The Importance of Peter the Ghost at Centre College

The Importance of Peter the Ghost at Centre College

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

An analysis of Peter, the ghost of Breckinridge Hall. This piece explores ghost stories from Breckinridge Hall and draws off of oral history interviews completed for HIS 470 in January 2021.

Tacogue, Isabella

2021_01_20

Stodghill, Sarah

All Rights Reserved

MP4

English

Oral History (literary work)

Stodghill, Sarah

Isabella, Tacogue

Pearl Hall, Centre College, Danville, KY

Brockman, Centre College, Danville, KY

Isabella (Bella) Tacogue (interviewee) Sarah Stodghill (interviewer)
HIS 470 Interview Transcript January 20, 2021
0:00
Sarah: My name is Sarah Stodghill and I am currently interviewing Bella Tacogue who is currently a student at Centre College. Today is January 20, 2021 and we are recording this interview via zoom. Today we will be discussing Bella’s paranormal experience during her time at Centre.
Bella, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you’re involved in on campus?
Bella: Yeah, I’m a senior, psychology major and also on the pre-dental track, and I’m involved in Greek life, I’m in the pre-dental society, and ... I think that’s about it and oh, I play lacrosse – I’m on the Centre Women’s Lacrosse team, that’s about it.
1:00
Sarah: So, during a normal semester, I guess we can kind of rewind to when this experience happened to you, what would a typical day look like for you?
Bella: Um, get up, go to class, usually I don’t eat breakfast, I can’t get up that early. Go to class throughout the day, hopefully get some naps in and then go to practice and do homework and maybe hangout with friends, depending on the workload. But yeah, that’s about it.
Sarah: Sweet. So, could you tell us a little bit about when this experience happened to you, and where?

Bella: This happened in Pearl and it happened last year. I can’t remember if it was in the fall or spring, I want to say it was in the spring, but it was definitely last year.
2:00
Sarah: Our teacher has actually told us that she has a couple of ghost stories from Pearl Hall.
Bella: Oh, have you heard it? Or no?
Sarah: No, I haven’t heard any. But I am very curious because I live there right now/
Bella: Okay yeah you have to tell me afterwards and you have to tell me if there’s Brock too.
Sarah: Yeah, I will. So, could you just tell us your story?
Bella: Yeah, so, I was getting ready for class as I normally would and I was y my closet and then I heard the screaming. It was really loud because it was in the morning, it was like 8am. It was quiet, really really faint, but I could hear it really clearly. Anyways, I heard someone screaming in the hallway, they we’re like, “Let me in!!” and they were like banging on a door it sounded like. But it was really scary. I don’t know. (3:00) Why would somebody be yelling at 8am like that? I don’t think, at least at my time at Centre, if they couldn’t get into their room, they wouldn’t act that way. It was like really like, they needed help or something. It was loud but quiet at the same time. It scared me. I wanted to open the door really badly but I was shaking because I was so scared. But that’s about it. Um yeah, I haven’t really had any other experiences.

But... *looks behind her* I don’t know if it’s just me but being alone here in Brock. I feel like I’ve had some stuff (happen to me) but that also could’ve been me subconsciously doing things like I purposely left the bathroom light on a couple days ago and then an hour later I was going to go to the bathroom – I got scared so I left the light on purpose – and then it was off when I came back. (4:00) I don’t know if I accidentally subconsciously did it or... nothing like that has happened here so, fingers crossed it was just me. Also, after I used my bathroom in Brock last week the toilet seat was up when I came back. When I looked at it, I was like, “I definitely didn’t do that.” Maybe maintenance came in... I don’t know. I was in my room and my door was wide open and I feel like I would’ve known if they came in or not. But I don’t know, I’m hoping that was me subconsciously, but the Pearl thing I was actually shook by it, like I was terrified. But here, I’m hoping it was just me, but I don’t know. I just don’t remember doing those things, but I’m going to ignore those because I’m alone right now.
5:00
Sarah: Yeah, well that’s fair. Well, the Pearl thing, I mean, that’s wild. I live in Pearl right now and it’s generally a pretty quiet place. Sometimes it can get a little noisy on the weekends but that’s about it.
Bella: Yeah, it was the tea suite so it was me (and my roommate) sharing it with Mary Katherine and Katy in the next room over, but it didn’t come from that side and that’s the next closest room to us. It seemed like it was down the hall on the opposite side further down (the hall) and you would not be able to hear that.

Sarah: Was your roommate in the room when that happened?
Bella: No. It was just me. I don’t know if they (Mary Katherine and Katy) were there nextdoor but it was just me in my room...
6:00
Sarah: Yeah, in your own room. Did that experience alter the way that you viewed Pearl at all? Did it scare you at all that day or in the coming weeks to just be in your room by yourself?
Bella: Not really because I (was) never there. I’m always in Young studying. And Caroline, my roommate, (was) always there. So it didn’t really bother me that much because I (was) just never there. I don’t know if I ever told Caroline because I know she would get really scared. But also, I’m a big believer in all that stuff to begin with. It was scary but I already know that that stuff is real and everything.
Sarah: Yeah for sure, that’s something we’ve been talking about. There are some people that just don’t believe in it at all, but then there’s also the other side of the spectrum. So, it’s interesting to see who tells what stories and then who believes what stories.
7:00

Bella: I definitely like...my mom says I’ve seen ghosts before so I wouldn’t be surprised – I don’t know, if that it carries on throughout your life. I’ve heard that. I don’t remember at all, but my mom said that I would see ghosts, like my grandmother, and my brother saw my grandfather way after he passed away, and my cousin saw our grandfather. So, it’s very common. I’ve already had those experiences so it wouldn’t shock me if that was actually real in Pearl.
Sarah: Yeah, that’s super interesting that that has been a family thing for you guys. I feel like I have heard of people who are more prone to experiencing or having a paranormal experience. (8:00) Like they’ve had multiple, like 5+ or something, and then there’s also people that totally believe it but have never experienced it. It’s interesting to see, you know, for whatever reason, some people are just more prone to it. But I have never really heard of it being a family thing.
Bella: Oh yeah, It’s really interesting. It was our grandparents -- so it started with me first. My grandmother, she passed away but was really close to me when I was younger. My mom said that I would slam the doors and tell her to go away months after she died and apparently, I described the dress she wore in the coffin and I never saw the coffin. I was like, “Why is she standing there in that dress?” and then would describe the dress. My grandmother was murdered and so I wasn’t allowed to see her scars and whatnot. (9:00) My mom said she was sitting there one time when we were coming home from the funeral, from the Philippines back to America, and I was like, “Why is my grandmother sitting there crying next to you?” And she was like, “What do you mean?” and I was like, “She’s sitting there crying.” And she said that there was no air in the room, and she felt something kind of stroking her hair. It was really terrifying she said. In the Philippines, they don’t bury the body right away, but they took the coffin home and left it

in the house that she was killed in and around 2am, or sometime in the night – around the time she was murdered, my mom’s brother, who is a priest, heard crying during that time. Supposedly it was her. (10:00) Before the funeral, I was acting up really bad. It was odd, very odd, the way I was acting. They said that she kept on visiting me because when she was murdered she wasn’t ready to leave the earth yet.
Then also my brother – my grandpa kind of died suddenly because he got really sick and was like, “I really hope that you all have a boy in the family,” to carry on our last name. Our parents were like, “Oh yeah, for sure,” and all this stuff. But anyways, he died, and then a couple months later, my brother was born. My brother has never met him or anything and his first word was “Papa” and then he never spoke for like 2 years after that. That was his first word for a really long time.
My dad, even after my grandparents, he never really believed in all that stuff but he said he saw his dad getting the mail one time. (11:00) Then recently, my grandfather died last year, but the night he passed away my cousin was like, “Oh my gosh, I had a really bad dream about our grandfather. He walking in a white area and asked me ‘what I should wear’” or something like that. She was like, “’ I don’t know, just anything pink or something like that.’”. She had this dream sometime in the middle of the night and then my aunt told her, “Your grandfather died last night,” so it was kind of him like “leaving”. So, we’ve had a lot of encounters with our grandparents I feel like.

Sarah: Yeah that’s crazy. I have heard one other story similar to that about how a grandparent passes away and then the grandchildren see them in a dream that night. (12:00) I’ve heard one other story like that.
Bella: Did you talk about it in class?
Sarah: No, one of my friends from home -- one of their friends – it happened to them.
Bella: She took care of him a lot when he was really sick, so I think he was kind of visiting her like one last time.
Sarah: So, you have obviously had all of these experiences so would you say that those experiences have shaped how you think about yourself or how you view other things, or how you even view death?
Bella: I am definitely more scared of the living than the dead actually. Some people think about it otherwise. I was really young when that happened, but my mom has said that I haven’t been the same since I saw my grandmother. (13:00) Apparently, I used to be so carefree, so happy-go- lucky, and ever since then I’ve been, not like strict, but kind of just like, very serious and not like easy going. She feels like that’s what started it and then it just kind of kept going, but I don’t know. I was super young, but that’s what she observed for me.

Sarah: That is interesting especially being so young too. I always think about that, like being so young and then having someone that close to you pass away and how that shapes you and nonetheless also...seeing their spirit, that’s a whole other realm.
Bella: Yeah so I was 3 when it happened – I was really young. Obviously, her death wasn’t normal, like it was on the news, even here in America. It was a really big deal. It was her best friend’s grandson and so it had this whole ordeal wrapped around it.
14:00
Sarah: It’s interesting to think that, just because it was such a high-profile thing, maybe that had something to do with it (the seeing of the spirit).
Bella: Oh yeah, well they were trying to rob her and she woke up in the middle of the night and freaked out so that’s why whenever we go to the Philippines we have bodyguards and if we don’t, we don’t tell anyone we’re coming until the day of because they will definitely kill us for money.
Sarah: Really?
Bella: Oh yeah, obviously not her family but I guess like bad people who know us in the area.
Sarah: That’s crazy how that story just kind of follows you all.

15:00
Bella: Yeah exactly and if people knew if we were coming – one time, after her (my mom’s) mother passed away, we had to come back to the Philippines and they asked my mom if she wanted the two people on death row or given the death penalty, but she was like, “No I can’t do that. I can’t be the person to make that decision so they’re still in jail I guess but they’re still kind of out there in a way you know?
Sarah: Yeah...yeah that’s crazy. Well, one more last question. You’ve had these experiences in Pearl and then maybe in Brock, hopefully not but maybe, do those experiences change the way you view Centre as a whole or I don’t know if you’ve heard other ghost stories about Centre and do those stories make you more inclined to believe that these things were truly real and happening to you?
16:00
Bella: I feel like it doesn’t change my perspective on Centre. I lived in Breck and I heard the stories about Breck and I heard, recently, and now I’m kind of freaked out to go to Young late at night because I’m usually the last one to leave. But I feel like it doesn’t freak me out unless I’m thinking about it. While living here alone, it can get kind of scary, but unless I think about it then I’ll get paranoid, but if I don’t think about it then I’m usually fine. From my experiences, that

doesn’t change my outlook because it’s always been there. It’s true so it doesn’t really bother me that much.
Sarah: Yeah, I kind of have a similar mindset, kind of like out of sight out of mind.
17:00
Bella: Yeah, especially in Young, I’m not scared unless I’m really thinking about it because usually I’m working in Young so there’s not much time to think and work at the same time.
Sarah: Yes, for sure. Well, I really appreciate you opening up and sharing all these experiences with me.
Bella: Yeah, no problem I hope you have enough.
Sarah: Yes, of course. More than enough. Thank you.

MP4

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