Is the Palestra Really Haunted?

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Did any of you, as young kids, have a sleep over at the Academy of Natural Sciences among the fossils of giant extinct dinosaurs? I slept there once and it scared the beejesus out of me. So what made me think of that random memory from over twenty years ago?

A college basketball writer got the bizarre idea to sleep in the stands at the historic Palestra. Which, by the way, according to some who have worked there over the years, may be haunted.

My first thought when reading about a guy sleeping in a completely empty basketball venue alone all night: this dude's nuts, or perhaps I'm just a wuss. I'm fearful of heights. Noisy pipes scare me. I'm afraid of the dark and deathly afraid of black bears. But wait! Upon reading further, I learned he had his trusty iPhone with him. That can solve the lighting issue and counter any bear attack (1:40 mark).

Back to the story. So yeah,Kyle Whelliston, a college hoops writer for The Mid-Majority spent an evening sleeping on a camera riser at the top of section 211 of the legendary Palestra. An excerpt:

My iPhone alarm went off at 4:00 a.m., because I'd forgotten to turn it
off the previous morning. But now I was up and awake, and the Palestra
was dead-silent again. My mouth was desert-dry. So I padded down the
bleachers, into the east concourse, past the all-time Penn-Princeton
scoreboard. Down the ramp, around the perimeter of the floor, making as
much noise as a cockroach in my stocking feet. I tested the door of the
media room, a place I knew well, and found it opened easily. The
refrigerator was empty and locked. So I scurried over one door to the Class of 1971 Lounge;
that swung open too. Behind the bar, there was a liter bottle of Coca
Cola. There I was, in the palace at 4 a.m., drinking warm Coke out of a
Dixie cup, looking at the Big 5 memorabilia in the lounge. Surely, this
must be heaven, I thought.

The idea of heaven to a college basketball writer whose area of expertise involves NCAA conferences that most people don't care about is a bit different than heaven for the rest of us.

It's a fun story that's a tad creepy at parts with tales of heating ducts gone haywire and sounds of voices whispering throughout the evening. I certainly wouldn't want to be wandering the dark empty building at all hours of the night.

Whelliston also relays this anecdote from the Palestra's longtime custodian:

Dan told me a story about a homeless person he found sleeping in a
locker room one morning, before the 2000 renovations and the increased
security. "'You're going to call the cops on me, right?' the guy said.
'Yeah, I'm going to have to.' 'Can you let me take a shower first?' I
let him take a shower. So when the cops showed up, I told them to wait
for a few minutes. I had to grab the guy a towel."

I wonder if that homeless guy is still around the Penn campus today? With a hoops team that currently holds a 1-13 record, they could probably use a few walk-ons.

>>Road Report: Ghost Story [Mid Majority] via dmac

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