Thud. Thud. Thud.

I had just sat down to do my homework when I heard banging sounds on the wall, seemingly from our neighbors' dorm. Irritated, I made a mental note to knock on their door and talk to them about it later. I returned to my homework assignment only to hear more thudding. Jokingly, my roommate commented that it was our "third roommate," a ghost who she named Samantha. As one who gets spooked easily, I nervously laughed it off, but the thought of our floor being haunted festered in the back of my mind.

Later that night, I went out to our floor lounge and told my floor-mates about the thudding I had heard earlier. I turned to my neighbors and asked them if they were the ones making the thudding noise on the wall which we share, expecting them to say yes, because ghosts aren't real. Right? However, my neighbors denied making any thudding noises to our walls, and my suspicions intensified.

Other residents on our floor came out and told me their experiences with ghost-like presences. Some said they always heard weird noises while showering, others said their stuff would randomly fall off the shelves or their doors would randomly close. Their stories reminded me of all the stuff that happened in my own dorm room -- pictures on the wall always falling, the door slamming shut for no reason, lots of ladybugs coming in to our room even when the screen on the window was shut -- all things I had previously attributed to chance, but was now wondering if they were signs of paranormal activity.

As the conversation continued, someone brought up the fire drills that have been happening at Watterson. (For those who don't know, Watterson's North Tower has had 8 fire drills in the past month, which is more than they had in the whole 2017-2018 school year.) Could it be that the fire drills are the ghosts of Watterson's past retaliating against its present residents? The discussion kept going, and one girl even recounted that she had heard that Watterson Towers used to be a mental hospital-- hence the odd floor plans and hospital-like hallways. If true, it would explain the existence of ghosts; the past residents were mental patients who now want to disturb the half-crazy college students living in their home. Perhaps it is the ghosts simply messing with us, lighting fires in the middle of the night so that we experience the feelings they did.

This started becoming too eerie for me, so I went off to watch some mindless TV and forget about the ghosts. Though I still attribute all the supposed paranormal activity to chance and loud neighbors, part of me always embraces the autumn season and all of the horrifyingly amazing stories it brings. If you have had any super eerie ghost experiences, or if you would like to participate in the naming process of our Resident Ghost, feel free to tweet me @lolanushree!