Haunted Hillside Dorm

An old building located off the campus of SMCC--Southern Maine Community College--was used up until recently, as a residence hall for students that attend this college.

Hillside Dorm is located at the corner of Preble and Broadway, in South Portland, Maine.

This building is now up for sale. The reason for this might be that this structure is haunted.

This fact is not surprising when one considers the history of this old structure. At various times it was used as a brothel, nursing home, and a funeral home.

Hillside Dorm

To add to the creepiness, the building sits near the Old Settlers Cemetery.

This varied history brings confusion, for no one, has been able to pinpoint the era or eras that this haunting represents.

Former residents of Hillside, share some disturbing and even scary experiences they had while living in this dorm.

The buildings’ attic--where the door is always padlocked shut-- is where a lot of the strange activity was centered.

Daily, sounds were heard coming from this area. Maintenance workers feeling it might be a critter, unlocked the padlock, and placed an animal trap just inside the door.

Old Settlers Cemetery

Complaints about the sounds continued, and when they returned, they discovered human footprints in the dust, leading to the trap from the other side of the room. The door had remained locked, and no one had been in the attic.

One apparition that is seen at Hillside is that of a young boy. His ghost was considered to be annoying and a trickster.

Student bedspreads were often found bundled on the floor--these students would wake up cold. They also discovered their windows had been thrown open, in the bitterly cold winter months.

This child ghost was fond of moving items around in the various resident rooms. One positive attribute this ghost exhibited was he would often make the resident's beds.

Yet another entity seen at Hillside, is that of an old lady. One Maine paranormal team that investigated the dorm picked up this ghost’s voice on several EVPs.

One witness to this activity was a man who was hired by the college to be a security officer. He was also an RA at Hillside Dorm, and lived in the building from 1997-99.

The fan in his room would turn on and off without reasonable explanation, and he like the rest of the residents often heard noises, or movement coming from the locked attic.

He saw lights going on and off in the building when no one was around.

This often occurred in one 2^nd floor bathroom. When this RA would go to investigate, he saw the door to this room shut, he also heard the toilet flush, but on closer inspection, he found the 2^nd floor was deserted.

He hated doing laundry, because every time he would go to the basement where the machines were-- all the light bulbs would blow out.

He also heard disembodied whispers throughout the building.

Over time, he became more and more frustrated, because his investigations of this unusual activity always left him without a discernable cause.

He mentioned that it was a relief when he finally moved out of Hillside Dorm.

He moved away from Maine, and 10 years later while visiting South Portland, he stated that just driving by this building still "creeped him out."