The moon was full last Friday as I walked to Dana Auditorium. The mood was eerie, and the fact that I was going to hear a legitimate ghost story from a Public Safety officer made it all the more strange.
I met with Officer Mike Lane at Dana to hear his story of a supernatural incident he had witnessed a few years ago, and it was startling to say the least.
“I came in to close Dana around 2:00 a.m.” said Lane. “When I got to room 114, I heard three lines of a harmonica being played. It stopped when I knocked on the door. I opened the door to find nothing in there except a piano and a dark room.”
Even stranger than that, Lane came back the following Monday with a colleague to check out the same room that had the harmonica playing.
“We came into the same room around the same time to check it out again,” he said. “We found nothing, but when I closed the door, a light fixture fell at my feet, nearly striking me, and missed me by that much,” he added as he gestured a few inches.
I was deeply unsettled by this news, as Lane does not seem to be the type to fabricate such a story. So, I widened my look for the supernatural and found one person who knew something about spirits that dwell here.
Initiative on Faith and Practice Gifts Discernment Coordinator Frank Massey has a profound belief in the ghosts that live here and has even talked to them on occasion.
“I prefer to call them ‘spirits,’” said Massey. “I have experienced ghosts here in Dana. One in particular is Lucas, a Revolutionary war–era ghost who I have talked to in the past. He is perturbed by students who are not respectful of this place.”
I must say I was stunned at Massey’s nonchalance at discussing the concrete existence of ghosts so easily and unremarkably. But, I looked into his eyes and saw that he was a quite sane individual.
“Some of these spirits are waiting to communicate with people who pass through here,” said Massey. “Some of the spirits are guarding something that existed before Dana. I don’t know for certain, but I think they are guarding a thin spot where communication between realms is easier.”
I recorded this conversation. When I left Massey, I listened back to the recording and what I heard shook me. The room was silent when we spoke — only a hint of music played in the background because we were in Dana, but there was a whistling recorded on my device. It would come and go throughout our 20-minute talk, but I assure you, there was no such sound when I was in the room.
After being scared out of mind at that creepy whistling, I wanted to get an idea of the places that house spirits here, so I contacted Director of the Friends Center and Campus Ministry Coordinator Max Carter via email.
“The three places supposedly haunted are Dana (reputedly haunted by ‘Lucas,’ a Revolutionary War soldier); Mary Hobbs Hall (NOT a student who died in the Hobbs fire — nobody died in that fire!); and the former WQFS station in Founders,” said Carter.
I searched Hobbs for anything strange, but I found nothing except a group of girls wondering why I was in a girl’s dormitory. In Dana, I tried calling out to Lucas to see if he answered, but besides looking quite strange, I again found nothing worthy of reporting. I do not know what I would have done if I did, but these stories are something that a true skeptic like me has found troubling.
