Davenport Iowa

Ambrose Hall

A spectral, friendly Priest still takes his duties to heart.

ambrose-hall-paranormal

DESCRIPTION/HISTORY

Ambrose Hall is a beautiful 4 story, spread-out, huge building with three connected sections, built to last for another 100 years. It is in the Victorian style, using yellow stone/red bricks/with marble & stone trim decor, popular in late 19th/turn-of-the-century institutional buildings. Marble was used to dress up yellow bricks or stone.

St. Ambrose University started our being “a seminary and school of commerce for young men in 1882.” Since then it has grown into a private, coeducational, liberal arts university, with a student body approaching 3000 young men and women. This university offers “more than 70 majors, with the flexibility to mix majors, minors and electives.”

Ambrose Hall was the first building constructed in 1885, after the school moved to the oak grove on 10 acres near Scott and Locust Streets. The whole school fit within its walls. It not only housed classrooms, and offices, but also traditionally used the fourth floor as housing for the resident priests who taught at the college. In 1902, Father Flanagan’s couch caught on fire in his apartment in Ambrose Hall, and had to be thrown out the window by some quick-thinking people to prevent the fire from spreading!

As the college grew, more and more buildings were added, including dormitories, a gym and other buildings of interest. Eventually, the priests got their own housing, and moved out of the fourth floor. Currently, in Ambrose Hall, one finds offices for admissions, financial aid, records and registration, the John R. Lewis Board Room, classrooms, faculty offices and the student union.

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS

In some of our other stories found on this web site, some entities of priests and nuns have elected to stay in their earthly service, even after death, out of a sense of dedication, and are unable to let go of this world.

During the college’s early years, many priests who taught at the university lived in the apartments found on the fourth floor of Ambrose Hall. They were dedicated to their work with the students, providing the best of themselves in the classroom and in the chapel. They took their responsibilities to heart, seeing to the development of the spiritual walk and the fulfillment educational goals of their students. One of these priests is still preparing to do so.

Many college-age students go through a period of questioning their faith. Perhaps, one can theorize that a female student was going through this stage in her life when she was suddenly killed in an accident, or sudden mishap, or perhaps a suicide.

MANIFESTATIONS

The entity of the priest

On the fourth floor, professors working late in their offices have heard footsteps along the hallways, and rooms, and odd noises.

Professors have also seen unexplainable flickering lights, and the appearance of strange, moving lights.

Paranormal Activity

2 knocks are heard in the math hallway. 2 knock-like noises were then reported on the main staircase. A knocking noise was heard just outside the west side annex office station.

A cold chill…Was felt outside of room 430, in a 10 foot area. The window in this room could have been open, but the room was locked, so they couldn’t find out for sure.

Smell of incense used in Catholic masses … perhaps a manifestation of the entity of the priest.
Began in the Eastern-most part of the hall.
Smell of incense was then noticed in the west side annex station.

Moving lights…One investigator saw some unexplainable lights moving around the western hallway, which disappeared before anyone else could validate their presence.

PARANORMAL FINDINGS

Iowa Paranormal Advanced Research Team did an investigation of Ambrose Hall in 2007, bringing a nice array of investigation equipment and a team of people. 2 people were stationed in the lounge area of room 403, that is in the east side of the building. 2 people were stationed near the main staircase. 2 people, plus the reporter who wrote the story stayed in the West side annex office.

This investigation resulted in some findings: 13 EVPs. Many EVPs of friendly “Hi’s.” An unknown female entity who has lost her faith. One of the 13 EVPs picked up by the IPART investigators clearly has on tape a woman’s voice denouncing that Jesus was alive. Another of these EVPs is of a voice whispering, “There is something wrong with me.

STILL HAUNTED?

Probably so.

While IPART can neither confirm nor deny that Ambrose Hall is haunted because of a lack of hard evidence, they did find circumstantial evidence which suggests that perhaps two entities call this place home.

LOCATION

518 West Locust Street
Davenport, Iowa 52803
(563) 333-6253

The main campus is located in central Davenport, which is part of the Quad Cities, on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River. Ambrose Hall can be found on Locust Street, in a nice green courtyard, shared with McMullan Hall, which sits directly across from it.