The Hauntings of the Kappa Alpha Theta House

Kappa Alpha Theta House: 841 West Walnut Street, Danville, KY

Sleeping Child with Unknown Figure

There have been many stories and tellings of paranormal activity at Centre College, each with their own unique tale and significance. In the home of 841 West Walnut Street, currently the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house and previously a private residence, there have been accounts of supernatural events. One story has been passed down through the sorority for many years. Naomi Hunt, a member of Kappa Alpha Theta who used to live in the same room as the spirit tells the story perfectly. 

A woman in the sorority was babysitting a professor’s child in the Theta house one night in 2017. It was time for the child to go to bed so the babysitter decided to let the child go lay in her bed upstairs until the child’s parents could come pick them up. While laying upstairs, the child could not fall asleep and so they asked the babysitter if they could play on her phone. The babysitter leaves the child upstairs with the phone and after she goes back downstairs for a while, she decides to go back upstairs and get her phone from the child. As she looks at her phone, she notices the camera roll is open, and it is there that “she finds pictures of the child sleeping in her bed,” from a different perspective, and there is a figure in the image (1). This figure seen in Image 2 has the outline of a woman with long hair, but no face. Years later, in that same room, Naomi describes how the lights are “not just like flickering, [rather] like fully like off and like fully on, kind of just over and over again and from outside the house” as if signalling a presence of a spirit in the bedroom (2). The advice she received from her friend who used to live in the room was to “just don't turn on the lights” (3). So they never did it again.

There have been other tales about that house in Greek Park at Centre College. Naomi describes noises she heard often between her bedroom and the bedroom adjacent. These two bedrooms share a wall in which the closets back up to each other. Many times Naomi and her roommate would hear the closet doors and drawers opening and closing, with the knowledge that the women who live in that room were not in the house at the time. Later, when she asked the other women what was happening, they also explained that they would also hear the closet doors opening and closing knowing that they were not in their room. Thus, it has been concluded that the spirit makes these noises in the same space where the photograph was taken of the child. 

One other story that has been connected to these supernatural events occurred in the upstairs bathroom of the Kappa Alpha Theta house. A member was utilizing the facilities in the house when suddenly the door to the bathroom stall fell off its hinges. Although this can be attributed to poor maintenance or excessive use of the door, some say that the ghost of the Theta house made the door completely fall off. For the rest of that year, the women who lived in the house did not disturb the bathroom door, worried they might anger the ghost. Whether or not it truly was the ghost, it makes for an interesting addition to the narrative told by so many about the ghost that resides in the Kappa Alpha Theta house as it can be interpreted as a warning or threat to the sorority that they may be occupying a place haunted by ghosts. 

These stories that capture the paranormal activity that has occurred in the Kappa Alpha Theta house must be questioned as to the legitimacy of the tales. Prior to the house becoming Centre College property and becoming a sorority house, it was previously a private residence. One of the former owners was Mr. W. B. May in the early 1900s. He lived with his wife, Mrs. Annie S. May and their children. In 1933, W. B. May fell ill and died of a sudden heart attack in his home. At that time, his spirit may have remained in the place where he resided and spent much of his life. He lived there for 20 years, and may not have been able to let part of him go because of the work he did in Danville. He wants to be remembered for what he did and how he contributed to the town, and thus, continues to haunt 841 West Walnut Street so he will not be forgotten. 

Another frequent resident of the house in the 1940s was Bonnie Sue Hudson, the great-grandchild of Annie S. May. Bonnie, who suffered from polio and would visit her great-grandmother in Danville for many months during the year. She suffered great pain from this virus and as a result, may even be the spirit seen in Image 2. This is inferred because Bonnie’s time in the house was during her early childhood and teenage years, which makes her roughly the right age as the figure in the photograph. It can be assumed that her time at 827 West Walnut Street left a mark on the property, and her memory and spirit may live within the walls of the house to be remembered by each person who now resides in the house. 

From these tales, it can be implied that Centre College is a haunted place. However, many students, former and present, have different interpretations of the paranormal activity that Centre claims.
Since the college obtained most of their buildings from previous owners, rather than creating brand new buildings, there are stories that accompany the buildings, and sometimes spirits come with them as well. Furthermore, from these stories that occur in the Theta house, the women of the sorority have come to believe in paranormal activity and the presence of Bonnie and Mr. May in their home. Any disturbance of their house without their doing so causes them to assume the spirits have performed these acts. They interpret these movements as a warning or signal that they should go no further, or a reminder that the spirit is always with them no matter what they do or where they go in the house. Whether the women possibly chose to hang something on the wall that did not belong or were too loud in one of the rooms, these occurrences lead them to assume something is different about this house, and they wish to respect the previous owners and interpret the disturbances as warnings and guidelines for how to coexist in the house, rather than run off by the spirits. Hopefully, these supernatural acts will continue only as warnings, and not result in anything further that may cause them to abandon the house for good.

-Katy Haering