The rumored haunts of Colorado State’s architecture

October 25, 2012

Let’s pretend you are a security guard for Ammons Hall (what’s now the Admissions building) a few decades ago. You hear an alarm go off, but instead of an intruder, all that you see is a set of small, wet footprints leading into the other room.There is no one else in the building, but you’ve heard stories of the building’s haunting and know that it originally had a pool … a pool that was filled with concrete in 1982.This is exactly what happened to a security guard a couple decades ago, as recounted in the book “Ghosts of Fort Collins,” by Lori Juszak.Colorado State University has a storied history, and sometimes it’s not all freedom protests and football games.Ammons Hall was built in 1922. It’s original purpose was a Women’s Center built with a pool, gym and kitchen, among other amenities.

Walk through Ammons Hall now, however, and you’ll see a very different building. After the pool was filled it became the Student Services building and is now the Admissions building.

But the Ammons’ rumored haunt has stuck around through all of its various iterations. Just three months ago, Lee Sesker, head of the custodial staff for Ammons Hall, encountered what he believes to be the building’s ghost.

“We were talking about the girl who supposedly died here,” Sesker said. “We walked over to TILT and I heard someone yell my name over the vacuum. I walked around and there was no one else near me in the building.”

As creepy as a ghost is, it’s not the only sullied aspect of Ammons’ 90 year history.

The building was designed by Eugene G. Groves, who also designed other buildings around CSU’s campus, including the Military Science building (1927), Johnson Hall (1936) and the Student Services Building (1948).

The Student Services building was originally designed as a men’s dorm named Braiden Hall.

“The men who lived in the dorm got scared living there,” said Becca McCarty, building proctor for the Student Services building. “They said it was always drafty and cold; they would hear strange noises at times and always wanted to move out.”

Fast forward to 1948 when the Student Services building was being designed.

As the story goes, something went awry with Groves while he was designing the Student Services building. It only takes one walk through to know that it was not mapped by a clear mind.

There are seven narrow staircases in the building, no way to get from one end to the other unless you’re on the bottom floor and an overall lack of hallways. In short, it’s a concrete maze.

Rumor is that Groves planned to murder his wife and bury her in the walls of the Student Services building, but he was placed in an insane asylum before the building (or the murder) were completed.

Chances are that, at some point, you’ll need to go wandering around the old part of campus for the oddly placed class. If you do, keep an eye out and an ear open for the past.

View Comments (10)

Comments (10)

When commenting on The Collegian’s website, please be respectful of others and their viewpoints. The Collegian reviews all comments and reserves the right to reject comments from the website. Comments including any of the following will not be accepted. 1. No language attacking a protected group, including slurs or other profane language directed at a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, physical or mental disability, ethnicity or nationality. 2. No factually inaccurate information, including misleading statements or incorrect data. 3. No abusive language or harassment of Collegian writers, editors or other commenters. 4. No threatening language that includes but is not limited to language inciting violence against an individual or group of people. 5. No links.

Share your thoughts...

All The Rocky Mountain Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest