On Wednesday night, Saint Mary’s College hosted their annual ghost stories event to celebrate Halloween.
The event, hosted by class gift campaign and the office of residence life, took place in the “haunted” Riedinger House. Riedinger was built in 1939 and is one of the oldest buildings on Saint Mary’s campus. Multiple readers were scattered throughout Riedinger reading SMC ghost stories.
Nathan Stroup, assistant director of annual giving and the phonathon, explained the choice to host the event in the Riedinger House.
“Whereas I have not personally experienced any haunted feelings or instances in Riedinger House before, many visitors have expressed differing opinions. Accounts of curtains moving, glasses shifting places, as well as doors slowly opening have been stated by brave visitors,” Stroup said.
Stroup said the tradition started in the early 2000s after the publication of the book “Quiet Hours.” All of the stories read are about ghostly encounters at Saint Mary’s. The book names locations around campus where the supernatural presence was felt.
“The stories are read from ‘Quiet Hours,’ which was published by Ave Maria Press in 2002. The book, published by Ave Maria Press in 2002, was written by four Saint Mary’s College alumnae and was developed during the Leadership and Community Development Academy, a program of the College’s Leaders of a New Indiana Project, during the summer of 2000,” Stroup said. The authors of “Quiet Hours” are Shelly Houser (Mays) ’02, Veronica Kessenich ’01, and Kristen Matha '03.
The stories were read by Saint Mary’s RAs and hall directors. Kathleen Scheidler, an RA and reader at the event, shared her favorite part of the evening.
“My favorite aspect of the Quiet Hours event was getting to go inside Riedinger House. I’ve always been curious about the house. My curiosity grew even more after listening to [President] Katie Conboy talk about it in a speech at the beginning of the semester. It was fun stepping in and realizing that the house is just as she had described it,” Scheidler said.
Freshmen Megan Melody and Lilly Ellis also said that seeing the interior of Riedinger added to their experience.
“It was a fun way to get into the spirit of Halloween. It was also cool to explore Riedinger a little bit,” Ellis said.
Ellis noted her favorite stories were those that took place in the Holy Cross dorm because she had always felt Holy Cross was the spookiest place on campus.
“My favorite story of the evening was Pennies from ‘Quiet Hours.’ It was a chilling story, but I liked it most because it reminded me of good times in Holy Cross last year when I’d come hangout in my best friend’s dorm,“ Scheidler said.
