Studying in Zimmerman Library might not seem scary, but the ghost that haunts the basement may make students' hair rise.
For those who really want a scare, consider wandering around the labyrinth of underground tunnels that run for miles on campus.
It's all part of what UNM employees Earl Browning and Tom Carrillo get paid to do.
Browning, a master plumber for UNM, has worked in the tunnels for more than 20 years. Carrillo, who has maintained heating and ventilation at Zimmerman Library for 14 years, said he has witnessed some eerie things.
From rumors of the ghost of a decapitated football player in Mesa Vista Hall to the ghost of a former librarian haunting the Zimmerman Library basement, Browning and Carrillo have heard it all. But what may be scarier are the things both men have experienced.
Carrillo said he has seen an unexplained shadow more than five times and has seen the ghost of a former librarian.
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While working at Mesa Vista Hall, Browning said the hair on his neck stood up for no apparent reason. He said he has seen an eerie shadow in the basement of Zimmerman Library and has had his only light source burn out without warning.
Mesa Vista was built in 1948 and was once a dormitory. Browning said it seems to be the center of strange activity.
Legend says when Mesa Vista Hall was a dormitory in the '50s or '60s, a UNM football player was decapitated when he looked up into the elevator shaft to check where the elevator was, Browning said.
Although he's never seen the player's ghost, he said he has had plenty of strange feelings while working there.
"I'll be going down the corridor late at night or in the basement early in the morning, and all of a sudden, the hair on the back of my neck will stand up," he said. "I'd just get this weird feeling for no reason at all, a feeling like someone was watching me."
On the other hand, Carrillo, who works mainly in the basement of Zimmerman Library, has seen the ghost of the librarian. He said he tried to chase after her, but couldn't catch up to her.
"There's three different things here," Carrillo said. "There's cigarette smoke, keys jingling, and there's an old lady who was a librarian here. I'm not the only one who has seen her."
He hasn't seen anything for a while, because he said the spirits tend to be more active during the holidays.
In an effort to confirm the things Browning and Carrillo have seen, Molly McCoy Brack, director of the AGORA Crisis Center, brought members of the Southwest Ghost Hunter Association to look for evidence at Zimmerman on Wednesday.
Bob Carter, research director for the ghost hunters, met McCoy Brack last year when the two groups collaborated for an AGORA fund-raiser.
He said before Wednesday, his organization had not done any research at UNM.
"I got a couple of suspect pictures," he said. "They might be orbs, or they might be dust," he said. "I have to analyze them first. We thought we had a strange noise going on, but we were able to explain it as being a steam valve inside one of the pipes. Other than that, we didn't get much of anything except some cool stories."
This weekend, the Southwest Ghost Hunters Association and AGORA will join forces to put on Night of the Dead 2004, a ghost tour of Old Town.
