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 fiancé. 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!