Monday, March 18, 2013

Monday Mystery Goes To College...!

There are many mysteries involving college campuses around the world, which isn't surprising when you consider how many students are roaming around these grounds of "higher education!"

It might be hard from time to time to separate the typical "ghost stories" told by students from the more serious unexplained stories, especially when there is photographic evidence to support the story!

University of Toronto
Canada



Founded in 1827, this university has several ghosts associated with it. Many thanks to the University of Toronto Magazine, which made researching this one very easy. The first involves a stonemason called Ivan Reznikoff, who disappeared during the college’s construction. Fast forward to 1889, when a student encountered a darkly clad figure on campus as he was heading back to his residence.

The figure claimed he had a story to tell, so the student invited him back to his place and they began drinking. The man claimed to be the ghost of Ivan, and told the student that he had died in an argument with the project foreman, Paul Diablos, who he believed was trying to steal his fiancĂ©. Furious, he surprised Diablos outside of his quarters with an axe. The first blow missed, and struck a wooden door. This door still exists today, and can be seen in the image above. The man claimed that he had chased Diablos into the building, but hadn’t been able to find where his boss had hidden. As he was about to leave the room, he felt a knife pierce his back, and the world went black. He told the student that Diablos had hidden his body in an incomplete ventilation shaft.

When the student awoke the next day, his drinking buddy was gone, and he passed it off as a bad dream. Several years later, part of the building burned down in a fire, and the skeleton of a man wearing a mason’s belt was supposedly discovered.

Over at listverse (where I got this story) there are many more stories of hauntings on different universities. It is a pretty interesting read, if you have the time!

Let's have our coffee out on the patio this morning. It looks like Spring, smells like Spring, and feels like Spring! Great!

9 comments:

Sixbears said...

Good one Hermit. I've had worse drinking companions.

-3 this morning. Snow tonight. Coffee, once again, huddled next to the woodstove. Hope this is the last of the real cold.

linda m said...

I love ghost stories; this is a good one. Coffee outside sounds good to me. No Spring in sight here in WI yet. Cold with more snow predicted. Beginning to think we won't have a Spring this year.

JO said...

Very interesting I love ghost stories.

the temps are going down here so the morning is a little chilly. so I will come over to your place and join in.

Dizzy-Dick said...

I love your stories. Makes you think and it also makes you shiver at night when you feel an extra cool spot in your house or when something moves on its own. Had that happen a couple of times.

HermitJim said...

Hey Sixbears...
Minus 3 is just too cold for me! Reaching up in the 80s here.

Hope Spring is just around the corner for you!

Thanks for dropping in today, buddy!


Hey Linda...
Man, my heart goes out to all you folks living up north!

We are definitely into Spring weather here and I am really liking it!

Thanks for coming over today!


Hey Jo...
Tell the temps that they are going the wrong way! Should be up, not down!

Thanks, sweetie, for coming by this morning!


Hey Dizzy...
Reading a good ghost story seems to really fire up the imagination, doesn't it?

Funny how all things seem amplified at night, or when it's quiet!

Thanks for the visit, Dizzy!

MamaHen said...

I love stories like that too. The University of Montevallo, where I went to school, is just eaten up with ghost stories. My friends and I used to scare the crap out of each other if we had to go across campus late at night and stuff!! lol!

MuddyValley said...

Fun ghost story. One does tend to wonder why the "axe" struck the door obviously more than one time. Was the
stone mason Ivan merely inept with his tool, and did the other guy just stand there and move aside each time Ivan swung? The picture, far from being evidence, seems to refute the story. Probably just an angry student who got locked out after hours.

HermitJim said...

Hey Anne...
I think that most of us have more fun scaring each other than actually seeing the ghost!

Often our childhood is filled with ghost stories and often they get more colorful as we age!

Thanks so much for coming by today!


Hey Muddy...
Might be one of those cases where the story is created to match the "evidence!"

Still, it is pretty interesting!

Thanks so much for coming over today!

BBC said...

I don't believe in ghosts, but I believe in bitches.