Annie the ghost of UWSP - Marathon Campus

Wausau, WI

Did you know the UWSP - Marathon Campus has it’s own ghost?

During the 1970’s a female custodian by the name of Annie worked for the university. She was known for her habit of starting out her workday with a trip to the cafeteria for a morning cup of coffee and some friendly conversation. She was frequently joined in her quest for coffee by other members of the custodial staff, and while chatting before work Annie would occasionally slip into a distinctive laugh. Her colleagues described her laugh as sounding like a chicken cackling. Sadly, Annie died of cancer of the throat but, according to some, she never left campus.

Soon after her death several people reported hearing Annie’s distinctive laugh in the building. Multiple witnesses heard the sound of a woman’s laugh in the cafeteria. On more than one occasion two or more people were present and all recognized Annie’s unique laughter.

The library director at the time said she "distinctly" heard a" woman's laugh" while in the cafeteria. When she turned to the custodian with her and asked if he had heard the laugh as well. He answered," yes".

Annie’s presence wasn’t confined only to ghostly laughter. Custodians on the late shift reported hearing footsteps in the hallway above the maintenance office and break room. When they left to investigate no one was found. A custodian at the time related the following, "We would hear footsteps coming from the hallway above the break room and a couple of us would run up different staircases to try and trap whoever it was between us, but when we reached to top of the stairs there would be no one there. This happened quite a lot."

Another custodian described the following, "Sometimes when I am in the break room at night I hear the sound of, what sounds like, a wooden chair being dragged across the tile floor above, but when I go up to check it out there is nobody there." As in the previous case more than one person has heard this phantom chair dragger.

Does Annie still haunt the halls of UWSP - Marathon Campus? Who is to say, but I, for one, like to think she does.

Photos courtesy of Todd Roll

THE HALLWAY WHERE THE LAUGHTER OF ANNIE HAS BEEN HEARD

See 2006 Case File

*Any use or reproduction of this documentation is prohibited without the sole permission of the WPRS and Todd Roll.