Among the first tales heard by new UW-Whitewater students are of ghosts, witches and a book so horrible it had to be locked up in the basement of Andersen Library. Karen Weston, the university archivist for 15 years, has had her fair share of hearing the haunted tales. She remains skeptical. "It's only here on campus that this seems to be an issue," Weston said. "Nobody in town talks about haunted Whitewater." One rumor Weston has dealt with countless times is that of the locked book in Andersen Library. It is said that those who read its horrid contents commit suicide, while others believe those who read it get cursed. Many students have gone to the library to ask about the book, but lack the standard information to find it. There is no known title, author or publisher. The only locked-up book in the library is a large Catholic hymn book with closures. Weston said rumors about the book might have started before the library's renovation in 1989. There was a large room containing archives, government documents and special collections. Since there were valuable books in the collections, they were locked in a cage for security. A tale that seemingly supports the idea that witches once inhabited Whitewater involves the alignment of the three cemeteries in town forming an equilateral triangle. While Oak Grove, Hillside and Calvary Cemeteries do line up that way, Weston doesn't think the Catholic groups behind them would've gotten together to make a heathen triangle. One undeniable incident occurred on Halloween in 1970, when a child's coffin was found on the mall of the University Center. It was dug up and left on the grounds without evidence of who did it, disturbing the community. The Morris Pratt Institute, established in 1888 as a school for spiritualism, also sparks rumors of the strange. Morris Pratt was an early settler in the Whitewater area who built the school downtown. Classes were held until the 1930s. The building was later used as a boarding house, until it was torn down in the 1960s. While the institute has been gone for years, there have been reports of unusual occurrences in the area where the building once stood. Most of the stories linked with the spiritualist school have been witch-related, giving Whitewater its nickname of "the second Salem." Junior Brian Bialobrzeski said he believes the rumors. "I especially believe in the three witches who did séances around the water tower in Starin Park," Bialobrzeski said. "We took pictures and learned that white orbs are good and red orbs are bad. When we took a picture of the tower, there were three red orbs near the top for the witches." Bialobrzeski also participated in a ghost hunt his freshman year. The group went to the Center of the Arts and spoke to the spirit of a little girl who was said to be buried somewhere on the grounds. The girl and her parents were killed for being witches, Bialobrzeski said. A woman's spirit is said to haunt the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter house. A woman committed suicide in a closet where she hung her crucifix. When the crucifix is removed from the closet, the lights are said to flicker and the television turns off. Junior Gabrielle Williams said she also believes rumors about houses haunted by spirits. "A lot of the houses on Main Street are haunted," Williams said. "The sorority and fraternity houses definitely are." Williams said the Alpha Sigma house is haunted with a "good ghost" who woke up women in the house during the night when the oven was left on. Some believe, she was preventing the house from burning down. Although many people have had personal experiences with the apparently haunted past of Whitewater, others do not think the evidence is credible or convincing. "They are rumors," Weston said. "There is no validity to any of this stuff. Enjoy it, but don't take any of it as truth."
Campus holds haunted past
Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Updated: Sunday, January 31, 2010 11:01
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