Digging through thrift stores’ bins to find the perfect Halloween costume can be hard, but digging up a verifiable ghost story is even harder — even on Halloween.
While some long-time University employees dismissed any notions of campus ghosts, others were adamant about their existence.
Former University Archivist Keith Richards said students participated in unusual activities during the school’s history — he said two students lived in the attic of Deady Hall during the 1940s. He also said some students died tragically in the campus vicinity, but he had never heard stories of ghosts.
Despite the age of campus buildings and of the gravestones in Pioneer Cemetery, Richards said he has no knowledge of any paranormal activity nearby.
Thirteenth Avenue Kiosk attendant Bill Smee, who writes ghost stories, has had no personal encounters with ghosts. But he suggested that rumors about Carson being haunted might be true.
Smee said he has heard other University employees talking about faucets in Carson coming on by themselves, hot food carts rolling on their own and items left in one place being found in another.
But he added, “Never has there been a visual magnification of anything.”
Temporary food service worker John Beaver stepped away from his work in the Carson kitchen to discuss the rumors. He said that numerous times in the past, he has put items down and returned to find them missing. No one knows where the items went, he said.
Additionally, Beaver said that he hears “weird noises” and feels strong drafts in the central kitchen’s basement.
“I feel like I am being followed when I am downstairs,” he added.
Former Carson worker Linda Todd said an old-fashioned metal scoop and pastry tubes would disappear for two or three days at a time before reappearing. She added that many food service workers can tell the same stories of unusual disappearances.
Sitting in her cramped office, Carson kitchen manager Cindy Lund counterbalanced these tales. Lund, who has worked at the cafeteria for seven years, said workers in such a hectic environment need something to lighten the situation.
“So when things don’t get done or aren’t in the right place, instead of blaming it on a coworker, people blame it on a ghost,” she said. “Everybody enjoys it.”
While some Carson workers and other University employees only hypothesize about such mysteries, Todd offered an explanation.
“I have a ghost that follows me around,” she said.
Todd, now a food service worker at Grab ‘N Go, said she first met this ghost called “Sara” while she was at the state penitentiary for women in Salem for a year. Todd said she woke up one morning in 1989 to find her bunkmate wrestling, laughing, playing and talking with an entity.
Since the first encounter, Todd said, she continued to notice strange activities at the penitentiary.
“My locker door would swing open and shut by itself when no one else was there,” Todd said.
Explaining the ghost’s playful personality, Todd said the ghost would take her padlock.
“I would panic because I had to go, and then there (the padlock) would be, swinging on the door,” she said.
Todd did research to find the ghost’s name. She said Sara was a newlywed whose husband had brain surgery and died. According to Todd, “Sara” allegedly hung herself outside of an Oregon state hospital called Fairview. This mental institution, which is now closed, was used in the 1975 film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
Fairview was located next to the Oregon State Penitentiary.
After leaving the penitentiary, Todd settled in Florence, but Sara followed her, playing the same tricks. Todd guessed that Sara might have followed her because after leaving the penitentiary, she straightened out her life and fell in love for the first time. Todd connected her love and new life with the possibility that this ghost is her spiritual advisor.
Pulling out a Polaroid from her memory book, Todd said she had physical evidence of Sara’s presence.
Referring to a picture taken on Halloween in 1991, Todd said an “entity of someone” is sitting on the shoulder of her then-love interest Jim Gillialand. A white haze is evident in the photo’s right-hand corner.
“I believe it is Sara,” she said.
Todd said she believes this ghost still inhabits Carson because the ghost hasn’t discovered Todd’s new place of employment yet at Grab ‘N Go. Although she does not work at Carson anymore, Todd said she still feels Sara’s presence.
She said sometimes when she is at home, she will put an item down, and it will disappear.
“I know I am not drunk — I am not on drugs,” she said.
After searching her whole residence, Todd said she would find the item in its original location and feel a “cold rush.”
Todd said that this “rush” is Sara’s laugh. She said Sara’s presence might also explain the drafts in the central kitchen of Carson. Hoping to have more direct contact with Sara, Todd said she is considering returning to the Salem location where she first encountered the ghost.
“I believe without a doubt that this entity is with me,” she said.
Anne Le Chevallier is a features reporter for the
Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached at
Adam Amato Emerald
‘I have a ghost that follows me around,’ said Linda Todd,
a Grab ‘N Go employee. Her ghost’s name is Sara.
Since the first encounter, Todd said, she continued to notice strange activities at the penitentiary.
“My locker door would swing open and shut by itself when no one else was there,” Todd said.
Explaining the ghost’s playful personality, Todd said the ghost would take her padlock.
“I would panic because I had to go, and then there (the padlock) would be, swinging on the door,” she said.
Todd did research to find the ghost’s name. She said Sara was a newlywed whose husband had brain surgery and died. According to Todd, “Sara” allegedly hung herself outside of an Oregon state hospital called Fairview. This mental institution, which is now closed, was used in the 1975 film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
Fairview was located next to the Oregon State Penitentiary.
After leaving the penitentiary, Todd settled in Florence, but Sara followed her, playing the same tricks. Todd guessed that Sara might have followed her because after leaving the penitentiary, she straightened out her life and fell in love for the first time. Todd connected her love and new life with the possibility that this ghost is her spiritual advisor.
Pulling out a Polaroid from her memory book, Todd said she had physical evidence of Sara’s presence.
Referring to a picture taken on Halloween in 1991, Todd said an “entity of someone” is sitting on the shoulder of her then-love interest Jim Gillialand. A white haze is evident in the photo’s right-hand corner.
“I believe it is Sara,” she said.
Todd said she believes this ghost still inhabits Carson because the ghost hasn’t discovered Todd’s new place of employment yet at Grab ‘N Go. Although she does not work at Carson anymore, Todd said she still feels Sara’s presence.
She said sometimes when she is at home, she will put an item down, and it will disappear.
“I know I am not drunk — I am not on drugs,” she said.
After searching her whole residence, Todd said she would find the item in its original location and feel a “cold rush.”
Todd said that this “rush” is Sara’s laugh. She said Sara’s presence might also explain the drafts in the central kitchen of Carson. Hoping to have more direct contact with Sara, Todd said she is considering returning to the Salem location where she first encountered the ghost.
“I believe without a doubt that this entity is with me,” she said.
Anne Le Chevallier is a features reporter for the
Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached at
[email protected].