The Haunting

By Sarah Johnson Catalyst

Send comments to: catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Maricopa Hall is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a girl who committed suicide. She was the daughter of a UA president who lived in the mansion before it became residence hall. Spooky isn't it?

Belle of the Hall

Ghost story still haunts Maricopa

The daughter was so devastated that she turned to suicide. Although no one knows for sure how she died, rumors have said that she hanged herself.

Residents of the hall from the past years have claimed to seeing her ghastly image floating around the dorm, playing the piano, or having felt her presence in the hallways. They say the ghost is there to watch over the girls who live in the hall.

Greg Ziebell, assistant director of residence life, doesn't believe in ghosts. In fact, he confirms that Maricopa Hall was never a president's mansion. It was proposed in 1918 that a hall be built for women only, and by June 1920 Maricopa Hall had its first set of residents. While the president did have a mansion, the house was torn down when Gila Hall was built in its place.

Even if there is absolutely no truth to the legend of the young woman's suicide, many Maricopa residents have reported a presence shares the building with them. "Sightings" of a female apparition are, apparently, a semi-regular occurrence in the dorm.

Wendi Fusler, systems and industrial engineering sophomore and resident assistant at Maricopa, always seems wary about doing her rounds in the hall basement, where people have claimed to have seen "Her."

When Fusler checks the basement bathrooms, she hopes, "Please, nothing come out of it."

Some say the "ghost" resembles a lady in a portrait which hangs in the lobby of the hall. Earlier this semester, a few residents thought it would be funny to remove the painting from its place. That night a resident had a horrible nightmare which woke up the entire sleeping porch.

Coincidence? - biray alsac

Haunted halls of Congress?

Hotel Congress downtown, nearly 80 years old, is one such place considered by many, including former guests and current members of the housekeeping staff, to be haunted. The building's appearance certainly invites some kind of spooky suspicion; the old wooden floors and stairs creek, antiques fill every room, the hallways wind around sometimes dark corners.

"Whenever there's a suicide in a room, people get to feel funny about it," said hotel manager Mary Ann Brazil, who has not personally drawn any conclusions about some of the things that reportedly go bump in the Congress night. "There have been times when the housekeepers have been really scared, really wigged out by some of the rooms, but I've never really felt anything."

One room rumored to "really wig out" guests and staff is Room 242. A few years ago, a "kinda nutty" woman who'd been living in the hotel for a few months shot herself in the bathroom, after an lengthy standoff with police and a SWAT team. Some feel that the room still bears some karmic residue from the episode, citing strange changes in temperature, electrical interference and a general creepy vibe.

"There have been times," Brazil says, "when I've noticed impressions of light and movement that seem strange. Seeing swing doors, light move in the hallways, it does make you wonder, especially when you're alone in the lobby."

And while Brazil feels the most likely cause of such phenomena is just visual illusion rather than otherwordly presence, past Congress managers have taken the matter a bit more seriously.

"We had one manager with a Shaman friend," she says. "He came through, burning cedar, trying to cleanse the place. He focused on the men's room in the hallway, which is really small and crummy."

It's no surprise that a cubicle-sized space where often inebriated men share precious toilet time would be the most psychically confused area of Hotel Congress. Or perhaps it's that nature always calls, even to the dead. - laura bond

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat You may hear strange horse-like noise coming from Centennial Hall. Rumor has it a ghost hangs around backstage. That is a spooky statue isn't it?

High-brow ghosts prefer Centennial Hall

Rumor has it that ghosts have haunted Centennial Hall for about six years.

Patrice Kennedy, the event coordinator at Centennial Hall, confirms this rumor and admits to having seen these ghosts. One young man ghost, in his 20s, about 6-foot-2 inches tall, sometimes wanders backstage and sits on the catwalk, Kennedy said. He has also been heard making strange horse-like noises.

The other ghost is a lady. Kennedy has seen parts of her dress and only felt her presence. Sometimes Kennedy has heard the ghost carrying conversations in the auditorium's vestibule. The lady ghost seems to wander about mainly during classical performances.

Kennedy suspects the ghosts are good spirited because she never gets the feeling that they want to do any harm. Despite this assumption, one custodian was pushed down the stairs by one of the ghosts, said Kennedy, who saw the custodian's bruises after the incident. Another custodian has refused to work at Centennial and several others try not to stay there alone at night.

No one knows why these "ghosts" exist or where they came from.

"They seem to like the performing arts and they feel comfortable being here," Kennedy said.

This year the ghosts have kept quiet, but we all know Halloween is just around the corner... - biray alsac

Fright Castle

Upon entering the castle-like structure, which, at the landlord's request must remain nameless, one feels as if they have entered a film set with a strange combination of "Rob Roy" and "The People Under The Stairs." Bare wires hang from the ceiling and the floor is covered with a worn, brown carpet. Formerly a tuberculosis hospital that burned to the ground, the castle was reconstructed as a convent before its incredibly short existence as a frat house. It now stands as a popular apartment complex. However, old ghost stories die hard.

The apartments found within the turret at the corner are ensconced in the only original part of the building. It's said that any couple residing there together has broken up before the housing lease is up. Is this due to spiritual interference or a change in '90s romantic trends? Many link it to the spiritual. "I've known two committed and loving couples who have lived in the turret. They've both broken up directly after moving in," said Ma Boonyea, a UA English senior. Spooky.

A rumored ghost cat also dwells within one of the ground floor apartments.

"One night I saw a cat run from the entry way into my closet," said Jeff Dufriend, a Pima student.

"I thought it was my cat, Magic. But when I looked up, there's Magic on the beam right above me."

Jeff isn't alone in his sighting. Many visitors have seen this ghost cat, including Jeff's brother Frank.

Former tenant Lisa Lopez has experienced ghostly encounters of her own.

"My friends and I were having a seance in my apartment one night when all of a sudden it got really cold," said Lopez, adding that an apparition - a woman in white - approached one of her friends in the corridor.

As for the building's owner, he prefers to be left out of it.

"There are no ghosts in this building," said the landlord. "In all my years owning this building, I have yet to see a ghost."

Whether these sightings are real or just the result of one too many all-nighters, I won't say. I'll leave that kind of detective work to Dionne Warwick and her psychic friends.