Student Life Culture and Society General

Spooky season ghost stories of MSU Texas and Wichita Falls

Reanna Gonzalez
26 October 2026
9 min read

Those who have been a part of Midwestern State University may have heard one of the ghost stories around campus. With Halloween just around the corner, there’s no better time to examine these tales.

Killingworth Hall

Residents who have lived in Midwestern State University’s Killingsworth Hall in the last few decades have likely heard tales of a ghost that roams its halls. While student opinions are mixed on whether they believe there’s actually a ghost, strange happenings are a common occurrence in the building.

It’s difficult to say the bumps and bangs heard in a college dorm room aren’t just students, but there are other instances that some students feel are harder to explain. According to resident assistants of the building, these include screens suddenly turning on and things falling off dressers and counters, but the most notable is sleep paralysis.

With a building as old as Killingsworth, ghosts aren’t the most unreasonable theory. Killingsworth was built in 1965, originally as a three-story building. It was built as part of the university’s expansion. An additional three floors were added the next year, all serving as residential floors.

The rumor around campus is that the building is haunted by a student who attended MSU Texas in the 1990s. Her name has been omitted from the story out of respect for the family.

Word around campus is that she jumped to her death from the sixth floor and now roams the halls of the building in purgatory. While the student did live on the sixth floor of the building in her time at MSU, she actually died in a car accident at just 19 years old. The administration later had the top floor transformed into a chapel in honor of the late dean, Viola Grady.

Though the student’s memory makes for an interesting story to some, for others she was a friend. Residents of the building may have noticed a tree with a plaque in her honor planted in front of the building.

Fain College Theatre platform

Fain Atrium

In 1978, the theatre department moved to Fain Fine Arts Center and began using the atrium for productions. Not long after the move, word of a ghost named “Brooks” began to spread among students.

Elizabeth Lewandowski, Professor of Theatre, began teaching at MSU Texas in 1993. She said that Brooks has been a popular topic among the theatre department ever since. She doesn’t consider herself a believer in ghosts, but she considers Brooks a friendly presence, so she finds comfort in the idea of him supporting the theatre and students.

She says there are experiences in the theatre she can’t explain. For instance, there was a time she was working in her office late in the evening, and no one was in the building, yet a ball rolled into the room while no one was around but her.

She’s not the only one to share unexplainable experiences. Over the years, students have listed several things believed to be Brooks interacting. Most commonly, these reports are flickering lights, disappearing silhouettes, thuds around the stage, and the smell of flowers after a show. The most common place to experience his presence is on main stage at night. Lewandowski noted that no one has ever said they feel threatened by Brooks and that he’s viewed as a protector. Students simply tell Brooks to quit, or that they’re okay, and the interaction stops.

“I do think if Brooks exists, he’s beneficial,” Lewandowski said. “He is benevolent. You know, checking on people when they’re alone. It’s more like he’s a friendly grandpa or uncle.”

Lewandowski noted that she’s never been able to find proof of a past student with the first name Brooks. The rumor is that he was a student who died and requested his ashes be spread in the theatre. There are rumors that they were spread across the stage or stashed in props, though Lewandowski said she’s looked and not found anything.

Lewandowski said it’s almost a tradition for theatres to have ghosts, as most of them do. She believes this is reflective of the high emotions that linger in the space. She said these ghosts are almost never malicious. She added that there is even an annual event in September in which people gather around their ghost light, which is a light left on the stage when it’s not being used for safety, to practice community. She said since the ghost light is viewed as protection, people will gather around to share words of affirmation and support instead of ghost tales.

Campus history

There’s undoubtedly plenty of history on campus to fuel the rumors of ghosts. There are some students on campus who believe even older spirits walk the grounds. With Wichita Falls’ rich history, it’s not hard for believers in the supernatural to assume spirits of the old days still linger.

Before the school was Midwestern State University, it was known as Wichita Falls Junior College, which opened in 1922. In 1937, it was moved to the Wichita Falls High School, located on Avenue H, a building that was built in 1924. The building closed in 2019. Although the university no longer uses the building, it has been described as having an eerie appearance.

What is now the MSU campus was once barren land at the end of a dusty dirt road. The university obtained the land in 1937, almost 90 years ago, through a donation from John G. and Mary Hardin. The area around it was primarily residential up to that point.

Later, the Sikes estate was added to the campus after the passing of Louis Sikes. The Sikes home was erected not long after the campus was established, making it almost as old.

With that many years behind it, perhaps ghosts are to be expected. While no additional hauntings have entered the rumor mill, each student has their own experience on campus. With MSU Texas having such a considerable impact on the shaping of students’ lives, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to believe that some of those students chose to stick around well after their time was up.

Wichita Falls haunted sites

The city that is home to the university is also believed to be riddled with the souls of the dead. Originally frontier land inhabited by the Wichita and Comanche tribes, the townsite of Wichita Falls was obtained by John A. Scott through a poker game, though it wasn’t platted until 1876. The site on which MSU Texas now sits was donated to the school by W.B. Hamilton and N.H. Martin, who developed the Country Club Estates, and was part of an area that was purely residential.

The house located at Hammon and Hatton is one of the historic buildings in the city that many residents have noted as being haunted. Rumor has it that a violent past, including deaths, is linked to the property. Those who have visited the house claim that they experienced lights turning on by themselves, doors opening and closing on their own, and objects moving.

Another notable building that is reportedly haunted is Dr. White’s Sanatorium. The building once functioned as a mental hospital. According to accounts, visitors commonly experience cold spots and the sounds of screaming in the building.

One popular haunted site in Wichita Falls is found in Riverside Cemetery near Lucy Park. Within that cemetery is the Little Sister Statue that was added in the 1910s in honor of Flora Kemp, who died of typhoid fever. According to legend, those who visit her grave at midnight and feel sorrow for her will see a single tear stream down the face of the statue.

An additional spot in the city some people claim is haunted is Pinky’s Cave. The “cave” is a concrete drainage system that was used as a hangout spot for teenagers. Some have described feelings of doom and being watched near the cave. It’s been linked to a story about a mother and baby who died there. While the cave has a warning painted above it, many have passed the haunting off as teenage lore.

While Lake Wichita is a popular area for walking and biking, it’s also become the site of a supposed haunting. According to locals, a spirit known as “Drunk Tom” was walking along the reservoir after a night of drinking and fell in. Accounts claim that those who visit the lake at night can hear sounds of a bottle breaking.

Another lake in town that’s been said to be haunted is Wellington Lake. It’s claimed that there is a “goat man” that is half man, half goat that lives under the bridge there and watches people. There is also word of a dog spirit that lives near the lake.

The remnants of a mansion have also stirred rumors of ghosts. The site is known as Witches Gate, and it is nothing more than the skeleton of a house that burned down. Many rumors have stirred about the tragedy that took place at the house, though the most popular claims are that the family that lived in the house practiced witchcraft, hence the name.

On the 700 block of Ohio in Downtown Wichita Falls, several people have claimed to have seen a pair of police officers in the area. This follows an accident that took place there in 1968. There was a fire there that first responders had gotten under control, just before another fire broke out in a different part of town. Most of the cops left to address the new fire, but officers Fellows and Rappolee stayed behind to keep an eye on the scene. As they were sitting in their car, one of the buildings that had caught fire crumbled on top of their car. They passed away before help could arrive.

There’s also one popular Downtown building that’s been rumored to be haunted, which is the old Holt Hotel, which now serves as an apartment building with a few businesses in it. The Holt was built in 1910 as the Kemp-Kell Building, constructed by Joseph Kemp and Frank Kell. They later sold the building to George Holt, who renamed it and converted it into a hotel to accommodate people coming into the city during the oil boom. Several people who have lived or worked there claim to have heard unexplainable noises and experienced interference with technology.

With such a long, storied history, there’s no telling what spirits may walk among those on the Midwestern State University campus or surrounding areas. From dusty old cowboy souls to students who never got to cross the stage, the MSU Texas campus and the land it sits on have impacted the lives of many, so who could blame any spirit that chose to stick around a bit longer to admire its beauty?

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