It’s not actually that close to Halloween yet, but that didn’t stop these campus locations from being creepy as all get out. So, in celebration of our Halloween-adjacent print issue, here are our picks for the top six (six six) spookiest spots on campus.
- 500M, Rush Rhees Stacks
To be fair, during the day, this place isn’t scary so much as sad — what with the altitude, layers of dust, and number of high-strung people. But at night, when the wind chills and the only sign of life is an abandoned half-eaten salad, the creep factor kicks in hard. Suddenly, your efforts to avoid imagining an axe-wielding maniac in the reflection of the window in front of you become futile. Why is it scarier than 400? Because it’s higher, and therefore farther from civilization.
- Meliora Hall
This building has a secret elevator, so there’s that. Outside, you’re greeted by a few decades-old limbless, faceless statues bemoaning the gender disparities in campus sculptures. Some stairwells end early, keeping students from easy access to the first floor — or to keep whatever’s down there from coming up. Combine that with a lack of windows and clinical hallways, and voila: UR has a cubical terror on its hands.
- Phase Bridge (at night)
It’s the perfect place for a kidnapping. You’re all alone, and if you’re not, can you trust the footsteps behind you? If you screamed on this bridge, who would hear you? The whistling wind and rustling trees would simply whisk it away, along with your chances of rescue. Such is the paranoia of the 2 a.m. hike across the Phase bridge.
- The Eastman Quad (at night)
In theory, Jack the Ripper has been dead for some time. But try telling us that when we’re crossing the Eastman Quad at 2 a.m., and all we can hear is the clicking of our footsteps and the locust-like hiss of the sprinklers.
If you’re feeling adventurous, try walking past the George Eastman statue past midnight. It’s definitely alive, and it will lunge as soon as you’re within range.
- Phase Tunnels
When it’s late and cold, and you’re stuck in Fairchild and need to get home to Slater, the Phase tunnels are your best — and most terrifying — bet. You constantly look over your shoulder, expecting Slenderman to pop out on your sprint back to safety. If it isn’t Slenderman, some rando is definitely foraging down there. Maybe that’s why there are needless vending machines scattered throughout the tunnels. The laundry machines growl with every step as the 60’s aesthetic-themed walls close in on you. And the stench is like dead rats combined with weed. Run quickly, drunk sophomores.
- Spurrier
Everything about Spurrier sets your teeth on edge. The tunnel leading to it from Sue B looks like somewhere Pennywise would call home. Once you’re there, the convoluted path to the practice rooms is reminiscent of a locker room from your nightmares.
Originally built as a women’s gym in the early 20th century, many of Spurrier’s facilities aren’t used anymore, and feel seriously neglected.
For example, the old swimming pool. If you wander for long enough, you might stumble upon its boarded-up entrance, the door marked with faded warnings of asbestos poisoning. Peek through the quarter-sized holes in the boards and you’ll see the abandoned swimming pool, which was once filled up with chairs. Plus, we’re pretty sure a ghost is trying to signal to us with that flickering light.
