College Hall at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, a red-brick building with a bell tower behind red brick gate pillars and flower beds

Simpson College – Indianola, IA: Mildred Hedges and the College Hall Legend

Midwestern US Haunted Schools

College Hall is the oldest surviving building at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, and its resident ghost has a real person behind her. Mildred Hedges was a first-year student who died there on May 6, 1935. The first written ghost sighting appeared in the student newspaper more than 40 years later, and the campus now tells her story as a Halloween tradition. This guide separates what the college and its newspaper have documented from what grew up around it.

What the record says

Simpson’s history page states that Mildred Hedges, a 22-year-old freshman home economics major, died on May 6, 1935, in Old Chapel, now College Hall. The student newspaper, The Simpsonian, filled in more in 2021. She was born in 1912 in Scranton, Iowa, and joined the Beta Sigma Omicron sorority in April 1935, a month before her death. Her funeral, described in the paper on May 13, 1935, was “one of the largest ever held” in Scranton, with more than 200 friends passing the casket.

The circumstances of her death are told in several versions on campus, and this post does not repeat them. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

College Hall is the oldest surviving building on campus, according to The Simpsonian in 2004. The paper also reported that it was boarded up and abandoned from 1980 to 1985 before supporters saved it. It now houses administrative offices, including Admissions. The Simpson College Archives list a file titled “Hedges, Mildred (College Hall Ghost).”

The legends

The first sighting. The 2021 article says the first written sighting is a column in The Simpsonian of October 28, 1977. A staff reporter described a midnight seance in Old Chapel by about a dozen students, who were “taking it more or less as a joke until an image of a girl appeared in the bay window above the third-floor landing.” He added that he did not know whether it was imagination.

The ghost hunters. The same article says Ed and Lorraine Warren, known paranormal investigators, visited campus in 1979 and spoke about the hall. What they said was their own opinion, not a finding.

Mildred’s Room. The 2004 article describes a small top-floor room, informally called Mildred’s Room, furnished like a woman’s bedroom, with a dress, shoes and a perfume bottle. Larry Cutts, who spent more than 20 years in the maintenance department, said it was designed as an archives display and that its resemblance to a bedroom from her time was probably coincidental.

Lights and sounds. The 2004 piece quotes a former student who said some people claimed to see flickering lights in the top windows at night. In 2021 a senior told the paper she saw the lights in the Matthew Simpson Lecture Hall flicker, stop and start again as she walked past.

What the record does not support

  • “Millie.” The 2021 article says there is no recorded evidence she ever used the nickname. Her sorority sisters, parents and teachers called her Mildred, and it is unclear when “Millie” began.
  • A haunting that began in 1935. The Simpsonian says reports of paranormal activity did not start until about four decades after her death, when College Hall was boarded up and nearly demolished.
  • A ghost story with one origin. The paper counted 22 documents about Hedges, 16 of them paranormal. A recruitment director quoted in 2004 said he thought the rumors began with students who sneaked in at night, and that he had never seen a light or heard a creak in more than 20 years.
  • Tunnels under campus. The 2004 article says two short basement passages stop after about six feet and are just the way the foundation was built. Cutts said there never were tunnels you could crawl through on campus.
  • A single version of her death. The 2004 article reports “a wide range” of stories about the circumstances, which is why this post gives none.

Visiting

College Hall is a working administration building, so treat it as an office rather than an attraction. The easiest way onto campus is an admissions visit. Simpson’s visit page describes a campus tour of about 60 minutes plus a 30-minute admissions session, and the Admissions office is in College Hall. No ghost tour was found. Outside, the red brick gates in front of the hall and the Simpson seal in the sidewalk are part of campus tradition: the college says stepping on the seal is bad luck. Researchers can contact the Archives and Special Collections on the third floor of Dunn Library at 515-961-1485. Confirm hours before a visit.

FAQ

Who was Mildred Hedges?

She was a 22-year-old first-year student from Scranton, Iowa, who died at Old Chapel, now College Hall, on May 6, 1935. College records and the student newspaper show a real person, a sorority member and a family member, not a character.

Is College Hall at Simpson College haunted?

Nothing has been confirmed. The earliest published ghost account in the student paper dates to 1977, and the paper itself calls the story something of an urban legend.

Can you visit College Hall?

The building holds working offices, including Admissions. Visits are arranged through the college, and there is no ghost tour. Check with Simpson before you go.

More haunted schools in Iowa

Read about Drake Municipal Observatory in Des Moines, Luther College in Decorah, Coe College in Cedar Rapids and Iowa State University in Ames.

Sources

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Top image: College Hall at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, July 2019. Photo: Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized, via Wikimedia Commons