HISTORY
Ripon College, founded in 1851, was converted from a college preparatory school to a four-year college in 1863. Its first class – four women: Luthera H. Adams, Harriet H. Brown, Susan A.W. Saulsbury and Mary F. Spencer – graduated in 1867.
Today, Ripon’s campus encompasses 250 tree-covered acres and includes 25 buildings. The original three limestone buildings which witnessed the commencement of 1867 remain in use: East, Smith and West Halls. These, along with seven other campus buildings, were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
A traditional college of the liberal arts, Ripon looks ahead without forgetting its distinguished past. College Days, which first appeared as a monthly literary magazine in 1868, is the oldest continually published college newspaper in Wisconsin.
REPORTED ACTIVITY
- Apparition seen in the Archive Vault that was believed to be the perturbed spirit of Sam Pedrick, a deceased faculty member
- Sighting of a shadow apparition following out someone who was closing the Library. This was seen at the front doors of the Library near the front desk
- The sound of someone falling down the stairs from the 3rd Floor to the 2nd Floor in West Hall was heard by three different people on three separate occasions. When the person who heard the noise went to see if anyone needed help, on each occasion no one was at the bottom of the stairs and on two occasions no one else was found in the building
- A student leaving West Hall reported seeing a ball of light bouncing around in a staff member’s office when no one was in the building
- The sound of a women screaming
- Hearing heavy footsteps in the old dining hall while in the Museum when no one is in the old dining hall
- On a previous investigation, a PIM member reported hearing a whistle while up in the 2nd Floor Study Room of Lane Library when no one else was in the area
- People have reported having a “creepy” feeling in the Men’s Room located just off the front entrance of Lane Library on the lower level
