A Ghost Story
December 1977
Coeds in four-story Aquinas Hall, the largest women's dormitory at Rhode Island's Providence College, had stopped their late-night cramming for final exams to engage in a bit of holiday fun. Competing for a $100 prize for the most elaborately decorated dorm, students on the top floor of the 38-year-old building pasted gaily colored tissue paper and Christmas posters on the walls and hung crepe-paper streamers from the ceilings. One coed scrawled MERRY CHRISTMAS with spray snow on the windows; another adjusted a gooseneck desk lamp to shine on a cardboard nativity scene set up on three metal garbage cans in the corridor.
Shortly before 3 a.m., the festive decorations caught fire, turning the 120 ft.-long hallway into a tunnel of flames. Aroused by a shrill fire alarm, residents on the lower floors rushed down three stairways to safety. Some students on the fourth floor prudently stayed in their rooms, which were separated from the corridor by fire-resistant doors; they were plucked to safety by fire fighters on ladders. But others panicked, threw open their doors and plunged into the inferno in a desperate sprint for the stairs. Two oeds leaped to their deaths on the frozen ground 40 ft. below. Said one sobbing Providence student: "People were telling :hem not to jump. I guess they didn't hear." Fire fighters needed only 42 minutes to douse the blaze-but that was time enough for seven young women to die and 15 others to be injured. Five bodies were found huddled together in the corridor, less than 75 ft. from the nearest escape stairway.
Aquinas Hall had easily passed a city safety inspection last September. Further, investigators said there were no violations of the city's fire code, even though the dormitory is not equipped with sprinklers, outside fire escapes or smoke detectors in every room. Providence city regulations require all these to be installed in new buildings. But the rules exempt dormitories that were built before the code took effect last year.
The day after the fire, final exams were canceled, and students packed their bags to head for home. The Dominican priests who run the college made plans to attend the dead students' funerals and visit the families of those who were injured. Fire officials sifted the debris for clues to the cause of the blaze. The most likely suspect: the gooseneck lamp that had illuminated the cardboard crèche.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Matt: oo did you hear about aquinas last night
Sidereus7: ooo no
Sidereus7: what happened?
Matt: we had a fire ALARM, not a drill
Matt: around 1 in the morning
Sidereus7: yikes, that's wicked scary
Matt: so we're all chilling outside
Matt: my RA goes up to check on things, make sure everyone is out
Matt: the alarm went off on my floor, third floor
Sidereus7: your RA is insane
Matt: the firefighters got here, they found the box that caused it, it wasn't pulled
Sidereus7: you shouldnt go back into a potentially burning building
Matt: just follow me
Matt: that's the first sign
Sidereus7: ok ok, im with you
Matt: the alarm that caused it was not pulled
Matt: it went off on it's own
Sidereus7: well that makes you sleep well at night
Matt: it gets better
Matt: our RA was knocking on the floor on the girls side to make sure people got out
Matt: and at one of the doors near the end of the hall before it cuts back toward meagher
Matt: he knocked
Matt: and he had a witness who is our hall director
Matt: he knocked, got no response, started walking, and heard a large knock BACK from inside
Sidereus7: that's creepy
Sidereus7: what the hell was it?
Matt: o it gets even better
Matt: this room is directly under the area on 4th floor where the fire was
Sidereus7: well, you mean where the alarm was tripped, right?
Matt: no
Matt: THE fire
Sidereus7: oh, the fire that happened years ago?
Matt: mmhmm
Matt: and yesterday, it was the anniversary
Sidereus7: that's fucking creepy as hell
Sidereus7: holy shit
Sidereus7: hahaha
Matt: the alarm box where it was, it is right over the MEMORIAL on aquinas
Sidereus7: oh my god
Sidereus7: Wow
Matt: and i swear to god, i asked a couple people about this and they agreed with me
Sidereus7: ghosts man
Matt: when we were going down the stairs to leave
Matt: we all got hit with an odor that could be described as sulfur next to burning papers
Matt: and a few claimed that a split second haze appeared in front of their eyes
And that happened last night, the night of the anniversary of the huge fire that hit Aquinas. That is some really really really creepy shit.
Coeds in four-story Aquinas Hall, the largest women's dormitory at Rhode Island's Providence College, had stopped their late-night cramming for final exams to engage in a bit of holiday fun. Competing for a $100 prize for the most elaborately decorated dorm, students on the top floor of the 38-year-old building pasted gaily colored tissue paper and Christmas posters on the walls and hung crepe-paper streamers from the ceilings. One coed scrawled MERRY CHRISTMAS with spray snow on the windows; another adjusted a gooseneck desk lamp to shine on a cardboard nativity scene set up on three metal garbage cans in the corridor.
Shortly before 3 a.m., the festive decorations caught fire, turning the 120 ft.-long hallway into a tunnel of flames. Aroused by a shrill fire alarm, residents on the lower floors rushed down three stairways to safety. Some students on the fourth floor prudently stayed in their rooms, which were separated from the corridor by fire-resistant doors; they were plucked to safety by fire fighters on ladders. But others panicked, threw open their doors and plunged into the inferno in a desperate sprint for the stairs. Two oeds leaped to their deaths on the frozen ground 40 ft. below. Said one sobbing Providence student: "People were telling :hem not to jump. I guess they didn't hear." Fire fighters needed only 42 minutes to douse the blaze-but that was time enough for seven young women to die and 15 others to be injured. Five bodies were found huddled together in the corridor, less than 75 ft. from the nearest escape stairway.
Aquinas Hall had easily passed a city safety inspection last September. Further, investigators said there were no violations of the city's fire code, even though the dormitory is not equipped with sprinklers, outside fire escapes or smoke detectors in every room. Providence city regulations require all these to be installed in new buildings. But the rules exempt dormitories that were built before the code took effect last year.
The day after the fire, final exams were canceled, and students packed their bags to head for home. The Dominican priests who run the college made plans to attend the dead students' funerals and visit the families of those who were injured. Fire officials sifted the debris for clues to the cause of the blaze. The most likely suspect: the gooseneck lamp that had illuminated the cardboard crèche.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Matt: oo did you hear about aquinas last night
Sidereus7: ooo no
Sidereus7: what happened?
Matt: we had a fire ALARM, not a drill
Matt: around 1 in the morning
Sidereus7: yikes, that's wicked scary
Matt: so we're all chilling outside
Matt: my RA goes up to check on things, make sure everyone is out
Matt: the alarm went off on my floor, third floor
Sidereus7: your RA is insane
Matt: the firefighters got here, they found the box that caused it, it wasn't pulled
Sidereus7: you shouldnt go back into a potentially burning building
Matt: just follow me
Matt: that's the first sign
Sidereus7: ok ok, im with you
Matt: the alarm that caused it was not pulled
Matt: it went off on it's own
Sidereus7: well that makes you sleep well at night
Matt: it gets better
Matt: our RA was knocking on the floor on the girls side to make sure people got out
Matt: and at one of the doors near the end of the hall before it cuts back toward meagher
Matt: he knocked
Matt: and he had a witness who is our hall director
Matt: he knocked, got no response, started walking, and heard a large knock BACK from inside
Sidereus7: that's creepy
Sidereus7: what the hell was it?
Matt: o it gets even better
Matt: this room is directly under the area on 4th floor where the fire was
Sidereus7: well, you mean where the alarm was tripped, right?
Matt: no
Matt: THE fire
Sidereus7: oh, the fire that happened years ago?
Matt: mmhmm
Matt: and yesterday, it was the anniversary
Sidereus7: that's fucking creepy as hell
Sidereus7: holy shit
Sidereus7: hahaha
Matt: the alarm box where it was, it is right over the MEMORIAL on aquinas
Sidereus7: oh my god
Sidereus7: Wow
Matt: and i swear to god, i asked a couple people about this and they agreed with me
Sidereus7: ghosts man
Matt: when we were going down the stairs to leave
Matt: we all got hit with an odor that could be described as sulfur next to burning papers
Matt: and a few claimed that a split second haze appeared in front of their eyes
And that happened last night, the night of the anniversary of the huge fire that hit Aquinas. That is some really really really creepy shit.