Rearranged belongings, banging in the walls, rustling in pantries and voices late at night. For most Loyola students, these are simply some of the minor annoyances that come with having roommates. But for others, they are indications of a more unsettling, supernatural presence on campus.

It’s no secret that the university has had a long and winding history of creepy lore that has been passed down from skeptical seniors to frightened freshman for years. The most well known of these stories is perhaps the tale of the exorcism that took place in Buddig Hall in 1968.

The events began with an Ouija board, a 1985 archived addition of the Maroon reported. The four residents of the 812-813 suite, Brenda, Marie, Janet and Dorothea, frequently spoke with a spirit named “Hazel,” using the board, the article said.

“One day, while they were playing with the board in a male residents room in Biever Hall, Hazel again came to them,” the article reported. “Neil, one of the rooms occupants, just laughed at them. Hazel then gave the group a message. She spelled out ‘Cut stomach, kill Neil’ on the board.”

The next day, Neil was rushed to the hospital after collapsing from stomach pains. The article reported he had suffered from acute appendicitis, and this was only the beginning of the horrors the Buddig suite would begin to experience.

As the women continued to use the Ouija board, they made contact with a spirit called “Satan,” they told the Maroon. It was when belongings on their shelves began rearranging themselves and posters flew off walls that then Associate Director of Campus Ministry, the Rev. Harold Cohen, S.J., performed an exorcism in the room.

The girls never reported having issues with supernatural events again, the article said.

One of Buddig 813’s current residents, history freshman Ana Perez also says she has never experienced anything remotely creepy in the room.

“When I first moved in I was really nervous because I read all about the exorcism that took place in there,” Perez said. “I knew it was my room, but the fact that nothing weird has ever happened has made it really easy to ignore that an exorcism happened in my room. I forget about it most of the time.”

Popular and Commercial Music senior Marissa “MC” Cazalas also lived in Buddig 813 as a freshman, and like Perez she never experienced anything even vaguely abnormal, much less supernatural. Things changed, however, when she moved onto the fourth floor of Cabra Hall as a junior.

The first odd occurrence was a roommates makeup randomly being destroyed, Cazalas said. Other than that, however, the only other weird circumstance of the apartment was that one of the shared double rooms was empty following one roommate moving in with a boyfriend and the other dropping out of school entirely.

Because it was empty, the girls decided to lock it up, and in doing so Cazalas accidentally locked away a plastic purple chair that she would not see again for several months. When she did, however, it would be the beginning of several frightening events.

“My roommate said she felt a presence in the chair,” Cazalas said. “She said she felt like there was someone in the chair while she was sleeping.”

The next day when the girls came home from classes they found the chair smashed.

“It was like someone had taken a bat to it,” Cazalas said. “It wasn’t like someone had sat in it and popped it, it was intentional. And I asked my roommates if any of them had done it, but they said no. They had no reason to smash the chair.”

Following the chair incident, Cazalas reported flickering lights while trying to sleep. A friend who believes herself to be “clairvoyant” even told Cazalas that she saw a physical spirit in the apartment.

Cazalas isn’t the only Cabra fourth floor resident to report strange happenings, either.

Claire Bordelon, psychology sophomore, currently lives on the fourth floor of Cabra Hall, and in a strange coincidence, she also has an empty double bedroom in her apartment, just like Cazalas.

Bordelon’s supernatural experience culminated in one long, creepy night. She was unable to fall asleep because she felt someone watching her, so she laid awake until the sun rose. When she finally did fall asleep, she had ominous dreams the likes of which she had “never had before” in her life.

The next morning, Bordelon felt uneasy and went to tell her roommates about the troublesome night before.

“Two of them just said ‘shut up, you’re kidding,’” Bordelon said. “They said they hadn’t been able to fall asleep either. My roommate Alison said she kept looking to the middle of the room because she felt someone was watching her.”

All three of the girls had felt the same unsettling feeling, and all three had nightmares when they finally did drift off.

Following that night, Bordelon slept with the door open for three nights because she continued to feel an odd presence in the room.

“The energy in the apartment is just really weird,” Bordelon said. “It’s always felt like that, like just weird. It’s like the same energy you get when you walk into Founders. Creepy.”

Bordelon’s list of experiences would pique the interest of any ghost hunter. She has had experiences of walking into her bathroom to find all of her cabinets and drawers opened, and hearing odd voices in the night. She said mirrors have been moved overnight, food has “flown off the pantry shelves,” and rustling in the empty shelves have tormented Bordelon with “weird energy.”

And of course, Biever Hall is no exception to the ghost stories that swirl among students.

The voices of laughing children are often regarded as a sweet sign of innocence and happiness, but they weren’t exactly what psychology sophomore Yenisel Santiago wanted to hear coming from the inside of the bathroom at 4 a.m. in Biever Hall last year.

Last year, Santiago woke up in the middle of the night and heard two young girls laughing inside the bathroom. It stopped as soon as she opened the door, and after checking all of the toilet and shower stalls to ensure an empty bathroom, Santiago was left thoroughly shaken up.

“When I went to leave, I felt a cold feeling just rush through me,” Santiago said. “I ran back to my room and I just started crying. I didn’t even really know why I was crying, but I couldn’t stop.”

Santiago’s roommate comforted her, and when she finally was able to express what she had experienced, her roommate said she had heard the same thing only a few nights before. From there on out, she experienced rustling papers when the air was turned off, and the same generally unsettling feelings that were described by Bordelon and Cazalas.

The events only stopped when Santiago finally asked whatever presence was it was in her room to go away.

While exorcism remains an option for dealing with lost possessions or rearranged furniture, we recommend asking your roommate before getting a professional involved.