Ali Chiavetta
Features Writer

Millersville University has multiple houses across campus named after the counties in Pennsylvania. Though most of the houses have specific uses and contain offices for different academic departments, many students are unaware of their purpose.
It is said that most of these houses were residential at one time and had people living in them. One house in specific, the Lancaster House, located to the left of the driveway to the new Winter Center on Cottage Avenue, has had rumors swirling around it for years.
This house was used regularly up until this academic year, when it was put out of use by the VPAC. In the past, the house was used to hold offices for the English and Communications departments. Its origin and history, however, were unable to be located through research.

Lancaster House stands on Cottage Avenue and was, up until the opening of the VPAC, used for various music activities, including voice lessons. Previously, it housed English department and Communication department offices. However, students who were in the house late at night reported hearing strange noises, seeing shadows walking past doors when no one was there, and seeing doors fly open of their own accord. Rumors have flown around among the music majors that the house might even be...haunted.
Lancaster House stands on Cottage Avenue and was, up until the opening of the VPAC, used for various music activities, including voice lessons. Previously, it housed English department and Communication department offices. However, students who were in the house late at night reported hearing strange noises, seeing shadows walking past doors when no one was there, and seeing doors fly open of their own accord. Rumors have flown around among the music majors that the house might even be…haunted.

In recent years, the house held a few offices for music professors. It was also used for musical lessons and left unlocked for students to come in and practice at most hours of the day. During the day, the house seemed a bit eerie, but it was especially so being there alone at night. Rumors about this house say that it is haunted, more specifically by an old female murder victim.
Stories about the house have traveled through the students in the music department, ranging from hearing footsteps and strange noises to a supposed murder happening in the house. After hearing a few accounts from students who visited the house regularly before it closed, you can decide for yourself what’s going on behind those locked doors.
Voice student Lindsay Fijalkowski said, “I had lessons in the house last year, and it was always really creepy to be there. The floor creaked, and it would always make weird noises when I was there”.
Freshmen music students Jeremy Hammer and Chaz Richardson explained about the rumors they’ve heard since being here: “We’ve never been in the house, but we’ve heard some of the older music majors talk about how creepy it is. There are rumors that a lady was supposedly killed there, so that’s why it’s haunted.”
Clarinet student Israel Gonzalez gave an account of mysterious happenings in the house, noted by him and other students. They reported hearing tapping noises during practicing, seeing dark figures walking by practice rooms, and having the doors of their practice rooms fly open out of nowhere. Others have reported seeing furniture move across rooms on its own.
Older music students report that the house is now locked due to intoxicated students having illegally lived there for a short time. Others say it’s simply locked because it is no longer in use. Now, whether or not you believe the stories is up to you. Most of the rumors are hearsay, but students are welcome to walk around the house to try and see something out of the ordinary.
So, while the exact history of the house may be unclear, the stories are sure to keep it alive for years to come. What exactly lies in Lancaster House? No one knows for sure. Check it out for yourself at 46 West Cottage Avenue.