University freshman Gabriel Wahrmund still can’t fully describe or understand what happened when he awoke from a nap in his Stafford Hall room Friday.
But he knows it was weird.
Around 6 p.m., Wahrmund said he began to stir from a two-hour nap. The afternoon sun was setting, darkening room 101, and Wahrmund was alone, he said.
The hall was quiet.
What Wahrmund saw in the next 20 seconds, he can only describe as “crazy” or “ridiculous.” Transparent clouds or bubbles of different sizes drifted over him and floated through the wall above his window, he said.
“It was like shadow in mid-air,” he said. “It was as if air in certain areas were more concentrated.”
He told another student in his hall what happened.
It was then that Wahrmund was told his room was rumored to be haunted.
It’s true.
The story of a young black man haunting Stafford Hall and the nearby Pioneer Cemetery has floated around the Internet for years, popping up on Web sites and message boards. The story says that the spirit has been spotted peeking into room 101 with a curious look or darting around corners. The young apparition has also been seen standing on corners in or near Pioneer Cemetery. He only appears at night when campus is quiet.
Accounts of this apparition are posted on various Web sites dedicated to supernatural investigations. When approached by an Emerald reporter, a different Stafford Hall resident knew of the ghost story and mentioned Wahrmund’s recent experience. Wahrmund’s room is the only room said to be visited by the ghost.
An Emerald reporter was dispatched to find the ghost Saturday night after consulting Ghostigator.com for tips on conducting a successful supernatural investigation.
The Web site encourages investigators to have an open mind because skepticism will generate negative energy. It also advises against smoking, drinking, doing drugs or performing seances during an investigation. In addition, spirits must be asked permission before having their photograph taken.
The reporter followed these suggestions, but was unsuccessful in her search. Two Emerald photographers, who were also dispatched, visited the cemetery around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday.
They weren’t alone.
Groups of students were reading ghost stories there, surrounded by the haunting blackness with only a flashlight to read by. But no ghost. The possible identities for the reported ghost seem endless. Could he be the spirit of a murdered student revisiting his old room or a peeping tom with a fetish for college students?
Wahrmund’s experience doesn’t quite fit previous descriptions of the spirit, but maybe what Wahrmund said he saw was the transparent entity of a spirit peering down on him. Or maybe, he was still groggy from his nap.
Wahrmund said he doesn’t mind living in a potentially haunted room.
“It’s all right with me as long as it doesn’t bother me or cause me harm,” he said.
But he did say University Housing should give him a discounted rate.

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