Crowd of 70-strong takes annual Haunted Tour of campus

Stories of ghosts, moving statues, spells and curses echoed across Mercyhurst’s campus on Monday night as Alumni Relations guided more than 70 guests on the university’s annual Haunted Campus Tour.

Meaghan Hubert ’16 ’18M told the famous “Story of the Smoking Nun.” Legend has it that during the 1930s and 1940s in the area outside the chapel where the large magnolia tree now stands, there used to be picnic tables for the nuns to sit outdoors and smoke. One quiet nun used the garden for many years until she passed away. Since her death, more than one person has noticed a woman sitting in the far corner smoking, though nobody knew who she was. It is believed that this woman is the ghost of the smoking nun, who still haunts the area today.

Joining Hubert as tour guides were Mercyhurst employees Betsy Frank ’81, Kailey Pisani ’23, and Mason McCaslin ’23.  The tour visited Egan Hall, Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, Christ the King Chapel, Taylor Little Theatre, and Trinity Green.

Throughout the evening, guests had a chance to share their own stories of supernatural encounters, speaking of inexplicable experiences on the third floor of Egan and in the chapel garden where they reported seeing strange figures or hearing unusual sounds.

The Haunted Campus Tour is celebrated as the kickoff to Halloween festivities on campus. Prospective students learned about Mercyhurst in a unique way, and alumni reminisced in the tales of their alma mater.