Many students on campus know the story of Mildred Hedges, the freshman who fell to her death in the stairwell of College Hall in 1935. But for this year’s Spooksonian, we will explore the stories of a couple lesser-known ghosts on campus. 

ROSA

The sorority Pi Beta Phi (Pi Phi) existed before they had a house on campus. At that time, they would take turns meeting at the family houses of different members around town. One of these houses would eventually become the Pi Phi house we know today. The family who lived in that house had a niece named Rosa. 

According to alum Lena Westra, sometime in the 1980s, Rosa pledged to Pi Phi but was mysteriously never initiated. After attending Simpson for one year, Rosa got married and moved away. 

Flashforward to 2015 and strange things began happening in the Pi Phi house. One of the women living in the room Yellow-2-Man woke in the middle of the night to see the figure of a woman sitting at a desk in her room. This is when the rumors of a haunting in the Pi Phi home began. 

The next year the new students who moved into room Yellow-2-Man also awoke to the strange figure at their desk. Suddenly, the paranormal activity spiked. Pictures began falling off the walls, landlines that had been disconnected for years began ringing, the fire alarm would go off at 2 a.m. night after night and members of the house would wake up covered in mysterious bruises.

A number of members, including Westra, began researching the history of the house. That is how they revealed Rosa’s history. These Pi Phi members decided to visit Rosa’s grave. They brought with them red carnations, which are Phi Phi’s official flowers, and chose to make Rosa an honorary member of the sorority. After this was done, the paranormal activity stopped. 

Current student Patricia Telthorst reported seeing things in the corner of her vision, and objects moving in her room this year. 

“[S]ince initiation is coming up again for the girls I would say it is definitely Rosa,” said Westra. “I think she just wants to be included.”

THE KKG GHOST

The ghost of Kappa Kappa Gamma’s background is fairly unknown. However, that doesn’t make the happenings any less frightening. Some members of Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) have affectionately titled their spirit ‘Ghostie.’

Raven Sippel, a member of KKG, has had many strange experiences in her room including knocking on her door at regular intervals from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. and awakening to a shadowy figure overlooking her bed. This mysterious figure was corroborated by Sippel’s roommate, who claimed to see the same figure at Sippel’s bedside one night when she was home alone. 

Five other girls have also claimed to see this figure through the doorway of the room during a house event.

Some other strange occurrences include pictures frequently falling off of walls or being knocked down on desks and lights turning on and off. 

One of the theories as to the ghost’s identity is that it is a little boy or young man who used to live in the home and died in it before it was converted into a sorority house. Several KKG members and alums believe in this story.

One of the most alarming stories about Ghostie comes from KKG member Katie Cardoza. Several members were spending time together in the dining area of the house when a strange noise began to filter through the air. They quickly realized that it was the voice of the sorority’s then president, Kelby Kies. It was coming from the house’s intercom and sounded as though she was speaking nonsense. The house intercom has been unwired and unplugged for around 10 years. And Kies was off-campus at the time.

“It’s a benevolent ghost,” said Cardoza. “He’s just an 8-year-old boy looking to play.”

Cardoza also stated she did not believe in ghosts before living at KKG, but she does now.