Joanna Orban
Staff Writer
Pocatello’s haunted places have a notorious reputation, being some of the first things I heard about when I moved here. I was intrigued, but doubtful. I’ve always been someone who believes there’s an explanation for everything.
However, when I decided to visit some of these supposed haunted places, I did my best to keep an open mind, despite not believing in ghosts.
First on my list of places to visit was Ammon Park. Rumors say that there’s a young girl who haunts the swing set, and some have claimed that they’ve seen the swings move, even on windless days.
Despite my better judgment, I waited until it was fully dark outside to visit the park. After only being there for a few minutes, it became very clear why people think it’s haunted. A long flight of stairs leads down to the park where there’s no lighting, causing an eerie darkness.
Trying to find the swingset in the dark was nearly impossible, even with the flashlight on my phone.
As I was walking to the swingset, I felt like something, or someone, was watching me. Even though I turned around and didn’t see anyone, the feeling persisted until I left the park.
It was too windy that night to see whether the swings actually moved by themselves, but there’s no denying that Ammon Park has a disturbing vibe to it.
After going to the park, I went to Frazier Hall on campus.
I’ve only been in this building once before, during the day, but even then I found the building unsettling. The red carpet and the old feel to the building made me feel like I was in a scary movie.
I wandered around the building and eventually made my way up to the fourth floor. The red carpet was gone, replaced by a cracked, old floor. One of the lights was flickering, making me even more nervous to walk down the hallway where the ghost named “Alex,” has been heard stomping around.
Fortunately, I didn’t see the ghost, but I was curious if anyone else had. I talked with Terry Ownby, a doctorate in visual media studies whose office is in the fourth-floor hallway that Alex has been heard haunting.
“I’ve been in this office for nearly six years and have not encountered any kind of ghosts,” says Ownby. Even though Ownby has never seen Alex, he does agree that the building, particularly the basement has a weird feeling about it. Several students and janitors have reported encountering Alex.
After Frazier Hall, I wandered to the next haunted place on my list, Graveley Hall. This building used to be a women’s dormitory, and some have claimed that they can still hear water dripping even though the showers were taken out years ago.
Apparently, windows and doors have also been opened or shut, when no one was in the building.
As I was walking around, it sounded as if someone was walking on the floor above me, even though I hadn’t seen anyone else in the building. However, that might have just been the creaking of an old building.
Wandering around Graveley Hall gave me chills, perhaps due to the way the odd decor and weird atmosphere makes it feel as though you’ve stepped back in time.
After letting myself ponder these events for a few days, I reached out to Lisa Brian, the cofounder of the Scientific Paranormal Investigative Research Organization (SPIRO). SPIRO has investigated all of the places I visited, and also felt the same energy that I did. “Part of the reason that we have so much energy in the buildings is because of the land it was built on,” says Brian.
Brian attributed the numerous haunted buildings in Pocatello, including Fraizer Hall and Graveley Hall, to the energy that was brought in from the Bonneville flood water.
I still haven’t decided if I believe in ghosts, but the experiences I had at Ammon Park, Frazier and Graveley Hall did show me that certain places have a different kind of energy. After feeling that for myself, I’m beginning to wonder if there is something out there that I just didn’t see.
