Italianate College Hall and the Ghost in the Belfry
391 W Washington St, Painesville, OH 44077
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Campus is generally accessible to visitors. The annual Ghost Tour is free for students and open to the public; check the college's student life office for availability.
Access
Limited Access
Mix of paved paths and older interior stairs; historic College Hall has multi-floor access via stairways
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1859 · Women's Education · National Register of Historic Places · Western Reserve History
The institution now known as Lake Erie College began as the Willoughby Female Seminary, founded in 1845 with the stated mission of providing 'a thorough and complete female education.' It was the Western Reserve's only women's college at the time, and enrollment reached 211 students before a fire destroyed the building in 1854.
Aaron Wilcox and five business partners relocated the seminary to Painesville, Ohio, in 1856. The school reopened in 1859 as Lake Erie Female Seminary, with classes held in what is now called College Hall. That building, an Italianate structure, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 20, 1973.
The institution gradually expanded its academic scope. In 1898, the curriculum was modified to qualify students for college degrees rather than seminary diplomas, prompting the name change to Lake Erie Seminary and College. Ohio granted a formal charter as Lake Erie College in 1908. The college remained women-only until 1985, when a merger with Garfield Senior College made it co-educational.
College Hall's fourth floor was sealed sometime in the college's modern era. The building contains a belfry that sits above the upper floors; it is from this location that the Stephanie legend originates.
Sources
The Stephanie legend at Lake Erie College has been circulating among students for generations. The central account holds that Stephanie was a student during the college's early years as an all-women's seminary — the mid-to-late 1800s — who died by suicide in the fourth-floor belfry of College Hall. The fourth floor has since been sealed off from general access, though Stephanie is reported to appear on lower floors as well.
The most distinctive detail in the legend is the mirror: a cracked mirror in the Social Parlor of the adjacent Morley Music Building is said to serve as a passage. Students have reported seeing Stephanie step from the mirror dressed for an evening performance, presumably heading to the campus theater, and returning through the same mirror after curtain calls. This account appears consistently across multiple sources documenting the legend.
The college's own Office of Student Life formally incorporates the ghost story into campus life through an annual ghost tour, which includes College Hall, the Social Parlor mirror, and several other reported locations. The Fine Arts Building has independent accounts of a male figure appearing late at night in the theater's green room. Fowler Dormitory has reports of a former female student's apparition in mirrors.
The college also has a student-run Paranormal Research Society that collects and investigates the campus accounts. No independent documentary evidence was found to verify a historical student named Stephanie or the circumstances described in the legend; the account appears to be folklore that has accumulated around the building's sealed upper floors and belfry.
Notable Entities
College Hall, the 1859 Italianate building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, anchors the campus. The fourth floor — historically sealed — sits above the structure where the belfry is located. Visitors can walk the campus grounds and photograph the exterior.
An annual ghost tour hosted by the college's Office of Student Life, most commonly offered in October. Stops include the sealed fourth floor and belfry of College Hall (the Stephanie legend), the Social Parlor mirror in Morley Music Building, the Fine Arts Building green room, and Fowler Dormitory. The college presents the campus legends as tradition and folklore — not documented history. Tarot readings are typically offered as part of the event.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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