Lingering spirits are many at this university! Bayliss Hall, room 1117, is haunted by a former occupant who delivered a baby in secret, threw it down the trash chute, then hung herself in the closet. Cries and moans can be heard in her room. In room 501, a severely depressed student also hung herself in the closet. Flickering lights, strange sounds, and cold spots have been witnessed here. In Simpkins Hall, a janitor is said to haunt the 3rd floor, and a little girl ghost roams the 1st. She may ask passersby if they want to play. In Tanner Hall, the ghost of a young man who fell down the elevator shaft in 1972 has been seen haunting the 12th floor. In Thompson Hall, room 931, residents have experienced banging and knocking on the walls, ceiling, doors, and window. In Washington Hall, room 1217, a distraught girl committed suicide after fighting with her boyfriend, and was found 2 days later. Her ghost has been seen near her room and around the elevator. The telephone has been known to ring in her room when no one is on the line. According to the stories, it’s her boyfriend trying to get in touch.
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- 1 University Circle
Macomb, IL 61455
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 40.46258400000001, -90.681757
- County:
- McDonough County, Illinois
- Nearest Towns:
- Macomb, IL (0.6 mi.)
Colchester, IL (6.3 mi.)
Bardolph, IL (6.6 mi.)
Good Hope, IL (6.6 mi.)
Sciota, IL (7.7 mi.)
Tennessee, IL (9.0 mi.)
Industry, IL (10.1 mi.)
Adair, IL (10.2 mi.)
Bushnell, IL (11.1 mi.)
Blandinsville, IL (11.6 mi.)
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
Bayliss Hall 11th floor bathroom. My roommate was taking a shower and all of a sudden the door mysteriously opened after being locked and stepped away from.
Laying in bed I took two snap chats only seconds apart. There is a figure behind me in the first and not in the second. Henninger hall 9th floor.
I am a grad student who works in Simpkins and have an office there. While I am a skeptic, I’ve seen dark shadows across a ceiling light and other sightings, even when I was with others. My friend is a custodian in the building and reports full-body apparitions of the little girl.
I have an EMF meter I heard about the ghost stories in Simpkins did not believe them. One day before a 8am English class I was siting on the bench outside of class on the 1st floor, turn on my EMF meter went to the left nothing turn to the right and I got a really high spike follow by a cool breeze going from right to left.
tanner hall floor 5 supposedly haunted by boy who overdosed on painkillers. things have been moved, lights flicker, and shadows move when you walk down the hall
Living previously on Tanner 12th, I never felt anything. But I did have an hour break every day where I would sit on the third floor in Simpkins hall, and I remember always hearing keys jingling and footsteps when no one was around. Definitely made sense after I found this article.
I am a skeptic, but the time I spent in 1031 Thompson hall made me reconsider. My roommate had a light that would randomly turn on around 3 a.m some nights and my bed was against the wall that was shared with the locked storage room next door I would hear movement in there at night. Also, one night my roommate woke me up to tell me she was leaving the room because the light came on and she was scared and I thought I saw a dark shadow passing over me on the ceiling.
I was a Theatre major and did several shows in the “Studio Theatre” on Simpkins’ 3rd floor. One night after a performance, I was the last to leave the space, making sure all lights were out, save the glow of the exit signs in the theatre. I walked from the stage up to the back of the house and heard something down toward the stage, almost a soft scraping sound. As I turned and focused on the origin of the noise, I noticed one of the double doors adjacent to stage right had opened and was slowly closing again. Both doors were closed when I initially walked through the house less than a minute earlier. While the acting space has been renovated a bit since the late 80s, the double doors to each side of the stage remain.
Me and my sister lived in henninger 703 and we would always hear knocks on the door. A couple of times the door slowly opened on its own. When we walked past the stair case we would always hear a knock that use to scare us but no one else heard it.
I live in Henniger Hall room 501 and hear mysterious noises, but idk if they are talking about 501 in Bayliss where the girl killed herself because here in Henninger lights go off and during the night time I get really cold that’s a reason why my ex roommate moved out because she didn’t feel comfortable in the room. My new roommate is never here and she has finger prints on her mirror…
Thompson floor 13 has a sealed door at the end of the hallway, nobody is quite sure why but at night usually between 2 and 6 am, you can clearly see a shadowy figure seem to stare off out the window. Every now and then you hear it move up and down the halls and will quietly knock on doors three times
Simpkins 3rd floor is a hot spot for me. When I read that bit about the ghost janitor just now my heart dropped. I thought I was just being paranoid or dramatic because that theatre gave me the creeps but I remember this event so vividly that I wanted to share. This event happened in 2017.
As a costume designer I was working late one night after a show. I had decided to finish laundry completely before going home as I lived in Henninger at the time and I didn’t feel like making the long trek across campus from the freshman dorms at 6am the next morning to get the laundry loaded in. I took the shitty elevator up to the third floor it buzzing loudly as it jerked to a stop. I struggled to get the costume cart off the elevator with the mountain of clothes weighing it down. The hall was completely empty and a bit creepy with the half lighting if I was honest. I unlocked the stage side door opening it and noisily clanking the cart against the door trying to maneuver it back stage. As soon as I got it in, the door clicked closed behind me and I was standing in the near pitch black with only some weak glow from the ghost light peaking through the large split in the curtain. Since I was a freshman I didn’t really know a lot about the theatre at the time and I had no idea how to turn the backstage lights on. I panicked for a second before digging my phone from my pocket and using the flashlight to guide me to the dressing room doors. I cringed as i looked out into the very unerving dark of the theatre only being able to see the outline of theatre seats and the open double doors at the back of the theatre that immediately terrified me as I couldn’t see anything beyond them but knowing that a room layed beyond those doors scared the shit out of me. I quickly and shakily unlocked the padlock, threw the dressingroom door open, and turned the bright fluorescent lights on in the dressing rooms making sure to leave the doors open so the light would fill the backstage. Feeling better I quickly worked to hang all the clothes properly behind their character tags occasionally checking my phone for the time or messages from my roomate and stealing a paranoid glance out into the dark theatre. I was nearly done with the rack when I heard the distinct sound of the janitor cart begining to come down the hall in my direction the sound stopping as soon as it started. I paused for a second to listen and just as I was about to continue, the sound started again and then stopped. I (surprisingly for me) dismissed it as the janitor pausing to empty garbage cans and what not. It was only when the sound started up the third time and stopped by what I assumed (by the sound of it) was the door to the classroom that connected to the theatre that I froze waiting to hear them open the classroom door and see any light beam through it as they opened the door to fetch the garbage. Checking my phone I started to panic as I thought about something. The noise started from the other end of the hallway which means the cart had to already be on this floor since I hadn’t heard anyone come up the elevator, the Backstage being right next to it. But the hall was empty and dark when I got there. Second, it was nearly 2:30 in the morning and I had never known a janitor that worked that late. And thirdly, if there was a janitor picking up the garbage from each room why didn’t they open the door to the class room and why didn’t I hear any bags rustling or sighing or anything that indicated an actual person being there. After a few second frozen with indecision I decide. I was not having this fuckery so I grabed the ikea bag full of shoes and tossed it into the dressing room, turned my flashlight on and with lightning speed I flicked all the lights of slamming the door shut and pad locking it. I power walked out into the hall not even thinking about taking the rack with me as it would only slow me down. I looked around and to my ever growing unease there was no janitor cart or even large garbage can with wheels. The hallway was still empty I opted for the stairs almost sprinting down them. I didn’t give two shits if I was going to get in trouble for leaving the cart or not organizing the shoes or checking to see if the door had locked behind me. And this isn’t even close to being the only thing that happened to me in this building let alone on the entire campus so if you want more stories please let me know.
i was a former student at western. i stayed in room 1331in Thompson. worst experiences ever. one time i was in the girls room next door talking in her door way and all of a sudden a glass bowl literally raises up and flew across the room shattering into a bunch of pieces. i was scared to sleep on that floor that night. another instance, my roommate and i used to be awoken by running in the halls and banging on the door. our door is on the corner facing the elevators so we always had a good view of the whole floor and there would never be anyone on it or in the halls. also there would be a girl that stands in the window around 2 in the morning and when her reflection is gone that’s when the banging and running starts.