Since I first stepped foot in the Quadrangle, I felt it was a safe space for me to be. I was able to be alone and feel spiritually protected. However, the Quad isn’t quite what I initially thought. The almost 200 year old building has a history behind it. I’ve heard rumours about what may be underneath; perhaps it was built on top of an ancient burial ground, or a sacred forest, or stolen farmland. Many solo midnight walks and study sessions on the low-rise walls later, it is now a place that breeds anxiety. Everytime I walk inside the area, with its gothic style windows and doors, I can feel someone’s eyes on me.
It all began on a warm night in November, my friends and I had talked for a while, which had led to an in-depth discussion of spirituality and the idea of the supernatural. All having interest in the topic, we had a good laugh about how we should draw up a Ouija board and take it to the Quad… so we ended up doing that. It seems silly now, drawing up a Ouija board on the side of a cardboard box, but quite frankly we were all dead serious about it working. We had researched how to dispose of it and how it worked, and you don’t need an expensive board to make the spirits want to communicate (they don’t seem to be too materialistic in the afterlife). Once we had written out the features of a typical board and made a cut out of the planchette, we made our way through the eerie quietness of campus.
When we got there, we set ourselves up in the centre of the building. With a few giggles and spooky hypotheses, we placed our fingers on the planchette and I took the lead. We called out for any spirits and let them know that we came with no bad intentions. After a few moments of hesitation and disheartened glances, the planchette began to move. It was a very surreal feeling; it didn’t feel as though someone was pulling or pushing, it felt as though we were subconsciously moving the piece in the same way. The spirit we spoke to was very playful and seemed somewhat nice. None of us were terribly scared or uncomfortable, especially since the spirit spelled out his name as “Dugz”. After around five minutes of conversation with the apparent former professor of the University, the energy changed, the answers were random sporadic letters, and the building became much colder than it was before. Something else had joined us.
With worried looks, we all agreed to say “Goodbye” and leave the board. Respectfully wishing the best to the spirits, we left, shivering through processing of what really had just happened. We had discussed doing it behind the Anderson Stuart building after we finished up at the Quad, but when we arrived round the back, we all had lumps of anxiety in our chests and were almost in tears. At this point, we disposed of the board and decided to head home.
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A few days later at 2:30am, I woke up in a startle from a very eerie nightmare. A friend and I were walking down City Road on our way to Broadway, when all of a sudden, he started running. I ran after him but failed to keep up. He turned the corner and I fell, rolling until I eventually hit a curb. When I hit the curb and opened my eyes, I was taken to a dark, sketchy area. There was a woman with a dog in front of me. I was screaming for her not to hurt me. When she turned her neck and screamed “stay away from her”, I turned my head to see an old faceless woman. Waking up in a startle, I knew that this wasn’t just any type of nightmare.
The next day I talked to my friend and she mentioned that she had a nightmare too. Her dream consisted of the same structure; she had her friend who began to run, she chased her, everything began to spin and then the same old faceless woman appeared to her (but with a bag of bones). After that, these dreams became a recurring thing in my life, sometimes accompanied by sleep paralysis. Eventually it stopped but to this day I continuously feel a strange presence in the Quad, and I reckon I always will. Something I wish someone told me before using a Ouija board is how tempting it is to use one again. Every so often I find myself wanting to try again and speak to more spirits, but I need to remind myself of the extent of fear I felt throughout those couple of months in my life. If you take anything from this article, it should be to ensure you don’t partake in the temptation, who knows what you might allow into your life.