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Urbana High School is supposedly haunted. photo by Paul Habeeb

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English Building »
Address: 608 S. Wright St. Urbana, IL 61801
Phone:
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Allerton Park and Retreat Center »
Address: 515 Old Timber Road Monticello, IL 61856
Phone: (217) 333-3287
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Urbana High School »
Address: 1002 S. Race St. Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 384-3505
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Natural Resources Building »
Address: 607 E. Peabody Drive Champaign, IL 61820
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Have you ever gotten that creepy, crawly feeling walking through campus or around town? And no, I’m not talking about the soybean aphids and lady beetles that have been promenading about your epidermis. This is a different feeling, like someone is watching you or something in the air just doesn’t seem right. Sounds crazy, but you’d be surprised to know that our very own CU community boasts a fair share of stories and legends about ghosts, goblins and ghouls. And many of these terrifying tales occur in places you’ve probably frequented or at least heard of. Here are just a few local places where you can justify your goose bumps as more than just a chill in the air.

English Building

In the early 1900s, this building served as a women’s dormitory and had a swimming pool in the basement. The story goes that a girl drowned in the swimming pool and her ghost has since been haunting the building. “Some of the maintenance workers that I spoke to said they have witnessed the girl’s presence,” said Mary Davis, an officer of Admissions and Records in LAS. “They have heard very heavy doors close by themselves, even when there was no wind or no one else around.”

Students also report an eerie feeling when roaming the building at night.

“The bathroom in the basement has a creepy feel, because it looks like a pool locker room,” said Amanda Steffenhagen, junior in LAS. “Every time I’m there, I freak myself out.”

Clements Cemetery Urbana, IL

Cemeteries are notorious for hauntings and this one, and Clements Cemetery, located at High Cross and Illinois Airport Road, is no exception. The story of this ghost has been around for over 150 years. In 1841, the body of the man was found hanging from a tree. Ever since then, he has been said to appear (only during a full moon) as a blue, translucent colored personage.

Allerton Mansion, Allerton Park

There have been many reports of a “Lady in White,” the ghost of a woman believed to inhabit the mansion. People say she has been seen walking around the pond in the gardens, and many guests have reported hearing footsteps in an otherwise empty hallway. According to old photos, this woman was a frequent guest of the mansion and a close friend of Robert Allerton, the man who built the mansion. However, some say that she is not the only ghots who haunts the grounds. “I worked and lived in the house from 1975 to 1981 and definitely had to become friends with the other ghosts,” said Atron Regen, previous night manager of the mansion.

Urbana High School

Legend has it that the Tower of the local high school is home to a ghoulish inhabitant. According to the high school’s website, the most accepted story is that a love-struck teacher hung herself from the tower, and has since haunted it. Although there have been no reports of seeing any actual ghosts, many have attested to experiencing a weird feeling while in the tower. A teacher that used to have a class there said that on breezy days the wind would blow the false ceiling upwards in a very violent manner, exposing the real ceiling.

YMCA on Wright & Chalmers

This haunting has a very “Illini” feel. “Rumor has it that there is a Native American ghost here,” said Betty Earle, the Director of Operations at the YMCA. Although Earle has not encountered the ghost personally, stories say that the painting of a Native American man located on the first floor is more than some acrylics on canvas. At night, the ghost of the man comes out of the painting and supposedly walks about the Y.

Natural Resources Building

Located near Hope Cemetery on the South Quad, this building has some less-than-natural activity going on at night. Students that worked there late at night reported that the elevator would mysteriously come from the upper floor, stop on the ground floor and the doors would open. Although this can be seemingly contributed to mechanical error, the same students that encountered this strange behavior said that it did not occur in the day, only at night.