Mt. A’s campus is riddled with mysteries and legends, such as mysterious sounds from the tunnels under Thornton House or the colourful spirit of Professor Ethel Peake that supposedly haunts Hart Hall. Many students graduate without knowing the darker stories that lurk on campus and some may later connect the dots with their own potentially paranormal experiences that they brushed off at the time. So, if you have heard scratches in the basement at Thornton Hall, or felt a chill in Hart Hall, you may want to brace yourself before reading what could be their darker sources.
Somewhere under our feet at Mt. A, the ‘tunnel ghost’ carries a dark history and is not as well known as other Mt. A spirits. During the initial construction of the tunnels under campus, the workers were rumoured to have not been provided with appropriate working conditions and ended up dying in a tragic accident. Since then, students have reported strange sounds from the locked door in the basement of Thornton that leads into the tunnel system. In addition to these eerie noises, the lock to this door is controlled by a keycard and mysteriously beeps as if someone is trying to open the door at strange hours of the night.
A commonly acknowledged spirit in our community is infamous Professor Ethel Peake, a renowned singer who taught at Mt. A after training under knighted conductors in World War I. She was hired as head of the Vocal Department in 1936 with a rich history of singing in concert halls across Europe under the stage name of Selma Valmonte. Peake died in 1954 at the age of 69, with the first paranormal incident reported to have occurred at her funeral. At the funeral, a mysterious voice sang two octaves above the organ, noticed by Dr. Hebert Halpert and others during the ceremony. Later on, following the demolition of Allison Hall, students began noticing doors closing abruptly, invisible footsteps creaking the wooden floors, and objects being moved mysteriously, amplifying the possibility of her lingering spirit. Though these activities have all been light-hearted, there is one incident in particular that is still talked about today, involving a student allegedly falling down the stairs … backward. Apparently, before he could get to the third floor, he felt an apparition push him down the stairs backward and broke his leg in the process.
In 1979, The Bell Chair of Maritime Studies at Mt. A, Dr. Hebert Halpert, felt it was essential for students to understand the school’s history because it featured the first college ghost reported in Canada. Dr. Herbert Halpert felt so strongly about these tales that he began a collection of ghost stories associated with Hart Hall. The University’s spooky history is like none other. These mysteries uniquely merge our extensive school history with paranormal experiences and ultimately create a unique atmosphere that captivates visitors and students alike… especially around this spooky season.
