The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 30, 1996, Page 4, Image 4
4
Ghosts and g
MARK HWAS Staff Writer
Dicture, if you will, a dark dorm room, a Ouija board
and nine or so of your closest friends. Two people
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shaped indicator that is used to spell out words
on a wooden board, supposedly guided by'spirits
or ghosts), aAd they suddenly contact a spirit.
Now try to imagine that this spirit starts spelling out
strange, cryptic messages. If you imagined this, then perhaps
you can begin to feel the uneasiness of one USC freshman.
Amy B. (who asked that her last name not be used) was
with a group of friends who contacted a "spirit" only two weeks
ago.
"He started spelling out weird stuff about this guy," Amy
said. "We asked him his age, where he was from and where
he went to school. He wouldn't tell us. Every time we asked
his name he would spell out "be polite."
"Somehow we got on the subject of how he died. He said
he was pushed, then said, 'no, jumped' and kept switching
back and forth. Someone in the room started saying 'He's
lying, he's lying.' So then we asked him if it was suicide or if
it was accidental. First he said suicide, then he said accidental.
Again, he kept switching back and forth."
That, according to Amy, was when it started getting really
strange.
"He kept telling us, Tlay Bloody Mary. Ray Bloody Maiy.'
So, we asked him why. He said, So you will see me," according
to Amy.
This, however, is not the only unexplained phenomenon
on campus. Amy did not know that about 22 years ago the
Columbia Hotel was demolished, and two photographs were
taken that showed images that couldn't be explained.
According to a 1984 issue of The Gamecock, former USC
student and Gamecock reporter Charles Gay ancLa staff
photographer toured the inside of the building before it was
destroyed. Neither one of the two saw anything unusual while
they were in the building, but a picture showed a dark silhouette
of a young man walking down a hallway, surrounded by a
bright light.
Also, according to Gay, United Press International took
a picture of the building as it fell. In an upper window was
the face of a young man.
Before the building was demolished, a hotel housemother,
Miss Bell, told Gay that students were never assigned to a
certain ninth-floor room. An icy presence occupied the room,
Frightening ft
BWYCEGBSON Staff Writer September. It folio
masked Myers on hi
You're looking for a few the town of Haddon
nerve-shattering, spine- night. If s a fun retu
tingling movies for an movies of the '80s w
entertaining Halloween some never-ending c
night. Some newly- like the "being stalk
released fright films on Mllef scenario, this i
video and some nightmares from the || Children of th
past might be just the answer. Gathering
Halloween: The Curse of Michael This is another 9
~ This one, however,
This sixth installment to the classic t^e way through
horror series hit video shelves in the Corn? geries is
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according to Miss Bell, and a window in the room refused to
stay closed. Sometimes running water could be heard, after
which the presence seemed to leave for a while.
Gay said, in the article, that research turned up a story ]
of a USC student who either jumped or was pushed from a
window at the dorm in the mid 1940s, and he died. Gay was
told that the death was ruled a suicide, be he never found any
official records on the story.
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asked him, Tou lived? he said 'Backwards'. We figured out,
lived backwards spells devil. We didn't play anymore after
that."
Just a couple of years ago, an Resident Advisor at Burney
had residents that had repeated experiences with Ouija boards.
Tonya Tronco was RA at Burney from Sept 1993 through May
1994.
"A couple of residents moved out because they woke up
with ghosts over their beds," Tronco said. "They did some
research and found out that there was a suicide in their room
several years earlier. They were playing with Ouija boards,
icks for an ent
w s th e 1 egendary sets available and this fourth installment
is crusade to kill in proves to be no exception. The action
field on Halloween moves back to the countryside after its
irn to the "slasher" short detour to the city in "Urban
ith blood, guts and Harvest." The rural setting is
:hase scenes. If you appropriately chilling for these movies,
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soundtrack and an awesome 100 minutes
tephen King sequel, of entertainment. The title comes from
is creepy and eerie the four lead characters who find time
i. The "Children of to practice witchcraft in between their
one of the scariest shopping expeditions. The movie is scaiy
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too, and the incidents were occurring those rooms."
Tronco also recalled a few specific incidents during her
time as a Burney RA "A few people reported seeing a hospital
gurney in the hallway late at night. A girl who lived in room
416 came into her room to find the M & M package on her
desk had been smashed flat. The laundry was scattered all
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Tronco also said the girl had no roommate at the time,
and the doors were locked when she came back to her room.
"One time,
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iniono Library | > ^dHL Tronco said.
House i story in a
ja^ ; 1993 edition
' \ of the
Theater Gamecock
J talked
^?- ?about the
incidents,
BEN MULOROW The Gamecock including
statements
by a sophomore at the time, Maggie Roark.
It started happening in October of last year (1992)," Roark
said in the article. "It started that the balcony door would be
open when my roommate and I would come back, and neither
one of us had left it open."
Next, came unexplained events that led Roark to believe
that her room was haunted.
"The CD player and the radio would turn on and turn off.
One night in a friends room, a computer started typing letters,
and then it turned itself off," Roark said.
After these occurrences, Roark and her roommate began
t A
ertaining Hall
when it needs to be,but also has some g Pet Cemetery
funny times, too. There are moments of A family moves
seriousness, and it is a roller coaster ride soon discovers the
from beginning to end. "The Craft" is a nearby burial gr
one of the best horror movies in years, people come back ft
A Nightmare on Flm Street that would have th<
Freddy, the gloved killer, is still of the Living Deac
making people stay awake all night. The their graves. This
series has a range from its high points Stephen King mo
of the original and "The Dream Child" movie is dark and ]
to its low point of "Freddy's Revenge." lets you forget the
The film's creator, Wes Craven, and was made: to sea
Freddy Krueger definitely know how to good as the book, tl
show us what nightmares are made of. adaptations come.
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1
Wednesday, October 30,1996
iting ground
to see ghosts. (
"My roommate and I were in bed talking, and I opened
mv pvps and saw an imaee of a man above mv bed." Roark
said in the article. "He was about six-feet tall, was wearing
old clothing and was blurry. My roommate and I were screaming
for each other to cut on the light, but we were both too scared
to move."
Roark became too scared to sleep in the room by herself
whenever her roommate was gone. The next semester, she
witched residence halls.
Another girl woke up one night and saw a girl in a brown
dress and shawl, carrying a tray that had a wine bottle and |
wine glasses on it, according to another story researched by
Gay. At first she thought it was her roommate, but when she
called out her roommate's name, the girl vanished.
Gay said he heard a story about a Dr. Black who used to
live at the corner of Greene and Pickens Streets. Black was,
supposedly, a staunch southern supporter. One night, his
daughter was raped by three Union soldiers, after which the
girl poisoned the soldiers and drank some of the poison herself,
killing all four.
Another story involving Union soldiers happened in the
late 1970s, according to the 1984 article. A security guard
saw a young lady while he was going upstairs at Harper to {
turn off some lights. He noticed the girl was covered in blood,
and was saying "I killed them. I killed them all."
While doing research at South Caroliniana Library, Gay
found that buildings on the Horseshoe were used by Union
ti-oops as hospitals during the Civil War. There was an account
of a southern nurse who had killed seven Union soldiers at
Harper College. The nurse was hanged the next day.
In 1982, residents of a third-floor Elliott College apartment
told friends that they heard a voice they didn't recognize.
Sometime in the 1970s, a couple spotted a girl outside the
President's House while walking home from a fraternity party.
The couple called security, who told them to go sleep it off.
Rumor has it that a security guard saw the same girl two ,
nights later, and asKed to be replaced.
A sorority room in the basement of a Women's Quad dorm
had the furniture completely rearranged overnight. No one
ever found out who did it.
And if you can't find ghosts at any of those places, there
is always Longstreet Theater. Between 16 and 26 Union
soldiers were buried there,. The limestone slabs that are the
foundation of the theater were poured on top the graves. In
England, most supposedly "haunted" houses are theaters.
oween night
Halloween
into a new house and Through the years, there have been
unearthly powers of five sequels made to John Carpenter's
ound. In this movie, "Halloween." None of them have been
om the dead in a way ^ scary or effective as the original. You
s zombies from "Night ^ ,he p,ot Mjchael ig out t0 m on
craw ing ac in o night. Hiis movie doee exactly
is one of the scariest , . . _ ,
, ???? mnAa rrn what slasher movies are meant to do. It
vies ever made. 1 he
mysterious and never *eeps the audience in suspense until the
i main reason that it uext killing takes place,
re. Although not as These movies will make you think
his is as good as King twice before walking alone Halloween
night.
^McMeel
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http://www.usc.bkstr.com