Dear fellow Seahanites,

You may or may not have heard the story of Shelley the ghost who haunts the halls of Sheahan. She lingers in the hallways and the bathrooms. Every once in awhile she shifts under doors, invading students dorm rooms. Beware, of the ghost of Shelley.

If I can give you any piece of advice from personal experience about how to deal with Shelley, I would warn that you should not tell her that ghosts aren't real. If you are as skeptical as I was I beg of you not to state this thought out loud. Suppress it, keep it swirling in your mind, swallow it down your throat. Or, if you choose to be so daring, be prepared to suffer serious repercussions. That is to say I no longer have a wipe board in my dorm room anymore.

I was an ignorant freshman and I would not advise you not to follow in my footsteps. When I heard the story of Shelley I told my roommate that I did not believe in ghosts. In fact, I spent much of my life advocating my disbelief in undead spirits. Shortly after I announced this Shelley started peeling the posters off of my walls. Specifically, she was interested in my wipe board. It would fall periodically just when I thought I had gotten it to stay up. To this day, that wipe board will not stay up on my wall.

Perhaps I should start from the beginning; how the birth of Shelley the ghost came to be. I need lights, I need setting, I need sound effects, I need a flashlight casting shadows on my face, the lights turned on dim. It was a cold and stormy night...Just kidding, the weather was quite indifferent. However, for the sake of theatrics let's pretend, it was a cold and stormy night...

Shelley was a student at Marist College, she was a freshman, possibly much like you, my reader. The year was 1974. Shelley Sperling was seventeen years old. In February, Shelley was shot by her ex-boyfriend, Louis O. Acevedo, on campus in the cafeteria, where she died. Louis was Shelley's high school sweetheart. He had been stalking her ever since she broke it off with him. Shelley, knowing that her ex-boyfriend was threatening, trembled for the phone, but before the police had a chance to save her bullets soared through the air and bang, she was dead. At the time of her murder, Shelley was living on the third floor of Sheahan.

To this day students struggle with the hauntings of Shelley. There are several rumors that Shelley has vacated the premise of Sheahan Hall. They believed she would disappear after the building was renovated. However, I have a story that might make you feel differently.

It was fall break on another cold and stormy night (remember, theatrics). One Freshman from Marist did not return home, but instead decided to stay on the supposedly vacant campus. The student thought she was safe in her room watching Netflix when she noticed that something unusual was happening. Shelley was closer than she realized. She heard people passing; people that weren’t really there. Doors were creaking. Shelley had wanted to make her acquaintance.

I send this message out to you freshman as a warning. Beware of the ghost of Shelley. She will be nice if you give her a chance, however I would strongly advise that you proceed with caution. From one Sheahanite to another, be careful my friend.

Lots of love,

A former Sheahanite