On a dark evening this Halloween, students assembled in Morrill Hall to discuss the paranormal of Iowa State.

Each person came with their own ghostly tales about buildings on campus.

In charge of the story-telling session was Amanda Hall, former employee of University Museums. With a fascination for spooky stories, she returns to tell stories about the Iowa State haunting.

The Farm House Museum on campus has had an eerie past. Employees of the Farm House have reported objects being moved and lights being turned on when the employees had turned them off.

On an autumn day in 1892, Ester Willbur, resident of the Farm House, left for no apparent reason. She was found dead in the College Creek.

“I saw a shadow pass, like someone was walking across in front of me,” Hall said. “I had been used to people walking in front of me, but this was not a person.”

Freeman Hall is home to many students and also has a a story or two about being haunted. One student reported lights flickering, scratches on doors and walls, and even screams.

But Zach Bristow, senior in finance, said: “I lived in Freeman. I don’t remember ever hearing about those things happening.”

The Memorial Union also has a paranormal past. Gold Star Hall has been subject to many odd noises. 

Engineers have not been able to locate the noises.

A third-shift worker was walking around the Memorial Union’s hotel one night, checking to make sure there weren’t people where they shouldn’t be.

When looking around, the employee saw a shadow through the small space under the door in the laundry room.

No one was supposed to be in the laundry room after midnight. After opening the door, no one was there.

Some past students in Friley Hall have reported sightings of a small child in a suit running in the halls.

There had been a wedding one summer where a little boy had been the ring bearer. Before the wedding, the little boy was struck by a bus and killed.

There are other tales about Friley popular among students. Another story tells of a strange tall figure hanging out the second floor window.

The witness reported the strange figure opening up a window and jumping down two floors. Later, after the reported sighting, the room that the figure had jumped into was searched.

The corpse of a man who had been missing for two weeks was found hanging from the ceiling.

“My intentions are not to build up fear in the Iowa State students. I am just trying to spread the history,” Hall said.

Hall said she encourages students interested in the haunting of Iowa State to explore its history.