10/09/2025
Croft institute was built in 1853 meaning it has been on campus for 172 years! It’s the second oldest building still standing on campus today. Enslaved labor was used to build Croft and you can still see the slave’s fingerprints in the bricks. There’s one set of 3 finger prints that looks like it belonged to a child under one of the windows that’s faces the Circle.
Originally it was built as a Chapel but would later become a hospital during the Civil War. It also housed the 4 day long graduations for many years. Eventually it would be used to house the YMCA and would become known as the “Y” building. Today it’s renamed to be the Croft Institute for International Studies.
In the 1899 yearbook, there is a story of a student who was studying in Croft in the 1880s. He was on the 3rd floor and it was a stormy evening. An odor came through the room that smelled like smoke and burning sulfur. He opened the door to a dark hallway, but then he heard low footsteps on the stairs below and a knocking, as if someone was carrying a big stick. The student returned the room quietly but then there was a knock on the door. Although he didn’t hear the bolts to the door open, it swung open. He saw what looked to be a soldier dressed in a gray military suit with a black hat on his head and musket to his side. The figured asked if the boy was alone and then told him to tend to the fire because it was too cold for him up there. The boy was frozen in fear so the man laughed and started to tend to the fire himself. The boy sprang up to run out the door but the man grabbed his arm and it was icy to the touch. He motioned for the boy to sit and he did. The man started humming and then asking questions like who is the chancellor, the mayor, and other odd questions. The boy then heard a faint tapping of a drum coming from the grove and the man got up to leave. Then man turned and said “Good-bye young fellow. Ye needn’t be so much afraid, I only wanted to hear the news; I was sick in this house once.” The drum tapped again and the solider grabbed his musket and hurried down the stairs.
Have you seen any ghosts in Croft or on campus before? If so, let me know! Coming soon will be a Campus Ghost Tour, which will be FREE! I can’t wait to share more of the haunted history of Oxford with everyone 👻