A haunting in Room 225

When Ridenbaugh Hall was paranormally investigated in 1992 by Ed and Lorrain Warren, they found hints the building was haunted.

Upon entering Room 225, she encountered a force.

“My initial impression was that of a young girl, student age, probably in her early 20s,” Warren said.

She described the girl as wearing clothes from the 1930s, with her hair pulled back in a bun. A woman is rumored to have hung herself in Room 225 during the 1930s, Warren said.

“Ridenbaugh is definitely haunted. Assuming to go off the story of the woman who hung herself in the room that’s the first door on the left, on the second floor. She doesn’t like guys, cause more guys have violent stories,” said Dan Butcher, a UI senior.

Ridenbaugh Hall on the University of Idaho campus was originally built in 1902 as a woman’s dormitory.

In World War I, Ridenbaugh was used for feeding troops and the building was turned into a men’s dormitory.

Now, it is a place on campus for music students to practice and the first floor is used as an art gallery for the UI Art and Architecture Department.

People around campus mostly recognize this building as a women’s dormitory and for its supposed haunting by the woman in Room 225.

“I’ve definitely been practicing there late at night and always felt a presence of some sort, like someone is just kind of watching what I’m doing. The room spontaneously has gotten colder as well — that’s happened,” Butcher said.

Lydia Byers, a member of The Palouse Paranormal Society in Moscow, said there is a chance the room got colder. She said if spirits want to manifest they take energy from the temperature of the room.

There has not been any paranormal investigations since the 1992 investigation, but Byers said as far as she knew, no one died in the building.

Lydia said it is quite possible something is lingering in the building.

“If no one died in the building it doesn’t mean something didn’t happen on the land beforehand. Or maybe someone did contact the spirit world and brought something through, or maybe it was a student who died,” Byers said. “In which case they were drawn to the place where they have the best memories.”

Many other rumors have circulated the student body and sophomore Ben Woodard said he has heard pianos play in the vents, doors slamming shut and singing. He said he believes Ridenbaugh is haunted from an experience he had while practicing in the building last semester.

“I was practicing around 11 p.m. I practiced with the lights on for about an hour before I memorize the piece, then I turn the lights off and play in the dark,” Woodard said. “I had it closed and the door just opened. I walked outside, looked around and no one was there.”

Byers said it is quite possible experiences students have are real but the mind has an ability to troll you. She said if someone sees something in the corner of their eye, paranormal experts will say “it’s the shadow people” but in reality your brain is trying to fill in blanks for something you did not see.

“Is there a chance they heard someone, sure. Just because nobody died in the building and I can’t find any solid evidence… just rumors. The rumors are not solid, they definitely make for great ghost stories,” Byers said.

Byers has not investigated Ridenbaugh due to permission from the university. She said she would love to investigate Ridenbaugh at night, but in order to do solid investigating she needs to know the name of the woman who died.

“If someone did kill themselves there, I’d love to have a name … you could take a guess at the name. Without knowing the name, you don’t know if your calling for Ruth Betsy or Dominique,” Byers said. “That’s the only reason I’d like to know the history of it. Other than that I can go in the basement and pull out my spirit box and be happy.”

Butcher said the woman haunts Ridenbaugh but sometimes the mind might be playing games on you when paranormal occurrences occur because of stress from midterms. Especially since Butcher and Woodard practice their instruments late at night in building.

Other students such as Sophomore Emma Nixon said she doesn’t believe the building is haunted but that’s because she hasn’t had any experiences compared to other students.

Byers said people can have real experiences with the paranormal if they are willing to sit in a dark room with their back to the hallway yet be skeptical.

“It takes willingness to just sit in a dark room and be scared but at the same time be willing to ask those questions, Is there anybody there? Is there a window open?” Byers said.

Byers and students think it would be a good idea to paranormally investigate Ridenbaugh.

“Go for it. I think it would be funny,” Butcher said.

Vanessa Sielert, instructor at the university, said Ridenbaugh is going to be renovated next summer with funds from the state.

Lindsay Trombly can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lindsay_trombly