The idea of ghosts has long been a fable that has fascinated the world and the question of if they are real or not has been a discussion of debate. Many have lived to never experience a second of paranormal activity. On the other hand, many have lived to tell the tale of a ghostly encounter. Here of some of Rocky’s stories.  

Lucy Mills, a sophomore at Rocky, shares her favorite supernatural story. She shares the story of “The Goatman,” a supernatural creature who haunts a bridge in Texas, called Goatman’s Bridge. There are many stories and different origin stories of the Goatman. The main story is one about a successful black farmer, who was hung on the bridge by Klansmen and returned to life as the Goatman. Many who have walked the bridge have claimed to hear a dark, scary voice telling them to get off the bridge.

“I find [the story] intriguing and it makes no sense, but it does… if that makes sense. I find it funny that people would believe that a half-man, half-goat creature would be so possessive of a bridge. [It] reminds me of a troll,” says Mills.

When asked if she believes in ghosts, Mills said, “I guess you could say I do, but not necessarily to the extent of some people. Like weird things happen [that] aren’t supernatural.”

“Personally, I think some view things as supernatural occurrences, but they aren’t. I also think it’s because they need to hear something or are in need of something important,” shared Mills in response to the question of why she thinks supernatural things happen to some people and do not for others.  

Elsie Linnarz, a senior at Rocky, gave an account of her ghost story: “When I was little, we were really poor, and we lived in a bad part of town with really old houses and apartments. Our house was beaten down and super old. There were lots of bugs and mice, and even though I was very little, my brothers were old enough to remember the floors creaking through the house at night. My parents worked at night, so it wasn’t them and the creeks were distinct enough that they seemed real and very creepy. My second oldest brother swears he saw a ghost walk through the kitchen close to the living room where he was babysitting me and watching T.V.” 

An anonymous source at Rocky who wished to remain private shared quite a spooky story. Their daughter had a dog and the “dog passed away and that was like a year and a half ago, and the other day, my daughter was walking past her laundry room, [her dog] always stayed in her bedroom or the laundry room, and she is going upstairs, and she walks past the laundry room and she’s like ‘Mom, I just saw Dash in the laundry room when I walked by’. A couple days later, she has a new dog that she got not too long after our first dog passed away and she has a nanny cam in her room, and it alerts if there is any activity in her room. She has it because her sister used to still her clothes, so for Christmas last year she wanted a camera and anytime there is movement or anything, it buzzes her phone. She was asleep the other night and her dog that sleeps on the bed with her now, jumped up, stood at the end of the bed and started growling. So, because of the noise and movement, her camera came on. When she is reviewing the video from the night before because she saw that there was activity, there was this light orb that went across the wall and she kind of thinks that was Dash.”

This source told the Rocky Roar that they don’t really believe in ghosts, but they “believe in sprits” and believe that “there is a spirit around when it needs to be.” 

The Rocky Roar newspaper conducted multiple polls to see how many people believe in ghosts.

On a poll conducted on rockyroarnewspaper.com, 60% of people said they do believe in ghosts and 40% said they do not believe in ghosts. When a survey was conducted for a freshmen class, 15 people said they do believe in ghosts, nine said they do not believe in ghosts and six said “other.” Finally, in a poll conducted on our Instagram, eight people voted yes, they do believe, and four people voted no, they do not. After all these polls, the data indicates that the majority of Rocky believes ghosts are real.  

When asked if she believes in ghosts, Josie Moody a junior at Rocky, said, “I don’t believe in [ghosts] because I feel like the souls that are left when people die don’t stay and hang around on earth. I think they move on to somewhere else.  

Maddi Ayers, a junior at Rocky, said, “No, I don’t believe in ghosts, but I do believe in angels. I believe in angels because I have loved ones that have passed, and I have felt their presence.” 

It seems like Rocky has got some eerie stories. While there are still people that are skeptical of ghosts, these spooky accounts give insight into the paranormal world and its creepy inhabitants that may surround us all.