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| The supposed haunted Sigma Phi Epsilon sits at 327 South Milledge Avenue in Athens, Ga., on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012. (Photo/ C. B. Schmelter, cody.schmelter@gmail.com) |
Of all the things usually found in a frat house, a ghost isn’t one of them.
For the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, bumps in the night are all too frequent. Members claim that their house on 327 S. Milledge Avenue is haunted.
“I lived in room No. 2 my entire sophomore year and there were many, many kinds of weird things that would happen throughout the year, whether it was flickering lights or seeing things that weren’t where we left them,” said Jeff Ostenson, a recent marketing graduate from Stone Mountain.
Sigma Phi Epsilon's haunted story begins with a family who lived in the house prior to the fraternity. The father — who was in some variations a priest and in others a chemistry professor from the University named H.G. White — was fired from his job.
In a fit of madness, he drowned his young daughter, Tabitha, in the upstairs bathroom. According to rumor, he either hung himself in the attic or disappeared altogether, never to be seen again.
“Ever since then the house has been haunted by Tabitha,” said Jim Martin, a fifth-year psychology major from Alpharetta.
Several fraternity brothers have come forward with unexplained occurrences — a ball bouncing, footsteps in the attic and the echo of a girl’s laughter — all of which were supposedly done at the mischievous hands of Tabitha.
