Short Horror Stories

Tales from Kent State

The Stopher Hall Suicide 

I used to attend Kent State for my undergrad from May 2000-May 2001. I also worked in student security for a year while I was attending classes. I had also heard from the other security officers about the hanging-suicide of a boy who was a depressed student.

In the room where the boy allegedly killed himself, there was a metal fire-sprinkler pipe secured to the ceiling; in case the room or building were to catch on fire, water would be pumped into the metal tube, the sprinklers would turn on, and water would be pumped into the room. So, the rumor went that the depressed boy pulled his KSU provided desk chair to the middle of the room, strung up a wire, made a noose, put his head through, kicked the chair from underneath himself, and died hanging there. This is the reason why none of the new dorms have that type of sprinkler system and the dorms that did were all replaced.

Anyway, it is said that if you stand outside Stopher Hall (which is a creepy building and is currently boarded up and closed...which is, of course, a cause of speculation all in itself), you can see the shadow of the boy hanging. "They" also say that you can hear the chair fall over and the sound of something heavy fall and the creaking of the floorboards and ceiling. Rumor goes that the room in which the boy killed himself was never cleaned up from the investigation because the investigation itself was never closed. It became a cold case. The room was just closed and locked and even after the building was shut down (1993), it remained the same.

Once, someone went into the very room where the boy killed himself and saw that the whole room was the same. He saw the chair kicked over on its side, police tape marking off the room, and the very wire that the boy hung himself from still attached to the ceiling, just hanging there.

He moved the chair back under the desk and walked out, leaving the door open as he left. It is said that no sooner did he take a step over the threshold of the door than it slammed shut behind him and he heard the sound of the chair being drug across the floor, followed by the sounds of someone moving about the room, and then the sound of the chair being kicked over again. When he turned and tried to open the door, it was locked. He pushed and the door opened and he saw that the chair was back in the middle of the room, kicked over directly under the noose, which was swaying. There was no breeze and no heater or air conditioning was turned on in the room. 

The Floating Face in Stopher Hall 

I live in Olson Hall at Kent State University. I've had some very scary ghost encounters in my life. Although this isn't the scariest, it happened at Kent.

My room looks out on the back side of Stopher Hall. An RA that has lived here has told me all kinds of stories about it, but I never belived in them. One night I was sitting outside with a friend and we noticed a white sheet hanging on the outside of a fourth story window. It is odd that a blanket would have been hanging out a closed window in and of itself. The next morning I was walking to class and noticed that it was gone. Over the next few days I watched as the sheet appeared and disappeared.

On the second night of the lunar eclipse me and the same friend went to check out what was going on. As we got close to the builing I noticed that you could see through the windows out to the other side. As my friend and I were pressed against the window to look in, we saw a smiling face apear in the middle of the room and then a bright white light. We took off running around the front of the building, and I ran into a friend who wanted to check it out. So I took her to the place where I saw the face, and it was gone.

We decided to walk around the builing to see what was in these rooms we have all heard so much about. We went through the building, looking in each room with a small flashlight, and didn't see anything really creepy except a light which glowed green.

As we started our journey back we noticed a room that didn't look the same as it did our first time around. There were curtains in the window, and it looked to be occupied. Curious, we appraoched the room. Then the face reappeared; it was smiling from ear to ear and floating in the middle of the room.

More than a little freaked out, we took off. We ran back to Olson Hall and began to tell the story to my roommate. We had noticed a few wierd things going on in our room previous to this night. As we stood in the middle of the room talking to my roommate (who had been sleeping), the TV turned off. Thinking she rolled on the remote, I laughed at her. But the remote was in the basket across the room. Thinking it was possible that we blew a fuse in the room she ran out and flipped the switch, causing everything in the room to turn off once and then turn back on. We watched my computer turn on and off several times, sign me on-line then put up away messages and turn back off. My CD player began turning on and off and turning the volume up and down. The CD tray opened, spun around a few times, and then began spitting CDs across the room. My alarm clock was counting down from 99:59. I ripped it out of the wall and ran out of the room, and as we ran out the door slammed shut. Needless to say, we don't sleep here much and are working on a room change. 

Hauntings in Van Campen Hall 

This is my second year living in Van Campen and I myself have heard some rather odd things, besides the stories that other residents have told me. If you've heard any stories from people at OU, you have probably heard of "marble sound." It sounds like someone is dropping marbles onto the floor above you and letting them bounce and roll. I've heard this sound coming from my ceiling (I live on the 2nd floor). I heard this sound last year as well...even when the room above mine was unoccupied. (I live in the same room as I did last year). As for the other stories from VC, most of them happen on 3rd, although my RA this year (she also lives on the 3rd floor) heard giggling inside her room one night that was unexplainable, as there was no one else in the building.

A couple of my guy friends from last year lived up on 3rd. They had moved in early because they'd taken some summer courses and they're both from out of state, so they just moved their stuff in instead of going home for the two weeks before fall semester started up. The important thing being that besides these two guys, the only person living in the building was our RA from last year, and at the time this sighting took place, she was out doing RA training. Also, at the time this sighting took place, it was too early for security to be doing rounds, and the doors to the dorm are locked, and you can't get in without a key. So my two friends are chilling up in one of the guys' rooms, watching TV. One of the guys was leaning against the window sill, facing the door (the door was open). Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement at the door and looked in time to see someone's leg go by as if they were walking past the door. Knowing that he and the other guy were alone in the building, he ran to the door to see who was walking around. Van Campen only has one wing, and it's a long wing, and when he looked in the direction the person was walking...there was nothing but closed doors. The fire doors at the end of the wings are heavy and very loud when they close, and he didn't hear any loud slam from them. There was nobody in that hallway besides them...at least nobody that was living.

 

Another story from 3rd takes place in the bathroom, after the students had moved out for the summer. The RD was taking the half-empty rolls of toilet paper out of the stalls to help the cleaning ladies. He had just grabbed the rolls out of the second stall, when he stood up and saw that his torso wasn't the one being reflected in the bathroom mirror. Rolls of toilet paper in hand, he ran out of there, leaving the rolls in the third stall for the cleaning ladies. Van Campen is creepy enough as it is, having less residents in it than the other two dorms that make up the honors plaza, without adding in the ghost factor. 

(A/N I DIDN'T write this I found it online)