Who doesn’t love a good horror story?
Especially when it’s one that takes place right where you’re trying to keep your thoughts on your study schedule and not on the copious amounts of ghosts, critters and haunted rooms that apparently plague the country.
Read on to see if there’s a creepy legend hanging around your uni!
University of Sydney
Pyjama Girl
Many decades ago, the body of a young woman was found in a pipe in Albury. Barely recognisable due to her injuries, her defining feature was her yellow silk pyjamas. Attempts to identify her were made, but unfortunately, she remained ‘Jane Doe’. Her body was moved to the University of Sydney, where it was kept in a bathtub of formaldehyde for over a decade in the hopes that somebody would recognise her; alas, nobody ever did.
Known simply as ‘Pyjama Girl’, it’s rumoured that her ghost lurks the halls of the Anderson Stuart building, playing havoc with the Wi-Fi and frightening any late-night study enthusiasts. One student even swore they heard a woman sobbing through the walls of the building late at night.
We’ll keep our study sessions confined to the broad daylight, thanks.
Haswell the Friendly Ghost
On a slightly less morbid note, if you happen to be in the Heydon Laurence Building, you might find yourself being visited by the ghost of William Haswell. A scientist who arrived in Australia in the late 1800s, Haswell became the first Challis Professor of Zoology at the University. He died (of natural causes, it seems) in the 1920s, and it’s said that his ghost still checks up on the zoology rooms to make sure things are going okay.
He’s said to be of a kind and friendly nature, so if you happen to bump into him, say hello from us.
There are plenty more spooky tales from the University of Sydney - check them out here.
University of Queensland
The Schonell Theatre has its very own live-in ghost: a woman named Sophea who traipses through the dressing rooms and stage area dressed in old-timey fashion. A considerate spectre, Sophea reportedly only ever shows up after the theatre-goers head off.
A ghost haunting a theatre? How original.
University of Melbourne
An eel of a time
Not a haunting this time, but creepy nonetheless, in 2018, students at the Redmond Barry building peered into the courtyard pond only to see a ‘brown slimy thing’ moving between the reeds. An eel, it seemed. A professor was alerted and went hunting for the answer to how the rather large aquatic animal had ended up in what was essentially an overgrown puddle. His findings did not put him at ease. Consulting old maps and local Aboriginal knowledge, the professor learned that the University, and indeed much of Melbourne in general, was built over the top of ancient billabongs and streams which – get this – were often used by eels during mass migrations. The streams were long ago diverted into underground pipes, but water still flows through them.
The question remains as to whether this particular eel was following in the footsteps (finsteps?) of its ancestors, or was perhaps just plopped there as an ‘innocent’ prank. But it does leave one wondering whether there are thousands of eels cruising through the underground streams below us as we wander the city streets…
Eel be getting out of here then, thanks.
Canberra - National Film and Sound Archive
The Blood Room
While this building technically isn’t part of a university, it used to house the Australian Institute of Anatomy, and that’s where this haunted legend springs from.
The Blood Room, as it’s not-so-affectionately referred to, was the basement morgue of the Institute. According to guides, the channels in the floor were created to drain away the body fluids of the hundreds of cadavers that would line the walls.
Visitors to the Room have reported feeling queasy or uneasy upon entering, being overcome with the smell of decomposing flesh and the overwhelming urge to leave.
We would like to leave now, too, actually…
