Saturday, July 14, 2012

The Legend of Mary Green Hall

Mary Capp Green Hall is a coed residence hall, located on the campus of Lebanon Valley College, in Annville, Pennsylvania.  Although the college was founded in 1866, Mary Green Hall has only been a campus staple since its dedication on Saturday, May 18, 1957.  Named for the former Dean of Women, Mary Capp Green, the building originally was a women's only dormitory built under the presidency of Dr. Frederic K. Miller.

Legend states that the dorm is haunted by a little girl.  As the story goes, the girl's older sister was moving into the dorm on its opening day of the Fall 1957 semester.  As the girls' parents were assisting the older daughter in getting settled, the younger sister, bored, wandered off to play with her ball outside.  It is here where the story's details become muddled depending on the story-teller.  Some say that the ball got away from the girl and rolled into the road, where the girl was hit and killed by a passing car.  Other stories claim that the ball got away from her and she found herself on the railroad tracks that are located immediately behind the dormitory and met her demise there, being hit by a passing train.

Stories of the little girl were popular gossip among more modern residents of the dorm and many claimed that on many nights, the little girl's giggling and the bouncing of her ball could be heard in the hallways.

In 2002, several male residents of the now coed building decided to incorporate the legends of the little girl into their sophomoric college pranks.  They recorded the giggling of a little girl, and played the tape, along with bouncing a ball, down the hallways one night during Quiet Hours.  They believe they may have possibly awoken the girl's spirit once again.

Immediately after the incident, the boys began experiencing electrical disturbances in their room.  Another residence saw the little girl running noiselessly down the hall.  After several more sightings, the boy's decided to apologize to the little girl in hopes to bring her spirit some peace.

These tales were recently featured on an episode of SyFy's new School Spirits show.  The location is also a stop on a popular campus haunted history tour.

Photo courtesy of the LVC website

Article on SyFy's School Spirits

14 comments:

  1. dose anyone know her name?

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    1. Not that I've been able to easily find online, and its a little out of my geographical area to really hit the legitimate primary source research at this time. If I find any updates, especially any mention of a name, I'll be sure to include it here! Thanks for visiting Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State!

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  2. I just saw the episode and embarked on a Internet search of the tale myself but couldn't really find any concrete evidence that it ever happened. You would expect to find a newspaper article of such a tragedy.

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  3. Cool, i just saw that episode.

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  4. I just saw the episode and I almost cried 4 the Little Girl
    Poor girl she just wanted to Play

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  5. i saw the episode today i think it might be real

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  6. Iz there any picz or literal proof of her?

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    1. I've never come across any mention of "literal proof," photographic or otherwise.

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  7. My son is a resident of mart green this year. He has experienced boxes spinning and other sounds.it just started last nite.

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  8. Other fellow male classmates had calculator covers taken off n thrown...will update with anything new.

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  9. saw the episode a while ago but for some reason can't get this story out of my head

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  10. I really wish I had the time and the resources to research this story further, as it really is one that resonates with a lot of people, including myself. I'd like to think that the lack of evidence thus far from an historical standpoint would point to this being an urban legend, but I can't help wonder whether or not there really is a little girl with a story needing to be told...but perhaps a DIFFERENT story than what we're led to believe.

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  11. Just happened by. I also wonder if there is any real documentation to support this story. It reminds me of the Resurrection Mary ghost, which has three different possible sources. You would think, if it had taken place in the fifties, that one or more persons would have been on campus and could recollect the story. Seems odd no one from the early years of the college has come forward to shed some light on the subject.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! Personally, I don't think there is any documentation to support this story as it is told in the legend. However, part of my mission with this website is based on the belief that even the most outlandish tales often begin with a small grain of truth. Hopefully, someone can find that grain of truth as it relates to this story, but if not (or if there's nothing to be found) at least the legend, as presented as such, will be preserved for posterity, lol.

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