THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Macdonough Hall at SUNY Plattsburgh is reportedly very haunted, say witnesses who have heard toilets flush and radios and fire alarms turn on, seen strange apparitions and bathroom lights that come on and off, and found locked doors unlocked.
Macdonough Hall at SUNY Plattsburgh is reportedly very haunted, say witnesses who have heard toilets flush and radios and fire alarms turn on, seen strange apparitions and bathroom lights that come on and off, and found locked doors unlocked. The hauntings are believed to stem from before the hall was built on the marshland that once stood here. In 1949, construction workers turned up the bones and headstone of “wife of Benj. Vaughn and daughter of Nathan and Rosann Averill. Died Dec. 12, 1812, age 47 years.” Another grisly tale about the hall says it was built by a wealthy family who intended to sell it to the college. The family’s old butler, Mortimer, had some mental health issues and killed a young girl in the house, hiding her body in the attic. This is how students explain the ghostly sounds of a screaming girl or a man laughing heard here on occasion. However… Michael Duane of the class of ’80, now a tax attorney in Pennsylvania, admits to making up and telling this story to freshman, who have perpetuated the rumors. Still, many swear that there are ghosts that are not works of Duane’s imagination in Macdonough Hall.