“Lewis & Clark College has been called one of the most haunted places in Portland, Oregon. One of the places that are supposed to be haunted is the courtyard at the center of campus called the Estate Gardens. If you find your way to the center of the campus, around 1:00 a.m., there is a big courtyard area with rose gardens that is supposedly haunted.  You are supposed to feel someone or something there with you. On many occasions you can hear screaming and yelling as if a mob is chasing someone through the old campus. Sometimes you will see multiple ghosts come running through the courtyard, one being chased by a group of 10-15.

Also there is another part of campus that is also haunted. There is an old nunnery on the opposite side of campus that burnt down one night. The fire did not burn down the entire property, however the fire did kill most of the nuns and the cooks that were living in the house. It has now been reconstructed and it is used as an administrative building and houses conferences. Nobody lives there any more. It is said that if you go up to the house at around 3:00 a.m., the time of the devil, you can hear people screaming from inside the house. Also, if you are in the interior of the house, you can hear people walking upstairs, and doors will randomly be opened and closed throughout the house. Many of the campus security guards claim that they personally have experienced interactions with the ghosts in some way and those people who have houses near the old Nunnery say that they have seen strange apparitions outside there windows at night.”

The first time that I hear this story was the summer after I had just graduated from high school. My friends and I were all hanging out one night with nothing to do. My friend brought up the fact that he learned some thing interesting at work. One of his co-workers told him that Lewis and Clark College is supposedly one of the most haunted places in Portland. His co-worker had instructed him on where to go at what time on campus as to insure that he would experience paranormal activity. So we all decided to head out there to see if it was true. We did not experience anything in the courtyard, however the atmosphere heightened our sense that there could be a ghost out there somewhere. Upon our return to our cars after being unsuccessful in seeing a ghost, we ran into a campus security guard who led us to another part of campus that is supposedly more haunted. It was the old Nunnery that had burnt down. The guard asked us if we wanted a tour and told us that she had personally experienced all kinds of strange things happening. After giving us the tour, we went to leave and all the doors that we had previously opened we now closed and the lights that we had turned on were off. It was really spooky. In hindsight, we were such large group that we were probably too loud to hear anything like footsteps upstairs, but I would like to go back and experience it again maybe with a smaller group.