Are you afraid of the dark?

March 5, 2004
by Megan Carl
Staff Reporter

Albion College campus myths begin as simple fact-based statements. But with each re-telling, the truth diminishes, leaving some pretty impressive fiction. Or is it?

The Mary Sykes room, on Baldwin’s third floor, boasts antiques and portraits of Mary Sykes-Baldwin and Charles Baldwin—as well as a reputation for odd happenings. Students as well as staff members recall plates falling to the floor, lights flickering, and doors opening and closing without explanation.

Ashley Sobel, Marshall sophomore, remembers one eerie experience she had while decorating the room for Easter. Sobel had hung plastic Easter eggs from the ceiling without any problems until she attempted to hang a green egg in front of Mary’s portrait.

“The egg would not stick,” Sobel said. “I tried everything—thumbtacks, tape—it just wouldn’t stick, but all the others had.”

She finally decided to hang a pink egg in the same spot. It remained hanging. Was it faulty tape and tacks that prevented the egg from staying in place, or does Mary just hate the color green?

Another Baldwin myth dates back to 1951, when construction of the hall began and a ceremony was held to commemorate the event. The day before the ceremony, President William Whitehouse suggested that the ceremony’s cornerstone be put under lock and key to guard against any pranksters. The suggestion was ignored, and the next day the stone was missing. Months later the cornerstone was found in Riverside Cemetery. Was it a student pulling a prank or an antic of Charles Baldwin?

One of the best known myths involves “Ivy,” the ghost of Dean Hall. At one time, the house at 400 E. Erie St. was owned by a family in Albion. One night the house burned down, killing Ivy, a girl in her late teens. The house was rebuilt and donated to the college in 1928.

In 1937, the rebuilt home was again destroyed by fire. Albion students were not harmed in the second blaze.

Room 303 seems to be the ghostly hot spot in Dean. Carrie Sutton, Grosse Pointe senior, lived in the room her sophomore year. According to Sutton, Ivy has been known to open and close doors, turn lights on and off, and even whisper to the girls at night while they’re trying to sleep. According to lore, the only time the ghost appeared, she resembled an old lady and didn’t seem to notice the girls who were terrified by her.

A third campus myth might have an explanation. After it snows, clear trails appear on the front lawns of the Kellogg Center and Whitehouse dormitory. The trails don’t seem shoveled or packed down by traffic, so why are they there? Kenneth Kolmodin, director of facilities and operations, provides a very simple answer to explain the melted pathways.

“There are several tunnels, most under sidewalks, which link various buildings with the central boiler plant,” Kolmodin said. “All [the tunnels] are hot and dirty.”

One anonymous ’01 alumnus came up with an ingenious way to use these underground tunnels. He took his laundry to the tunnel entrance in Goodrich Chapel and carried it under the Quad to Kresge Gymnasium so that he could use the laundry machines for free.

It’s impossible to determine exactly how much of the information heard on campus is fact or fiction—or just creative thinking.