Campus Haunts

1772

Upon his arrival in Hanover, Joseph Vaill reports that the "howling of wild beasts and the plaintive notes of the owl greatly added to the gloominess of the night season."

1809

Facing a shortage of cadavers, medical student E. D. Cushing is indicted for "raising the dead" (body snatching) and fined $25.

1870

Six students are suspended after campus anthorities discover a broken window in Dartmouth Hall following an all-night seance. The students claim the damage is the work of Satan and declare the building to be haunted.

1891

Christie Warden is murdered by her jilted lover on Lyme Road. The murderer is found and killed a month later by townspeople wielding pitchforks in a Warden family's Vale of Tempe haystack.

1896

The Dartmouth laments the lack of old-fashioned Halloween parties and notes that most students simply forgot about the holiday.

1914

"Blood Dark," a play by J. William Rogers '16, features a near-empty stage with conversations between the disembodied voices from three open graves of soldiers recently killed in battle.

1948

The Aegis remarks that students are loath to visit the College Museum except to leer at the shrunken human heads.

1979

Campus police evict sunbathers from the College cemetery after receiving complaints from a Florida couple visiting relatives. "I wouldn't mind somebody sleeping on my grave if I were dead," remarks one student.

1991

A campus rumor warns that a Dartmouth student will be murdered on Halloween in a dorm that is L-shaped, overlooking a cemetery, or built near the water. The murder never takes place.

1992

Bats fly through the eaves of Rollins Chapel during resident organist Sherryl Smith-Babbitt's traditional Halloween concert.s

Some studentscelebrateHalloween bydressing up incostume. Othersare attracted tothe macabreyear-round.