Whether you’re a total skeptic or a sucker for a good ghost story, this Halloween you might want to pay attention to these totally creepy stories about some of Pitt’s most visited buildings.
1. William Pitt Union
Before becoming home to conference rooms and a college cafeteria, the Union used to be the Schenley Hotel. It is rumored that the Russian National Ballet came to stay and the prima ballerina, exhausted from travelling from Russia to the United States, took a nap in the Tansky Family Lounge, also known as the Red Room. She slept through her first performance and the director of the company was furious. In order to punish the prima ballerina, he demoted her and gave her part to a young dancer within the company. The prima ballerina was so heartbroken over the loss of her role that she took her own life. It is said that if you ever fall asleep in the Red Room before an exam that you will always wake up just in time.
2. Holland Hall
Holland Hall is also rumored to be haunted. There have been reports of some mysterious paranormal activity in the building since a group of girls played with a Ouija board in the 1980s.
3. Bruce Hall
According to legend, in the 1920s a couple lived in the then Schenley apartments in suite 1201. It is said that the wife was devastated to find out that her husband was cheating on her. The wife and the mistress both killed themselves, one by jumping from the top of the building and the other by hanging herself. Today, suite 1201 is a banquet hall and there have been reports of strange happenings in the hall such as strange noises and ghostlike footsteps.
4. Alumni Hall
Before the University came into ownership of this building in 1933, it was owned by the Freemasons of Pittsburgh, a sort of secret society. It is rumored that one mason never left the building and can be seen walking the halls at night.
5. Cathedral of Learning
The most beloved building on Pitt’s campus is always said to be haunted and not just but one ghost, but by multiple. In room 156 of Cathy is a Greek revival ballroom, complete with a fireplace. The fireplace is not real and can be manipulated in order to lead to a hidden room where it is said that the ghost of Mary Schenley inhabits. Mary Schenley was the daughter of William Croghan Jr. who had the ballroom and adjoining parlor made for her in their mansion. Unfortunately for him, Mary ran off and eloped with forty-three year old Captain Edward Schenly. The ballroom and the parlor were later moved and restored inside the Cathedral of Learning.
And last but not least, the most recognizably haunted place on Pitt’s campus is the Early American Nationality Room. The legend surrounding room 328 is that Martha Jane Poe, the grandmother of the director of Pitt’s Nationality Rooms Program, E. Maxine Bruhn, haunts the room. Martha Jane Poe, a relative of Edgar Allan Poe has a handmade quilt that is featured in the room. It is said she is responsible for the strange occurrences that have been reported in that room, such as rumpling blankets and leaving indentations on the bed, as if it had been slept in.