by Riley Hodge
From Dr. Egge’s HIST 470 CentreTerm 2021 and the Centre College Ghost Stories website, “Piercing Centre’s Spectral Bubble: What Truly Haunts Centre College”
Centre College is known today as a place of diversity where important conversations happen. The school’s rich known and unknown past certainly provokes restless spirits that continue to linger within the halls. These stories have been shared by alumni, professors, upper-class students and first-year students. The tales include a dark spirit that haunts the lower floors of Sutcliffe Hall, Ruby Cheek trying to communicate with students, and a deceased student roaming the floors of Breckinridge Hall on the old quad.
Breckinridge Hall is believed to be one of the most ghostly and eerie buildings on Centre’s Campus. Originally built in 1892, the building was named after Robert J. Breckinridge of the well-known Breckinridge family from Danville. He was a “Presbyterian minister one of the seminary’s original professors” and became a pillar in the Kentucky public school system (Breckinridge Hall). The structure was originally built to house students, classrooms, and the seminary library. While Breckinridge Hall as a whole has a fascinating history, the third floor specifically has occupied some of the more violent occurrences. A large fire on March 2, 1908 damaged much of the building. It was said to have originated on the third floor and was caused by some fallen coals. At this point there were about fifty boys living in the building but two, A. U. Davidson and Geo. Alley, were almost trapped inside. Luckily, they were able to escape down a rope (Kentucky Advocate 1908). Later on November 5, 1982, nine rooms on the third floor occupied by Centre football players were robbed. The suspected man hitchhiked past Danville’s city limits (The Advocate Messenger 1932). Places such as Breck, with violent and restless histories, often summon unruly spirits.
Breckinridge Hall is a common subject when discussing supernatural experiences on Centre’s campus and Danville overall. The most recognized ghoul is that of Peter. The origin of his name and his connection to Centre College is currently undetermined, but there are a few speculations. Many students have heard of Peter as a former student who had grappled with his own mental illness and later took his life in his room on the third floor. When the school invited a medium to investigate the unexplainable activity, she said Peter was a groundskeeper that had previously worked at the college. She sensed he had an unhealthy homelife and became connected with Centre College as his new home. He was said to have passed after a short illness while living in Breckinridge Hall (The Advocate-Messenger 2007). There has been no proven evidence of any former student passing away at Centre or any groundskeeper named Peter.
Students speak of footsteps echoing, posters falling, doors opening and closing, and even a chilly breath moving on the back of their neck. These accounts have been recorded in interviews done by current students at Centre. In my interview with Eric Maloney, a recent alumnus and staff member in admissions, he described some unexplainable experiences he had while attending a camp hosted by Centre. One day, he has his friends had snuck up to the third floor after hearing rumors of its hauntings. While exploring, he felt an odd presence and a cold breath on the back of his neck; “…you do get that weird, cold feeling like on the back of your neck and you feel like something’s watching you.” In another instance, he heard footsteps and “[felt] like some kind of presence there” while the third floor was supposedly empty. Many students report feeling an unease making Peter seem more malicious than good.
Margueritte Wheeler, another recent alumnus, recalled her closet door in room 210 opening on its own but one night in particular shook her the most. Wheeler was going in and out of sleep when “[she] heard the door open and [she] heard weight on the bed” followed by footsteps. Because of this she assumed it was her roommate, but she later discovered no one was there.
Wayne King, the retired director of facilities at Centre, worked there for many years and has faced numerous possibly paranormal occurrences. The earliest occurred when two boys living in a dorm on the third floor continuously found their door and window open after they locked it. As time went on, these incidents started to escalate now with their lights and their radio on even after they changed the locks on their doors. Once they had had enough, they were relocated, and the room was boarded up. Wayne said the maintenance faculty soon after discovered a student had allegedly taken his life in that very room. Another event King recounts was during the summer when he was doing maintenance on the supposedly empty building. While he was working on the first floor, he kept hearing doors slam and footsteps running up and down the halls. He went to the second and third floor to see if there was someone messing around, but the halls were empty. King described another encounter during the summer, but it happened on the first floor. He was working on maintenance with a few plumbers but at one point it was just the main plumber’s assistant in the hall. Standing at the end of the hall, the plumber saw a silhouette surrounded by a light coming from the door. He stood there, paralyzed in fear, and watched the person open one of the doors walk into a dorm room. When the others had come back in, they checked that room; the door was locked, and no one was in the room. Dark shadows and disruption within someone’s supposed comfort space conveys some sort of mischievousness.
One of the most infamous stories told about Breckinridge Hall is that experienced by Ann Young, a long-time staff member of Centre and currently works in Housing and Residence life. One summer when Young and maintenance were checking for damage in dorms, they found a detailed illustration of a man’s face covering an entire wall in one of the rooms. They tried to rub it off and remove it, but none were successful. The next day, they had come back with painters to try and cover the image up, but it had disappeared. With these accounts and so many more, it is difficult to deny there is something spine-chilling linked to Breckinridge Hall.
The many ghosts of Centre College create a fuller history and captivate current and past students. These narratives of Breckinridge Hall specifically highlight the complexity of Centre’s ghostly side. Breck has been a space dedicated to comfort and acting as a home away from home for many students and faculty. Since these discoveries of the building, the conversation has shifted to a mysterious, haunted hall. The history that lies within the walls brings out the dark side of the building. Because there is no proof of this Peter, these could simply be stories made to give an explanation to these unclear events. Nonetheless Centre’s paranormal side, still being explored, allows other to connect with its history and possibly learn from their predecessors.
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If you enjoyed reading about Centre’s haunted history, check out more ghostly research by Dr. Egge and her students, “Piercing Centre’s Spectral Bubble” at centreghosts.omeka.net.