Things that Go Bump in Ball

The last “ghost” stories I’d heard about Ball Hall were old ones, dating back some 20 years or so. Once, our office used them as a basis for a fun, lighthearted article in a Halloween edition of KC Currents, our online publication. Another time, we published them in an issue of Keuka magazine. I hadn’t heard any recent, first-person accounts until work began on the winter 2007 issue of the magazine. That’s when I received two firsthand accounts that I found quite convincing.

In passing, one of the contractors working on the building mentioned some “unusual activity” he’d experienced. Being an avid watcher of the Sci-Fi Channel’s Ghost Hunters, I had to learn more. I won’t spoil it here, but I will say that I am much more aware of my surroundings here in Ball. In fact, I went to use the restroom shortly after interviewing the man, and had an experience that I might have chalked up as a visit by George Harvey Ball. I was all alone in bathroom, standing at the sink washing my hands when I heard something that sounded a lot like someone whispering, “psst.” Turns out the new facilities have some kind of automatic deodorizer that sprayed from the wall next to me. If an explanation were only that simple in the second story.

A Class of 1983 alumna tells me that George visited her room. Her encounter with the ghost involved sight as well as smell (apparently George liked cigars). Read her account of the visit in the campaign section of the upcoming magazine. If you have a Ball Hall ghost story of your own to relate, you can do so by clicking on “Ball Hall Memories.”

-Tanya