Truman's Ghost Stories

Unexplainable noises, eerie feelings and cold sensations can be difficult to dismiss amid stories of ghosts in the residence halls.

Grim Hall residents say the ghost of Charlotte Burkhalter has been haunting the building for more than 70 years.

"I don't know why she is still here," sophomore Eric O'Brien said. "Why does anyone stay in Kirksville?"

O'Brien said Charlotte is known for making noises that sound like bowling balls rolling across the floor, doors rattling and furniture moving.

He said he thinks the noises are unexplainable unless they are coming from a ghost.

"I don't think her intention is to scare people," O'Brien said. "[She may] just want to get your attention to [let you] know that she is there."

Senior Elizabeth Higgins has been a resident of Grim Hall for the past four years.

She said she and her friends have communicated with Charlotte using a Ouija board.

"We talk to her," Higgins said. "We try to figure out how she died, but she won't answer us. Touchy subject, I guess."

Higgins said Charlotte lived in Grim Hall when it was a residence hall for nursing students.

She said there are different stories about how Charlotte died, but her life supposedly ended in Grim over winter break in the 1930s.

One tale is that Charlotte was diabetic and ran out of insulin over the break. She eventually went into a diabetic coma and died.

Another version is that over the winter break, the weather was very cold, and the heat got turned off in the hall. Charlotte died of hypothermia and was found wrapped in layers of blankets.

Higgins said she has seen Charlotte, and the ghost wears a white dress and has shoulder length hair that covers her face.

"Her dress is a little more old-fashioned, but otherwise she looked like [a college student,]" Higgins said.

Higgins said while communicating with Charlotte using the Ouija board, she asked why she always wears a white dress and covers her face.

"She said she wears the dress because it was her favorite dress when she was alive," Higgins said. "And she doesn't show her face because she doesn't want people to know who she is."

Higgins said she thinks Charlotte often stays in the fourth-floor lounge.

Stephen Broadbent said he has had encounters with Charlotte in the lounge.

He said one time when he was studying in the lounge, the door to the attic started rattling.

He said the rattling of the door was impossible to explain because no windows are near the door, and nobody has access to the attic.

"The noise got louder and louder until I said, 'Fine I'll leave,'" Broadbent said. "Then the noise stopped."

He said he thinks Charlotte also has been in his room.

One night he was sleeping when the sound of somebody typing on his computer woke him up. He got up to see who it was.

"I didn't see anybody sitting [at my computer], but I still heard my keys going," Broadbent said.

Higgins said Charlotte never does anything threatening.

"Our ghost is very kind, and unless you want to talk to her, she won't impose herself on you," Higgins said.

She said Charlotte is the primary ghost in Grim, but she is not the only one.

Higgins said there also is a little boy haunting the hall. He has been seen running down the halls, giggling and carrying a ball, she said.

Higgins said no one knows why the boy is there, but for some reason, he cannot enter the new section of Grim Hall.

"He runs down the hall toward the new section of Grim," Higgins said. "When he crosses the threshold between the new and old section, he disappears."

She said Charlotte told her the boy rolls the bowling ball across the floor, not her.

Higgins said there are benefits to having a ghost in Grim, especially when she claims to be a matchmaker, as Charlotte does.

"Charlotte says she sees two people who are compatible and nudges them towards talking to each other more," Higgins said. "She said she set my fiance and me up and another couple, so she has a pretty good track record."

Not all students believe in hall ghosts.

Sophomore Ben Sonnenberg said he does not believe in ghosts but said there is something different about the fourth floor in Grim.

"There is something there, but I'm not going to say it is Charlotte," Sonnenberg said.

Higgins said it is every person's choice to believe whether ghosts haunt Truman's campus.

"Sometimes you have to have experiences [with ghosts] to believe," Higgins said.

She said many people don't believe in ghosts because they think people go right to heaven after they die or cease to exist altogether.

Higgins said she believes in both heaven and ghosts.

"Charlotte said she chooses to stay and help people who live in Grim, and when she feels she is done helping them, she will move on [to heaven]," Higgins said.