Now that midterms have come and gone, the spookiest thing at Stout is Halloween! Whether this is your first Halloween at Stout or you’ve been wandering Menomonie on October 31st for years, there are so many ways to celebrate. One of my favorite ways to get into the holiday spirit is learning the hauntings that have been reported across the city. In my research, I learned that Stout itself isn’t too far from being its own ghost story hub!
UW-Stout was founded in 1891; however, its current oldest dormitory building was built in the mid-1950s. Jeter-Tainter-Callahan Hall, or JTC, houses over 300 students, but students may not be the only thing lurking in the halls. The first people who discovered there might be something sinister roaming in the halls were the maintenance workers. Abigail Filcher, an author for Her Campus, wrote reports of summer maintenance workers hearing students’ voices even when students were not present in the building. There were also reports of doors locking and unlocking without explanation. Many of the weird phenomena take place in the basement, which is what has inspired the “JTC’s Haunted Basement” annual Halloween party. There are reports of furniture flying towards residents in the basement—which have technically been debunked due to the basement being slightly slanted. However, many believe the speed at which the furniture moved is unexplainable without a supernatural push.
The supposed ghosts that haunt JTC are assumed to be friendly; however, there are numerous examples of their jokes. In a student-made documentary about the hauntings at JTC, many students reported strange occurrences happening in their dorms, typically around 3:oo a.m. One pair of friends even suggested that they’ve been visited by multiple ghosts, since the strange happenings around their dorm were opposing in nature. For more information and in-depth story details, I suggest watching the full documentary “The Haunted Hall- JTC” on YouTube.
Additionally, JTC is not the only Stout building with reported hauntings. Originally built in 1916, Harvey Hall is said to be haunted as well. According to ghostquest.net, a tall, faceless, well-dressed man supposedly roams the halls at night. Although there is little investigation into this, it’s a fun tale! Stout buildings are not the only locations throughout Menomonie where possible paranormal experiences have occurred. If visiting these haunted academic locations didn’t help you get your fill, both the Devil’s Punchbowl and The Mabel Tainter Theater have hauntings for you to discover. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, I hope this Halloween season brings out the spooky side in you. And if anything strange happens to you on Stout’s campus, who knows? You might have a past student reminding you they’re looking out for us.
