Iowa City Iowa

Currier Hall

Residents have the extra perk of having spectral female councilors…

They also have a stern spectral parent with high behavioral standards.

DESCRIPTION

currier-hall-paranormal Currier Hall is a huge, stunning, coed complex of resident rooms for 637 students, made of brick, with a classy decor, brick garnishes and style, suggesting that it was built earlier during the University’s history, in 1914 for women students. The windows on the very top floor have a 1914 look, seen on other buildings of this era.

The original 1914 rooms are in the southeast corner of the Currier Hall building.During the years, the building was remodeled and renovated to meet the student’s needs. Newer additions offered more updated features

This beautiful resident hall has perks from the past as well as modern conveniences. There is a formal, main lounge with a baby grand piano, a fitness center, study areas, computer lab, ResNet computing connections, and enough space to sponsor The Performing Arts Learning Community and the Leadership Community in Business and Entrepreneurship.

HISTORY

By 1913, there were quite a few young women were enrolled in the University of Iowa, who needed a residence hall for them; at a cost of 150,000 dollars; quite a chunk of change in 1913. Currier Hall was built and was opened for the 1914 Fall semester.

According to a 1918 pamphlet about Currier, “Rooms are lighted by electricity and, with the exception of those on the top floor, are supplied with hot and cold running water.”

“It was named after Amos Noyes Currier and his wife, Celia Moore Currier. Amos served the university as professor, librarian, liberal arts dean, and interim president during his Iowa tenure in the second half of the 19th century. Celia taught mathematics and Latin. When it opened, Currier Hall provided housing to about 150 women. Today, it houses 618 students.”

As the years went by, this residence hall grew by the additions made; “offering new rooms, and updated to meet the students academic needs, to be a great place for students to live and study.” The original building was just the southeast portion of the current facility. Sections were added to the dormitory in 1927, 1939, and 1949. In 1965, a 10-story addition was planned to the west—a project that became Stanley Hall.“

Conveniences and perks were added to make staying in the resident hall more comfortable and convenient; especially when rules were changed to let students live off or in alternative housing.

In the 1970s, some resident halls became co-ed, giving students more flexibility on where they could live on campus.
At some point, getting around this huge university became much easier when the bus system was introduced; that ran by the dorms every ten minutes.

In 2014, Currier Hall celebrated its 100 year of being a residence in a grand style. The Currier Hall Centennial Celebration took place from Sunday, Nov. 9, through Thursday, Nov. 13. “A variety of events were held nightly, including a fireside chat featuring family members of Amos and Celia Currier, historians, artists, and former staff and residents sharing their Currier Hall memories. The public and UI students, staff, and faculty were invited to participate in all the events, which were free.

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS

Romantic entanglements that end badly due to lies and betrayals can lead to strong feelings and sometimes rash actions that are regretted after the fact.

East Wind Inn, ME (A woman very much in love with a man got a shock when he killed her because he loved another).

Biltmore Hotel, FL (A husband caught his wife in bed with another man and killed them both and then himself).

Plains Hotel, WY (A bride caught her husband in bed with a prostitute on their wedding night, shot both of them and then herself).

Currier Hall, IA (The legend says: Sometime in Currier Hall’s past, three young women who shared the same room up in the attic, all unknowingly fell in love with the same young man, called William who had led them along saying that he deeply loved each of them; hoping to get some action from one or all of the women.

They invited their boyfriends to meet the other friends on the steps of the dorm. while it was a deserved nightmare for self-absorbed William, it was an emotional melt-down when the three close friends realized that William was a skunk. He ran away like a coward. The three friends were heart-broken, and in great despair. They did a rash move, and all killed themselves).

Parents who have suffered the loss of children may suffer guilt and try to find ways to give themselves peace.

Levy House, OR (A tragic accident resulted in two restless spirits; an active youngster and a guilt-ridden male).

Deerfield village, MASS (A murdered woman still seeks her baby and child, perhaps wishing that she had taken them with her. She doesn’t know where they are now).

Shanley Hotel, NY (A barber for the Shanley Hotel feels guilty that his daughter fell down a well and drowned, so he keeps her company there).

Currier Hall, IA (As a spirit, a father whose daughter stayed Currier Hall may be trying to make up for his perceived failure by watching after other young women to try to find some peace).

MANIFESTATIONS

Three Female Spirits and a spirit of a parental unit make themselves known and give themselves duties. While their attic room was closed down and used for storage, these three spirit women have moved onto the top floor and have chosen new rooms to reside in this resident hall. The male spirit has.

Activity On the Upper Floor

Other residents on the upper floor have reported their closet doors opening and closing on their own.

There have been reports of lights flickering,

Dressers and desk drawers have been known to slam shut.

Unexplained cold spots in chairs, beds and the hallway have been felt.

‘When a college student was hired to clean a room on the top floor, the desk drawer slammed shut by itself just after he had wiped it out.

Experiences of a Summer Student

A summer school student would hear women talking in the hallway. Yet, when she would look to see who it was, no one alive would be there.

Items in her room would be moved, even though she hadn’t moved them and her roommate hadn’t been there.

Her door could lock by itself. One incident of this was when her roommate and herself went together down the hallway to get some food from the vending machines. They had left their keys in their room.

Boy, were they surprised to find that the door to their room was locked when they came back. They knocked but no one living answered.

Fourth Floor Activity

In a KWWL interview with student Miranda Ray, she told this personal experience she had on the fourth floor.

“One day, I was walking past the vacant room on the fourth floor where the roommates supposedly killed themselves.

There was a binder on the ground and I wondered why it was there, so I tried to pick it up. Suddenly, whoosh.

It got sucked back up under the door.”

Spectral Counseling

When room mates are fighting and not getting along, these three entities are said to appear and make a room call, offering counseling to promote friendship and harmony.

When three shadows appear to offer advise and suggestions on how to live together, I bet the squabble stops quickly.

This may be a story started to encourage roommates to get along. Or, it very well may be true!

On Patrol

E-300s part of this building, residents report seeing an apparition of a stern, concerned man; a father of a former resident who hangs around, watching residents intensely.

Something happened involving his daughter here that upset him greatly. He blames himself for not be more observant.

He could be the father of one of the young women who killed herself here.

Perhaps his daughter met and married a male student, or perhaps she dropped out of school.

PARANORMAL FINDINGS

Students and staff have had indirect and direct experiences with these kind, benign female spirits and have been creeped out as well by the overly concerned spirit of a father for many years.

I couldn’t find hard evidence from any paranormal investigation that has been shared on line.

STILL HAUNTED?

Probably so!

It seems to be the home of these four spirits, as reported by the sources listed below.

The three female spirits must regret their emotional over-the-top reaction, and are trying to find a meaningful purpose to their continued stay in Currier Hall. I bet that everyone does their best to get along and avoid the ghostly advice session.

The entity of the overly concerned, male parental unit is still looking for his daughter, who is long gone. He wants to find some peace from the restlessness he has from his big mistake of not watching his own daughter more closely. He is determined to be a vigilant watch dog over the living young women who reside in Currier Hall to make upper what he thinks is his laxity in being a responsible father.

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LOCATION

Iowa City is on the Iowa River near the intersection of U.S. Interstate Highways 80 and 380.
This University of Iowa residence hall is located on the East Campus, near the corner of Clinton Street and Fairchild Street.
Currier Hall is next to Burge and Stanley Halls, three blocks north of the Pentacrest.