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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Montana's Carroll College Bathroom Ghost

Historic photo of St. Charles Hall
Like most colleges and universities, Carroll College in Helena, Montana has its fair share of ghost stories, including the apparition of a nun!  However, the most prolific haunting on campus is undoubtedly found in St. Charles Hall.

St. Charles Hall was built in 1909 as the first building on the Carroll campus and in its early years, basically WAS the college---it housed not only dormitories, but classrooms, a library, a dining hall, and faculty offices.  In fact, when the school was first established, it was called Mount St. Charles College.  Today, the imposing gothic structure serves as a freshman/sophomore dormitory in its south wing, and performing arts facilities in its north.  It's also home to the most haunted bathroom in Montana!

In February of 1962, a young man returned to the dormitory rather late, presumably after a night of partying.  As he stood in front of the bathroom sink brushing his teeth, the boy blacked out and hit his head.  He was taken to the hospital and underwent two different surgeries to repair the damage from his head wounds. He would survive those injuries, but unfortunately would pass away a couple of weeks after the incident in the hospital from pneumonia.

4th floor men's bathroom, St. Charles Hall

Almost immediately after, the sightings began.  Students standing at the sinks, washing up or brushing their teeth started reporting seeing the image of a young man in the mirror, approaching them from behind with a bloodied head wound.  From there, the reports spun out of control, with reports of heavy breathing being heard, blood pouring from the faucets, and a blood stain on the floor that just wouldn't wash away.

To quell fears, this fourth floor bathroom was boarded up.  However, tales of its haunted past are still well known, and it has become a popular stop on a campus-wide ghost tour, held at Halloween!

The bathroom photo and more information on this location can be found at the KRTV website!

(Theresa's Note: I can't help but wonder if the boy who passes away was really drunk or not, as many websites featuring this story claim.  Could it be that he actually passed out due to some type of neurological disorder, which featured in the two different surgeries he underwent? As a private Catholic school, it would be much more difficult for a student to actually sneak out and get drunk, then sneak back in without getting into trouble.  If you have any information on this story, please let me know in the comments below!)

2 comments:

  1. As a Carroll College Alumni who lived in St. Charles dorm, I can assure everyone that we were able to sneak in hundreds of pounds of sand and multiple kegs to that fourth floor undetected. The only thing more impressive than not getting caught was the weight of the sand not crushing through the floor.

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  2. I was a student at Carroll when this event occurred. I am appalled at the inaccuracy of the reports. The person who died was a close friend of mine. We attended both high school and college together. He suffered head trauma while engaged in football practice, left practice and went to his floor to take a shower, slipped when leaving the shower (probably due to post-concussive symptoms), hit his head on the basin, and fell unconscious on the concrete floor because of further brain injury. There was absolutely no evidence of any alcohol involved in this tragic accident. His death was mourned by the ENTIRE student body at Carroll. In fact, he became a symbol of what a student athlete should be. A prominent Carroll College scholarship was created in his honor.

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