Investigating the haunting of Ceres and Minard Hall
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Are the campus buildings really haunted?
Stories about the haunting of Ceres and Minard Hall have been passed down from generation to generation.
Urban myths and college horror stories have lived on throughout the decades, but it seems as though it’s not until someone has experienced something first hand that the belief of paranormal activity comes into play.
MINARD HALL
The root of the haunting stories in Minard involve students dying in the building’s elevator.
Kristi Stahl and Paul Emch, both grad students of anthropology, said there have been apparent ‘encounters’ with ghosts on every floor in the 105-year-old building.
Faculty on the bottom level of Minard have heard a “sick and twisted laugh,” leading some to believe the “laughing ghost” is dwelling in the basement.
“ Old man ghost” is said to be lurking around on the second floor due to numerous reported images of an old man seen in the reflection of many glass cases.
On the north end of the third floor, an eerie whistle has been heard on separate occasions, creating the idea that “whistling ghost” haunts the third floor.
Custodian and former graduate student of NDSU, Paul Froeschle, doesn’t buy the legends involving Minard Hall.
“ There’s a lot of dead, open space up there and a lot of bats, which both naturally give rise to stories,” Froeschle said. “But, I’m the batman in this neck of the woods.”
A large area on the top floor of Minard is blocked off to all students and contains a dance floor and cages, which were once used for science experiments performed on animals.
CERES HALL
Ceres Hall, on the other hand, has actually been investigated and identified as a spirit-infested building.
Ceres was initially going to be named after the first female student of NDSU, Jesamine Slaughter.
Plans changed when the trustees realized that the name of the hall would be Slaughter Hall.
Another story involved a girl hanging herself by a basketball hoop net after her basketball-playing boyfriend decided to end their relationship.
To this day, a light remains on in a window in Ceres Hall at all times in the room this incident allegedly occurred.
Allyn Kostecki, director of Trio Programs, took part in a story that WDAY did last year on Ceres.
The Northwest Minnesota Paranormal Society was hired to explore the haunted areas of the building while using a medium called an EVP.
“ We went through the building and they did, in fact, find spirits in lots of places in the building,” Kostecki said. “The medium also found a cold spot. They told me to feel the area and sure enough, there was a definite cold spot.”
“ An area that has a notably colder spot” is a common sign of a haunting, according to the NWMPS.
The Paranormal Society used an electromagnetic field reader to tape record any odd sounds for 24 hours.
When the tape was evaluated, WDAY reporter Chris Kallal said, “There were actually three different voices heard on the tape. One voice, recorded on the tape said, “Here they come … ”
Kostecki said, “A previous boss I had swore up and down that his door slammed shut one night and he couldn’t open it. After awhile, the door slowly creaked open.”
Kostecki also mentioned that a couple years ago, a man was walking toward the elevator after business hours when he saw a strange man waiting in front of it.
“ He couldn’t really see the person’s face and didn’t recognize him as anyone that worked in the building. The elevator door opened and the person got on the elevator,” Kostecki said. “He then went onto to say that the doors shut, reopened and the man was no longer visible. The guy was sure that he had seen a ghost and swore that the story was true.”
Although the haunting of both buildings can never be completely proven, Minard and Ceres have given Halloween at NDSU a spooky spin for students to look forward year after year.