MELAINE OTTO'S STORY

A friend of mine was exploring the MHC site and forwarded this area to me, knowing I had some odd experiences there when I was a senior living in South Mandelle. I just about fell over when I read Beth Dunn's experience!!

Okay, so there we were, October 1988, and just getting into our senior year at MHC. We had all pretty much heard of the 'ghost' of S. Mandelle, and all had smiled, like "Okay, uh huh" at this. We were psyched to be there, getting things like Disorientation ready, etc. (Oops! No, we never did that "D" word, ahem!) Well...

Slightly out-of-the-norm things had been going on, but nothing that you could really believe, thinking (naturally) that you had just missed your toothbrush on your way to the bathroom even though you could have >sworn< you'd taken it with you. It had just been really windy and caught the air pressure in the hall at this top level kind of funny and that is why some of our windows liked to suddenly blow open. That sort of thing.

I lived at the end of the hall, left side out of the elevator, in the end room right near the kitchenette. I don't know if this is the 'tower room' some other people list or not, but it is distinctive from the outside, and a great room to get if you are still a student reading this! Anyway, one day, I walked out of my room and noticed that our end of the hall's fluorescent lights were out. I figured someone had flipped a switch for our end of the hall. There was something else odd with lights, too, but my memory is not clear on this as I had just brushed it off as an old dorm's erratic electricity. In fact, it was safe-feeling to assign it to that reason! (Though a few of my really down-to-earth and widely-traveled friends on that floor >did< have some peculiar experiences. When I gave an interview for the MHC News later, the Head Residents pulled me aside and said "darn! I had almost put that whole October thing out of my mind!" as they had had some strange experiences too, but you'll have to get >them< to tell you.)

One day, as October wore on, I stepped into the elevator with another dorm member (and I wish I could remember who it was!)and two of the underclasswomen. The freshmen (okay, first-years -- the term was just changing) were all spooked out about 'our' ghost, and the other senior and I were telling them, no, they would be fine; yes, the ghost wouldn't give the elevator any trouble (we HOPED!), etc. We got to the top floor (4th), and as we stepped out of the elevator, I glanced down the hall to my right, and one by one the fluorescent bars turned off as I watched. Feeling the hair raising on the back of my neck, I looked to the left toward my room and the sunny window at the end, and watched >those< light-bars do that same domino thing. O-KAY, NOW I was creeped out. We all were like "Eek!" and edged closer together. Then, as this whatever didn't seem to be in any way threatening, I decided to make nice with the ghost or whatever it was. I had taken to jokingly referring to her as "Matilda", and decided it might be better if I had a little talk -- real quick! -- with her. I assured her that we liked the dorm; we seniors had no ill intent for our plans with the first-years and would take care of them, could she perhaps just relax? We were cool with her if she wanted to hang out, but really, we were good people, she shouldn't worry.
You could find any number of seniors addressing empty air politely that month! Aside from what I thought was a small scrape-tread sound (yes, overhead) beyond my footsteps once or twice, that was the last of our experiences with her if I remember correctly. And she was okay with us I guess, because if anything, that building felt like it was aware of us and sort of felt welcoming and safe for the rest of the year. Strange but true.

So maybe Beth was right, her presence just wanted to be acknowledged. These days, if I go back to the dorm, I always say 'hi' to "Matilda", just in case. It never hurts to have manners!

Submitted by Melaine Otto, Class of 1989, to the Archives webpage on December 19, 2005.

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