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Residence hall haunted by ghost of Helen Peabody

By Alison Perelman, For The Miami Student

After 144 years and two fires, Peabody Hall is still standing. And still haunted.

Peabody was once part of the Western Female Seminary, Miami University's neighboring campus.

Helen Peabody, principal and namesake of the building, was an opponent of coeducation and, protective of her students, disliked the men that wandered onto Western campus.

To this day, it is said that Helen roams the building's halls, targeting the men that are now allowed to live there.

Many students claim to see the ghost of Helen, as well as the body of a student who hanged herself in the attic. When anything unusual happens within the walls of Peabody, Helen is automatically to blame.

Through the years, there have been numerous accounts of sightings and strange happenings. From hearing screams on the phone to objects seeming to move on their own, to feeling someone else's presence, the students living in Peabody have experienced it all.

On her first night here, first-year Akosua Boadi-Agyemang was alone in the lounge and, just as she was leaving, the piano started playing on its own.

"The building in itself is creepy," she said. "There are a lot of sealed-off doors."

And students never forget its history.

"You just remember, 'Oh yeah, it's the haunted one,'" said Boadi-Agyemang.

Most students don't seem to mind that Peabody is haunted, and some play into it by pulling pranks and watching scary movies.

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Some students even dare to say rude things about Helen Peabody near her portrait, but they are still careful to whisper.