Olin Hall Hauntings

Olin Hall Hauntings

Centre College (Danville, Ky. : 1918- )—Anecdotes
Centre College (Danville, Ky. : 1918- )—Buildings
Centre College (Danville, Ky. : 1918- )—History
Centre College (Danville, Ky. : 1918- )—Students
Ghosts—Kentucky—Danville
Haunted places—Kentucky—Danville
Haunted universities and colleges—Kentucky—Danville

This pages dives into Centre College's supernatural history. In this interview, Jessie Turner remembers her paranormal experience in Olin Hall at Centre College during the fall of 2016.

Turner, Jessie

2021_01_19

Faulk, Averi

All Right Reserved

MP4

English

Oral History (literary work)

Faulk, Averi

Turner, Jessie

Olin Hall, Centre College, Danville, KY

Averi 00:00
Hello I’m Averi Faulk. This is Jessie Turner. She graduated in the spring of 2020 from Centre and she was an econ and finance major. I'm gonna let her introduce herself a little bit and tell us what she was involved in at Centre and what her typical day looked like at Centre College.

Jessie 00:24
Okay so hi, I'm Jessie Turner, I'm from Versailles Kentucky, and I just recently, like Averi said, graduated from Centre College in May of 2020. I earned a degree in econ and finance and also I was taking economics classes. I was on the women's soccer team with Averi and I was also one of her sorority sisters. So, that took up some of my time. And right now I am currently living in Louisville, Kentucky. In the real world, I have a job with Mercer consulting, and I am an actuarial analyst. So that's a little bit about me.

Averi 1:03
Yes well done. Love that for all of our fans. So now we're just gonna get into our paranormal activity on Centre’s campus. Just a little background, the Centre term class I am taking is doing some research and we're interviewing some alumni, staff and faculty and like asking if they have had any paranormal experiences because it's a pretty common thing to happen at Centre apparently. So do you have a paranormal experience you'd like to share? It doesn't have to be anything like huge, just something weird that happened, so anything like that.

Jessie 1:41
I do have a story. Would you like me to tell you about it right now?

Averi 1:45
I would love to hear it right now.

Jessie 1:46
So, like I said, I was an econ and finance major, which involves taking a lot of classes in Olin. Me and one of my fellow students in econ, Carson Hart, our freshman year, so in the fall of 2016 were in econ 110 together, and we were studying for an exam late We were, like I said freshman, so we pushed the studying off to later in the night, and the library is closed. So we had to find another building to study in.

Averi 2:24
Since the library closes at midnight?

Jessie 2:26
It's past midnight. It's later in the fall so it's colder. It was one of our later exams. And so we went to Olin because we were comfortable with the building. So, and we knew that there were open rooms, whiteboards, anything we needed to study.

Averi 2:42
And Olin is open 24 hours right?

Jessie 2:45
Yes, it is, so we needed our swipe key for access. And so we went to Olin with the intention of studying for our econ 110 exam. And I don't know if you've been in Olin, Averi?

Averi 2:59
Not much, you can explain it a little bit.

Jessie 3:03
So it's basically the way you swipe in, you have to swipe in the back, and there's a long hallway and the classrooms are on either side of the hallway. And then, the middle of the hallway, just offices. Professors offices, which obviously it's past midnight, the professors aren't there. And the lights are off because they are motion sensored or whatever, so whenever Carson and I walk in, the lights are off and they come on because we're activating them because they are motion sensored. And so like I mentioned, it's a long hallway, so we're going from where we swipe in, to the other end of the hallway so that we can go in and study, use the whiteboards, everything in the classroom and study. And so as we're walking, we get to the other end of the hallway and we don’t know how it happens, but one of the classroom doors on the other end of the hallway that we were just that we were just occupying, but since it was a long hallway we had walked all the way down.

Averi 4:14
So you walked the whole hallway and no one else was there?

Jessie 4:16
Yes because we could tell because of the lights.

Averi 4:18
Right

Jessie 4:22
And so we get to the other end of the hallway and as soon as we get into the room we hear the door close, which we were, we were unsure about. And we both kind of looked at each other, like, I'm unable to explain what happened. But also the Centre mindset, we're like we have an exam tomorrow we can’t worry about ghosts right now [laughter].

Averi 4:47
You were like alright, yeah fine, we’ll be haunted for the night [laughter].

Jessie 4:50
Well it was more like, we revisited it later, after the exam and we were like, “wait what did we experience last night?”

Averi 4:58
Wait what, so was it like a soft closing or did the door like slam shut?

Jessie 5:01
No. You know how sometimes you can blame it on like the draft, or the air conditioning or whatever. But no, it was nothing like that. It was like the door was open and then it was very much was not open [slight laughter].

Averi 5:18
So very much slam?

Jessie 5:19
Exactly. So, like I said, sunsure of how that happened. Still chalk it up as mystery, but we were there.

Averi 5:29
So the door slams and you and Carson are like that's, that's a tomorrow issue, post exam, we'll talk about it.

Jessie 5:38
We did end up closing our classroom door, just to maybe protect ourselves, I don’t know but.

Averi 5:44
Just so that door wouldn’t slam too [laughter].

Jessie 5:47
Exactly.

Averi 5:48
So when you guys talked about it a little later, did you like, did either of you suggest like, oh maybe like it was a ghost? Or were you like trying to convince yourselves like, oh, it might have been the wind or the draft whatever you were saying.

Jessie 6:02
Um, Carson very much believes it was a ghost. And to this day he will still be like, “remember that time in Olin?” and again, but I would like to think that it was just me and Carson in Olin that night, but it does give me the heebie jeebies.

Averi 6:19
Right like you kind of want to believe it wasn’t want you think it was?

Jessie 6:24
Right. But you’re in the Haunted History of Centre and knowing other ghost stories, I know about the happenings that have happened at Centre so it is kind of freaky to think about. Yeah, I just could be convinced either way.

Averi 6:38
Yeah, so how did Carson react to it. Like, when it first happened, did he jump? Or was it like you, you’re just like we got to do this exam and then who brought up like later?

Jessie 6:49
We both definitely jumped because it was unexpected and, um, unexplained. But then we realized we have our exam and there's like - It's already late and there's nowhere else to study so we did kind of prioritize that. Then later, after our exam. I, as we were walking past Olin back to our freshmen dorm and we were like… wait…

Averi 7:16
You walked past Olin the next day and you were like wait.

Jessie 7:21
Yeah, we were like we never really discussed what happened in there, because it’s worth discussing.

Averi 7:25
Right. So you've heard other ghost stories. You've heard them from Dr. Egge, you've heard them from like freshman dorms - have you heard any ghost stories about Olin? Like prior to that?

Jessie 7:40
I have not heard any more ghost stories about Olin. And I know they're doing a new construction on Olin, so I'll be interested to see if anything happens once it reopens.

Averi 7:53
Yeah. Well, what do you think? We've been talking about like, place a lot, and like how it goes and how we have a place and how we are defined by place. Do you think that it's possible that like with this new construction the ghost, if there is a ghost, would stay there? Do you think it's like something on the grounds or do you think like the renovation would have cleared the air?

Jessie 8:16
I very much think that it's a possibility that the ghost, or entity, that was in Olin with me and Carson that night, will still be there during the new construction. And I don't know if they will act out or react?

Averi 8:32
Right, I mean that’s something to think about.

Jessie 8:36
But that's why I'll be interested to see. As soon as it's open, because it's not open yet right?

Averi 8:42
No, I don't think so. Okay, so just a few more questions for you. So later, I mean that was your freshman year and, econ and finance, you obviously spent a lot more time in that building - did, did you ever like, think about it? Did it freak you out, or were you kind of on edge around that building and inside of it?

Jessie 9:01
Yes, we definitely had more classes in Olin. And we thought about it because it was just a memorable experience. But like I said we were freshman, we were studying later, we hadn't really developed the study habits that was expected at Centre. Yeah as we learned to study earlier in the day, we were more likely to pick the library or the Campus Center, as opposed to Olin. You know maybe because of that experience.

Averi 9:33
Yeah probably something that had to do with it.

Jessie 9:36
Yeah but whenever we were in Olin, or even just by myself in Olin, I would maybe shoot Carson text and be like remember when we saw that ghost.

Averi 9:46
So you only have that paranormal experience at Centre in Olin, correct?

Jessie 9:51
Yes that was my only personal experience.

Averi 9:54
Do you think that lent any more credibility to the other stories you heard about ghosts at Centre? Are you like wow, it's possible, it's very possible now.

Jessie 10:07
As a new college student, and even as a senior in high school, applying to colleges, I had never heard of Centre’s paranormal experience. I’m not sure if that would have turned me away, or interested me, but I definitely give more credit to those stories now, after having lived through, even just my little experience.

Averi 10:38
Yeah. Something, something weird happened in the building. So ghosts in general, like, what, what do you think of ghosts? Like have they played any other role in your life besides at Centre? Or like, what do you make of ghost stories? Especially now having experienced something like that.

Jessie 11:02
Ah, well, ghost stories are definitely all different and unique. And so it's hard to really differentiate the ones that are exaggerated and what people… okay with ghost stories, it’s just, I still don’t know my full stance on ghosts, because there is still so much unknown.

Averi 11:32
Right, right.

Jessie 11:33
But like I said, I definitely give more credit or, and I'm able to believe a little bit more based on my experience in Olin. But I'm, I still don't know.

Averi 11:47
Yeah, I feel like that uncomfortable thing you’re doing is very common, and that’s how I get when people ask me about it. I’m like I don’t know what I should be saying.

Jessie 12:00
I definitely, I still lean more towards I’m going to blame it on the draft.

Averi 12:07
Well yeah, it feels safer that way in my opinion. It’s like I don't really know if I want to believe that something was there with me, so I think a lot of people do end up blaming it on something else for reasons like that. So, do you think that if you hadn't heard the Centre ghost stories before you were in Olin, you would have even like suggested it was a ghost? Or do you think like… were you even like oh ghosts aren’t really a thing here. Or at least I haven't heard of any here, it probably is the draft. Or do you think those stories kind of led you and Carson to consider other paranormal options?

Jessie 12:48
Well I actually hadn't heard the ghost stories before our Olin experience so it was kind of the opposite. Like we had that in Olin and then I was hearing these other stories I was like wait a minute. Carson was the one who initially said it was a ghost. Maybe I should give him more credit.

Averi 13:07
Yeah, Carson was thinking ahead I guess.

Jessie 13:11
Like maybe he knows something that I don't know, but this is all starting to really freak me out.

Averi 13:15
So then, did you ever talk to Carson about like other ghost stories and you guys are like, wait… wait that happened to us?

Jessie 13:24
Like wait a second, wait a minute, that did happen to us. Yes, Carson I would revisit that night and as we spent more time at Centre, and more people expressed, or told us these ghost stories, we were like hey, same here. And then we would contribute to the conversation with our story.

Averi 13:41
Well it is a conversation at Centre. It’s definitely something that comes up pretty often. It's always something that the first years, I think it's like a stepping stone, it’s like “oh the campus is supposedly very haunted, by the way” [laughter].

Jessie 13:56
Yeah it’s like “hey welcome to Centre, also it’s haunted” [laughter].

Averi 14:01
And yeah, and okay! I think that is all I have for you. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this and revisiting your experience. I hope it wasn’t too spooky.

Jessie 14:14
Yeah, I’m going to have a nightmare tonight [laughter].

Averi 14:16
Okay, well thank you so much Jessie!

Jessie 14:18
No problem, I hope I helped! Bye Averi.

MP4

14:23