by Veronica Cisneros

Outside, the sky is the darkest shade of midnight blue and the moon hangs high above the trees, full and shining bright. The birds are resting and not a soul roams the sidewalks to any destination. Inside, a now empty library is silent and still. The books collect dust and await their next reader. Just a few hours earlier, both were full of life and sounds, but they now are somewhat empty and an eerie chill sits in the air.

Spooky, huh?

Inside, the silence is broken; are those footsteps? Surely there is no one else in there, and the door is locked. Those are footsteps, and now a young girl dressed in a miniskirt with hair down to her waist and a book bag on her back is in sight. She walks through a wall and is now nowhere to be found.

This was one of the encounters with the spirits that haunt Nicholls State University, according to Cally Chauvin, Bayou Spirits paranormal educational instructor. A janitor in the Polk Education librarian’s office witnessed this apparition’s appearance and disappearance.

Bayou Spirits is a team of professional paranormal investigators who “want to get back to the basics of ghost hunting.” They offer a paranormal investigation course during the summer at Nicholls.

“Bayou Spirits was formed to help people experiencing paranormal activity in their homes and to try and prove that the paranormal does exist,” Chauvin, who is also founder of Bayou Spirits, said. “We are a family-based organization with over 15 years of experience in the paranormal field.”

Bayou Spirits investigates at Nicholls every semester, Chauvin said, and the Bollinger Memorial Student Union and Polk Hall are just two of the active sites they have been investigating.

“In the Student Union there are believed to be several entities,” Chauvin said. “A little girl dressed in a ‘Little House on the Prairie’ dress with blond curly hair and a bonnet, a Confederate soldier and a janitor who used to work in the Student Union who died.”

She said one of the team members witnessed seeing the Confederate
soldier. Chauvin, along with two janitors, witnessed a doorknob trying to be opened in the Polk Education Library while no one was there except them. Chauvin also heard footsteps.

Staff members who work in the Student Union have also reported seeing a man in a red shirt early in the morning racing through the back storage area and disappearing. Several workers in the Greek Hall offices reported strange noises and papers being moved and out of order, Chauvin said.

“I had heard stories about ghosts in the Student Union,” Chauvin said. “I put out an e-mail to all NSU personnel about anyone experiencing any paranormal activity at Nicholls. To my surprise, I received multiple messages from staff that had experienced something strange and unexplainable.”

Chauvin then personally interviewed all of the witnesses and documented their stories. Upon completing her preliminary investigation, she decided Nicholls would be an excellent place to hold a paranormal class.

“It has been a great success. Each time we go, we find new evidence of paranormal activity,” she said. “We even have film from a student who videoed the presence in the Polk Education Library.”

The 5-second film is interesting. A video camera was placed on the library counter with only hopes of catching some evidence. The scene shows a few students present in the background walking around, minding their business. Two seconds into the video, a transparent, shadowy image walks through, right in front of the camera, from left to right.

Seeing this video can only make one wonder. “This was my group, so I watched carefully,” Chauvin said. “No one walked in back of the camera or in front of it. If it were the camera strap then it would be completely black and you would not be able to see anyone in the background. This is where [the janitor] saw the apparition.”

In addition to the film, the team of ghost hunters has obtained many electronic voice phenomena from the spirits at Nicholls. Chauvin said this might indicate that the spirits are trying to get someone’s attention.
But, she said, they do not particularly follow certain people. The spirits are just attracted to people who are “open.”

“Some people have felt something brush their hair,” she said. “A young girl laughs and hums [in the Student Union]. When you get an EVP and you hear a gasping voice answering a question that you asked, you can feel the chills running up and down your arms,” Chauvin said.

According to Chauvin, people have energy, and some people leave their energy behind.

“Some spirits are intelligent; they try to communicate with us,” she said. “For some reason, they want you to know they are there. To what purpose, that’s what we try to find out.”

The ghost hunters have not actually encountered a ghost during their investigations at Nicholls as of yet. This, Chauvin said, is like the “Holy Grail” for paranormal investigators. They have collected the EVPs, however.

Talbot Hall is the next building that will be investigated, according to Chauvin. She has heard it is very active; University staff members get many calls regarding paranormal activity in that building. PoV