Spooky school stories: Ateneo edition

MANILA, Philippines – The Ateneo de Manila University’s Loyola Heights campus is known for its sprawling grounds, abundance of trees and beautiful surroundings. Behind its lush, peaceful exterior, however, lies one terrifying ghost story after another. 

The most popular stories of the paranormal and supernatural supposedly happened in the university’s oldest buildings. If you have other stories, Ateneans, let us know!

1. Old Communication department building

The most haunted place in the Ateneo? The average student would most likely answer: the old Communication department building. 

Those gifted with an open “third eye” have seen a faint mother and child figure idling by the creaky wooden stairs to the second floor, or walking through that floor’s sometimes dark, narrow corridors. They have a white aura about them, much like ghosts.

On other days, a deceased Jesuit priest whose spirit is said to walk around the building’s second floor (again) sets off the department’s motion-sensor cameras. But whenever cameras are checked, no one or nothing shows up.

Legend has it too that when a janitor was about to lock up the building, a security guard begged to allow him to use the second floor bathroom. After the guard used the restroom, the janitor found it covered in feces. Confronted about the mess, the guard said that nothing was amiss when he used the bathroom. When the guard turned around and walked away, the janitor spotted a handprint of feces on the guard’s back. Gross, and definitely creepy!

Others also say the building is a portal to another dimension! Any guesses where it will take us? 

2. Cervini and Eliazo dormitories

Ghost stories in dormitories have a common theme: bathrooms.

Some say that when someone takes a shower alone in one of the communal bathrooms, he or she may hear the shower running in the next cubicle too. When the surprised dormer calls out and asks who’s there, or checks the other cubicle, there’s nobody.

In a piece by Arianna Lim published in The Guidon, Ateneo’s official school paper, it is said the shower culprit was a chain-smoking female dormer who was held up and shot dead during semestral break. Apart from hearing strange noises in the shower stalls, the cloying stench of cigarette smoke awaits the unlucky one. 

3.  Bellarmine Hall

Bellarmine is infamous for being one of the farthest points on campus. Students with classes there factor in extra walking time to avoid being late. Its distance, however, is not the only daunting thing about this building. One student climbing the stairs to get to her classroom, realized at some point it was a never-ending climb as the stairs kept winding on and on, without end. She may still be there, desperately trying to find a way out. 

4. PIPAC

The Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry (PIPAC) is a building most Ateneans have never set foot on. Though some may have been able to take a peek through its glass exterior, spotting someone walking around inside is a rarity as most students and professors are busy inside the laboratories. While few know what really goes on inside PIPAC, the rumored fate of the building’s former janitor is widely known among students. It’s been said that a janitor once got trapped inside the building after hours. Exits were sealed tight to preserve all the chemicals stored in the rooms. The janitor, the wild stories say, died of suffocation. His spirit is said to roam around inside the building, always trying to look for a way out.  – Rappler.com

Any other scary school tales in mind, Ateneans? Share them in the comments section below!