Something wasn’t right

Last year, UB students talked about their most horrifying and disturbing stories in the spirit of Halloween. 

The terrifying stories continue.

During freshman year, Luke Stebbins — a junior philosophy, politics and economics major — was on the phone with his former long-distance girlfriend in New York City. 

Abruptly, Stebbins’ girlfriend got another call from an unknown number while he was talking to her. The unknown guy said, “I know your boyfriend goes to Buffalo,” according to Stebbins. 

“My initial reaction that night, I locked the door,” Stebbins said. 

Roughly six months later, the caller called Stebbins again — no longer in a relationship by then —  if he knew his ex-girlfriend and stated her name. The caller abruptly hung up again when Stebbins said he did. 

To this day, Stebbins still receives no-caller ID calls but can’t think of anyone he knows personally that would pull a prank like this.

The telephone has long been a staple of horror in our cultural imagination, such as in “Black Christmas,” “Scream” and “The Ring.” Real life doesn’t fare much better with phone calls used to scam people by playing on fears and paranoia. 

While sitting in her living room, Apollo Serrano received a phone call. Upon answering, “There was someone screeching and crying, and there was someone else being like, ‘Help. Help. Help.’” 

“I was pretty mellow, and then I just got the call out of nowhere,” Serrano, sophomore English education major, said. “And it freaked me the f*** out.” 

Serrano hung up within 30 seconds, and upon doing some online digging, she realized that it was a common scam. Nevertheless, it was “jarring” and “weirdest call I've ever gotten in my life.” 

It’s not just calls. It could be one’s very own house.

Eriyon Cowles was home alone in the basement when a door slammed shut.

“I was doing my laundry and there are no drafts in my house, but the bathroom door was wide open and then it suddenly slammed shut, full force,” Cowles, a junior geology and chemistry major, said.

The second time it happened, Cowles saw the door — that was initially closed — open full force and then slam into the wall. 

Cowles doesn’t know how to explain it, and doesn’t think there was a practical explanation. 

Nico Ricciardiello, a senior business administration major, had a similar experience a few years ago.

He was about 17, eating ice cream in his living room, when the giant birthday balloons resting in the corner of the room suddenly got yanked to the other side of the room. 

As this was happening, in the kitchen next door, Ricciardiello glanced at his three cats, Maverick, Cruz, and Jax. Their typical cat eyes widened in fear, and their fur stood up. 

The balloons were weighed down by sandbags.

Sometimes, the horror comes from people.

Before he transferred to UB, senior business administration major Devin Rosas told a few rowdy guys to “shut up” outside of his dorm at Buffalo State. 

Rosas tried to go back to bed but the guys started to yell at him to come outside.
He did not care until they came into the dorm building.

After he entered the bathroom, Rosas overheard them talking. 

“One of the guys was on the phone with someone,” Rosas said. “He's like, “Bro, are you actually gonna do this?” And he's like, “Yeahbro, I don't give a f***.” 

Rosas was terrified wondering what it was that they were actually going to do. He subsequently called campus police. He never heard back from them, and doesn’t think anyone was questioned or apprehended. Rosas still doesn’t know for certain what these men wanted from him that night. 

Rosas is not alone. Within the past few weeks, Toby Steiner, a sophomore nursing student, was walking from Ellicott to her apartment at Creekside Village at night, when she noticed what appeared to be a person standing in the distance. 

After squinting to get a better look, Steiner looked away to readjust her eyes, but when she glanced again, the figure was gone. 

The experience left her feeling unsettled for the remainder of her walk. The uncertainty was the most disturbing part. She could not say for certain what she had seen.

Some people like Olivia Stone embrace the creepy and the unknown. 

Stone and her friends were exploring an abandoned nunnery in Hamburg. They had just gone through double doors, and as Stone went through a single door, the double doors slammed open.

“We all hear that, and we just start running down the stairs, and immediately, the single door opens, and footsteps are chasing after us down these stairs,” Stone, a sophomore biology education major, said. “We go through a broken window, and as we're going through the window, the single door at the bottom of the staircase just swung open.”

It’s not just Buffalo.

Vivian Budny and her family recently explored the purportedly haunted Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. While in the engine room, a photo of her mom captured what appeared to be a green orb. 

“You always heard rattling,” Budny, a senior health and human services major, said. “You never knew where it was coming from.” 

Next time you sit next to a random student at UB, just think about the myriad of horrific experiences that they potentially could have experienced.  

Jacob Wojtowicz is the senior features editor and can be reached at jacob.wojtowicz@ubspectrum.com. 

The features desk can be reached at features@ubspectrum.com.