ISU Bengal

Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: Life

Jennifer Otte, a Facilities Services custodial supervisor, swears she isn't crazy. There are ghosts at ISU, and co-worker Penny Miller agrees with her. The two have been unwilling witnesses to ghost sightings around campus.

"I don't like people thinking that I am nuts," Otte said. She still believes that ISU is haunted.

The most famous ghost on campus is Alex, the ghost of Frazier Hall. He is the most spoken of and experienced ghost of campus, but to Otte and Miller, he isn't just a story. He is a real ghost that demands acknowledgement from the custodial staff. Several years ago during a remodel of Frazier Hall, Otte and Miller took on the task of placing plastic coverings on the seats of Frazier Hall. While placing the plastic down, one of the seats in the middle of the row went down and an unseen force sat on the plastic, making an impression.. Otte, - no stranger to Alex's activites - said, "Alex knock it off." After which the seat came back up and the impression on the plastic lifted. A strange story yes, a hoax - Otte and Miller don't think so.

That wasn't the first time Otte and Miller had run into Alex. Often times Otte had to acknowledge Alex while patrolling Frazier Hall or he would blow the flyers around and off the walls, with no open windows to blame.

Alex isn't the only ghost reported by Otte, Miller, and other staff of the custodial department. A ghost named Sarah frequently visits the office of Facilities Services. The ghost began making her appearance known when in the evening, she set off the motion detector lights in the empty building.

Lights aren't the only things that indicate Sarah's presence. She has been seen, smelt, and heard, and not just from Otte and Miller. "I don't know where she came from, but she is a pioneer person. She wears a bonnet and you can even smell the honeysuckle perfume or lavender," said Otte.

Otte and Miller have both seen her walking down halls. "If you're lucky enough she'll let you see her," said Otte.

Sarah scared an unsuspecting person named Melanie Burget. Burget sat in Otte's chair when from apparently the heater vent Sarah yelled, "What are you doin?" After Melanie jumped out of Ott's chair from fright she exclaimed to Otte, "okay Jennifer I believe you now."

Some of the ghost stories have a bit more touching story to them. Terrille Hancock, the ISU Operation Manger, used to work patrol. Hancock often felt Eli Oboler's presence while making sure the Library was secure. "Eli wondered the halls….I never was afraid of him." Hancock felt a special connection to the library ghost, "When I was married, I rented a house from him. It was nice to know he was there in the library because he loved books."

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