Most college campuses have a few tales of the spectral nature floating about, and a school as old as Framingham State University is bound to have several myths floating around.
Perhaps the most talked about ghost stories on the Framingham campus come from the school’s two oldest residences halls, Pierce Hall and Horace Mann Hall. Because of the unpredictable New England weather that we are all so accustomed to at Framingham State, school officials designed a tunnel system to allow students to travel from the Peirce and Horace Mann residence halls to their classes on campus through rain and snow, as noted in the writings of Renee Mallet in her book Haunted Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts. According to the campus lore, the tunnels were closed after an alleged tragic accident that killed a young lady in a tunnel fire. Many of the claims of other-worldly presences come in the form of students reporting noises coming from empty rooms and feeling cold spots. According to Mallet, Horace Mann hauntings are most apparent from the number of “orb” photographs, or photographs featuring spherical images of energy, believed to be the souls of those in the afterlife. However, as Mallet notes in her book, orb photography can often be the result of obstructions to the camera lenses or be easily faked as a prank.
Mallet says that Peirce is decidedly less haunted than Horace Mann, but there are still stories of the oldest residence hall having a ghostly presence. Peirce’s claim to haunted fame comes from the stories of a ghost turning around mirrors and moving them outside of dorm rooms – obviously in a time before the mirrors were nailed to the walls in the dorms. According to Mallet, the Peirce Hall Ghost has some peculiar habits for a ghost, as many ghosts allegedly love mirrors and enjoy looking at themselves in them. (Perhaps Peirce’s spiritual resident is shielding the lovely ladies of the campus’ only all-female dorm from unhealthy body image and teaching us that we Peirce girls are worth more than our appearances.) As a resident of Peirce for two years now, I can attest that many students believe that the residence hall is haunted.
The older buildings aren’t all that’s supposedly haunted on campus. According to Junior Jessica Fiers, Corinne Hall Towers (which was built in the 1970s) may have some spooky business going on as well “Freshman year we lived on the 8th floor of Towers. I am quite the skeptic, but several times the TV would turn itself on,” Fiers explained. “It was my roommate’s TV, and she said that it had never done that before. We then decided it was paranormal activity and that we had a ghost friend named Marvin,” she said, noting the affectionate nickname that she and her roommate gave their ghostly visitor.
Numerous students will tell you that there are other ghosts found on campus, notably in the Helen Heineman Ecumenical center, one of the campus’ religious centers. In addition to its religious purposes, the Ecumenical Center is often used as a rehearsal and performance space by performing arts groups on campus, such as the A capella Club, the Hilltop Players, and the school’s Symphonic Band. Many members of these groups will say that a ghost has interrupted a rehearsal or two. From these tales, it seems as if Framingham State could write its own college version of The Phantom of the Opera.
It’s impossible to say for sure if these occurrences are based in reality. After all, the supernatural world can not be explained by our science in the ways that the natural world can be. For now we will just have to decide for ourselves what we think of these ghostly legends.
Sources: Mallett, Renee. “Framingham State University.” In Haunted Colleges & Universities of Massachusetts, 66-68. History Press, 2013.