Haunted USJ Part II: Who Goes There?

Written by Crista Fiala

Last week, the USJ News Nest covered student and alumni accounts of the strange and haunted happenings in the dorm attics (Click here to read). Katie (Stans) Stack (Class of 2013) left readers wondering, “If there could be ghosts in the attics, could they also be found roaming elsewhere on campus?” This article explores the different locations where witnesses recall they have experienced something supernatural, from the lower levels of the dorms to the outside of campus buildings.  

This article is the second installment of the Haunted USJ series. If you still have more stories to tell or have a reaction to the stories in this article, it is not too late to reach out! Email me, Crista Fiala, at [email protected]. 

Current student Olivia Oakley (Class of 2026) recalls her time working on the third floor of Assumption Hall when she felt someone or something else was with her: 

“I was working for ‘rez life’ prepping the dorms over the summer. One day, our assignment was to remove the emergency exit signs on the backs of all the room doors. I was in Assumption with someone else, but when I got to the third floor, they left to go to a different building. I knew there was no one else in the building and that there wouldn’t be anyone coming back to the building. I knew I was alone. 306 is the single room on the third floor. It has a hallway leading to the bathroom in it, so you can’t see the bathroom or down the hallway from the door of the room. Even though I knew I was alone, it felt like something was behind me, and because I couldn’t see the whole room, the idea that anything could be there got into my head. I then started getting more freaked out at the idea that I didn’t know what was in the next room, and every time I stopped to scrape the signs off the doors, I felt like something or someone was right behind me. I wanted to scream. The more I thought about it, the more I noticed every sound in the building: the machines in the attic sounded like vacuums, the crackling of the fire alarms, the creaking of the doors. Eventually, I swear I heard doors slamming on my floor and the others. I knew I was alone, or at least should have been. As soon as I removed the last sign, I ran out of the building. The whole time it felt like I was being chased. After, any time we were told that one of us had to go the Assumption third floor, I told someone else to do it. I NEVER want to go to that floor again.” 

While Oakley talks about how she felt something chase her all the way out of Assumption, Claire Côté (class of 2007) presents us with some rumors circulating around during her time as an undergraduate that attempted to explain why these dorms might be so haunted: 

“I lived at Catherine’s Court for two years. Even though you knew there was history there, as well as some of the original Sisters, it was only until I went over to Madonna that there were stories of suicide committed by students and visitors and talks of ghostly happenings. I always thought the rooms were creepy, but that was because of the Mickey Mouse wallpaper, as those dorms were used by former students and their families.”

Oakley and Côté’s stories would imply that, if there are any ghosts, they only remain within the confines of the dorms. Leslie Ann Landry (Class of 1985), however, tells how she not only felt a supernatural presence inside her dorm but outside as well:  

“I saw a figure dressed in a cloak in the vacant field on the hill by the trees where the health center is now, and it just stood there blowing in the wind, then vanished. The basement in Mercy Hall was always eerie. I felt like someone was watching me when I did laundry.” 

The last issue mentioned that some of the oldest dorms on campus are Assumption, Madonna, McAuley, and Rosary Hall. They were built in the 1950s and 60s. Although no longer a dorm today, Mercy Hall was once partially used as a dorm and is much older than these current dorm buildings. Mercy Hall’s construction predates the 1934-1936 construction of USJ’s campus. Janice Deshais (Class of 1980, DAA’97) recounts how some students may have come to believe in the presence of ghosts in the oldest building on campus: 

“When I was a resident in Mercy Hall in the late 1970s, probably 1978 or so, we convinced at least a few of the freshmen and other new residents that the ‘Smith Apartment’ at the end of the second floor was haunted. We staged sightings and noises that set up our prank, which was, I have to say, pretty convincing. I wonder if some are still convinced.” 

Whether a prank, rumor, or authentic supernatural experience, each person and their stories present terrifyingly haunting experiences. The perception of what is actually happening in each of these stories, however, lies with the readers. If ghosts reside on campus, the USJ News Nest can only leave the readers to decide for themselves.  

Thank you to all the alumni and students who have shared their stories with the USJ News Nest!