Paranormal investigator braves Willamette’s most macabre haunts
Is Willamette University haunted?
Since the 1920s, Collegian journalists have reported on purportedly haunted spaces on campus, but none have gone “boots on the ground” to tell the tale. I decided to investigate four of the creepiest, haunted buildings on campus with my co-paranormal investigators to see if I could catch a glimpse of Willamette history.
1. Lausanne Hall
The hunt for a ghost began in my living quarters, Lausanne Hall. Built in the year 1920, Lausanne served as a women-only residence building for many years before allowing co-ed residents. Within my hall and other halls in the building, old, ominous plaques mark the names of Willamette alumni and remarkable figures on dorm doors. On move-in day, my roommate and I were told by our RA that the building had suffered two fires and had been rebuilt afterward. Could that ominous information be useful for the hunt? I had to find out.
Armed with flashlights, rosaries, tarot cards and our phones, we ventured up to the third floor of Lausanne. Filled with residents, the third floor was decidedly the most normal place we ventured on campus. From personal experience, I’ve only encountered the ghost when in my room while watching shows with friends, opening the door, even when locked.
While we did not feel any particular presence of the supernatural on the floor, the tarot reading held great potential. One major arcana card and two minor arcana cards, major arcana being more impactful than minor, revealed the past creativity of those who lived within the halls, present reluctance to move on and future persistence to stay and haunt students.
2. Smullin Walton Halls
From there, my small group of investigators moved to the Smullin Walton building. With its eerie basement and history of scandalous rumors, ranging from dead serial killers to angry graduates, the Smullin Walton basement seemed like a prime area to search for spirits. It is nearly impossible to find any information about the building online, making it even more horrifying to explore in the middle of the night.
Upon entering the Walton basement, I quickly concluded that it was much too eerie to properly conduct our penultimate investigation, so we moved to the Smullin basement. Smullin B21 has been the home of much vandalism over the years, including the crack in the wall by the whiteboards hosting the names of Willamette alumni and current students alike. There, we opened the deck and investigated what the spirits could be experiencing since their displacement in the basement.
The past card conveyed the contradictory nature of the rumors surrounding who the ghosts in the building were; the present card showed that the spirits could be stuck in that place because of unforeseen circumstances and the future card communicated that the reason ghosts may still be trapped in the future could be due to complications between the spirits housed there.
3. Gatke Hall
Once serving as a post office in 1903, Gatke Hall has a plethora of rumors and haunts attributed to it. However, it is not because of any vengeful post workers, but rather from the corpses it used to host when it was the cadaver lab, before the lab was transferred to Collins Hall. Originally built across from the Salem courthouse, the building was moved on logs over the course of six months to the site of the original campus building, where it sits today. Knowing this, the beautiful hall, which now contains sculptures rather than bodies, sounded like the perfect place to catch a paranormal sighting.
Having never entered the building before, Gatke Hall was a pleasant surprise. The marble staircase and surprisingly tidy halls brought me a sense of comfort that I hadn’t expected to feel. Descending a steep staircase, we found the lower entrance of the building, where we decided to host our final reading. Though the room had felt warm upon arrival, the longer I stayed, the colder I got. My co-investigator felt the same way, while our cinematographer only got warmer.
During the reading, we pulled two major arcana cards and one minor arcana card. The past card indicated that the spirits in Gatke were unhappy being trapped there; the present card conveyed that the ghosts were with us in that moment; and the future card detailed the fulfilling ending of one’s journey, hopefully telling us that those who were housed here would be freed at last.
Even though I entered those buildings as a skeptic, I left as more of a believer. Do not discount the tales of the paranormal, for they may be warnings from the wise.
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