Campus Haunted by a Music Professor Who Never Left
5000 Saint Paul Ave, Lincoln, NE 68504
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Campus is publicly accessible. No admission fee for self-guided exploration of campus grounds.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved campus paths
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Photos OK
Est. 1887 · Methodist Heritage · Liberal Arts Education · Nebraska History
Nebraska Wesleyan University was established in 1887 by the United Methodist Church as a liberal arts college. By the early twentieth century, it had developed into a regionally respected institution with a strong arts curriculum, including a music department housed in the C.C. White Memorial Building.
Clara Urania Mills joined the university's music faculty after earning a bachelor of music degree from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. She taught piano, music theory, and music history for 28 years — a career defined by institutional loyalty and pedagogical dedication. On April 12, 1940, she was found slumped over her desk. She had died of a heart attack so suddenly that she had not removed her coat. Her office in the C.C. White Building was on the building's ground floor in the southwest corner room.
The first documented paranormal report connected to Clara Mills occurred on October 3, 1963. Coleen Buterbaugh, secretary to Dean Sam Dahl, entered the C.C. White Building on an errand and stepped into what had been the southwest corner music room. The ambient sound dropped entirely. A strong smell of stale air permeated the space. She observed a tall woman with dark hair in a bun at the far side of the room, reaching toward the upper shelves. When she reported the experience to Dean Dahl, he confirmed the corner room had been Clara Mills' office, and Buterbaugh's description of the woman matched available photographs of Mills.
The C.C. White Building has since been demolished. Nebraska Wesleyan University acknowledged the legend publicly through its own news center, and in a subsequent year invited paranormal investigator Chris Moon to campus for a 'Ghost Hunting 101' event and interactive investigation.
Sources
The 1963 report by Coleen Buterbaugh remains the most fully documented paranormal account connected to Nebraska Wesleyan. Buterbaugh described the encounter in consistent detail across multiple conversations: the sudden silence, the stale air, the figure reaching toward the high shelves. Her description matched Mills' physical appearance. The encounter lasted only a moment before the figure was gone.
In the years following, students reported hearing piano music in university buildings at odd hours — music that stopped precisely when someone approached and opened the door to the room from which it seemed to originate. The pattern repeated often enough that it became a campus tradition to attribute the music to Clara Mills, still practicing. The C.C. White Building, where the original encounter occurred, was demolished, but the reports continued in other music department spaces.
Nebraska Wesleyan has handled its ghost with notable institutional openness. The university's news center published an account of the Mills legend titled 'Ghost Story: The Ghost of Clara Mills,' and later published a follow-up when a paranormal expert visited campus to conduct an investigation. The Nebraska State Historical Society has also documented the story in its blog. The Daily Nebraskan covered the legend in its culture section.
No physical harm or disturbance is associated with the reports. The accounts describe a presence that is curious rather than threatening — a figure at her shelves, music from empty rooms.
Notable Entities
The Nebraska Wesleyan University campus in Lincoln is publicly walkable during daylight hours. The C.C. White Building, where music professor Clara Mills died in 1940 and where the first documented apparition occurred in 1963, has since been demolished. Current campus buildings reportedly still experience manifestations attributed to Mills, particularly in the music department areas.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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