Westminster College Haunted Tour Westminster Alumni

A Haunting in Gore
Before the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business was built, its location was home to another building: Ferry Hall. In 1902, Colonel William M. Ferry, a Civil War veteran, and his wife Jeanette Ferry, donated the land that Westminster College sits on today. At the turn of the century, it was believed that respectable families would not send their daughters to the college unless there were proper accommodations for women, so the Ferrys insisted that a women’s dormitory be built.

As the story goes, a young man was once caught sneaking into that women’s dormitory, named Ferry Hall after the colonel and his wife. No one knows what happened to the young man after he was caught, but his spirit was said to linger in Ferry Hall. Students who attended Westminster while Ferry Hall still stood would often report seeing frightening sights, including statues moving from window to window and spectral figures pacing the halls.

After Ferry Hall was demolished in 1989, it seems that the ghosts who once lingered there were happy to move into the brand-new Gore School of Business upon its construction.

Today, students report seeing a young man pacing along the glass windows in the front of Gore late at night—perhaps the same spirit that was said to haunt Ferry Hall.

The elevator near the Gore Auditorium has also been known to travel from floor to floor all by itself. During the building’s dedication, Westminster’s then-president, Dr. Charles H. Dick, was in the middle of his dedication speech when the elevator doors opened behind him. With an audience full of people watching, there was no way anyone could have called for the elevator.

Former President Stephen Morgan, who was in the audience that day, later said it could have been the ghost of Jeanette Ferry, making her presence known and putting her stamp of approval on the building that had replaced the one she had helped build.

Whether it’s the kindly spirit of Jeanette Ferry or the specter of a student from long ago, even a relatively new building like Gore has its share of haunted tales.

Thanks for listening to the Westminster Haunted Tour, presented by the Westminster College Alumni Office. Check out our other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts, and visit westminstercollege.edu/alumni for upcoming events and alumni resources.

This production was made possible through the idea of Trey Hansen, class of 2016, the research and journalism of Graham Kennedy, class of 2020, and Westminster’s student newspaper, The Forum.

Disclaimer: These tales of legends and spirits are just for fun!

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

The Little Boy in Hogle Hall
While Converse Hall was the first building built on Westminster’s Sugar House campus, this tale of the haunting in Hogle Hall is even older. Before Westminster moved to its current Sugar House campus location in 1912, the area was rural.

Legend has it that a family farmed the land that Hogle Hall now sits upon, and that one day, a young boy was playing in Emigration Creek while his father used a tractor in the fields. The little boy found a frog in the creek, and rushed to show off his prize to his father. The man was operating a loud and cumbersome tractor.

He didn’t hear the cries of the boy running toward him. As the story goes, the boy fell in front of the tractor and was crushed, thus beginning the haunting of Hogle Hall.

Although this tragedy occurred over a century ago, the spirit of the little boy seems to have made Hogle Hall his home. His mischievous spirit is thought to be the cause of incessant flooding and flickering lights on the third floor. Even though they are fixed regularly, drinking fountains in the building will sometimes overflow and, upon occasion, a frog will appear with no explanation as to where it came from.

Some of the most chilling stories of the ghost of the little boy come from students who have lived in Hogle Hall. Throughout the years, students have reported hearing the laugh of a little boy lingering through the halls late at night, and campus patrol officers have reported the same when the residence halls were closed for Winter Break. One campus patrol officer encountered the chilling laugh on his rounds one night, and the next week, he came across two students running down the stairs of Hogle, terror-stricken.

The students reported that they had been studying in the lounge when they saw a spectral, floating boy with no legs circling the room. He vanished, but sightings of the ghost in Hogle Hall continue to this day.

Thanks for listening to the Westminster Haunted Tour, presented by the Westminster College Alumni Office. Check out our other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts, and visit westminstercollege.edu/alumni for upcoming events and alumni resources.

This production was made possible through the idea of Trey Hansen, class of 2016, and the research and journalism of Graham Kennedy, class of 2020, and Westminster’s student newspaper, The Forum.

Disclaimer: These tales of legends and spirits are just for fun!

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

The Spirits of Nunemaker Place
Today, Nunemaker Place is best known as home of Westminster’s Honors College—a gathering place for presentations, studying, academic discussions, and the occasional backyard barbeque. However, it’s also home to several haunted legends.

Originally built as an interfaith chapel in 1977, Nunemaker Place once hosted weddings. One theory suggests that a bride named Kelly Sullivan was preparing to walk down the aisle when she mysteriously collapsed and died.

The cause of death could never be determined, but her spirit is rumored to remain inside Nunemaker Place.

Another theory is that Irene Nunemaker, the funder and namesake of the building, is responsible for its haunting. Ms. Nunemaker paid for the building’s construction and helped design it, and it is purported that her spirit has remained to take care of the building she loved so much.

Whoever these spirits may be, reports of paranormal activity in Nunemaker Place are common. Multiple campus patrol officers have reported strange occurrences in Nunemaker, especially late at night.

In the year 2000, an officer was making his rounds around two in the morning when he noticed all the lights inside Nunemaker were on. Finding this odd, he radioed for another patrol officer to help him sweep the building to make sure it was secure.

As they entered and locked the door behind them, suddenly, every light in the building turned off at the same time, then turned back on again, going off and on several times before finally remaining off.

One campus patrol officer has reported hearing air vents clanking and items being thrown around. In a 2019 interview with The Forum, Ray Barber explained that he’d sometimes spend time in the empty building to take a break, and he noted that there was a presence that could be felt while sitting in the empty rooms. “You can feel a person is next to you, then it’s right here, right behind me,” he told the campus newspaper.

More recently, a student who frequently spent time studying in Nunemaker felt a presence, as though someone was standing right next to him, even though he was alone in the building. Later, he heard his name called from the rafters.

Who is responsible for the haunting of Nunemaker Place? Is it Kelly Sullivan, Irene Nunemaker, or is it just coincidence? Whatever the answer, if you spend enough time in Nunemaker place, you just may encounter the paranormal.

Thanks for listening to the Westminster Haunted Tour, presented by the Westminster College Alumni Office. Check out our other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts, and visit westminstercollege.edu/alumni for upcoming events and alumni resources.

This production was made possible through the idea of Trey Hansen, class of 2016, the research and journalism of Graham Kennedy, class of 2020, and Westminster’s student newspaper, The Forum.

Disclaimer: These tales of legends and spirits are just for fun!

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

The Woman in White of Converse Hall
This is Converse Hall, the oldest and most iconic building on Westminster’s campus. Converse was built in 1906, and subsequently destroyed in a fire and rebuilt in 1926. With such a long history, it’s no surprise that Converse has its fair share of ghost stories.

One of the most famous ghost stories at Westminster College is that of the Woman in White, who is believed to haunt Converse Hall. Westminster was once a popular wedding venue, and many couples exchanged vows on campus.

As the story goes, a young couple was on their way to Wendover, Nevada for their honeymoon celebration when tragedy struck: a drunk driver slammed into the newlyweds’ car, killing both the young bride and her new husband instantly.

It is believed that after her death, the bride’s spirit returned to the last place she felt happiness: Westminster College. The Woman in White took up residence in Converse Hall, and has haunted it ever since.

Throughout the years, reports of seeing the Woman in White have been common amongst students, faculty and staff alike. One night, a security guard making his rounds on the night shift was walking past Converse when every light in the building turned on at once. He went inside to investigate, turning off each light from the third floor down to the basement until the building was dark again. But when he exited the building and looked back, every light in Converse had turned back on by themselves.

Students returning to their residence halls late at night often look up to the beautiful clock face of Converse as they walk through the Commons. But sometimes, if they look closely, they’ll see a ghostly apparition in the highest windows as the Woman in White looks out over her beloved campus. Next time you’re walking by, take a look—when there’s a flash of white in a window out of the corner of your eye, you just may have seen her too.

Thanks for listening to the Westminster Haunted Tour, presented by the Westminster College Alumni Office. Check out our other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts, and visit westminstercollege.edu/alumni for upcoming events and alumni resources.

This production was made possible through the idea of Trey Hansen, class of 2016, and the research and journalism of Graham Kennedy, class of 2020, and Westminster’s student newspaper, The Forum.

Disclaimer: These tales of legends and spirits are just for fun!

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.