Column: Pemberton's legend, Mary
Liz Surbeck/Columnist
Issue date: 10/31/08 Section: Opinions
Lights flicker in the hallways. Doors mysteriously lock themselves. Disturbing sounds come from the basement. It may just be an old building, but if you ask the girls of Pemberton Hall it was probably Mary.
She seems to be a legend who is familiar to most of Eastern's campus. As a freshman living in Pemberton, I was almost immediately acquainted with a story of Mary from a Resident Assistant fulfilling what I expect is the special duty of Pemberton RA's to their freshmen.
Mary was a dorm mother decades ago who was the role model, All-American type of girl. One night, one of the girls on her floor couldn't go to sleep. She went up to the fourth floor of the building where there was a piano that she would play until she felt sleepy. A night janitor came from behind and raped her, and eventually tried to stab her to death. Leaving her for dead he disappeared. However, the girl was still alive and dragged herself to Mary's door where Mary opened it and witnessed the girl bleed to death. As her innocent was heart mauled by the sight, Mary went insane and hung herself in the state hospital. She and the murdered girl now haunt the halls of Pemberton.
Yet, there are still many versions of the story. Residents change anything from insignificant details to the number of ghosts. Some even say that it was Mary who was murdered. With all of these possibilities, the real story is elusive.
I decided to take it upon myself to find out the truth and share it with my classmates on Halloween.
Michael Kleen, an Eastern alum, has researched and discovered the real story behind Pemberton's legend. His work can be found on http://newmichaelkleen.com.
"The story is about 80 percent fiction, 15 percent anecdotes about strange things that have happened in the hall and about 5 percent facts, Kleen said. "The whole story is based off of a popular urban legend known as 'The Roommate's Death,' which has been told at universities all over the country, so a huge chunk of it - including the murder - is simply not true."
So who really was Mary?
Kleen had a ready answer. "Mary Hawkins was a highly respected head of Pemberton for almost a decade," Kleen said. "Apparently, at some point, possibly before she took the position at the college, she contracted Syphilis. If left untreated, that disease causes mental deterioration and death, which is why she was committed to Kankakee state hospital, where she died in 1918."
"Her official cause of death was 'general paresis,'" Kleen said. "Possibly because of this unpleasant end, people have been reluctant to share information about her life, which …is what leads to rumors in the first place."
As for the facts, Kleen said, "It's important to know that Mary Hawkins was a real person, who lived and made mistakes like everyone else. She had a lasting impact on Eastern and this ghost story is one of the only things keeping her memory alive. Until someone is willing to come forward and talk about her contribution to the university, the ghost story is all we'll have to remember her by."
With the facts finally laid out, it still remains that some Pemberton girls complain about odd occurrences every once in a while. I for one feel more comfortable.
"It's an old dorm, a lot of things happen," Kleen said. "If someone says their door locks or unlocks mysteriously, I'm not going to dispute, it but you can draw your own conclusions."
Liz Surbeck is a freshman English major. She can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENopinions@gmail.com.
She seems to be a legend who is familiar to most of Eastern's campus. As a freshman living in Pemberton, I was almost immediately acquainted with a story of Mary from a Resident Assistant fulfilling what I expect is the special duty of Pemberton RA's to their freshmen.
Mary was a dorm mother decades ago who was the role model, All-American type of girl. One night, one of the girls on her floor couldn't go to sleep. She went up to the fourth floor of the building where there was a piano that she would play until she felt sleepy. A night janitor came from behind and raped her, and eventually tried to stab her to death. Leaving her for dead he disappeared. However, the girl was still alive and dragged herself to Mary's door where Mary opened it and witnessed the girl bleed to death. As her innocent was heart mauled by the sight, Mary went insane and hung herself in the state hospital. She and the murdered girl now haunt the halls of Pemberton.
Yet, there are still many versions of the story. Residents change anything from insignificant details to the number of ghosts. Some even say that it was Mary who was murdered. With all of these possibilities, the real story is elusive.
I decided to take it upon myself to find out the truth and share it with my classmates on Halloween.
Michael Kleen, an Eastern alum, has researched and discovered the real story behind Pemberton's legend. His work can be found on http://newmichaelkleen.com.
"The story is about 80 percent fiction, 15 percent anecdotes about strange things that have happened in the hall and about 5 percent facts, Kleen said. "The whole story is based off of a popular urban legend known as 'The Roommate's Death,' which has been told at universities all over the country, so a huge chunk of it - including the murder - is simply not true."
So who really was Mary?
Kleen had a ready answer. "Mary Hawkins was a highly respected head of Pemberton for almost a decade," Kleen said. "Apparently, at some point, possibly before she took the position at the college, she contracted Syphilis. If left untreated, that disease causes mental deterioration and death, which is why she was committed to Kankakee state hospital, where she died in 1918."
"Her official cause of death was 'general paresis,'" Kleen said. "Possibly because of this unpleasant end, people have been reluctant to share information about her life, which …is what leads to rumors in the first place."
As for the facts, Kleen said, "It's important to know that Mary Hawkins was a real person, who lived and made mistakes like everyone else. She had a lasting impact on Eastern and this ghost story is one of the only things keeping her memory alive. Until someone is willing to come forward and talk about her contribution to the university, the ghost story is all we'll have to remember her by."
With the facts finally laid out, it still remains that some Pemberton girls complain about odd occurrences every once in a while. I for one feel more comfortable.
"It's an old dorm, a lot of things happen," Kleen said. "If someone says their door locks or unlocks mysteriously, I'm not going to dispute, it but you can draw your own conclusions."
Liz Surbeck is a freshman English major. She can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENopinions@gmail.com.
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