Campus legends spook students
Will Sartore loves to tell frightening tales about campus.
The Grand Rapids junior helped organize Trout Hall’s 11th annual Legends of the Dark, a night filled with 10 myths and stories of intrigue given while touring Central Michigan University’s central and north campus.
“There’s something about hearing the stories that pertain to buildings you go by everyday,” Sartore said. “When students hear the legends, they are more interested in campus. The next time they walk by that part of campus, they’ll remember the tale, telling others. That’s what makes it interesting.”
Sartore, Trout hall council president, said a lot of students get more out of the tour when they arrive at buildings they’ve never seen.
Kalamazoo sophomore Laura Kragt said the tour has steered away from special effects and has started to focus more on the details of stories.
“Students learn to appreciate a different side of campus,” Kragt said. “They are more interested in learning more about the stories after they’ve seen the tour. It makes it more mysterious when students have to visualize it.”
Flint freshman Jonathan Pavelich said concentrating on the details brought more life to the legends.
“At first, I thought there could’ve been more action,” Pavelich said. “A lot of things seemed really scary. They started telling the stories and it seemed like they were set up for someone to jump out at me or someone to scream, but then nothing happened and we continued on the tour. That made it even scarier.”
Grand Rapids sophomore Adrienne Rivard said the creepiest part of the tour was the Powers Hall courtyard, where it is said a former student named Lucy may be buried under a piano-shaped garden.
“I thought someone was going to pop out of the garden,” Rivard said.
Tour guide and Boyne City junior Lee Barrett told students Lucy died playing the piano, and the sound of her music sometimes can be heard.
Barrett told everyone to come together on one side of the garden and close their eyes to see if they could hear her playing.
Rivard said she doesn’t do well when people tell her to close her eyes.
“It’s so scary,” Rivard said. “I heard a snap, and I screamed like a little girl. If I wouldn’t have had my best friends there to hold my hand, I could’ve died.”
Tour guide and Kalamazoo sophomore Megan Scudder said it is important for students to know the legends of CMU.
“We want students to think about each story,” Scudder said.
Legends of the Dark tour guides will continue to tell tales tonight starting at 7 p.m. at the Bovee University Center.
