THE PHANTOM BROTHER

     The Beta House stands at the intersection of Park and Dubuque Streets tucked against the base of the river bluff near the Iowa River. About twenty-eight years ago, the fraternity held a mixer in honor of Homecoming. The house was full and many former fraternity members returned to the house bringing their wives, and among the older members, their sons whom they hoped would also join the fraternity. Along towards evening, a number of the guests noticed a young man standing alone at one end of the bar, an untouched cup of beer before him. He was casually attired, strangely quiet and seemed to watch the party with yearning and pain.

     During the following days, none of the resident brothers could actually remember seeing him enter or leave the house. A few insisted he was wearing a name-tag, but none could read his name. Likewise, no one was seen to approach him to talk to him, either. While some dismissed the man as a misty-eyed nostaligic, four of the brothers grew frustrated trying to identify the man since it was their job to send thank-you cards to all former members who attended.

     For the next couple of days, these brothers poured over old photo albums trying to find the face belonging to the sad and mysterious man. Several guests to the party were contacted and gave descriptions of what they had seen. All their efforts failed and the brothers were unable to identify the man until the annual Christmas Party when several of the Homecoming guests returned to the house. They were asked to likewise examine two of the photo albums and to try and find the mysterious man.

     In no time at all, each visitor pointed to a handsome, jocular figure hoisting a beer stein in a group photo and said for certain it was man they saw. A crude hand-drawn asterix appeared next to his name. Puzzled further by this mark, the four brothers searched the appropriate records for that year and made a discovery too strange to be believed...

     A few years before, in the late '60's, the young man returned to the house from a small town graveyard where his fiancé had been laid to rest. Despondent and inconsolable by other fraternity brothers, he locked himself in his room at the house-#24-and snuffed-out his life with a shotgun blast.