Embedded Files
Main Building
The Bookstore Brother (circa 1980s)
A spectral figure was a regular visitor when the bookstore was located on the northwest corner of the bottom floor of Main Building. Employees who left their keys in the door to work alone after closing reported hearing the keys jingle, as if someone were messing with them. Many reported items from their desks disappearing while they were away, only to have them inexplicably reappear later. Long-time employee Johnnie DeMoss reported multiple sightings of a tall male figure in a brown overcoat out of the corner of her eye. New employees would not be told of this figure, but all would eventually report seeing him. The common belief was that the figure was the spirit of a Brother who had once lived in the space and was curious about the new things in it. Johnnie believed that the spirit moved on when the space was renovated to become a copy/print center.
Source: SEU Ghost Stories Submission (October 31, 1996)
Original Source: Johnnie DeMoss
Hit and Run on University Circle (undated)
On a foggy night, a UPD officer drove his patrol car along University Circle in front of Main Building. A robed and hooded figure appeared directly in front of him in the middle of the road. He slammed on the breaks, but not before he felt the impact of a body hitting the hood. Jumping out of the car, the officer ran to the front of the vehicle. He saw no body on the ground. The car showed no signs of impact either. Confused, he got back in the car and resumed his patrol. Passing the same area the next night, the officer noticed a robed and hooded figure on the steps of Main Building. By the time he stopped the car and got out, the figure was gone.
Legend has it: In the early days of St. Edward's, a Holy Cross Brother was run over by a carriage one foggy night on his way back to campus from downtown Austin. A figure matching his description has been sighted several times during foggy nights.
Source: Hans Christianson, SEU Magazine (Fall 2007); SEU Ghost Stories Submission (circa 1996)
Original Sources: unattributed; anonymous
UPD and the Painter (undated)
During a routine night patrol of campus, a University Police Department officer passed by Main Building and noticed a figure staring out a window of Maloney Room. Since the building was locked up for the night, he called for backup and proceeded inside. Three officers climbed the steps to the third floor. As they approached the closed doors that led into Maloney Room, the doors started shaking violently as if someone was pulling on them from the inside. The officers unlocked the doors and burst into the large ballroom.
The split up and searched the open room and adjoining kitchen but found no one. As one of the officers got close to a window, the attached blinds began to shake. At the same time, the elevator down the hall opened and closed its doors and started its descent. The three officers split up with each one taking a floor to wait for the elevator to open. The elevator finally stopped at the ground floor and opened its doors. It was empty.
Legend has it: Many years ago a visiting priest was fond of painting in the Maloney Room, particularly during storms. He would often stand by an open window and paint watercolors as the bad weather approached. One night, the wind blew his canvas out through the window and, in an attempt to save it, he tripped on his robe and fell out the window three stories to his death.
Source: Hans Christianson, SEU Magazine (Fall 2007)
Original Source: unattributed
Note: This story could have been inspired by this event (see "Tragic Death of Priest" - Southern Messenger, March 1901).
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