Haunted Colleges - Nyack College by Anonymous
POSTED: 7 November 98
I was reading your articles on haunted colleges and it reminded me of Nyack.
Nyack college is located in Nyack, NY (Rockland county) overlooking the Hudson
River. It is 10 miles north of Manhattan Island. It is a small, private
college set on a hillside backed by dense woods.
There were reports that the library (Shuman Hall) was haunted. I forget all the
details and I can try to get the info but the library and one or two other
buildings along with the land, was owned by an eccentric millionaire who operated
a sort of Buddhist (I think) retreat center. He had elephants on the property
which were said to have aided in the building of all the stone walls.
The Tudor-style library was home to this man. He had it elaborately decorated
including a bathroom done entirely in tiny tile mosaics. He had built a few
secret passageways and there are several interesting and strange animal reliefs
on the walls in certain rooms. Due to modern interior redesign, some of these
rooms had been altered and some were off-limits to student population - however,
if you were resourceful, you might be able to get a glance at a few of the
private rooms.
The library was said to be haunted, especially one round room upstairs where
lights would appear on after workers had gone and shut them all off. Things
like lights, noises and moving objects were the most common reports. I'm not
sure but perhaps these were the antics of the former owner. To my knowledge, no
reports were seen of apparitions although like I said, I can't remember details,
however, there was a general eerie feel to the immense mansion and many nights
when I worked there, we went in pairs to lock up. Many people were challenged
to sleep one night alone in the library if they dared...
Nyack is also a town very heavily into the "New Age" and witchcraft. The most
prominent piece of evidence for this was a restaurant downtown called "The
Coven". It was a purple building with elaborate paintings of Halloween style
witches stirring a brew. We never ate there not knowing what..or who might be
the special of the day. There were tunnels in the woods behind Nyack and often
people would report cloaked figures near this area or walking at night behind
the back of the campus. I visited the tunnels in the day time and did see a
pentagram on the wall of one of the tunnels and some astrological signs,
however, as the floor was covered with beer bottles, I can venture that it was
also a hot spot for parties among the youth of the town.
