Longtime STCC employee, historian, and paranormal enthusiast, Sharon Conte, has collected and generously shared many of the stories on this page. It is thanks to her passion and interest in these topics that STCC's history and legends can be passed down. Thank you Sharon!
Do you have a spooky story about STCC? Share it here!
Gray Graves
Location: Buildings 19 and 32
Did you know that human remains have been found on campus and more than once? In 1956, the remains of soldiers were uncovered in Building 19. They were identified by the tattered remains of the uniforms covering them. Less than 10 years later, two more skeletons were found near the same location. Workers discovered them while digging in the concrete to install a tank in Building 32.
Story originally published in STCC & Bones. Shared with permission.
Conte's Coalescing Orbs
Location: Basement of an STCC Building
Storyteller: Sharon Conte, Administrative Assistant
Tasked to document the campus buildings for the STCC archives, Administrative Assistant Sharon Conte confounded colleagues with images of coalescing orbs. Strange silvery orbs and small concentric crescents distill into faint shapes and populate her otherwise sharp pictures. When another staff member accompanied Sharon to document a basement, a manual pump handle suddenly shifted from off to on. Sharon quickly shot this picture in response. Sharon's silvery, otherworldy orbs once again condensed onto her digital media, sparking her colleague to take it to a local psychic. The message, apparently, was a greeting from four teenage boys, who had perished in a fire. Could this have been the great fire of 1824, which partially destroyed the building? Or were the boys simply recounting yet another tragic accident, so commonplace in the workplaces of our nineteenth century's pre-OSHA industrial complexes?
Story originally published in STCC & Bones. Shared with permission.
Furniture Moving
Location: Building 20
Storyteller: Carol Flores, TRIO Support Services
While working in Building 20, we would always hear furniture from above being dragged. We never thought anything of it, thinking the dental lab floor was being waxed. However, one day it got louder. Gail, who worked in the lab, was visiting my office and I asked her what all the commotion was about.
She looked at me odd and said, "The lab is closed all summer. I am the only one there."
We were like, "No way, we always hear weird noises coming from the ceiling."
She laughed and said we were crazy and then the noise began again. She looked up in horror.
I said, "we need to investigate it now!"
Gail said, "I just came from there, I don't want to go up there!"
So we went up together and left another person downstairs to listen. The lab was dark and all the chairs, tables, and dental equipment were just as they were before classes ended. We stayed there for about 5 minutes. I kicked the floor three times to see if the staff downstairs could hear it, and then I left.
When I got back down to my office, the staff informed me that they heard my kicks but nothing else. As I was going back to my desk, we heard the noises again. I called Gail and told her. She was confused because she could hear the noise through the phone but nothing was happening in the lab. Even after checking with the maintenance and faculty members in the area, it has been deemed a mystery. Many more things did occur in the building, but this is just one incident of many. Now Workforce Development resides in that area and I am curious if they hear anything.
Coffee Companion?
Storyteller: Ingrid Caine, Student Activities
I had come in early and was in our back kitchen area making coffee, when I felt and saw someone out of the corner of my eye, walk by and into the conference room just beyond the kitchen. I thought it was our intern and called out to her asking what she was doing here so early. I went into the conference room to see what she was doing but there was no one there. I went out to the front doors to see if maybe I had left them open, but they were still locked! On many occasions I would hear doors closing, even though they were all open. There were also times when everyone had left for the day that I would hear talking in the back rooms but I couldn't hear words, just low mumbling. Those voices were the creepiest and I would just say goodbye and leave the office.
Lady in the Hall
Location: Building 2, 5th Floor
Storyteller: José, STCC Maintainer
It was around 5:00 PM when I began sweeping the hallway by room 514. I looked up and noticed a woman by room 502 in a hooped dress that draped like curtains. It was white with long, laced sleeves. I was wondering why she was dressed in a costume and thought there must be something going on with the theater group. I looked again to ask her if she was lost and then I noticed she went through the closed door without opening it and was on the other side. I went down the hallway to find her, but she was gone. All the doors were locked and there was no way she could have gotten out. I checked with my supervisor the next day to see if there was a play or theater practice and she said that there were no events on campus. It creeped me out afterwards because I could see her dress so clearly and that she walked through the locked door.
Story originally published in STCC & Bones. Shared with permission.
Hanging from the Gallows
Location: Building 19
Storyteller: Nate, STCC Facilities
This story was told to me by a retired employee. According to legend, if you are unlucky enough to find yourself on campus at midnight o Halloween, and should you happen to be on the west end of Building 19, you may see the ghost of a confederate soldier suspended in mid-air from a hangman's noose but with no gallows anywhere to be seen. As the story goes, back during the war, confederate prisoners of war who were convicted by the military tribunal were hanged on a gallows that was constructed at the west end of Buildin19, which is why the ghost appears there.
Door Slamming Shut
Location: Building 2
Storyteller: Former STCC Facilities Worker
I was working on the 2nd floor in Building 2. It was early in the morning around 6:00 AM. I was all set to wax the hallway floor, so I opened up the three hallway doors with pegs. I plugged in my radio and walked back down to get the wax. All of the sudden, the doors started to slam shut with loud bangs. When I looked up, I felt a very cool sensation coming at me; it breezed right by me. My radio started to get static electricity. I left the mop, bucket, and radio, and ran out of the building. When my supervisor came in and saw my stuff all over the floor, he asked me what happened. I told him and he surprisingly understood.
Story originally published in STCC & Bones. Shared with permission.
Visiting Medical Officer
Location: Building 20
Storyteller: Former Nursing Professor
I was teaching a night class on the third floor [of building 20]. Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement of what appeared to be a man in what looked like an officer's uniform with large gold buttons. He was listening to my lecture while standing in partial profile between the partitions of the adjoining classroom. I acknowledged his presence and asked him if he would like to join the class. He smiled ever so slightly and exited through the wall. My class witnessed this.
Story originally published in STCC & Bones. Shared with permission.
Throwing Furniture Around
Location: Building 2
Storyteller: Mark, former STCC employee
My office is in Building 2 in the first floor. I have a key to the building and came in around 4:30 AM to start the procedure of posting a notice that the college was closed due to inclement weather. Above my head, I could hear loud banging sounds and furniture being dragged. I know that I was the only one in the building so I thought it could be a boiler making the sounds. The noise became louder, so I went upstairs to investigate. The chairs and desk in room 204 (which is located above my office) were thrown on the floor and pushed into different areas. I put the room back in order and went back down to my office. A few minutes later, the noise started up again. I quickly ran back up the stairs to room 204 and could see chairs being dragged across the floor by themselves. I ran back down and stayed in my car until someone else came in. When I told him the story, he wouldn't believe me until I made him go to that room.
Story originally published in STCC & Bones. Shared with permission.