Franklin & Marshall College

Old Main, the building that houses administrative offices and the president's office, was built on the highest hill in the area. It was also built at the site of the gibbet—the hanging tree. Many restless spirits have been witnessed late at night, and sometimes, the bells of Old Main ring in the middle of the night.

The two buildings that abut Old Main, Diagnothian and Goethian Halls, were used as Union hospitals during the Civil War. Allegedly, if music is played that mentions war in either building, clanking and moaning can be clearly heard throughout the building.

Shadek-Fackenthal Library hosts a number of scholars—one of whom is deceased. The northeast study room on the third floor hosts Dr. Harvey Bassler, who died tragically in 1950. Students closing up the library frequently find books on the Pennsylvania Dutch strewn about his old workspace, and strange noises are reported from the floor below at 10 p.m. on the nose, Dr. Bassler's time of death.

Wohlsen House, the admission building, boasts a number of strange occurrences—door slamming, flickering lights, and odd noises. The oddest of these occurrences is the most entertaining. With some regularity, if people are there late at night, all of the lights go out at once, but if someone remembers to shout, “Cut it out, Bob!” or “Knock it off, Bob,” the lights are immediately restored.

Wohlsen House was also a fraternity house for Lambda Chi Alpha until the school reclaimed it in 1982. It is rumored that upon its repossession, several fraternity brothers drove a car through its front window in retaliation. This story can neither be confirmed nor denied, as Lambda Chi no longer exists at F&M which in itself is telling.

Stager Hall's most famous story is of the senseless murder of Marion Baker in 1950. Ms. Baker, an employee of the college in then Stahr Hall, was only 21 when she ran into Edward Gibbs, a 25-year-old F&M senior and WWII veteran. He offered her a ride to campus after an errand, but he drove her to a remote area and bludgeoned her to death instead. He turned himself into President Distler a few days later, with no explanation for his actions other than “impulse.” He was sentenced to death and was executed in the electric chair in 1951.

The squirrels are ready to take over the school. They have trained an elite force to leap out at unsuspecting students from the trash bins along the Quad and Green, attack them, and steal their take-away French fries from the CG. In all seriousness, the squirrels are huge and scary and prone to leaping at the unwary from trees. Watch your food—and your head.