1. TEXT TRANSCRIPTION
“So at the Catalina retreat, I got the chance to meet with one of my professors while I was there. And during our conversation, he brought up something kind of spooky, he said that Doheny is haunted. Apparently, there’s this whole story behind it. He told me that the original founders of Doheny, the husband and wife, both died under somewhat mysterious or unclear circumstances. And ever since then, there have been rumors that their ghosts still linger around the campus. He said people have reported strange occurrences, like unexplained noises, shadows, or that eerie feeling like someone’s watching you. It was just a casual story he shared, but it definitely gave off some haunted mansion vibes. I’m not sure how much of it is just legend or if people have actually experienced things, but it was still super interesting and kind of creepy to hear while being away at the retreat.”
2. CONTEXT
“The story was told to me by one of my professors during a school-sponsored retreat on Catalina Island. The setting was casual and conversational, we weren’t in a classroom, which made the story feel more intimate and less academic. The professor shared the haunted Doheny story in a lighthearted, somewhat joking way, but he didn’t deny its possibility either. This made me feel like it was something known within the university community, possibly passed down among faculty or students over the years.
As someone relatively new to the school, I hadn’t heard the story before, so it sparked my curiosity, not just about the haunting itself but also about the history of the Doheny building and its founders. While I took it with a grain of salt, the idea that our campus could have ghost stories gave it a sense of mystery and history I hadn’t thought about before.”
3. INTERPRETATION
Although the text may seem like just a spooky anecdote, it reveals several cultural and personal values. Culturally, it reflects the common human tendency to mythologize historic spaces, especially when the lives (or deaths) of those involved are unclear or mysterious. The haunting becomes a symbolic way to express unresolved history. In this case, the ghosts of the Doheny founders represent more than just fear, they symbolize the past still lingering within the present, a connection between generations at the university.
The story also speaks to the role of oral tradition in academic spaces. Even in an environment focused on logic and evidence, folklore finds a place, passed informally between faculty and students. This reflects a cultural value of storytelling as a means of building identity and community within institutions. Hearing this at a retreat, away from the usual routines of school, also made the experience feel more liminal, a space where the boundary between fact and legend feels blurred.
On a personal level, the story made me feel more connected to the school. Whether or not it’s true, it gave me a new perspective on the campus and how spaces can carry emotional and symbolic meaning. It reminded me that universities aren’t just about academics, they’re also about shared stories, mysteries, and the ways people relate to the spaces they move through every day.