By Abby Wargo
Elm Staff Writer
Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the United States; there is bound to be some history in the area, and with history, there are bound to be some supernatural happenings.
Many students claim that they have witnessed paranormal activity this year, particularly in some of the freshman dorms.
According to the book “Ghosts of Chestertown and Kent County” by D.S. Daniels, the buildings thought to be haunted on campus include Tawes Theatre in Gibson, and the Rose O’Neill Literary House, along with Reid and Minta Martin dormitories.
Recounting a specific encounter included in an earlier edition of The Elm, Daniels said there is, “an invisible cat that nestles in with the residents at Minta Martin, kneading their blankets with its paws and purring happily as it settles into bed beside them.”
The book, published in 2015, does not mention any other stories directly tied to the college and on college property. Reid Raudenbush, construction project manager and the former physical plant director, said he has “never heard of any haunted buildings at WC.”
Some students beg to differ. Residents of the Cullen dormitories, which house first-year Presidential Fellows this year due to the Kent remodeling, have reported multiple incidents, which could be identified as paranormal.
Chloe Bailey, a first-year student living in Somerset, said that doors will open and shut of their own accord, blinds fly open and shut again seemingly by themselves, and that the majority of residents on her floor have disturbing dreams with a certain degree of regularity.
“There’s an ominous feeling about the place…one evening I was washing my dishes (in the bathroom sink) and I thought I heard someone walk in (the bathroom) behind me, but when I turned around to see who it was, there was no one there. When I turned back around (to the sink), the faucet had been turned off.”
Another resident of Somerset has taken preventative action against the ghost. Kim Parr enlisted the help of her friends to protect her dorm; they laid salt lines along the doorway and windowsill, wrote incantations on the walls and mirrors, and even put fake blood across the top of the doorway, Passover-style, to ward off potentially harmful spirits.
Somerset is not the only Cullen dorm where residents have experienced the unexplained. Wicomico dorm, which is adjacent to Somerset and houses Public Safety, has also been the site of ghostly activity.
The Cullen dorms probably aren’t the only haunted buildings on campus, and being built in 1949, they certainly aren’t the oldest. Various sources also cite Middle Hall and William Smith Hall as being haunted.
According to reports, a woman has been seen walking the halls of William Smith between classes wearing a Victorian-era dress.
Paranormal activities occurring on campus or flukes? Perhaps the answer is indeterminable.
Whatever the case, WC remains a special place with a lot of history, and a place where many people have made their mark, whether while living or in the afterlife.