Episodes

The Collins Auditorium Ghost and Other Stories: Ghosts emerging from paintings, an entity made from smoke, and bathroom electronics going haywire are just a few of the weird stories I dug up for this episode.

This is a look at some of Fordham University’s “less haunted” haunted buildings, including a theater, administration building, and classroom building. Plus a look at some of Fordham’s other campuses (including one defunct one.)

Highlights include:
• An urban legend about George Washington’s headquarters
• Phantom cigar smoke
• Stories from the Lincoln Center campus
• A look at a supposedly haunted women’s college that had an ill-fated merger with Fordham

Don’t miss past episodes about Fordham’s history and hauntings:

• Ghosts of Queen’s Court: Part 1 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Queen’s Court: Part 2 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Hughes Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Duane Library and Dealy Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Finlay Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Finlay Hall Ghosts – Personal Experiences (Haunted Fordham University)
• Fordham’s Haunted Dorms (Haunted Fordham University)

Sources consulted RE: Collins Auditorium Ghost and other stories

See sources page for the full source list for the series

Books consulted

• A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe (1891)
• Fordham: A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley (2016)
• Fordham: A History and Memoir, Revised Edition by Raymond A. Schroth (2009)

Fordham’s Haunted Dorms: Creepy ghost children, a man disappearing into walls, priests blessing haunted dorms, and more, about in these haunted dorms at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY.

This episode is a look at some of Fordham University’s “less haunted” dorms: meet the ghosts of Loschert Hall (formerly called Alumni Court North), O’Hare Hall (formerly called Millennium Hall), Martyrs’ Court, and Loyola Hall.

Highlights include:
• Thoughts about hauntings based on recent deaths
• Some debunking attempts
• Sleep paralysis
• A dorm built on the former site of a cemetery

Don’t miss past episodes about Fordham’s history and hauntings:

• Ghosts of Queen’s Court: Part 1 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Queen’s Court: Part 2 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Hughes Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Duane Library and Dealy Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Finlay Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Finlay Hall Ghosts – Personal Experiences (Haunted Fordham University)

Sources consulted RE: Fordham’s Haunted Dorms

See sources page for the full source list for the series

Books consulted

• A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe (1891)
• Fordham: A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley (2016)
• Fordham: A History and Memoir, Revised Edition by Raymond A. Schroth (2009)

Finlay Hall Ghosts: A look at my own paranormal experiences living in Fordham University’s former medical school building.

My time in Finlay Hall was uneasy, permeated by the feeling that I was always being watched. Though there were reasonable explanations for why I may have felt that way, I don’t think that’s all that was afoot. I tell the stories of an uneasy possible encounter with an entity in the laundry room in the basement (near where cadavers were once kept), a mysterious bell that seemed to ring throughout the building, and an unusual, regularly occurring gibbering sound that only my roommate and I seemed to be able to hear.

Highlights include:
• Conspiracy theories and the paranormal
• A primal scream
• My attempts to debunk my own experiences
• A bizarre experimental college

Sources consulted RE: Finlay Hall Ghosts

See sources page for the full source list for the series

Books consulted

• A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe (1891)
• Fordham: A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley (2016)
• Fordham: A History and Memoir, Revised Edition by Raymond A. Schroth (2009)

Don’t miss past episodes:

• Ghosts of Queen’s Court: Part 1 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Queen’s Court: Part 2 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Hughes Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Duane Library and Dealy Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Finlay Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• New York City Potter’s Fields
• Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 1)
• Archbishop John Hughes, aka Dagger John: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 2)
• Haunted Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC
• Haunted St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery

Haunted Finlay Hall: Chilling urban legends and ghost stories from people who lived in an old medical school building, which featured a morgue and a large operating theater.

From 1905-1921, Fordham University had a medical school. After its short, troubled existence, the medical school was mostly forgotten. One of the few reminders of the school is Finlay Hall, the old medical school building that was converted into a dorm in the 1980s.

Since students have begun living there, haunting stories have emerged: some people claim to see ghostly students looking down on them during the night, as if they’re a cadaver being dissected. Others wake to being choked by cold hands. This episode looks at the stories and seeks to sort out urban legend from credible paranormal experiences, and to corroborate or debunk popular stories.

Highlights include:
• Carl Jung giving lectures at the medical school
• Cadavers being kept in the basement
• Secret tunnels

Sources consulted RE: Haunted Finlay Hall

See sources page for the full source list for the series

Books consulted

• A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe (1891)
• Fordham: A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley (2016)
• Fordham: A History and Memoir, Revised Edition by Raymond A. Schroth (2009)

Don’t miss past episodes:

• Ghosts of Queen’s Court: Part 1 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Queen’s Court: Part 2 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Hughes Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Duane Library and Dealy Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• New York City Potter’s Fields
• Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 1)
• Archbishop John Hughes, aka Dagger John: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 2)
• Haunted Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC
• Haunted St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery

Haunted Duane Library and Dealy Hall: A look at some stories of ghost priests in an old library and classroom building. Plus, something strange that supposedly happened in the cemetery while The Exorcist was being filmed nearby.

Highlights include:
• A 1980s ghost priest who apparently knew computer programming
• A cemetery (and human remains) that was relocated twice
• Phantom voices heard by security guards
• Lightning striking a cemetery

Sources consulted RE: Haunted Duane Library and Dealy Hall

See sources page for the full source list for the series

Books consulted

• A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe (1891)
• Fordham: A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley (2016)
• Fordham: A History and Memoir, Revised Edition by Raymond A. Schroth (2009)
• Haunted Halls: ghostlore of American college campuses by Elizabeth Tucker (2007)
• The Big Book of New York Ghost Stories by Cheri Farnsworth (2019)
• The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian’s Guide to New York City Cemeteries by Carolee Inskeep (2000)
• Ghosthunting New York City by L’Aura Hladik (2011)
• Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon Volume1: Folklore by Joshua Cutchin and Timothy Renner
• The Encyclopedia of Demons & Demonology by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Don’t miss past episodes:

• Ghosts of Queen’s Court: Part 1 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Queen’s Court: Part 2 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Hughes Hall (Haunted Fordham University)
• New York City Potter’s Fields
• Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 1)
• Archbishop John Hughes, aka Dagger John: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 2)
• Haunted Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC
• Haunted St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery

Haunted Hughes Hall: After a scene in The Exorcist was filmed in Hughes Hall, a former dorm at Fordham University, urban legends began to spring up about the building being haunted.

Rumors of “cultish” graffiti, tales of a young boy’s ghost, stories of a mysterious black dog, and more weird urban legends circulated about the building. This episode seeks to tease out why some of these legends may have grown up around the building, which began as the old prep school, was turned into a dorm as a “stopgap” measure that lasted for decades, and has since been completely gutted and turned back into an academic building.

Plus, a look at some of the weird connections that The Exorcist had to Fordham.

Highlights include:
• The Fordham University professor who was an influence on The Exorcist
• What it was like to be one of the last people to live in Hughes Hall (spoiler: it was bad)
• The ghost of a prep school student
• Satanic Panic-type urban legends

Sources consulted RE: Haunted Hughes Hall

See sources page for the full source list for the series

Books consulted

• A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe (1891)
• Fordham: A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley (2016)
• Fordham: A History and Memoir, Revised Edition by Raymond A. Schroth (2009)
• Haunted Halls: ghostlore of American college campuses by Elizabeth Tucker (2007)
• The Big Book of New York Ghost Stories by Cheri Farnsworth (2019)
• The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian’s Guide to New York City Cemeteries by Carolee Inskeep (2000)
• Ghosthunting New York City by L’Aura Hladik (2011)
• Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon Volume1: Folklore by Joshua Cutchin and Timothy Renner
• The Encyclopedia of Demons & Demonology by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Don’t miss past episodes:

• Ghosts of Queen’s Court: Part 1 (Haunted Fordham University)
• Haunted Queen’s Court: Part 2 (Haunted Fordham University)
• New York City Potter’s Fields
• Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 1)
• Archbishop John Hughes, aka Dagger John: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 2)
• Haunted Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC
• Haunted St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery

Haunted Queen’s Court: Forgotten human remains, a lingering entity monitored by a ghostly priest, mysteriously vanishing objects, strange sounds, and more abound at Fordham University’s most haunted dorm.

Here’s a deep dive into ghost stories from Queen’s Court, looking at both the reported stories as well as the connections between tales of weirdness.

Highlights include:
• A second, forgotten burial ground on Fordham’s Campus
• My own paranormal experience
• The entity that supposedly is trapped at the end of the hall of a dorm
• A ghostly priest who banishes and traps a strange entity
• Poltergeist activity

Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.

Sources consulted RE: Haunted Queen’s Court

See sources page for the full source list for the series

Books consulted

• A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe (1891)
• Fordham: A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley (2016)
• Fordham: A History and Memoir, Revised Edition by Raymond A. Schroth (2009)
• Haunted Halls: ghostlore of American college campuses by Elizabeth Tucker (2007)
• The Big Book of New York Ghost Stories by Cheri Farnsworth (2019)
• The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian’s Guide to New York City Cemeteries by Carolee Inskeep (2000)
• Ghosthunting New York City by L’Aura Hladik (2011)

Don’t miss past episodes:

• Ghosts of Queen’s Court: Part 1 (Haunted Fordham University)
• New York City Potter’s Fields
• Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 1)
• Archbishop John Hughes, aka Dagger John: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 2)
• Haunted Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC
• Haunted St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery

A look at one of the most concentrated areas of hauntings in all of New York City: Fordham University in the Bronx. This is part 1 of a look at the ghosts of Queen’s Court, the oldest dorm on campus.

Ghostly priests, secret tunnels, black dogs, poltergeist activity, multiple burial grounds, housing in an old morgue, and more abound at Fordham University, at a campus in the Bronx that’s about half a mile wide. This is part 1 of a look at Queen’s Court, the university’s oldest dorm, which was built in 1845, was once a seminary, and has a number of hauntings and urban legends attached to it.

Highlights include:
• A groundskeeper ghost who still does his rounds
• The ghost of a 19th century seminarian
• A digression about Stone Tape Theory
• A theory about why Fordham’s ghost stories were kept quiet until the 1970s
• A conceited archbishop

Maps showing Fordham University’s size

East-West Measurement of Fordham University’s Rose Hill Campus

North-South Measurement of Fordham University’s Rose Hill Campus

East-West Measurement of a similar sized area around Washington Square Park

North-South Measurement of a similar sized area around Washington Square Park

Pictures of Queen’s Court

Church with pointed steeple and St. John’s, early drawing, from the Fordham University Archives and Special Collections

St John’s Hall, Queens Court_A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe, 1891

St. John’s Hall with church on the right, from the Fordham University Archives and Special Collections

St. John’s Hall with vines, from the Fordham University Archives and Special Collections

St. John’s Hall, from the Fordham University Archives and Special Collections

St. John’s Hall, Vine covered wall with several students by the fountain, from the Fordham University Archives and Special Collections

Sources consulted RE: the Ghosts of Queen’s Court

See sources page for the full source list for the series

Books consulted

• A history of St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y by Thomas Gaffney Taaffe (1891)
• Fordham: A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley (2016)
• Fordham: A History and Memoir, Revised Edition by Raymond A. Schroth (2009)
• Haunted Halls: ghostlore of American college campuses by Elizabeth Tucker (2007)
• The Big Book of New York Ghost Stories by Cheri Farnsworth (2019)
• The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian’s Guide to New York City Cemeteries by Carolee Inskeep (2000)
• Ghosthunting New York City by L’Aura Hladik (2011)

Don’t miss past episodes:

• New York City Potter’s Fields
• Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 1)
• Archbishop John Hughes, aka Dagger John: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 2)
• Haunted Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC
• Haunted St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery

A look at some supposed ghosts and haunted cemeteries in Beacon, NY, as well as some haunting aspects of the area’s recent history.

A feeling of uneasiness permeates the beautiful town of Beacon, NY. It’s a city of industrial ruins, cemeteries (including a terrifying abandoned one), and the memories of a sanatorium for the ultra wealthy and an old asylum for mentally ill criminals. Deep woods surround the city, and mountains loom, adding to a sense of natural beauty, or, possibly, of claustrophobia and a feeling of being watched.

Highlights include:
• A figure that my wife saw in my footage from an abandoned cemetery
• Supposed cemetery hauntings
• Zelda Fitzgerald’s stay in a sanatorium in Beacon


Bail fund to get vulnerable people out of Rikers Island: https://emergencyreleasefund.com/
More information about what’s happening on Rikers Island: https://theintercept.com/2021/09/16/rikers-jail-crisis-de-blasio-reforms/
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/9/15/headlines/a_humanitarian_crisis_new_york_officials_call_out_horrific_conditions_at_rikers

Pictures of Haunted Cemeteries in Beacon

The front of the former Dutch Reform Church

A view down toward the cemetery

A solitary chair sitting behind the church, facing the cemetery

The abandoned Dutch Reform Church cemetery in Beacon, NY

The abandoned Dutch Reform Church cemetery in Beacon, NY

The abandoned Dutch Reform Church cemetery in Beacon, NY

View of the Hudson River, with geese flying overhead, from the abandoned Dutch Reform Church cemetery in Beacon, NY

The abandoned Dutch Reform Church cemetery in Beacon, NY

The abandoned Dutch Reform Church cemetery in Beacon, NY

Sources consulted RE: Haunted Cemeteries in Beacon

Articles consulted

• Lake Charles American-Press. LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA. Saturday, July 29, 1961
• The Indiana Gazette (Indiana, Pennsylvania). 29 Jul 1961, Sat. Page 2La Grande Observer (La Grande, Oregon). 15 Apr 1950, Sat. Page 1″
• LAST FUGITIVE CAUGHT: MATTEAWAN INMATE SEIZED AS HE TRIES TO ESCAPE POLICE TRAP.” New York Times (1923-), Jun 13, 1953, pp. 6. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.nypl.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/historical-newspapers/last-fugitive-caught/docview/112803508/se-2?accountid=35635.
• “MATTEAWAN SAFETY IS DOUBTED BY JURY.” New York Times (1923-), Sep 13, 1952, pp. 32. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.nypl.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/historical-newspapers/matteawan-safety-is-doubted-jury/docview/112487124/se-2?accountid=35635.
• “Plea on Hospital Guards Studied.” New York Times (1923-), Sep 16, 1952, pp. 22. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.nypl.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/historical-newspapers/plea-on-hospital-guards-studied/docview/112458348/se-2?accountid=35635
• .”MATTEAWAN PLAN URGED: MODERN SECURITY STEPS PROPOSED AT CRIMINAL HOSPITAL BY JURY.” New York Times (1923-), Sep 12, 1953, pp. 19. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.nypl.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/historical-newspapers/matteawan-plan-urged/docview/112559566/se-2?accountid=35635.
• “3 FLEE MATTEAWAN; ROAD BLOCKS SET UP.” New York Times (1923-), Jun 08, 1953, pp. 18. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.nypl.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/historical-newspapers/3-flee-matteawan-road-blocks-set-up/docview/112573580/se-2?accountid=35635
• .https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery-browse/USA/New%20York/Dutchess%20County/Beacon?id=city_99523

Websites consulted 

• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-about-trauma/201805/solitary-confinement-is-torture
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/almost-addicted/201801/solitary-confinement-torture-pure-and-simple
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitary_confinement_in_the_United_States
• http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/Matteawan_State_Hospital
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matteawan_State_Hospital_for_the_Criminally_Insane
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Correctional_Facility
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishkill_Correctional_Facility
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Halliday
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/zelda-fitzgerald-s-abandoned-sanatorium
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-abandoned-dutch-reform-church-cemetery-beacon-new-york
• https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery-browse/USA/New%20York/Dutchess%20County/Beacon?id=city_99523
• https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/202584/methodist-cemetery
• https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1803472/saint-luke’s-church-cemetery
• http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/1/New_York_Beacon_ghost_sightings.html
• http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/1/New_York_Beacon_ghost_sightings4.html
• http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/1/New_York_Beacon_ghost_sightings5.html
• http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/1/New_York_Beacon_ghost_sightings7.
• htmlhttps://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/beacon-new-york/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon%2C_New_York
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wappinger
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-abandoned-dutch-reform-church-cemetery-beacon-new-york
• http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/beacon/beacon-cem1.html
• https://beaconcemeterytrail.wordpress.com/dutch-reformed/
• https://beaconcemeterytrail.wordpress.com/afro-american-burial-ground/
• https://beaconcemeterytrail.wordpress.com/methodist/
• https://scenesfromthetrail.com/2017/02/04/abandoned-in-beacon/
• http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/beacon/beacon-cem2.html
• https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/202584/methodist-cemetery
• https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1803472/saint-luke’s-church-cemetery
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-beacon-hat-mill
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dennings-point-ruins

Podcasts consulted

• https://www.lunaticsproject.com/episodes/episode/4bf2d9ee/episode-83-the-history-of-isolation

Don’t miss past episodes:

• Ghosts of Mount Beacon (Beacon, NY)
• Haunted Bannerman Castle (Haunted Beacon, NY)