2008 Woodie Awards
Ghosts wander campus
By: Kelley Atherton
Issue date: 11/2/06 Section: LifeStyle
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From a pregnant nun to a wandering gardener, Webster spirits are very much alive. Strange, inexplicable things have happened at paranormal hotspots throughout campus, such as former dormitory Loretto Hall and the Loretto-Hilton Center.
Some stories have even been exaggerated over the years. Perhaps the most well-known among students is the one about the nun who was impregnated by a priest, finally throwing herself from the fourth floor window of Loretto Hall. This story, however, is not quite the whole truth.
Ghost of the fourth-floor nun
A nun did kill herself by jumping out a window on the fourth floor of Webster Hall, said Anna Barbara Sakurai, a professor of math and computer science and former Sister of Loretto. There used to be a stone arrangement and a statue of the Blessed Mother at the spot where her body landed. Sakurai caulks the nun's suicide up to depression. Sakurai said, before the '60s, a nun becoming pregnant would have been impossible; sisters could not go anywhere unaccompanied or live alone.
"She must have been a very unhappy woman," Sakurai said. "You can imagine her still traipsing the halls. Nuns could barely breathe, they were accompanied everywhere and wore their habit until they went to bed."
When Sakurai was a Webster student, an older nun would tell ghost stories about sisters going into the chapel - where the Winifred Moore Auditorium is now - to say their nightly prayers. These sisters would hear someone praying in the back, but no one would be there. The nun died without saying her final prayers and comes back every night to make up for it.
Students who have lived on the fourth floor of Loretto Hall claim to have had strange things happen to them to the point where some couldn't sleep at night. Patrick Stack, director of counseling and life development, said students have reported hearing a woman crying and moaning at night and walking up and down the hallway.
He said about 10 years ago while part of the fourth floor of Loretto was closed for renovations, students claimed they could hear people talking and saw lights on in the restricted area. Stack and several Public Safety officers took some students into the locked-up area to prove there weren't any ghosts.
Some stories have even been exaggerated over the years. Perhaps the most well-known among students is the one about the nun who was impregnated by a priest, finally throwing herself from the fourth floor window of Loretto Hall. This story, however, is not quite the whole truth.
Ghost of the fourth-floor nun
A nun did kill herself by jumping out a window on the fourth floor of Webster Hall, said Anna Barbara Sakurai, a professor of math and computer science and former Sister of Loretto. There used to be a stone arrangement and a statue of the Blessed Mother at the spot where her body landed. Sakurai caulks the nun's suicide up to depression. Sakurai said, before the '60s, a nun becoming pregnant would have been impossible; sisters could not go anywhere unaccompanied or live alone.
"She must have been a very unhappy woman," Sakurai said. "You can imagine her still traipsing the halls. Nuns could barely breathe, they were accompanied everywhere and wore their habit until they went to bed."
When Sakurai was a Webster student, an older nun would tell ghost stories about sisters going into the chapel - where the Winifred Moore Auditorium is now - to say their nightly prayers. These sisters would hear someone praying in the back, but no one would be there. The nun died without saying her final prayers and comes back every night to make up for it.
Students who have lived on the fourth floor of Loretto Hall claim to have had strange things happen to them to the point where some couldn't sleep at night. Patrick Stack, director of counseling and life development, said students have reported hearing a woman crying and moaning at night and walking up and down the hallway.
He said about 10 years ago while part of the fourth floor of Loretto was closed for renovations, students claimed they could hear people talking and saw lights on in the restricted area. Stack and several Public Safety officers took some students into the locked-up area to prove there weren't any ghosts.
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