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Doors opening without cause, the sudden sound and then quietness of footsteps in vacant hallways and disturbing footprints on the ceiling. These three paranormal occurrences are not from a new horror movie. They all occur on a regular basis here at NSU’s Seminary Hall.
“The roots of Seminary Hall are traced back to the National Cherokee Female Seminary founded in 1846 near Park Hill,” according to the NSU Web Site. “The original building at Park Hill burned to the ground on Easter day 1887. Soon after the Easter fire, the Seminary moved to its current location, which is now home to NSU.”
Florence Wilson (Flo) was the Seminary principal before and after the fire.
“NSU’s most well known ghost is Florence Wilson,” said Dr. Bridget Cowlishaw, assistant professor of English. “She’s been seen in and around Seminary Hall for almost 100 years.”
After the death of her fiancé, Pleasant Buchanan, in the Civil War, the female seminary became Flo’s home.
Flo is best known as a lady always in a long black dress and a long scornful look on her face always walking around with a lantern in her hand.
Her job as the principal was to take care of the girls and the school. Everyday Flo would wake up and open the chapel door which is now the Seminary reading and writing lab. It is here that the girls would start their day.
This is also where one of the most famous stories happens.
The door to this room is locked everyday as soon as the lab closes. The only people who have a key to this room are the people who work in the lab. Every morning someone who has a key comes to unlock the door. Every once in a while the door is found unlocked and opened. No one can explain how this happens.
It is said that Flo still walks around with the lantern taking care of Seminary Hall and going about her daily routine.
“It’s kind of creepy that no one knows how it happens,” said Tricia Hertz, Tulsa senior.
The next two stories take place on the third floor.
On the ceiling of the third floor are footprints. The footprints lie just beyond the ceiling tiles etched into the plaster. There aren’t just a few of them. The footprints start at one end of the hallway and continue to the end of it. No one knows how the prints got there.
“I think this surprised me the most, because I spent the rest of the tour trying to figure out how they got there,” said Kim Eubanks, Fort Gibson senior.
The next story also takes place on the third floor. Some professors whose offices are located on the third have heard noises of footprints running up and down the hall and mysteriously disappearing when a professor opens a door. Several professors have heard the footsteps. It happened to Cowlishaw on Easter Sunday in 2006. Cowlishaw was working late at the office when she heard footsteps running and they stopped right in front of her room. Cowlishaw doesn’t know how to explain the noise because when she opened the door, know one was there.
There are plenty of more stories that go along with Seminary Hall. Some include Flo in a wedding dress, waiting by a window for Buchanan to come home from the war.
All the stories and more can be heard during the haunted tours that is offered by graduate students. These tours are only offered during the month of October.
Each tour is $5 and all the money raised during the tours goes to pay for graduate students’ travel to scholarly conferences. |
