Myth Or Real Scare: The Ghost Of Gulley Hall

Administrators in Gulley Hall can't agree on who or what causes the unusual nighttime noises in the building's basement, but they can agree on one thing: it's spooky.

"It's a creepy old building," said Steve Rhodes, special assistant to UConn President Michael Hogan.

"I've only been here a few weeks," said Rhodes, who was also Hogan's special assistant at the University of Iowa. "But one of the first things I heard when I started working in this building was that there's a ghost in here."

While some staffers treat the "Gulley ghost" as a joke or rumor, others are completely serious when they say the building is inhabited by something inhuman.

One administrator who works in the basement of the building said she is sometimes terrified by the unusual noises she hears while working at night.

The staffer, who declined to provide her name, said she's heard banging, murmuring and even voices coming from the basement.

"I do frequently jump," she said. "You hear all kinds of stuff down there … I've actually heard the elevator going but there's nobody on it … it's uncomfortable to be here on the weekends by yourself."

The basement of Gulley Hall - a labyrinth of arched doorways and exposed brick walls - would likely cause even the staunchest ghost skeptics to watch their backs. Because it's underground, the windows provide a view of earth and grass and only a sliver of sky. The unfinished rooms feature cement floors with open ceilings and exposed pipes.

Bhupen Patel, director of the office of construction assurance, has worked in the basement of Gulley Hall - which is located between Beach Hall and the Family Studies building - since April.

Patel, who works during the daytime only, said he has never seen anything unusual in the basement. However he said there have been over a dozen occasions where he's heard whistling but can't figure out where it's coming from.

Still, he isn't concerned.

"I'm not worried about it," he said. "I'm not scared."

Karla Fox, a business professor who previously had an office in the basement of Gulley Hall, also remembers hearing unusual noises in the building at night.

"The fact is, late at night, it gets a little unnerving," she said. "You hear odd noises … I got in the habit of never staying too late."

Fox said the noises were most likely due to clanking and banging from heating pipes. She said she never saw anything unusual in Gulley, except for doors opening by themselves - a phenomenon she attributed to the old structure settling.

The building was built in 1905 at a cost of $55,000, according to a historical chronology of the plant science department prepared for UConn's 125th anniversary.

It originally consisted of a large lecture room, a laboratory, faculty offices, a museum, fruit and vegetable storage chambers and a series of demonstration rooms for spray apparatus in the basement.

The building is named for Alfred G. Gulley, who was appointed professor of horticulture in 1894. Considered an excellent teacher and researcher, Gulley was involved in a variety of on-campus projects: an orchard of experimental varieties on Horsebarn Hill, the landscaping at the front of campus and a commercial orchard, among other things. Gulley Hall eventually became the central administrative building on campus and is now called home by the president, provost and their staff.

Rhodes, one of the ghost's believers, said he has some experience with the supernatural.

He explained that in Iowa City, the town surrounding the University of Iowa, there is an old cemetery with an 8.5-foot tall black angel statue.

The statue has been famous ever since it turned black, a color change around which many rumors circulate. A variety of myths now surround the statue; for example, touching the angel at midnight on Halloween means death within seven years.

"So I have some background here [with the supernatural]," said Rhodes, smiling.

Rhodes said in years past, administrators assumed the ghost was that of Professor Gulley, but that recent discoveries have made them reexamine their conclusions.

"I'm not convinced it's the ghost of Professor Gulley," Rhodes said. "In fact, we came across this old file that talked about the fact that the building was built on a gravesite by mistake, disturbing the grave."

According to the file, the gravesite belonged to a woman who died in the 18th century. Her grave had been forgotten by the time the building was constructed.

An e-mail inviting UConn students to trick-or-treat at the president's office last week listed the ghost's name as Samantha and said she died in 1782 of a fever. Because Gulley Hall was constructed on top of her long-forgotten grave, she is now "doomed to roam the halls and stairways of Gulley, searching for a resting place."

"I'd say it's a good likelihood that there's some truth to this," Rhodes said. "I'm not sure if it's a malicious ghost, a mischievous ghost or a lonely ghost … I'm sometimes here late at night working and it makes me a little jittery."

Tonight, two brave Daily Campus staffers will attempt to spend a few hours in or around Gulley Hall to see if they can catch a special Halloween glimpse of Samantha. Find an account of their experience in tomorrow's Focus section.

Contact Brittany Dorn at

Brittany.Dorn@UConn.edu.