Being a student at Stevens is scary enough with the overwhelming Canvas notifications, mystery dining hall food, and horrific group projects — but campus has just gotten a lot scarier. Beginning the week of Halloween, reports came flooding in from campus residents, detailing missing staff and RAs, strange sounds, mysterious floods, and more. Reporters from The Stute decided to investigate these strange events, hoping to piece together how all of this was connected.
In an interview with The Stute, one resident noted, “I noticed all of the geese, you know the ones that lurk near Palmer, were acting differently. Their eyes were glowing red and they kept chasing after anyone entering and leaving the dorms. Even the rabbits on campus were being weird. I usually see them chilling in the grass at night but now their eyes are also all red and they actively try to prevent us from getting into our dorms.”
Another resident recalled, “In Jonas, the basement started flooding, which really sucks for everyone who lives there. Around the time that happened, I was in the elevator and it lurched to a stop before it even reached my floor. Everything went dark for a moment. I heard faint whispers chanting something, and suddenly, the walls started closing in. I repeatedly slammed the ‘door open’ button and managed to escape but since then, the elevator has been out of service.”
Other residents from across all of the freshman dorms shared similar stories of hearing voices in the halls, seeing the laundry rooms flood, animals, particularly mice and lanternflies, acting strangely, and other bizarre occurrences such as roommates suddenly disappearing and keys going missing.
Disturbed by these accounts, reporters decided to visit the UCC towers — the on-campus housing with the most reports of supernatural happenings. Curiously, tower residents reported being unable to enter the building and many noticed their DuckCards had completely vanished without a trace. One resident observed, “The turnstiles open for no one. Whenever we do see them open, there’s no one there! We hear the familiar ‘ding’ and the whir of the motors, but can’t see anyone actually going through. We’ve just been hopping the turnstiles instead — don’t tell RDS.”
Additional paranormal activity plaguing the towers was concentrated on the third floor. The bridge was obscured by a thick, spooky mist and within the mist, unfamiliar voices could be heard, urging students to leave and never return. Residents of the entire third floor were reported missing, and students on the remaining floors feared they could be next. Naturally, the third floor was where our brave reporters decided to go after sneaking into the building.
Joined by residents tired of living in fear, the reporters cautiously walked across the bridge, hoping to find clues to solve this mystery. Using flashlights to cut through the fog, this group of students found old newspaper clippings, clothing that seemed like it was from decades ago, and piles of old Stevens memorabilia around the bridge. As the group sifted through the items, voices called out, warning them to cease their searches and leave before it was too late. Undeterred, they plowed through the items, trying to uncover what was behind these dorm horrors.
Suddenly, a group of ghostly figures appeared in the mist. “LEAVE NOW,” they bellowed.
One resident retorted, “Who are you and why are you doing this?”
One of the ghosts explained, “We were all students at Stevens once. But our dorms were never as nice as these. We didn’t get to live in nice buildings or a fancy tower full of lounges with Manhattan views. Since you’re also so ungrateful, we figured we’d steal your keys and DuckCards and control this campus.”
“Didn’t some of you literally live on a boat? Is that not a cool dorm!?”
“It didn’t last very long, and we want the dorms on land.”
“These are our dorms, not yours! We miss our friends and want them back. You can’t get away with this!”
“We already have.”
Before any further action could be taken, the ghosts drove everyone out of the building. While The Stute was able to solve this mystery, it is now up to the rest of Stevens to figure out how to fight back and end these dorm horrors.
