Haunted Penn State: Ghost Stories, Unsolved Murder, and Haunted Dorms
Penn State University sits in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley, but more than 170 years of history have left the campus with a surprisingly dark collection of ghost stories. From phantom hoofbeats and haunted theaters to an unsolved murder inside Pattee Library, Penn State has become home to some of the most enduring college ghost stories in the country.
Some of these Penn State hauntings are rooted in documented history, while others have been passed from student to student for generations. Together, they have created a paranormal tradition that stretches across the University Park campus.
Old Coley and Penn State’s Ghost Walk
One of Penn State’s oldest ghost stories involves an unlikely spirit: a mule named Old Coley. He arrived on campus around 1857 and helped haul limestone used in the construction of Old Main. After his death, students had his skeleton preserved, and his remains have been moved to several locations around Penn State over the years.
According to campus lore, strange activity followed him. People have reported hearing hoofbeats moving through empty hallways near buildings where Old Coley’s skeleton was stored, while others have claimed to hear the unmistakable braying of a mule or even see his ghost.
Nearby, another early Penn State legend developed around a wooded path that students called the Ghost Walk. According to the story, a student became lost there during a blizzard in the late 1800s and froze to death. Apparitions, mysterious lights and unexplained noises were later reported along the path, and a Norway spruce near Old Botany is said to be the last remaining tree from the original Ghost Walk.
The Ghosts of Schwab Auditorium
Schwab Auditorium has earned a reputation as one of the most haunted buildings at Penn State. Students and staff have reported unexplained footsteps crossing the stage, voices coming from empty areas, curtains moving without anyone touching them and theater seats folding down as though an invisible audience member has taken a seat.
Several apparitions have also been associated with the auditorium. Former Penn State president George Atherton, whose grave sits nearby, is said to occasionally visit the theater, while Charles Schwab, who funded the auditorium, has also reportedly been seen inside.
Perhaps the strangest apparition is a man dressed as a Revolutionary War soldier. In one account, a stage crew member working late reportedly watched the figure cross the stage and walk directly into a wall before disappearing.
Across the street, Old Botany has its own Atherton family ghost story. George Atherton’s wife, Frances, is said to appear in an upper window, looking toward her husband’s grave. Other unexplained activity reported inside Old Botany includes rugs rolling themselves up and the sound of glass shattering when nothing has actually broken.
The Unsolved Murder in Pattee Library
The haunting of Pattee Library is connected to a very real tragedy.
On November 28, 1969, 22-year-old Penn State graduate student Elizabeth “Betsy” Aardsma entered the library stacks to work on a research paper. Sometime around 4:30 p.m., witnesses heard a commotion and the sound of books falling. Betsy was discovered between rows 50 and 51 of the stacks, where she had been stabbed once in the chest.
Her murder remains unsolved.
In the decades since Betsy’s death, students have reported strange experiences in the area where she was killed. Visitors have described sudden cold spots, the feeling that someone is standing nearby and sightings of a young woman believed by some to be Betsy. Other paranormal reports from Pattee Library include moving objects, screams from the sub-basement, shadowy figures and even glowing red eyes.
Whether these experiences are connected to Betsy is impossible to know, but her murder remains one of the darkest chapters in Penn State history.
Runkle Hall and Penn State’s Haunted Dorms
Penn State’s residence halls have generated plenty of ghost stories of their own, but Runkle Hall may have the most unsettling reputation.
Room 318 has been associated with claims of intense paranormal activity reportedly connected to the use of a Ouija board. Former members of Penn State’s Paranormal Research Society have discussed claims of multiple malevolent spirits in the room, while older accounts describe banging, flickering lights, disembodied voices and beds that seemed to physically heave beneath their occupants.
Other rooms on Runkle Hall’s third floor have been associated with objects moving by themselves, doors opening or locking without explanation and loud noises coming from empty areas.
Runkle isn’t alone. Atherton Hall has stories of phantom footsteps and a mysterious female apparition, while students in other Penn State dormitories have described shaking beds, opening closet doors and poltergeist-like activity. Brumbaugh Hall even has a particularly unusual legend involving televisions mysteriously switching to Spanish-language channels and a supposed Spanish-speaking ghost.
Why Penn State’s Ghost Stories Endure
Penn State’s paranormal history is especially fascinating because so many of its ghost stories are attached to buildings that students still use every day. Generations of students have walked through Pattee Library, attended performances at Schwab Auditorium and lived in dorm rooms with decades of spooky stories attached to them.
Some Penn State ghost stories can be traced directly to documented people, places and events, while others exist almost entirely as campus folklore. That uncertainty may be exactly why they survive.
The next time you find yourself walking through Penn State after dark, pay attention when you pass Schwab Auditorium, wander near Old Botany or head into the quiet stacks of Pattee Library. That sound behind you might be another student.
Or Happy Valley might have a few residents who never actually left.
