Iowa City Woman Reports Haunted Microwave

Linn: A friend and former co-worker of mine, Sally Woolson, reported to me recently that some two years ago she had had a brush with the paranormal. I report this now because the residence hall in which she lived at the time, Mayflower, on the University of Iowa campus, may be suffering from ghostly disturbances even now.

The incidents began in the fall of 1995, during Woolson's sophomore year, which was also her first in Mayflower. She claims that neither she nor her roommate, Alicia, felt anything was strange about the room when they first moved in. In fact, it wasn't until the middle of September that the disturbances began.

Woolson had received a microwave oven from a relative and decided to try it out one late summer night. When plugged in, the Black Magic Chef brand microwave oven only read "6". Woolson pushed a variety of other buttons, but only sixes would appear, and then no more than three of them at once: 666---the Number of the Beast. Other than the display, though, the microwave oven functioned properly, although Woolson and her roommate were understandably loathe to use it.

Finally she called the Black Magic Chef Microwave company in Alabama, and explained her situation. She received no help from the company, however. Instead, a sarcastic voice told her, "Honey, you've got more problems than just a broken microwave display."

Woolson's microwave wasn't the only sign of haunting in Mayflower hall, though. She also reports lights turning off and on without warning, objects mysteriously falling off shelves, and the sound of slow footsteps crossing the apartment without anyone there to cause them. She adds that these occurrences never happened in rapid succession, and that she and Alicia noted the happenings with curiosity rather than fear. After all, they never felt that they were in any immediate danger.

In the spring of 1996, the two young women packed up their belongings and left Mayflower Hall, never to return again. And although Sally Woolson admits that having a haunted dorm was an exciting experience, she is glad that her microwave oven functions properly, now that it is away from whatever force exists in Mayflower Hall.