Around campus, stories have circulated regarding paranormal activity in Kohler Hall and Lang Hall, a phenomenon which could have spread off campus.
Brock Malinowski, owner of Front St Social, a local bar near campus, said that “weird” events have occurred in their bar. Recently, Front St Social posted a reel to their Instagram showing that a cabinet unexpectedly flew from behind their bar.
However, these experiences are not new. In spring of 2021, Malinowski’s general manager posted a video to the bar’s Instagram account displaying a customer being hit in the shoulder by a shot glass that flew off the bar.
“It was not just like it fell off; it flew across the bar,” Malinowski said.
Malinowski also said there have been experiences with a randomly ringing kitchen bell the bar used to have. In addition to this, some bartenders have reported the change machines jingling, sudden noises from the pool table and televisions randomly turning on. Malinowski said that a cook had a harmful personal experience with one of the spirits.
“He went down to the basement one night, and he said he could not open the door that he had unlocked that leads to the storage area…he got locked in the basement for about 20 minutes,” Malinowski said.
Malinowski said he calls the experiences not sightings but “poltergeist” patterns due to the objects moving and things that seem odd and do not make sense.
Malinowski said that Front St Social used to be named Bar 107, where strange experiences also occurred.
“One night, I went in for a Karaoke night…I came in, and everybody turned and looked at me. People were singing that sounded to me like Gothic hymns,” Malinowski said. “When I asked the bartender that night about it, I received an odd response, like ‘do not worry about it’ type of look.”
Malinowski added that he also had a strange altercation with a woman at the bar who wouldn’t stop staring at him and his friend. When he kindly confronted the woman about the odd behavior and asked if they knew each other, she got up silently, walked out, got into a waiting car and drove off.
The Berea Chamber of Commerce hosted its Spooky Walking Tour on Oct. 6, which allows hearing of ghosts and haunting stories that have occurred throughout Berea, including stoppings into Kohler Hall and Lang Hall.
According to the Ritter Library Encyclopedia, Kohler Hall was previously a German Methodist orphanage asylum before being sold to German Wallace College in 1866. The hall has been used for many purposes, such as a stop on the Underground Railroad and an infirmary and morgue for soldiers during the Civil War.
Among the sightings that have been documented, some include a “little ghost girl” named Mabel and haunted underground tunnels that lead to the nearby Lindsey Crossman Chapel.
However, the most ominous spirit that has been documented to have haunted Kohler Hall when it was a residence hall is the “blue mist.” The mist had been said to press on the sleeping resident’s chests, making it hard to breathe, and had also ripped the covers off sleeping residents.
In 1826, Lang Hall, also called Emma Lang Hall, was built as a women’s exclusive dormitory. The building was named after the wife of George C. Lang, a BW trustee. Emma also donated money to the college.
According to the Ritter Encyclopedia, Emma is said to be haunting the halls of Lang Hall, especially the fourth floor, which is one of the male-exclusive floors in the building. She has been known to press on males’ chests when they are sleeping, as well as utensils being moved around and thrown in the Lang dining hall in the basement of the building.
Despite the historical experiences potentially spreading farther into Berea, Malinowski said business has not been negatively impacted.
“I think promoting the ghostly activity helped a little bit for the October season, but I do not like anybody scared of it…it seems to be a fairly friendly ghost if there is one,” Malinowski said.
