Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Why do old buildings rouse fear in people? Ghost stories have been children’s favorites for centuries. On a deep level, people like to be scared.
A dark vacant floor sits atop Balentine Hall. On this eerie floor, lights seem to go on by themselves and mysterious people are heard walking about.
As was discovered last week, University of Maine students do not lack imagination. Rumors abound, UMaine students share their ghost stories with each other like herpes.
According to Balentine Residents, the fourth floor of Balentine is occupied by the ghost of Ma Balentine. Ma Balentine was once the matron of the residence hall when it was all-girls. The matron would ask her female residents to escort their male callers out of the hall after hours since males were not allowed to spend the night.
Allegedly, Ma Balentine said that if the hall ever became co-ed, she would haunt all the male residents.
Morgan Brunbauer, a third-floor resident, explained his experience in Balentine. “I see lights flickering on at odd hours, when there wouldn’t be any [custodial staff] working.” He went on to say that he also heard footsteps from the deserted fourth floor during the day, but conceded that it was probably just the facilities management.
Yin Chiu, another third-floor resident, recounted her experience after moving to Balentine. “My first day freshman year, I was in bed. I heard footsteps and just thought it was my roommate.” However, after the door closed, Chiu noted her roommate was soundly asleep in her own bed. Chiu also said she had occasionally heard unexplainable whispers.
Other incidents have occurred in the hall as well, explained Brian Franklin. He claimed he was walking past a soda machine and it “spat a frozen soda at me . After nine, she comes out and haunts the men of the dorm.”
Since the fourth floor seemed to be the hot zone for paranormal activity, a visit to the locked floor was arranged. Since access to the floor was prohibited, an escort was required from Property Management.
Once in the abandoned floor, the signs of disuse were everywhere; every horizontal was coated in a visible layer of dust.
As Joe Caron and Gordon Nelson led the group through the dark corridors, the scene was slightly disappointing. There were no looming figures, no bloodstained carpets, no footsteps heard. In fact, it looked like any other resident living space on campus.
Rooms were filled with old junk, from old mattresses and bedsprings to a half-dozen toilets no longer connected to the pipes that once gave them life.
Perhaps the largest oddity of the fourth floor excursion was a fallen mirror. In the thick dust layer was scrawled, “Boo, boo to you!” For some reason, this grubby, ghostly reminder did not inspire fear. Instead, it added a hint of humor to the experience.
As creepy as the fourth floor of Balentine Hall may be, the only conclusion to make of the allegedly haunted residence hall is that it is not haunted.
Perhaps Ma Balentine doesn’t inspire fear of non-residents, perhaps the spirit doesn’t mind an investigatory intrusion – but probably more accurate is that the fourth floor of Balentine, closed off from residents for several years, is merely an unoccupied floor in an old hall. Clangs of pipes and flickering lights are just a sign of age, not of a poltergeist infestation. Balentine Hall may be haunted, but from a personal perspective, it seems the hall is old, creaky and full of character.
