Baldwin Unsolved: Volume I
Is the Residence’s mysterious fifth floor haunted?
A hallway in the fifth floor of the Residence.
Our school has been around for over a century, so naturally, there are countless rumors of ghosts and other supernatural phenomena in its halls. You may have heard about the Residence’s ghost, Priscilla: once a handbells-loving student, now haunting the shadows. Or maybe you’ve experienced strange happenings firsthand, such as a door mysteriously shutting during class. But are such minute occurrences enough to prove that ghosts are real, or even active at Baldwin?
One of the most popular locations where ghosts are said to be active is the Residence, which is not much of a surprise considering it is the oldest building in the school, built in the 19th century. The scariest area of the building is the fifth floor, which—if you survive the impractical hike there—certainly lives up to its reputation. The dusty books scattered on the floor of dark empty hallways makes the floor a perfect horror movie set.
But how telling is the fifth floor’s spooky appearance of the true nature of the Residence? Its notoriety suggests that spirits roam the floor, haunting the building that once housed many students, and now some faculty. Of course, rumor isn’t strong enough evidence to prove that ghosts really haunt our school, but many students claim to have witnessed unexplainable sights during their adventures up there.
Most students who visit the fifth floor have been there to investigate the rumors themselves. Zoe Ross ‘23 said, “Once in 4th grade, our class took a trip to the fifth floor of the Residence during a recess for fun. Walking through, I dared one of my friends to pick up an old dusty black book. When she picked it up, the door that we had entered through slammed shut. All of us were in the center of the room and there were no windows open.”
Others who have experienced the mysteries of the fifth floor share similar accounts. Doors closing, voices, strange noises— often blamed on drafty rooms—are often heard by people on their journey to the Residence’s infamous fifth floor.
While none of these rumors are enough to insinuate there is anything more than an open window, the supernatural occurrences at Baldwin still remain a mystery to many students. So keep an eye out the next time you’re at the Residence, and you just might catch the notorious Priscilla drifting by a window.
shilpa suresh | Dec 13, 2022 at 2:33 pm
I was a border in 1995 and was studying in year 11, I can’t remember the date or month that this happened but it was a warm comfortable night, the air was still.
We (me and my friend) had a somewhat ghostly experience that night, not on the 5th floor but on the basket ball court.
We weren’t looking for ghosts, in fact at the time we didn’t really believe in such things and didn’t pay much attention to stories. We were blissfully unaware of any entity or hauntings.
After Dinner that night all us borders would play / walk around the athletics tracks. As there was so many of us walking me and my friend decided to walk and chat on the basket ball court. As time passes most of the girls headed indoors, it was dark but we were lost in our girly conversations. We had a bit more time before the gates to our dorms would be locked by the warden so we chatted away. soon it was just the 2 of us but we hadn’t noticed that as yet. Some girls were sitting on the parapet on the far end and chatting.
As we walked we both felt a presence a few time – it felt like someone was with us but no one was there. We didn’t pay much heed to it at all were too busy chatting away. It was dark and there was a small stream of light that came from the street behind the back compound, it lit a very small part of the court. As we were walking I suddenly spotted shuffling feet in that light. It was only for a few seconds and there was no one there, except of course the feet – it was bare foot, and only a part of it could be seen given the lighting.
Before I could process the information, I spooked and a primal cry came out of my lungs and the two of us ran for our lives towards our dorm. Needless to say we never walked on the basketball court again after dark. To this day I am not entirely sure what I saw that day. If it was truly a haunting or my eyes playing tricks on me.
My friend was spooked but she says she didn’t really see anything. Me screaming on the top of my lungs out of the blue mid conversation had her screaming and running too.
Has anyone else seen anything there on the basket ball court?
Alan Abrahamson | Dec 17, 2021 at 9:23 am
The 5th floor sounds like the place to be for Holloween.