Wilkes University is no stranger to haunted locations. Kirby Hall, which houses the English Department, is a gothic mansion-styled building that was built around 1875-76. The building’s ownership was tossed around several hands before finally landing on Fred Morgan Kirby in 1905. However, Kirby wasn’t aware of an unwanted ghastly caretaker in its midst.
According to a 1981 edition of Wilkes College Quarterly, the second floor was a billiard room before Kirby purchased the building. A frequent visitor of that billiard room was a man known only as Poker Pan, who was allegedly murdered over a gambling dispute. It is said that Pan has stuck around the second floor of Kirby, and students sometimes can hear his footsteps.
Some even claim they have felt a hand on their backs just as they were about to walk down the stairs.
There have also been reports of strange white mists that would fog up the windows of Kirby Hall.
Another infamously haunted spot on campus is another gothic building, Weckesser Hall. Weckesser was designed by Fredrick J. Weckesser between 1914 and 1916.
According to a 2009 account by a Wilkes employee, she was setting up in the early morning for a meeting when she saw an elderly woman in a crimson dress standing by the stairs. When the employee went to see the woman again, she disappeared. As she resumed her duties, she saw a photograph of that same woman in the entranceway of the building. The name on the engraving was Mrs. Weckesser herself. That employee signed her resignation letter later that day.
Finally, Waller Hall is known to have ghosts of the Prohibition era haunting its walls. Waller was originally built in 1925 by Julius Long Stern. Waller is known as the strongest hall and most elaborate residence halls in all of campus. Two eccentric features of Waller are the mystery passages on the second floor and a speakeasy in the basement.
The passageways could circle the entire floor without ever seeing a hallway. The second feature is the speakeasy in the basement. It’s a relic of Waller that few have seen for themselves; it is said that ghosts of the roaring 20s decided to keep the party going over a hundred years later.
There are reportedly several other haunted spaces on campus, including Roth, Conyngham and Chase halls and several more.
