Though some people may consider New Orleans a supernatural haven, LSU might have its share of ghosts as well.
On a campus this old, there are bound to be stories of murders and mysteries that warrant retelling.
Buildings get older and deteriorate, renovations occur; over the years, these buildings have housed many different facilities.
Of all the buildings on campus with legends and stories to be told, Pleasant Hall seems to be the source of the most tales of fright.
Pleasant Hall began as a women’s dormitory, then served as a hotel before the Lod Cook Alumni Center. Today the University is renovating the hall for use as an office space for Continuing Education.
Pleasant seems creepy enough on first entering before ever hearing the stories of visitors and residents of days gone by.
Arching windows and a large ominous front desk greet those who enter.
Long hallways accented with mirrored partitions, deep burgundy carpeting, and dark, almost decaying molding lead to empty rooms with torrid pasts.
Pleasant has been home to known attempted murders and suicides.
Connie Scott has worked as a custodian in Pleasant for 30 years. She was working the night of one of the most legendary tales.
When the building was a hotel in the ’70s, student workers called “proctors” lived and worked in the hotel. The story goes that one night a girl and her boyfriend who lived on the floor below got in an argument.
The girl shot her boyfriend in an attempt to kill him, but he survived.
She ran upstairs into her own room, 312, shot herself and died.
Scott said this was not the only incident of foul play in the hotel. Students allegedly jumped from windows to their death, but no story stands out the way the incident in 312 does.
Scott said many visitors to Pleasant when it was a hotel claimed to have sighted ghosts or bizarre shadows or heard mysterious noises. Even other workers claim to have been visited by spirits on the second and third floors.
Because the building has been renovated to offices, most of the rooms are now occupied by those simply trying to get work done.
Paula Sinclair, coordinator of the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, moved into Pleasant Hall unaware of any past occurances. Sinclair now works in the office of the most infamous suicide.
Sinclair moved in when very few people were in the building. Her office was one of the earlier ones to be occupied.
“I was in the office by myself and painting it. The building was very quiet,” said Sinclair.
She said the silence in the hall is eerie, but she has not heard any specific noises.
Pleasant is not the only place that could house spirits.
Evangeline Hall is one the oldest residence halls on campus. And besides housing female students, the hall might be housing a few ghosts as well.
Some students and resident advisors in Evangeline believe they have been in the presence of ghosts. Students have gone to great lengths to protect themselves, on one occasion having their rooms blessed by priests in attempts to exercise the negative spirits. Others are not frightened of their otherworldly visitors.
“You just get a feeling of the ghosts. They’re not harmful, they barely like people,” said Emily Singleton, a resident advisor.
Singleton said she walks the halls and feels as though she has just passed a man, but no one is there. She has heard sounds of laughter and mysterious noises, but has seen nothing. She believes the ghosts exist, and are merely trying to stay out the the way of people who live in the hall.
Three specific ghosts are rumored to haunt Evangeline – a male janitor on the fifth floor and two girls on the fourth floor. Sightings have been mentioned on the second floor as well.
The fourth floor seems to be the main source of supernatural activity. The floor itself is dimly lit and casts a strange vibe on visitors. The dark mahogany doors give the halls an even more sinister ambiance.
The two girls supposedly inhabit room 409, and the sound of their laughter often startles residents.
At another residence hall, the story of ghosts are clearer to trace.
Acadian has housed students since it was built in the ’30s.
Acadian resident advisor Marilyn Fouche said according to legend, Acadian fell victim to fire years ago. At the time, many workers at Acadian were Spanish and spoke no English. Many of the workers did not survive.
Students often claim to see people with dark skin and wavy hair wandering around and disappearing around corners and through locked doorways.
Men in navy suits with slick hair are said to walk around the corners late at night as well as girls in white dresses walking through hallways and looking out windows.
Computers play games themselves and cabinets doors are mysteriously flung wide open. Acadian is not short on incidences of the unexplainable.
Fouche said she has heard plenty of stories of the dorm being haunted. She said at one point over the summer, another RA was startled when a table began rocking violently in front of her with no possible explanation.
It seems Pleasant, Evangeline, and Acadian each house their own type of other-worldly residents and legends to keep students up at night.