’Tis the season of colorful leaves on trees, decorative pumpkins, candy corn and Halloween spooks! Whether you believe it or not, legend has it that the UNI campus has been haunted for years by a few well-known ghosts. The three famous ghosts lingering through campus dorm halls and buildings go by the names of Zelda, Travis and Augie.   

According to the UNI website, the UNI Theatre Department is rumored to be haunted by Zelda. This ghost was once described as “the spirit of the theatre that is neither seen nor heard.”  She has been known on campus as early as 1963. Zelda was first thought to have haunted the basement of Lang Hall, which was the old auditorium building. When the Strayer-Wood Theatre opened in 1978, it was thought that she moved with the theatre department, and Zelda has been recognized as a friendly ghost ever since.

“Stories of Zelda were going around long before my arrival,” said Jay Edelnant, professor of theatre. “She tended to appear around the auditorium in Lang Hall and different versions of her origin went around; a teacher from the Normal School [a former name for UNI] who died in class or on stage, or someone from nearby who wanted to go to the Normal School, but died.”

Individuals active in the theatre department often tell stories about Zelda’s tricks, such as appearing when all the lights are shut off, yelling insults, opening and closing doors, playing piano and also making sounds similar to a baby crying. In the past, the Theatre Department has given “Zelda Awards” to those who have had strange experiences in the theatre.

“She was often seen late at night in the main hallway and staircase that passes in front of the auditorium while shows were rehearsing or during high stress times, final exams and dress rehearsals,” said Edelnant. “Sightings were frequent during the first few years [1978-80], especially during the early summer storm season [of June] when we’d have ripping thunderstorms, power outages and fluctuations that affected the light boards and sound equipment.”

But Zelda has a helpfulside, too. The most well-known story showing her kindness was in 1978 during a performance to a sold-out audience. An overhead electrical cable became unhooked and Zelda was thought to have guided the cable to fall on the only open seat in the theatre.

Edelnant explained that a theatre faculty member reportedly saw her reflection around the lobby with men dressed in Civil War attire. With no evidence, rumors circulated that the theatre was built on an old cemetery or burial ground. History shows there had been a baseball field where the theatre, CAC and Kamerick Art Building are today.

Travis

The second ghost that haunts the UNI campus goes by the name “Travis.” He is reputed to reside in Rider Hall and was a previous student who died of an alcohol overdose over fifteen years ago. Because of this, his hauntings are often associated with drunkenness. Several individuals have had, or thought they have had, encounters with Travis.

Bryant Hickie, 2015 UNI graduate, loved his time spent in Rider but experienced some abnormal and uneasy feelings when he moved to the first floor in the fall of 2011. A few weeks into the semester, Hickie and his roommate started to hear pipes banging beneath their dorm room. Being the curious freshmen they were, they decided to check out what all the noise was about.

“We were creeped out, until we learned that the boiler room was located below our room,” Hickie said. “Somehow, the door was unlocked. We poked around for a while but didn’t see anything too weird, and we definitely didn’t see any ghosts.”

Later in the semester, Hickie claimed that at late hours of the night he thought he would hear someone running down the hall and bumping into the wall, as if they were drunkenly chasing someone.

“When I would poke my head out of the door to see what was going on, the hall would be empty,” said Hickie. “Little things like this occurred for the entire three years I lived in Rider.”

Hickie was very cautious at the late hours of the night, between 3 and 5 a..m.., to not leave his room, because the lounge windows seemed to show reflections and sometimes it appeared there was an intoxicated individual swaying at the far end of the hall. He even said, “for a fraction of a second you could smell the hard acidity of vomit.”

The one instance Hickie thought he met Travis was a night when he was heavily intoxicated himself and left his room to use the restroom.

“The next morning, Sarah (his wife today), told me that I had arrived back at the room out of breath and terrified,” Hickie said. “I had said that a ghost was chasing me because I was drunk. I do not recall any part of this. When I eventually told this ghost story to some gullible freshman, I made sure to warn them that ‘the Rider ghost will only come after you if you get too drunk and wander the halls after bar close.’”

Augie

The third and most famous ghost on campus is “Augie” who is said to reside in Lawther Hall. The legend is that Augie was a World War II soldier who died in Lawther Hall when it was an infirmary. Augie was first thought to reside in the attic of Lawther Hall, but over the years he has been seen in all parts of the residence hall. Reports of Augie started appearing as early as 1977.

He seemed to be quite the trickster. At that time, he was reported to have changed the lettering on a bulletin board outside one room to say “Augie will return to haunt Bordeaux House.” In 1992, a resident assistant claimed they saw a man in a striped outfit walking down the hall while the hall was closed. The man then vanished into the women’s restroom. Augie has also been said to remove posters from the wall, which women would later find in their rooms. He would turn on radios and the radios would continue to play even after having been unplugged.

Another student, Sherokee Eder, senior communications major, was a victim of Augie’s tricks even before her college years.

“It was when I did a summer program at UNI during high school,” said Eder. “So my friend, Leah, was my roommate one summer. We were both in our lofts ready for bed., and neither of us realized the other was still in bed. The water turned on by itself and I made a comment to her to turn the water off. She informed me she was also in bed, so we both sat up and looked at each other. I got out of bed and turned it off. We had a bag of pop cans securely hooked on the side of the sink. A few hours after the water, we heard a pop can rolling around on the floor.

Leah thought I was messing with her because the water thing freaked us out. And I definitely wasn’t. The bag had spilled onto the floor. It only happened the one night, but we slept with our lights on the rest of the summer.”

Lawther Hall is currently under construction this year, which means no students are living there.  Because of this, other halls on campus are being used for living, as well as storing items from Lawther. For instance, Panther Village is storing mattresses from Lawther.

“I’m convinced that the Lawther ghost moved to Panther Village,” Maggie Sondag, senior elementary and early childhood education double major. “I hear shuffling outside my door but when I go out to check there isn’t anyone there.”