Written by: Yari
Date: 11/2/2025
So you missed these year’s Spooky facts, no biggie. Here’s a list of 16 spooky facts about Columbia University
Ivy League ghosts, I guess.
So, you’re in Columbia, and there’s a ghost. Who You Gonna Call?
- Ghostbusters (1984) filmed scenes on campus. The Low Library and Havemeyer Hall doubled as the “Department of Parapsychology” before the ghost hunting professors went rogue in the film.
The Ghost in Philosophy Hall
- On May 22, 1936, Professor John D. Prince felt a mysterious pat described as a “Smart pat on his kidneys” on his back while walking the dim corridors of Philosophy Hall, only to learn moments later that his colleague, Professor Richard Gottheil, had died at home. For reference the pat was a greeting his next door neighbor Gottheil often used. The story remains one of Columbia’s oldest campus hauntings.
The Paranormal Professor
- James H. Hyslop, a Columbia philosopher newly turned psychic researcher, claimed to have proven life after death and famously called skeptics “moral cowards.” Imagine a wizard looking guy calling your tarot lady, that she “Isn’t all that”. You’ll get a nice chuckle.
Columbia, where heroes share the sky.
Spider-Man & the Green Goblin
- In Spider-Man (2002 & not Tom Holland) Peter Parker, a Columbia student, fought the Green Goblin on campus. The scene was filmed outside Low Library.
Doctor Strange: The Dark Arts Alumnus
- Before mastering the multiverse, Dr. Stephen Strange earned his M.D. at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Proving that even the Sorcerer Supreme has a university degree.
Professor X:
- Charles (aka founder of the X-men) earned an advanced degree from Columbia University, proving that mutants excel in education. He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia.
Cuteness aggression and tiny bit of teeth.
Vampires in the halls, vampires in the classrooms.
- Columbia offered a vampire studies course, taught by Professor Gil Anidjar. Undergrad students explored immortality, fear, and faith through Freud, the Gospel of St. Matthew, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Columbia’s very own Vampire Band
- Indie icons, Vampire Weekend was formed in Columbia in 2006. Although they don’t drink any human blood, their Columbia soaked lyrics keep the campus immortalized in song likes “Harmony Hall”, “Campus” and “Hudson”.
Climbing walls, but in different ways.
Amelia Earhart’s Midnight Climb
- Before becoming the world’s most missing mysterious aviator, Earhart studied at Columbia in 1918 where she was known to climb campus buildings at night to gaze over Manhattan’s skyline earning whispers of the Flying Ghost of Morningside Heights.
The Asylum Beneath Your Floors.
- Before Columbia moved uptown, Morningside Heights was home to the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (1821-1889). The surviving Macy Villa became Buell Hall, now home to La Maison Française.
Wars, Experiments and the college experience
Hidden History of Experiments & War
- During WWII, Columbia hosted a Navy Officer Training Program and became part of the early research effort that led to the Manhattan Project, turning Schermerhorn and Pupin Halls into quiet catalysts of world changing science.
The Manhattan Project’s Shadow
- In the 1940s, physicists in Pupin Hall pioneered uranium enrichment, laying foundations for the atomic bomb. Rumors since followed of students reporting after hours “glow” from the lab windows wasn’t just the lights.
Cold War Bunkers & Shelters
- Archival maps confirm that several Columbia basements, especially beneath Low Library and Schermerhorn Hall were designated civil defense fallout shelters during the Cold War. Some signs and storage drums still survive behind sealed doors.
Pumpkins & Books
Columbia’s Rare Holdings
- Columbia’s RBML houses some sick artifacts including:
- Original manuscripts from Shakespearean scholars and Founding Fathers.
- Medical texts from the 18th-19th centuries.
- Personal papers of Langston Hughes, Upton Sinclair, and Federico García Lorca.
Columbia Jack O’ Lanterns
- Every Halloween, Facilities crafts a massive, Lion themed pumpkin for display in Faculty House a glowing Columbia blue tribute to autumn spirit.
Final spooky fact of the season:
The Catcher in the Rye & Columbia University
Before it became one of America’s most banned and influential novels, The Catcher in the Rye was indirectly shaped at Columbia University.
In 1939, J.D. Salinger studied creative writing at Columbia University under Whit Burnett, editor of Storymagazine. Under his mentorship, Salinger published “The Young Folks” in 1940 and later wrote “Slight Rebellion off Madison,” the first story featuring Holden Caulfield.
Which was written in 1941 but published in 1946 after wartime delays, since then it became the foundation forThe Catcher in the Rye in 1951, a novel that redefined post war alienation and American teen angst. I have a serialized version of book. I have a serialized version that I gifted my aunt
The Yariverse 