G-E-T O-U-T chases UPG students

They sat around the Ouija board in the basement with only candlelight to guide them, looking for answers from beyond the grave.

It was midnight. While other students at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg were in their dorm rooms watching TV or studying, some brave souls were trying to get to the bottom of a campus ghost story.

Is there a ghost haunting Lynch Hall, the oldest building on the Hempfield campus and the former home of a Navy officer• Could they communicate with the spirit?

So they held a seance Monday night. The seance, planned by Megan Mackey and Jason McIlnay, two resident advisers in Robertshaw Hall, drew about 35 students.

They were there to learn a little about the use of the Ouija -- a sort of game board some say they use to contact the dead -- as well as Charles McKenna Lynch, the deceased owner of the Tudor home on campus who some say is haunting the building.

Some believe in spirits. Others are clearly skeptics. And some, in the end, were a little spooked.

Mackey and McIlnay planned the seance as one of the programs they are required to hold for their residents.

They set the mood immediately, turning off the lights in the Robertshaw Hall lobby as Mackey talked about what the students were in for.

"Everyone knows that he still visits his home, and if we're lucky, he'll come back again," Mackey said of the ghost.

They marched out into the cold night air by candlelight, puffs of their breath floating above their heads. The candles needed to be relit several times as a misty rain fell.

Some walked quietly. Most talked and laughed loudly as they plunged into a wooded area surrounding the campus's athletic fields.

Inside Lynch Hall, Mackey first showed them a portrait of Lynch bedecked in his Naval uniform.

"That way you'll recognize him if we see him tonight," she said.

The students descended a spiral staircase lighted by candles. There they met McIlnay, who shared some ghost stories.

He told of campus police officers who have had encounters with the ghost.

One "refuses to come in here at night," McIlnay said.

They have told of doors they have locked suddenly being unlocked. One locked a door and then it flew open, striking him.

Campus police officer Steven Rossi, who watched over the seance, said he's heard his fair share of odd noises in the old mansion.

"I'm not going exploring by myself," he said.

McIlnay led them into the basement where a Ouija board was on the floor surrounded by two candles. The smell of burning wax wafted through the air.

Some sat around the board. Others stood and watched to see what answers the spirit would give.

They asked if Lynch's spirit was with them. The pointer on the board, under the fingers of five students, pointed to "YES."

For most of the seance, the answers to questions were nonsensical combinations of letters and numbers.

At one point, the sound of running water emanated from the pipes overhead. Everyone assumed that a police officer was upstairs and had flushed a toilet.

But the sound droned on and on. And Mackey had some news for her fellow students. Everybody in the building was in the basement.

"There should be nobody else here," she said.

They asked the "spirit" if he turned on the water. "Yes," the pointer on the board indicated.

Soon, a group of students seemed eager to leave. When they asked if the spirit wanted them to go, the answer was clear.

"GET OUT," were the words spelled on the board.

"Peace, I'm out," one of the students said, and half left Lynch Hall and headed back to their dorm rooms.

"The fact it said, 'Get out,' I'm not comfortable with that," said sophomore Natalie Czmola of Penn Hills, who was among those who left. "It creeps me out, but it's interesting."

But the other students had more questions.

They wondered if the "spirit" planned to visit any other buildings.

"RS," was the reply, which they took to mean their dorm, Robertshaw.

Do you have a message?

"HELLP," came the reply.

Even though Chad Newham, a freshman from Penn Hills, spent much of the time on the board and asking the questions, he is not convinced that ghosts exist.

"It was interesting, but I still don't believe," he said.

The answers, he believes, come from people subconsciously moving the pointer.

But still, there were questions.

The students wanted to know if Lynch was stuck here on Earth. The board indicated yes.

They had one more question. Why was he stuck• Was he suffering from something that caused his spirit to linger?

The answer was simple.

"DEATH."