Skip to main content

UTM's own urban legends

A look into ‘haunted’ buildings


For anyone interested in a good ghost story for Halloween on Thursday, look no further than the UTM campus.

The best known “haunt” on campus is Clement Hall. Clement was built in the late 1950s as a girls’ dorm. It was then used by football players until around 1996. The building is still in use today.

The north side of the fourth floor is rumored to be haunted because a female committed suicide in the community bathroom. Local legend has it to be inhabited by something unexplainable.

Visitors who have been on the fourth floor have reported strange happenings such as flickering lights. The rod in shower stall number five is bent and strange noises are heard in and around the community bathroom.

Another weird sighting is in the main hallway, on the door of room 452. At first glance, it appears to be normal. On closer examination, the top right corner and the bottom of the door appears to have splatters of blood on it. Could it be human blood?

“I’ve heard creepy noises like heaters turning off and on, but that is about it,” said Maintenance Manager Terry Boyd, who works in Clement.

A common building rumored to be haunted across college campuses are buildings with a theatre.

UTM is no exception to this rumor with our very own Fine Arts building.

According to Ms. Tomi McCutchen-Parrish, she’s had a haunting experience one evening during her undergraduate years at UTM.

“I was studying with two other girls late one night in the Fine Arts building,” Parrish said. “It was quiet and we were supposedly alone.”

Parrish said that they heard a marumba being played. The three girls were a bit scared, so they split up to search for the ghostly marumba player. They met at the room where the marumba was and found it locked with the lights off.

“No one could have played the marumba and locked the room that quickly,” Parrish said. “We left very quickly after that.”

The next “spooky” place on campus is the third floor of Ellington Hall. Almost five years ago, a student was killed in a fire on the third floor.

According to volume 69, issue 15 edition of The Pacer, printed on Jan. 16, 1997, in the early morning hours of Jan. 11, 1997, a fire broke out on the floor.

Almost everyone escaped alive, except one resident, Jong-do Ki, “Ben,” was a 23- year-old student from Korea. He was asleep in his bed in room 305. His room was across from room 306, where the fire began.

When found, he was on the floor wrapped in blankets next to the window. He was given CPR but they were not able to revive him. He died of smoke inhalation.

Since then, students assigned to live in that room have claimed that it is haunted. Could it be the ghost of “Ben”?

The last known sighting on campus said to be inhabited by something unknown is McCord Hall, A-side.

Shannon Cagle, a freshman Psychology major from Union City, has had spooky experiences in her room.

Her experiences range from being locked in the bathroom while showering when no one else was in her suite, to having the feeling of being watched while laying in her bed studying.

Cagle was told that a girl hung herself in the same room in the 1980s.

Her first experience was during Freshman Studies week. She was on lunch break and alone in the suite. She was taking a shower and had left her bathroom door open. When she went to leave, not only was the door shut but locked as well.

She has had experiences where her radio has turned on and off and the volume went up.

While lying on her bed to study, Cagle says she feels like someone or something is watching her from atop her desk.

Sometimes, while at her desk, she feels like something is watching her from behind.

“Most of the strange things happen on this side [the window side] of my room,” said Cagle. “That side is where my bed is and where I keep my radio. The strange things happen all around the room.”

Are these places really haunted? See for yourself.

Article Image
Emily Vick

Hauntings occur at Clement Hall, the site where it is rumored a student had committed suicide. (Right) A “ghostly” image seen on the steps of a UTM building.