Folklore
Simpkins Hall, home of the English and Journalism departments, has long been believed to be haunted by the ghost of an adolescent child, in a large part due to its former use as a training school. Simpkins is also said to be haunted by “Harold,” a former janitor or graduate assistant who lurks among the classrooms on the third floor and in the Writing Center. Students have reported hearing the disembodied sound of keys jingling, doors opening and closing, or a typewriter clicking, rattle the nerves of even the most seasoned educator. Another story circulating the hall is that of a woman who can be heard crying in the first floor restroom. Bayliss, Tanner, Thompson, and Washington residents halls have their own ghost stories, all of which are based on unsubstantiated student deaths ranging from suicides to accidents. In Washington Hall, for instance, a girl supposedly ended her life after a fight with her boyfriend. According to the storytellers, the phone in her former room rings even though no one is on the line.
Read more about this topic: Western Illinois University
Famous quotes containing the word folklore:
“So, too, if, to our surprise, we should meet one of these morons whose remarks are so conspicuous a part of the folklore of the world of the radio—remarks made without using either the tongue or the brain, spouted much like the spoutings of small whales—we should recognize him as below the level of nature but not as below the level of the imagination.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Someday soon, we hope that all middle and high school will have required courses in child rearing for girls and boys to help prepare them for one of the most important and rewarding tasks of their adulthood: being a parent. Most of us become parents in our lifetime and it is not acceptable for young people to be steeped in ignorance or questionable folklore when they begin their critical journey as mothers and fathers.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)