History & Haunting of : Castleton State College ,Old Chapel , Castleton, Vermont One of the more notorious spots for paranormal activity in Rutland County is Castleton State College, which once was the Castleton Medical Academy. Here, a paucity of cadavers forced the students to engage in grave-robbing (though they preferred the term resurrection.) The headless ghost of a partially dissected girl now roams Castletons Old Chapel on South Street, searching for her stolen noggin. In addition, at the colleges Ellis Hall, there is a bathroom on the second floor where toilets flush inexplicably and faucets and showers turn on and off without anyones touch; its said to be the work of a girl who killed herself in this dorm years ago.. Finally, about 200 yards from the college there is an abandoned building. Inside you can see what look like old museum pieces. Although there is no way to enter the building, the objects inside seem to get tossed around.mountaintimes.info/ Are there spirits in the Old Chapel? That was the question the students and Jones had set out to answer, and if there was anything dwelling in the chapel from beyond the grave, they were going to find it. Everyone broke off into groups. Jones remained by her computer and wirelessly monitored the cameras she set up on the second floor of the chapel. The groups were generally small, three or four students, each with a different kind of technology for hunting ghosts. Some spoke meekly into the voice recorders, I want to know who you are? What is your name? they would ask the silent spirits. Up and down the dark staircases the students traveled, cameras snapping from down the hall, in other rooms, could be heard throughout the chapel. Melissa Paradee was alone in the chapels conference room. A large table surrounded by glass cases held bits of Castletons dark past. She read the ancient newspaper articles, some with headlines like, grave robbers at Castleton. One told the story of the mutilation of a stolen womans body. After her corpse was robbed, she was decapitated to prevent any sort of police identification. No single group wanted to venture into the basement alone. It was cold down there. A staircase and a bare white walled hallway lead to several doors, only one of them unlocked. It took the convergence of several groups to open it and see what secrets it held. Beyond the door was not a room, but a crawl space. Although large in terms of floor space, it was barely four feet high. Five students huddled into the dusty storage area, and one held open the door. Turn out the lights, one said, figured something would happen if the lights were off. The students sat quietly in the dark waiting for something to happen. The room got colder, much colder noticed Spartan photographer Matt Sargent. The temperature was only the beginning. Without warning one of the video cameras shut off. Seconds later the other cameras, the audio recorders, even some cell phones followed suit. Everything shut off, without reason or cause. The students sat in complete darkness, terribly alone. Something touched my back! Sargent screamed. The Students bolted. From upstairs they could be heard screaming and running, bumping the walls and pounding the stairs. Stacey Jones took notice. She led everyone in the chapel back down, hoping for something like that to happen again. This time she held the audio recorder, and she asked questions into the dusty air. The students sat nervously awaiting a response, waiting for something to happen. Photos were taken and Jones told the spirit to show itself in the cameras. Nothing else happened in the chapel that night, and Jones said that later she would review all the tapes to look for different things. Spirit voices on the audio, mists and fogs on the tape, even complete images of a person. None of these things were out of consideration. Shortly after the occurrences in the basement the students left the chapel. The air was cold, clear and refreshing. It feels good to be out of that place, a student said walking off into the night. castletonspartan Castleton State College traces its history to the Rutland County Grammar School, chartered by the Vermont General Assembly on October 15, 1787. The Grammar School was a regional school, preparing young men for college through instruction in traditional academic subjects such as Latin and Greek. The institution changed its name frequently during the 19th century. At times it was known as Castleton Academy, Castleton Academy and Female Seminary, Vermont Classical High School, and Castleton Seminary. In 1823 instruction in “the solid branches of female education” began for “young Ladies and Misses.” By the Civil War, the majority of the students attending Castleton were young women. In 1829, a three-story brick building costing $30,000 which at the time was an enormous sum, was constructed on a small hill south of the village. Principal Solomon Foot (1826-1829), who was to be President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate during the Civil War, was the driving force in this expansion of the school. The Seminary Building (eventually known as the Old Seminary Building) was the most impressive structure in the village, but expensive to maintain and often too large for the school’s struggling enrollment. Castleton Medical College (1818-1862), was also located in the village. It graduated 1400 students, more than any other New England medical school at the time. Although Castleton Medical College and Castleton Seminary were separate institutions, they often shared faculty. Today the former medical college building, known as the Old Chapel, is the oldest building on the campus The first woman principal was Harriet Haskell (1862-1867). She had attended the Seminary as a child, took classes at Middlebury College without being permitted to matriculate, and then attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which was not yet a college but offered a college-level curriculum for women. Although Haskell was in her 20s when she served as principal, the school flourished under her administration. With her departure to be principal of Monticello Ladies Seminary in Godfrey, Illinois, Castleton Seminary went into decline. The school began its transition to a college in 1867, when the State Normal School at Castleton was founded as one of three state normal schools chartered by Vermont. The Normal School, a term based on the French école normale supérieure, educated students for teaching careers. For 30 years the Normal School property and grounds were privately owned by Abel E. Leavenworth and his son Philip. In 1912, the State of Vermont purchased the property. The College saw dramatic growth in students and its stature in the 1920s and 1930s under the direction of Caroline Woodruff Photo 1 by ~ The building in the photo was built in 1821. It was used by the Castleton Medical College. It was used as a dormitory, classroom space, and a chapel. The building is registered on the National Register of Historic Places. Source: Photograph taken by Jared C. Benedict on 01 July 2004. Copyright: © Jared C. Benedict. Photo 2 Photograph of Woodruff Hall at Castleton State College Source: Photograph taken by Jared C. Benedict on 01 July 2004. Copyright: © Jared C. Benedict Photo 3 Old Chapel Until its demise in 1862, the school conferred 1400 medical degrees, more than any other New England medical college of that time by castleton.edu/
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 12:11:55 +0000
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