thing, but I wasn't really there. So then I graduated and moved back to Indy, and they were there over the summer together. On the day they were moving out, Brian's sister was there with them, and they were, like, moving things in and out, and the power had already been turned off, so they were trying to get it done. Well, it was still daylight out. Brian's sister was upstairs grabbing some boxes, and my brother and Brian were outside, and they said that they heard her scream. And then she came, like, running outside, and she was like, there is a girl upstairs, and I'm not going back in the house. So she just sat outside while they finished everything up, got out of there, they were all done, whatever. My brother, that night after sunset, had realized that he left his phone charger there, so he had to drive back. He said he got into the house, grabbed his charger, and he was like. And it was like a truck hit the side of the house. The whole thing shook, and it, like, vibrated. And he said he just grabbed his charger, got the hell out of there, and we never looked back. So I kind of wonder, like, what it's like for anybody, because the people that rented us the house didn't say anything about it. I don't know if it's still there, if the people who live there now have to deal with it. But again, like, every house in Muncie is like that. Like, almost every house there has a story. It's a weird place. So thank you. I love the show.

Derek Hayes (35:31)

Thanks, Katie. Ball State. I spent an evening there once. I was in a fraternity in college. It wasn't one of the cliche ones you see on tv. Our chapter was made up of all walks of life. But anyway, my best friend and I, who was also a member, would often jump in the car and head off to a nearby school, one with its own chapter of our fraternity, just to get out of town a bit with a free place to stay. Anyway, one of those trips took us out to Ball State there in Indiana. And that was one of the more memorable visits we made because we unknowingly showed up on the biggest party night of the year. We walked into the Chapter House, a huge multi bedroom home there on campus or just off campus, and we walked in to realize there was six inches of sand from wall to wall. A luau party apparently. Well, as fun as that night was, a blizzard was fast approaching so we were only able to hang out for a short time. But the school really left an impression on us despite our short visit. Now I believe a man named Rusty Bladen was playing guitar if I recall correctly. So if anyone from Ball State knows who that is. Just a little Easter egg. Anyway, it was a cool school, but I can't say I saw any ghosts. But then again, I didn't visit the highly active house from Katie's story. Perhaps next time, I suppose. Thank you again Katie for sharing the.

Ray (37:25)

Call.

Derek Hayes (37:32)

A One of a Kind how.

Katie (37:35)

Do you make an Airbnb a vrbo.

Derek Hayes (37:37)

Picture a vacation rental with a host. The host is dragging your family on.

Katie (37:41)

A tour of the kitchen, the bathroom.

Derek Hayes (37:43)

The upstairs bathroom, the downstairs bedroom, and the TV room. Which, surprise, is where you can watch tv.

Katie (37:51)

Now imagine there's no host giving you a tour because there's never any hosts at all.

Derek Hayes (37:55)

Ever. Voila. You've got yourself a vrbove. Want a vacation that's completely and totally host free? Make it a vrbo.

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Derek Hayes (39:16)

Even in California. Now, in keeping with the theme of Mac Schools, that's the Mid American Conference. Please welcome Zach from that State up north.

Ray (39:37)

Hey Derek, this is Zach. I'm from West Michigan and I got some paranormal stories to share. This all kind of happened to me through 2015 and 2016 while I was going to Western Michigan University. During that time, I was staying in a dorm called Ernest Burnham's, the dorm on campus. And it's a fairly old building. I'm not sure when it was actually built, but for example, it was the same dorm that my grandfather had stayed in when he went to Western Michigan University. But either way, I was supposed to have a roommate. Although I was lucky enough to not have one. I did share a living room area and then two other roommates on the other side of that. But for the most part I was alone. The washing machines downstairs were coin fed. So I always kept a lot of quarters in my room. And I used to notice that in the middle of the night, while I'm trying to fall asleep, quarters would like fall off my desk. You'd hear them like king on the ground, which at first I just thought it was, you know, like them falling off my desk. Maybe my desk was like slanted or something like that. So what I used to do is just kind of put them in a big pile, not like stacked on top of each other, but like in a big pile in the middle of my desk just to, you know, make sure they wouldn't fall. And after I started paying more attention to it, I would notice that they would kind of like drop like one at a time. Like almost like somebody was holding a handful of quarters and would just drop them onto that like hard cement floor. So like one after another. That kind of went ongoing throughout the whole year. But there's a few more experiences as well, one of which I was watching class folks that go to Western Michigan University that might know it was a hall there that has the amphitheater in the bottom. So it's like half underground almost. You can walk in on the ground floor and my class is on the top floor. The building is kind of in itself shaped like a crescent moon, so you gotta walk around the corner. You can't see the stairs when you have to go up when you first enter the building. But I remember I opened that door and it felt like it was abnormally dark, like darkness was hanging in the air. I remember thinking about that there was nobody else. It was early in the morning, class, so I start walking down the hallway. I had a heavy backpack on. It almost was like somebody had picked my backpack up and like chucked it down really hard. So it almost Took me right off my feet, like, through my back, way far back. So I was leaning really far back, almost knocked me right over. I turn around, absolutely nobody there. And the third thing that I remember happening, although the coin thing was pretty much ongoing all throughout the year, but towards the end of the year, I ended up actually breaking my bed. And the bed frame was kind of, like, made out of plywood, so it was really uncomfortable to sleep in. And when you would roll around, it make this horrible squeaking noise. But because I didn't have a roommate, what I did, instead of switching the bunk beds around, I just started sleeping on the top bunk for the last, like, month of school. I remember when I was sleeping in bed, you know, just trying to fall asleep, you could hear somebody rolling around in the bed below me. It was so loud. It was like just this wood on the wood. I would try to stay completely still just so that I knew that it wasn't me moving on the top bunk that was making this noise. And you could hear somebody just rolling around below me. Well, that's it. I love the podcast. Thanks a lot. Keep doing what you're doing. Bye. Bye.

Derek Hayes (43:18)

Thank you, Zach, for ringing in. Well, I know one way that could put an end to that activity. Glue the quarters to the desk and watch the fun commence. But there we go. Yet another haunted college campus. A dime a dozen, I tell you. But for funsies, let's run down a list of the country's most haunted college campuses. The following comes to us courtesy of U.S. news & World Report, and these are in no particular order. Boston University in Massachusetts, formerly a hotel, Miles Standish hall at Boston University is said to be haunted by playwright Arthur Miller and baseball pro Babe Ruth. Students report hearing disembodied footsteps, feeling unexplained cold spots, elevator doors opening for no apparent apparent reason, and all sorts of electrical issues. Now, our next college is Kenyan College in Ohio. According to legend, either a former student or an Air Force cadet drown in the pool as a result of a diving accident. Students have claimed to see wet footprints leading to the locker rooms, and security guards have heard the sounds of a bouncing diving board. And finally, we have the University of South Carolina. Known as the Horseshoe, this cluster of buildings is supposedly the oldest and most haunted on campus. D' Souzier College and upperclassmen dormitory served as a hospital during the Civil War and as a federal prison during Reconstruction. Students report hearing disembodied the conversations of soldiers, ghostly apparitions of men in uniform, and cool breezes flowing through the Dorm rooms. Now, I hear Kenya College listed as one of the most haunted campuses on earth all the time. It seems like any list like this has them included. So there must be some sort of serious activity going on there for it to be so well represented. Or maybe the school's inclusion is more noticeable to me because I grew up only about 45 minutes from this campus. Whatever the reason, if you get the opportunity to visit campus, maybe do so and let us know what you experience. Now, moving on, this next entry takes us to Tennessee. Emma, welcome to the show.

Derek Hayes (46:00)

Hi. This is Emma.

Gabrielle (46:02)

I am from Tennessee.

Derek Hayes (46:04)

This is a ghost story or something. I don't really know what it is, but it's two stories. This is probably about, like, two, three years ago, maybe.

Gabrielle (46:14)

So I was in the kitchen of my dorm. The way that our dorm is set.

Derek Hayes (46:19)

Up, it's like an apartment.

Gabrielle (46:20)

So basically there's like, a whole kitchen, a living room. Then there's, like, four bedrooms.

Derek Hayes (46:25)

So there's like, four of us living together. And, like, all three of my roommates.

Gabrielle (46:29)

Were in the living room, which is.

Derek Hayes (46:31)

Like, directly in front of the kitchen. Like, I could see over the bar into the living room. All of them were in there.

Gabrielle (46:39)

There was nobody else in the apartment with us.

Derek Hayes (46:42)

It was just us. I was, like, washing dishes, I think.

Gabrielle (46:46)

And they had TV on.

Derek Hayes (46:48)

And we're all sitting in the living room. And I could just.

Gabrielle (46:52)

I felt somebody put a finger in.

Derek Hayes (46:54)

My back and just, like, poke my back really hard.

Gabrielle (46:59)

And I freaked out.

Derek Hayes (47:00)

And I turned around, and I was like, what the heck was that? And my roommates were like, what are you talking about? I was like, somebody just touched my back.

Gabrielle (47:10)

Freaked me right out.

Derek Hayes (47:11)

My roommates didn't really believe me that much. We just kind of brushed it off.

Gabrielle (47:15)

I continued doing dishes, but I felt really uneasy for the rest of the night. And then another time, I think it.

Derek Hayes (47:22)

Was sometime after this happened. I don't really remember the exact timeline.

Gabrielle (47:26)

I was sitting in my bedroom.

Derek Hayes (47:28)

On my side that I was on, there was my room, a bathroom that I shared with one of the roommates, and then her bedroom. So there's just two bedrooms and a bathroom on this side. And I was sitting in my room watching tv. I had my door open, which I.

Gabrielle (47:44)

Don'T typically, like, keep open whenever I'm in there.

Derek Hayes (47:48)

And my TV was, like, next to my door. I was facing the TV and the door, and, like, I'm the only one there. We're not allowed to have pets in the dorms. One of my roommates had, like, just come home.

Gabrielle (48:03)

But she was on the other side of the apartment.

Derek Hayes (48:05)

Her room was on the opposite side.

Gabrielle (48:08)

So I was sitting there watching tv.

Derek Hayes (48:10)

And like out of the corner of my eye I see this like little.

Gabrielle (48:16)

Black thing that's like the size of a cat almost run like in front.

Derek Hayes (48:23)

Of my bedroom door. It looks like it's going towards my roommate's door. So I'm like, what?

Gabrielle (48:29)

What is this? And I get up and I look.

Derek Hayes (48:33)

Out and like my roommate's door was closed and the bathroom door was open. So I look in there, there was nothing in there. So yeah, I don't know.

Gabrielle (48:44)

There were a few other weird experiences.

Derek Hayes (48:46)

I heard of in the dorms there, but not in the same building. Love the show. Thanks.

Derek Hayes (48:54)

Thank you, Emma. You know, it can't be good when they make contact, physical contact, but it's always unnerving when they do and to do so where you're living. I spent some time in the dorms way back in the day. And there's a lot of weird energy in those places, that is for sure. But that's also where you live at least half of the year. So at a certain point it becomes home. And to experience that sort of intrusion in your home, well, like I said, that's never good. But a big thanks to you Emma for sharing this hair raising experience. Whoever whatever it was, we're glad that you told us about it.

Derek Hayes (49:50)

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Katie (51:19)

It'S all those guys.

Derek Hayes (51:24)

Well, folks, we're nearing the end, but don't make for the exit just yet. I still have a couple of back to school stories to share with you, beginning with this entry from JL out of the state of Mississippi.

Derek Hayes (51:40)

Hi Derek, this is Jael calling from Mississippi, and I've been thinking about sharing this for a while, but I don't really particularly like to talk about it. It's something that bothers me to talk about because it's probably the most terrifying thing that's happened to me, I guess. So this took place in 2013. Again, it's in central Mississippi, a school pretty near where I grew up. I'm a high school teacher, and this is my first year of teaching. Back in 2013, I had a job teaching freshmen. Looking back on that year, it was really one bad thing after another. Teaching is already incredibly stressful, and it was my first year, but there are still so many weird, negative things that happen to me. Before I started teaching that summer, a few teachers got together with me to take me and a few other new teachers on a tour of the campus. I'd been sick recently, so I stopped at a water fountain and they kept going on the tour. The hall was pretty dark. You could see daylight was streaming in through the doors to the courtyard. For some reason, they had dropped ceilings, but they didn't go all the way from one edge of the hall to the other. So, like on both sides, there was about 11 foot of space between the wall and the edge of the drop ceiling. And I was leaning over the water fountain. I was just thinking about the tour. Out of nowhere, I got the feeling that something was up there watching me, only a few feet away from my head. I glanced up and the space is completely pitch black. Only looked for a split second because I didn't want to see anything. It was so dark that in that space, I don't know if I would have been able to see anything but my senses. It's like I picked up on it visually, nothing. But I could sense something was there, and I quickly left the hall and rejoined the group. At the time, you know, I thought it was stress or maybe even I'd been sick. Maybe I was running a fever.

Katie (53:34)

I don't know.

Derek Hayes (53:36)

Fast forward. I was having a lot of trouble juggling lesson plans and everything. So a lot of times I was at the campus at night you couldn't get into the campus without a key card, which only teachers and principals. And they were really good about locking the doors at night. So when I was up there, nobody else was really staying late. I was up there by myself. The teacher's lounge was on the other end of the adjacent hall to my hallway. And I was at the very far end of my hall, so I was, like, the furthest away. So if I was making copies, I had to walk all the way down there. But I would just cut the hall light on to my hall. I started noticing that when I walked down the hall, I had this really distinct feeling of dread just out of nowhere. And I would never visually see anything, like with my eyes. But it was the same sensory perception that I had experienced before. Eventually, I kind of became consciously aware of it, whereas it had been kind of subconsciously kind of pushed down. And then as I would walk down the hall, it seemed almost like every dark classroom window I walked by, it was like there was something peeking at me or peering again. I couldn't see anything. But I'd like to think that I know the difference between stress and paranoia and dark forces. But I'm a Christian, so the only thing I could think to do in this situation was I'd be walking down these halls at night. I'd start praying in my head, and it seemed to help for periods of time, and it would eventually come back. One night, near the end of my habit of staying late, I walked down my hall, which was lit, the adjacent hall. And I could never get the light to turn on the hall. And as I reached the door to the teacher's lounge, I heard a very distinct rolling sound, which I recognized as a rolling backpack that one of my older really, really sweet co workers used. So I called out to her, which was so stupid, because the hall that it was coming from, her hallway was absolutely pitch black. I know she wasn't up there. Mine was the only car in the parking lot. So I darted into the teacher's lounge because the sound was getting closer. And I stayed in there quite a while. And I eventually came out, and there was no more rolling sound. The last night I worked late, I was in my classroom at my desk, which was directly across from the door. And I was on the phone with my boyfriend at the time. For some reason, I'd left the hallway light off, so it was pitch black and my door was open. I was in the middle of a conversation with my boyfriend. And I remember just stopping just out of nowhere. It just hit me this Feeling and I glanced towards the door and it was the same feeling of dread, but it was so much stronger. And somehow I was like completely, totally aware that there was something coming up the hallway towards my class. No sound, nothing visually nothing. But I could feel it. And it was almost as if I could see some sort of black cloud or just a cloud coming into my classroom. I can't really describe it because my eyes didn't register anything, but my body felt it. My hair was on end. Adrenaline, pure terror, like the kind that makes you speechless. But whatever it was coming into my classroom, it was drifting towards me slowly. So I guess my Christian upbringing just kind of took over. I was still on the phone, but I jumped up and I just started praying aloud. I don't even remember what I said. I was always taught that the name of Jesus has power over all forces. So I imagine I told it to leave in Jesus name. It didn't disappear, it didn't stop. It just kind of dissipated. I felt that it dissipated and it drifted towards me, but to my right. And it seemed like it kind of drifted and went through the window. I don't remember getting off the phone. I don't remember driving home. I went to school the next day and taught and everything I told my mom and I broke down crying when I told her. My mom told me that because schools, they carry the energy of innocent lives, evil things want those lives for themselves. And she asked me to talk to my granny, which is her mom and who's as close to the Lord as any pastor. I feel she legit gave me like a 5 inch cross and told me to go into my empty classroom and cast them out again. So that's what I did. I went in my classroom before school, held the cross and I prayed and I cast them out. And I was standing below a light fixture in my room. And the minute right when I used the name Jesus the first time the light fixture above me went out. And afterwards maintenance workers could never get that light to work again. They changed bulbs, ballasts, nothing. And I finally told them just to leave it. I guess that was the evil things last. Screw you. On the way out of my classroom. I don't know. Most of the negative things that were happening surrounding my job subsided after that. But I never shade light there again. I told a brief matter of fact version of this to a few of my students and they told me that their parents who helped me, soccer and football, whatever, they've talked about hearing voices up there in the past to the point that a lot of them won't go in there at night. I left that school after one year. Actually got a job at the school where I graduated high school. I've been there for almost seven years. I've worked pretty late there many times. I've never been afraid. I've never been paranoid or looking over my shoulder. Never. Coincidentally, my mom, not long after I left this first school, she got a job at the elementary. She was actually the principal on the same campus as the high school. And she's talked about different places. They're having weird feelings. I was actually up there visiting her one time after hours, just kind of walking around with her. It was just after dark and I was with her. She asked me to stand outside of the auditorium at the door while she cut the lights off. And I had the same feeling. Not as strong, just a weird, uncomfortable feeling. And she could feel it, too. We didn't talk about it really, but she was kind of pale when she came in from kind of cutting the lights off in the auditorium. So. Thank you, Derek, for everything that you do take care of.

Derek Hayes (60:07)

Thank you, J.L. a laundry list of examples to help prove my point that most schools are haunted. And before I introduce this final caller, we already ran down some of the top haunted colleges in the country. Now let's do schools. The following list is not in any particular order and was pulled from the website lovetono.com and again, these are in no particular order. Tennessee High School in Bristol, Tennessee. The most infamous ghost connected to Tennessee High is Agnes, a young woman whose car was struck by a train on her way to a formal event at the school. Students claim to see the woman in white roaming the hallways, as well as a phantom train, supposedly the one that killed Agnes, that barrels through the gymnasium and down the hallway. Then we have El Paso High School in El Paso, Texas. Paranormal reports from this school include the ghostly apparition of a football player who broke his neck running along the sidelines at home games, unexplainable goo dripping from the ceilings, and the ghostly visage of a young woman jumping from the balcony before disappearing below. And finally, we have the Elizabeth V. Edwards school in Barnegat, N.J. sitting vacant since 2004. The school is home to a ghostly school arm wearing a floral dress, unplugged phones ringing off the hook, and the apparition of a former student, Lizzy, who likes to slam lockers, turn lights on and off, and blare music from the 1940s. Well, that is quite the list. And a few of those entries I never even heard of. And if you happen to have gone to any of these schools and have an experience you'd like to share, we would love to hear from you. Now folks, don't forget to visit our shop where you can pick up the brand new Halloween design by the amazingly talented Sam Hymer. Visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Shop tab to partake. And don't forget, if you want a hoodie, we only do an order once a year and you can pre order yours now until the 22nd of August. Again, visit the shop for details. And a huge thanks to everyone that supports the show by purchasing gear. It's a great way to spread the word about the show and it helps us make a couple of bucks as well. Alright, it's time for tonight's closer Back to the dorms. We go for this one. Please welcome Anonymous out of the Midwest.

Gabrielle (63:08)

Hi Derek, I would prefer to remain anonymous.

Derek Hayes (63:11)

I'm from the Midwest and during college in my last year I lived in a house that I was extremely uncomfortable with at all times. I just always felt like somebody was watching me. Just never felt comfortable there to the point where I had a full year lease and I only stayed there for maybe a month before I just moved my stuff out and couldn't stay there anymore. And during the month that I lived there I was really trying to just like force myself to get comfortable. And one time when I was in the kitchen I was making dinner, I had something in the microwave and you know like when the microwave beeps if you don't open the door it just kind of continues to beep here and there that was happening and so it was beeping and beeping and then all of a sudden I hear someone stay beep and I turned around so fast because I thought it was my roommate and she wasn't there. And then I looked outside because I mean we're in a college town so I thought somebody was like just being weird outside or something and I did not see anything and it was so clear as day that I was like, I know either the ghost has a great sense of humor and was making fun of the fact that I didn't open my microwave fast enough stuff or what. So that was just kind of a creepy thing. And we also had some break ins in the house that we were never able to attribute to any real person breaking in. But we would hear like muffled voices outside all the time. So it just wasn't a very comfortable place to live. So that's my story. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks.

Derek Hayes (64:51)

Thank you caller for the tail. Well folks, there you have it. Back to school the creepy way. A big thanks to all of tonight's callers and a huge thanks to you for taking the time to join us here this evening. The Monsters Among Us is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes, copyright Red Crow Media. Additional support is provided by Sarah Carter Hayes, Delaney Bowers and Connor Ryan. All media used in this production is done so under the protection of fair use. Give us a like and follow on our Instagram, on our Facebook and join the Facebook group while you're at it. We would also appreciate a like and follow over at YouTube and leave us a rate and review wherever that sort of thing is possible. Now you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the UNAX Digital Network Network. Just visit onyxnetwork.com to tune in. And finally, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Code AG Music and Carl Casey at Whitebat Audio. Now don't forget to watch our film Shadows in the desert. Go to borregotriangle.com to tune in. And before I go, don't forget you can get all kinds of extra content over in the Beyond. Just visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab. All right folks, I'll catch you all back here on Thursday for a brand new installment. But until then, keep it spooky and have a good night.

Derek Hayes (66:37)

Sam how do you make an Airbnb a vrbo? Picture a vacation rental with a host.

Gabrielle (67:09)

Who'S showing you every room like you've.

Derek Hayes (67:12)

Never seen a house before. Now get rid of them.

Gabrielle (67:15)

There you go.

Derek Hayes (67:15)

No host ever. Now it's a vrbo.

Gabrielle (67:18)

Make it a vrbo.

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Derek Hayes (68:32)

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