A
2005 Gallup
Poll revealed that a majority of the American people
believes in
ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. This attitude seems
to decline with age, however, with 45% of those 18-29 holding
such beliefs, compared with 22% for those over age 65. And
within that younger cohort attending college doesn't seem to
make much of a difference. Some would even say that higher
education intensifies the belief in ghosts. Indeed, many people
will meet a ghost for the first time in the dorm or the library
or lurking within the ivy.
"Haunted
Halls: Ghostlore of American College Campuses" is filled with
accounts of students being spooked, and of colleges and universities that play
host to a ghost. Some institutions even alert students to a paranormal presence.
The author is Dr.
Elizabeth Tucker, folklorist and associate professor of English
at Binghamton University, where she teaches a course in Folklore of the Supernatural.
She is also Faculty Master of student residences, which gives her additional
contact with students and their experiences. Her 2005 book, "Campus
Legends:
A Handbook" is a guide to collecting reports of the unexplained.
Ghostly
sightings fall into several categories (and folklorists are exacting about categorization
of types and motifs). Many are the shade of a student who
died violently. They may frighten, but some ghosts are gentle and protective.
They also seem to turn up on campuses everywhere. Dr. Tucker researched traditions
from around the country but also found abundant examples at colleges here in
upstate New York, a state and region that seems to be well
populated by ghosts.
- Both
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SUNY-Cortland and Mansfield University of Pennsylvania are haunted
by the ghost of female students who plunged to
their demise down an open stairwell. At Mansfield "Sara" landed
on the college seal, which is said to still vibrate
to the rhythm of the school's alma mater, which the
student
was singing
as she landed on the floor.
- Students
at the State University College at Oneonta report hearing the sound of
ghostly marbles rolling about on the dormitory
floor above them, allegedly a sign from a student who
committed suicide in her room.
- And at Professor
Tucker's own institution, "Gus" is
a ghost that haunts Sullivan Hall at Binghamton University.
He too was a suicide and his name was revealed by students
using a Ouija board.
The
themes recur of student suicide, attack by animals, death due
to foul weather conditions and despair over a lost love.
They are personal crises that an adolescent (or young adult)
can find overwhelming, and if the phenomenon is not readily
explainable the role it may play in personal development can
be surmised. "Narratives about apparitions in mirrors," writes
Dr. Tucker, "help students to explore a more mature sense
of self; both gender and sexuality are part of this exploration." Applying
theories of the psychologist Carl
Jung along with awareness
of "social context, gender and folk tradition" it
is possible to find examples of both the working of archetypes
and communication through storytelling. The ghosts may also
offer cautionary tales to students, providing a degree of supernatural
parental
control during the college years.
Elizabeth
Tucker comes to OFF THE PAGE to share ghost stories and the wisdom
of folklore with Bill Jaker, and to respond to listeners' questions and impressions
of the supernatural. To join in the 1:00 PM live broadcast call 888/359-9754
or post a message to WSKG.Radio@Gmail.com. |
NEXT TIME: On Tuesday, November 13th poet
and actress Betty K. Aberlin visits OFF THE PAGE to tell about "The
White Page Poems", 368 seven-line poems inspired by and
modeled after "The Diary of an Old Soul" by the 19th
century Scottish writer George MacDonald.
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