Cabrin

by Adam Greenberg

Legends surround the campus that suggest that Cabrini is haunted by the ghost of a girl who allegedly killed herself and her baby in the Mansion. With Halloween a week away, it seems like the perfect time to explore the legends once again.

staff writer r1Icame to pick her up. The girl had one more class that day, so she let her mother sleep in the room. Locking the door behind her, the girl went to class.

Ghosts and supernatural phenomena abound on Cabrini's campus, some say.

Apparently, there are enough legends and personal accounts of ghostly encounters to form the basis for a sequel to the current hit movie "Urban Legends."

From spooky figures wandering at night to blood seeping out of floors, Cabrini seems to have all the ingredients of a classic horror film.

Carter Craigie, professor emeritus of English and communication, has become the unofficial keeper of Cabrini's ghost stories. For years, he has presented the stories to audiences, just in time for Halloween. Later, Steve Murray, communications center supervisor, stepped in and took over the role of storyteller.

Dr. Leonard Norman Primiano, assistant professor of religious studies, has a strong background in the study of folklore and folklife.

Primiano said that the stories about Cabrini can essentially be divided into two categories. There are the legends, or urban legends, which may be told by a large group of people with variations of the same idea, and there are memorates, which are narratives based on a personal experience involving the supernatural.

When she returned, the girl found the door unlocked and open. Her mother was still asleep. She said that she had not left the room, but that she bad dreamt of hair brushing against her face and a girl dressed in white asking, "Have you seen my baby?"

There are various stories about the ghost of the girl, usually dressed other occ sion. S b and some friends had gone out a rainy night and were returning t campus. They were driving up road from the Upper Gulph Ro entrance towards Grace H where they saw a m walking along.

Cellucci said that, though she herself di not hear it, her frien heard a thump an thought they had hit the checked to see if som that the man had disapp They described the Craigie said he also sa When they told the st lieve it.

"People thought we she said that she used t had actually seen one h

The mansion also pl story maintains that blo sion on the anniversary knows the actual date.

Craigie said that the once served as housing started hearing a creakin human pyramid to reac

The various stories that have spread around campus are related to one particular legend, according to Craigie. He said the legend says that long ago, in the "horse and car-

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The daughter fell in love with a stable boy and became pregnant outside of marriage, which was considered scandalous at the time. The girl leapt from the balcony in the Mansion, killing herself and the baby.

The girl's father went out to the stable, which is now Grace Hall, to see the boy. When he arrived there, he founc;lthat the stable boy had hanged himself in the tower.

Murray said that there is an alternative ending to this legend in which the baby was stillborn and buried by the girl near what is now Woodcrest dorm. The girl then committed suicide.

One of the more popular stories involves the Rooymans Center, which used to be a dorm.

Craigie said that one Friday afternoon, a Cabrini student's mother in white or light blue, who is looking for her baby, while other accounts relate to what is believed to be the ghost of the girl's father.

This ghost is described as being an older man, dressed all in black with a top hat. Craigie said that he had a firsthand experience with this ghost.

Craigie said that he was helping some students carry musical equipment across campus during the first snowfall of the year. They saw a man walking on the road from the mansion towards Grace Hall. They thought this was unusual so they called out to him, and he turned his face towards Craigie and the students.

"I saw the man disappear," Craigie said.

Upon investigation, they saw that the footprints in the snow suddenly stopped where the man had seemed to vanish.

Cabrini alumna Rita Cellucci said that she also saw this man on an- sion.

The girl on top ope what appeared to be a c thing kept pulling the er People believe that it baby, which was never "Sometimes, some said, when asked if the Nancy Costello, pro also had a firsthand ex riage days," there was a family that lived in the mansion-a couple and their daughter.

She said that she used to come and she would sense a presence tion she described was of a breez skirt."

Costello said that she always threatening.

Her experiences took place be flee. She said that it stopped after Murray, a former resident dir cidents in the residence halls. H rences."

Some of these events took pl some rooms, items would rando

The Mansion balcony is supposedly where the girl in Cabrini's ghost legends threw herself to her death. According to the legend, every year on the anniversary of her death, a blood stain appears on the floor where she landed.

Another incident Murray described involved students in Xavier playing with a Ouija board.

He said a name kept spelling out on the board, so they asked, "What do you want?" The finder kept sliding to the letter 0. The phone rang and the person on the other end said nothing but, "'O."

Are there any facts to back up the legend that all of these occurrences seem to stem from?

Prior ownership of the land that Cabrini College now sits on is attributed to four different families.

It was originally known as Woodcrest but his family stayed until the death of his wife in 1953. A year later, the property was purchased by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. They set up an orphanage which remained until 1957, when Cabrini College was established. ne man-dressed all in black-that to others, many were unable to be- md and third floors of the mansion the trap door, looked in and saw !. She tried to pull it out, but someback in. gs are better left alone," Craigie ial director of mission integration, nee when she worked in the man-

Dale said that the legend is not true in relation to any of the families that are known to have owned the land.

Both Murray and Craigie said that in previous years students have been unsuccessful in proving that the legend is true.

However, Craigie said that the frayed ends of a rope were once found in the tower in Grace Hall, where the stable boy allegedly hanged himself.

Murray suggested that room 267, which leads into the tower in Grace Hall, is not used because of the stories surrounding it.

The room is secured by a padlock and the entry way is covered with paneling.

When questioned about the mysterious room, Mike Caranfa, chief facilities officer, said that the room is basically like an unfinished basement.

"It's not even a good closet space," Caranfa said.

Investigation of the room reveals an interestilllglittle corner of campus that many may not have known about. It is damp and dusty, and a stale smell pours out of the room when the door is opened. It looks as though at one time an attempt was made to utilize the area.

There are walls erected, but there is a hole in the ceiling that reveals the tower up above. Up in the tower, there are various beams stretching across the structure. ill with their car. They immediately had been struck down and found ~d.

:re nuts," Cellucci said. However, iscount the ghost stories until she :lf.

: a part in Cabrini's legends. One oozes out of the floor in the manthe girl's death, although no one ·e is another about a baby's cradle.

• girls. In the 1960s, the residents :mnd above them, so they formed a rap door in the ceiling.

1yhave been intended for the girl's l.

Uemay still be up there.

:arly,before most of the other staff, e using the back stairs. The sensa-

: a rustling past her, "like a maid's the presence was benign and non-

: the renovation of the business of-

: renovations were completed.

·,said that there have also been inid there have been "weird occurin Xavier, where, Murray said, in fall off walls and desks.

Farms when the Lewis family owned the land in the 19th century. It was then sold to the H. Jones Brooke family, and at the turn of the century it was bought by James W. Paul.

Martha Dale, director of alumni affairs, often gives tours of the mansion and is familiar with its history.

She said that it was Paul who had the mansion built in 1902. The estate then passed to his daughter Mary Munn and her husband, Charles, before being sold to John Dorrance in 1925.

While no concrete evidence has been found to substallltiatethe legend, it continues to be passed on by students year after year.

This year, Craigie said that he hopes to return and tell the stories in the dining room of the mansion. The room will only be lit by candlelight, in order to create the proper mood.

"It's fun to have this tradition on this campus," Primiano said. Craigie would not answer when asked whether or not he believed the legend was true.

Dorrance is known as the inventor of condensed soup and was president of the Campbell Soup Company. Dale said that he died in 1930, "Sometimes we need to believe in things we can't prove," he said.