University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections - Hamilton Family fonds (PC 12, A.79-41)
Top 10 Spookiest Spots on Campus
These are the places at the U of M that are sure to send shivers down your spine
Halloween is here! To celebrate all that is creepy and crawly, hairy and scary, the UM Today Staff compiled a list of the spookiest spots at the University of Manitoba. Do you know of somewhere even spookier? Add it to the comments below and our resident ghost hunters may need to investigate.
In no particular order, these places have the ability to send shivers down your spine:
1. Archives and Special Collections (1)
Eileen Sykes’ Ouija Board
The Eileen Sykes Fonds includes a well-used Ouija board. Sykes herself experimented at séances, sometimes using an Ouija Board, intermittently from 1946 to 1986, and she kept detailed notes on her experiences. And, as part of the collection of her materials donated to the Archives, her own well-used Ouija Board is squirrelled away for safe keeping.
2. Archives and Special Collections (2)
Also in archives is the T.G. Hamilton Fonds, a large collection of manuscripts, correspondence and photographs of spiritual apparitions. Who knows what other enchanted items may be stored away?
3. The Tunnels
There is that dimly lit tunnel between Elizabeth Dafoe Library and Duff Roblin. Even the bravest student has been frightened in the tunnel between Frank Kennedy and Architecture 2 thanks to the groaning heating and cooling pipes (if you were in a Final Destination movie, something gruesome would surely happen in that tunnel).
4. The Dentistry Museum
Artifacts at the dentistry museum
Most people dread going to the dentist, but imagine what a visit would have been like without the comforts of modern medicine. The College of Dentistry has a collection of frightening tools and equipment used by dentists in days past. After all, what’s scarier than going to the dentist?
5. The Gritty Grotto
It was spooky when it was open. Can you imagine what that abandoned dungeon looks like now?
6. The Art Barn
Some students and staff claim to have seen the ghostly apparition of a former art professor, sitting quietly before a large canvas in an unoccupied room.
7. Delta Marsh Station
On the shores of Lake Manitoba, the ghost at this former research station even has a name: Murray. Many students and staff have claimed to have experienced odd phenomena there, such as hearing chains rattling, windows and doors opening and closing of their own accord, and lights appearing in buildings that are unoccupied. Murray is said to have been a former caretaker of the station, whose ghost still maintains a watch on the premises, though whether Murray has moved on since the station was closed is unknown.
8. ARTlab
On the site where ARTlab now stands, Alumni House, the former “Practices House” of the Faculty of Home Economics, had a reputation of haunting. Staff there claimed to have heard footsteps on old wooden staircases when the building was otherwise empty, and “cold spots” had been reported moving about the upper floors.
9. Ed Leith Cretaceous Menagerie
What’s scarier that gigantic prehistoric creatures? These massive monsters located in the Wallace Building are sure to frighten and fascinate. Stop by and take a look around!
10. More Hauntings
Other buildings where eerie events have been claimed include Human Ecology, Chancellor’s Hall, Taché Hall and the Fitzgerald Building.