Tales of the spooky, supernatural, and unexplained
Haunted Homes on Buffalo Street
These stories have been passed through generations of Prince Edward residents and students alike, but just like a game of telephone it is easy for these stories to become distorted. While they are exciting and more relatable as they occur in familiar locations, eye-witness testimony can be even more enthralling.
501 Buffalo Street
Andrea Macleay, a student at Longwood University, shared several of her encounters with spirits that she has had in multiple houses in her time at the university. Macleay’s first tale is about 501 Buffalo Street. Buffalo Street is lined with historical homes and is almost entirely populated by students of Longwood. Perhaps the original families of these homes are unhappy with the new residents.
Macleay said that when she moved into 501 Buffalo Street, she began having vivid nightmares. She said, “People who lived here before me would tell me paranormal stuff about the house,” but she always brushed it off as a joke.
Last year, Macleay was lying in her bed one evening asleep as usual when she awoke at 3:34 a.m. experiencing sleep paralysis in which the mind is awake but the body is not. She could not move, but when she surveyed her room, she was met with a very tall shadow in the corner of her room. Deciding it was her mind getting the better of her, she closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep. These efforts were fruitless as she then felt someone (or something) grab her by the ankles and begin pulling her from her bed. When she opened her eyes, she saw herself being pulled out of the bed, felt the cold wood on her back as she was pulled to the floor. The only thing she could think to do was try and wake up her body so she closed her eyes and tried shaking her foot to wake herself up as it was the only thing she could move. Macleay woke up in her bed. The room was empty. The dark figure was gone, but she never could quite decide if the cause was sleep paralysis or something supernatural.
Macleay became a bit more convinced of the supernatural nature of the house a few months later when she had another experience like the first. She again woke up at 3:34 a.m. on the dot. She again could not move but she was conscious. She tried shaking her foot, but her efforts were unsuccessful this time. While fighting the paralysis with eyes closed, Macleay felt what seemed like someone raking their fingers through her hair. She can also hear the large sliding doors to her bedroom being jostled as if someone were trying to break through the lock. Shaken and fearful, Macleay continued trying to wake herself up, and when she was finally successful, she sat up to find both her bedroom doors and the front door to the house wide open, both of which were locked. Macleay is uncertain what or who resides in 501 Buffalo Street, but she is not eager to make their acquaintance again.
407 Buffalo Street
Macleay shares another story from the house she lived in her junior year at Longwood, 407 Buffalo Street Apartment B. Macleay did not spend much time there, but the times she did were unsettling. One evening she was home alone and heard the door open. She figured it was her roommates returning for the night, but she didn’t hear anything after that. She figured it may have been a case of someone mistaking her apartment for the one next door and went about her business. She retired to her bedroom later that evening, and she heard the door open once again, but this time she heard it slam shut.
She ventured out into the common area to find the source of the noise, and as she approached the front door, the back door swung open. She was confused and thought her roommates might be playing a prank on her, but she was scared nonetheless and left to spend the night with a friend. When she returned the next morning, every single door into the apartment and all her bedroom windows were open. Just like the occurrences in 501 Buffalo Street, Macleay could not find any explanation for these events.
506 Buffalo Street
Continuing the trend of hauntings on Buffalo Street, Austin Eshmont, a senior at Longwood University, shared their story of the paranormal in 506 Buffalo Street. They said there were several times where unexplainable things would happen like lights flickering, footsteps, and things being moved. Eshmont and Emily Mortier, a resident of 506 Buffalo Street, concluded that the occurrences were something supernatural. They didn’t feel threatened by the presence, so they decided to try to communicate with it. The two brought a Ouija board into the home, and successfully made contact with a spirit. The spirit they spoke with claimed to be a man in his late fifties who did not want Eshmont to end the conversation. When they tried to close the board and say goodbye the spirit urged them to continue.
After this contact, things started being moved more aggressively. Not knowing where to turn, Eshmont and Mortier contacted a friend who is a self-proclaimed witch. This friend came to 506 Buffalo Street with salt, candles, and other supplies to perform a ritual she believed would help the spirit move on. She created a symbol with the salt for protection and explained the significance of each candle to Eshmont and Mortier as she moved through the ritual. It has been over a year since the ritual was performed, and Eshmont and Mortier claim that although the activity has decreased, the presence remains.
