I've been debating for some time on whether or not to submit this story. Although I think it's pretty interesting, it isn't very scary.
After growing up in CT, I went to the University of Delaware for college. I have always had a fascination with the paranormal but I didn't have many experiences growing up. Sophomore year I became close with my RA (resident assistant). We bonded over our love for ghosts as did my close group of friends at the time.
She came to my room one day telling me she heard that the basement of a building near us used to be used as a morgue. We later found out that this was a rumor, but regardless, this is what led us to the building. The building was located on Main Street in Delaware and was used as an honors office building for such students to obtain information. It did not hold classrooms. It actually looked like an old house, and construction was done to turn it into an office.
My RA, Sarah, and I went to the basement of the building. To our surprise, it was finished. And to our dismay, was quite plain. It was a small hallway of about 5 closed (locked) doors and a vending machine. We realized quickly there was nothing particularly spooky about this so Sarah suggested we put our ears up to the doors and listen to see if we hear anything. We put our ears up to each door and either heard nothing, or the common sounds of a heater or whatnot. Basically common "basement sounds". We had listened to all doors except for one. The last door was the closest to the stairwell. There were no other doors beside it as it was located on the far wall of the hallway.
We put our ears up to listen. We were facing each other at the time and although we were breathing hard, we were smiling at our situation. I, all of a sudden, began to hear a scratching against the door. It sounded like someone on the other side was taking their finger nail and scraping it against the wooden door. I asked Sarah if she could hear it too but she couldn't. She placed her ear where mine had been and her eyes grew wide. She heard it too. A strange scraping. We stood back and looked at each other and wondered what could be behind the door. It, too, was locked.
We decided to go up the stairwell, into one of the offices and ask someone about it. Our bright idea was to tell an administrator that we were doing a project on the paranormal and were wondering if they had any information on the building. As we climbed the stairwell, something happened. I lost my breath for a moment. I cannot remember this quite well, but I just remember gasping for a second. We were still on the staircase and up just a few more stairs was the landing with the door to the office propped open. I looked behind me, confused for a moment. Sarah asked if I was ok. I began to explain what happened when the door that was propped open in front of us slammed shut. We screamed and ran out of the building laughing.
We couldn't quite explain this. Although it could have been explained easily by saying that maybe it wasn't propped open securely, and just happened to lose it's edge and close. We refused to accept that. We told everyone this story and demanded they come with us back to the basement and listen in on the mystery door.
A group of my friends soon came. Some heard the scratching and some heard other things. One friend told me it sounded like a rocking chair. One time two people with their ears to the door heard nothing, but my friend and I who were a foot from the door heard strange sounds.
We decided that was enough and once again climbed the stairwell to speak to an office worker. We found a lady and did our little shpeal about doing a project and we were wondering... She interrupted us. "You want to hear about our ghosts right?", she asked with a grin. She shared with us that one night she was working in her office alone. She had called a friend to come pick her up. She heard some noises on the bottom floor. She peered down the stairs (not the stairwell, but what used to be the actual staircase in the house before it was renovated) and saw the shadow of a person. Without questioning it she shouted that she would "be right down" to whom she thought was her friend. When she grabbed her things and ran downstairs she found no one. Instead, she peered out the window and found her friend pulling up to the building. How creepy!
She gave us some interesting information on the building. She told us it was one of the oldest buildings on the campus and was built in the 1700's. She said that about half of the building has been untouched and was never renovated. We asked her which parts. She told us a few rooms and said that the original staircase is still there, along with some rooms in the basement. "Actually", she said, "one room used to be slave quarters and has never been renovated". Wide eyed, we asked her which room and she replied that it was the door right next to the stairwell. We all looked at each other knowing it was THE door. Sounds coincidental and perhaps it is, but it was very spooky at the time. We asked her if we could see it and she explained that she personally didn't have a key for the room and didn't know who did.
We actually came back a few days later with a bobby pin, haha. As if that would have opened it. It never did and we decided it was best left alone, after discovering what it was.
Hope you enjoyed reading!
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