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MAIA NOI.AN
News Editor
Every college campus has its myths and
legends.
Rumors about murderous teachers, food
service mysteries, and campus ghosts
circulate among thousands of students each
year.
In this way, the University of Portland
is no different from any other college.
Students here might believe that there truly
is a rule that you get straight A's if your
roommate commits suicide, or that rat meat
is served in The Commons on a regular
basis. However, UP has something most
other schools don't — dozens of individual
reports of ghost sightings.
When James Covert, professor emeri¬
tus of history and political science, began
researching his book "A Point of Pride:
The University of Portland Story” in the
1970s, he came across old reports of ghost
sightings on campus. That piqued Covert’s
interest in psychic phenomena on campus.
Over the years, he has collected data and
heard report after report of campus ghost
sightings.
Covert said he prefers not to call the
apparitions “ghosts,” as he believes that
word “conjures up images of chain-
rattling.” The proper term is “psychic
phenomena.”
Covert said although some may be
reluctant to believe in the idea of the dead
hanging around campus buildings, he
thinks the reports have some validity.
“There are probably some cases that are
true,” Covert said.
According to Covert, apparitions have
been reported in at least three buildings on
campus: Waldschmidt Hall, The Com¬
mons, and Mchling Hall.
. built. Residents have reported incidents of
rattling doorknobs and windows, doors that
won’t stay open or closed, and the appari¬
tion of a Native American disappearing
through doorways and around corners.
Covert said while the existence of the
Mehling spirit is dubious, there may be
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some liistorical basis for the stories.
"Mehling could have been built on an
Indian burial ground," Covert said. Visitors
to The -Bluff in the 1920s reported seeing a
number of "man-made mounds” in what
used to be a gulch and is now Mchling
Hall. - . V
There is another Mehling legend — the
story of a little boy named George who mel
his end by falling off The Bluff and haunts
the hall’s eigth floor. According to some
accounts, George is a friendly ghost and a
neat freak. On several occasions, people
have reported seeing vacuum cleaners run
by themselves. A few Mehling residents
will tell you that when an elevator arrives
with no one else in it. George has sent it
personally and should be thanked.
Covert said although there is the
possibility of an actual apparition in
Mehling Hall, he thinks it is unlikely that it
exists.'T have a tendency not to believe
that." he said. "All I know is that 1 had a
number of students coming to me from
Mehling [with reports]."
Coven said although the prospect of
seeing an apparition may sound frighten¬
ing. most of the people who have brought
him reports have said they weren’t scared
by the sight.
"At the time [of the sighting] you're not]
frightened," Covert said. "It just seems
natural. Usually you gel a little nervous
afterwards.”
Nevertheless, residents of
Waldschmidt’s fifth-floor offices will
Paul
The first death on campus took place on
the first day of school in 1923. It was then
the practice for students to drop their
belongings off in their rooms in
Waldschmidt Hall (then called West Hall)
and take a long flight of stairs down The
Bluff to swim in the Willamette River.
That day, Sept. 15, a student named
Paul (Peter, according to some accounts)
Hillger dropped his bags off on the fifth
floor of West Hall and followed the rest of
the students down The Bluff to swim.
Sadly, Hillger drowned in the Willamette.
He was enrolled at Columbia Prep, a
boarding school that used to exist as part of
the university.
Covert said there have been many
continue to look over their shoulders when
they work late, and Mchling residents will
continue to say “Thank you, George,”
when an empty elevator arrives. Covert
said it’s all part of the fun.
“I think it’s pretty cool to have a couple
of ghosts on campus,” he said.
reports of an apparition haunting the fourth
and fifth floors of West Hall since that day
87 years ago. The spirit is said to have been
wealing shorts, a baseball cap. a T-shirt
and sandals — the swimwear for young
men of the 1920s. Some have reported
feeling the ghost's "icy fingers” on their
shoulders. In one vivid case reported in
1989. a West Hall janitor named Shela
Polivka claimed to have heard footsteps
pacing back and forth in front of the
janitor's closet in which she was taking a
break. Polivka reported the incident to
Public Safety officers; she said they didn't
believe her.
Covert said he believes the apparition is
probably Paul, the boy who drowned.
“We didn't have any cases of sightings
before Paul died.” he said.
Some people took the apparition very
seriously, according to Covert.
“For a while there, we had maintenance
people who would not go up on the fourth
of fifth floor.” he said. Members of the
University community who spoke to
Covert about their experiences gave the
same sort of description without hearing
what other people had seen. Covert said
that seemed to validate the reports.
“It kind of led me to believe that there
probably was some kind of apparition,” he
said.
However. Covert said, his own office
was on the fourth floor of West Hall for
years and he has never seen or heard
anvthing mysterious.
Since the renovation and renaming of
West Hall, there have been no reported
sightings of Paul, according to Covert.
Frank Houston
Sightings of Frank Houston, The
Commons’ ghost, are not as frequent or
substantiated as Paul sightings. Covert
said. The story goes something like this:
In the 1930s. the land that The Com¬
mons and Engineering Hall stand on today
was owned by a Protestant farmer named
Frank Houston. The fence marking his
property line ran right through what would
later become The Commons.
The University wanted to buy
Houston’s land, but he reportedly refused
to sell because he disliked Catholics. Every
day. Houston would pace along his side of
the fence, glaring at UP priests and
students.
“Every time he saw a priest, lie would
yell [at him].” Covert said. "He was pretty
much an irascible guy."
Eventually Houston died, and his wife,
who apparently didn't dislike Catholics the
way he had, sold the farm to the Univer¬
sity. Covert said some people think that
didn't make Houston loo happy.
Over the years, Commons employees
have reported hearing mysterious footsteps
in the dining room. One food service
manager quit his job as a result of working
with the apparition. However, Covert said
the existence of The Commons ghost is
questionable.
"I don't think anybody ever saw
anything. They just heard footsteps." he
said.
The Mehling ghost
Rumors about a ghost in Mehling Hall
have been circulating since the hall was
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Kathryn Ranes/Beacon
