{"id":34706,"date":"2013-10-31T21:52:18","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T21:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=34706"},"modified":"2024-03-29T12:06:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T16:06:31","slug":"haunting-at-rush-rhees-library-a-ghost-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/haunting-at-rush-rhees-library-a-ghost-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Haunting at Rush Rhees Library: A Ghost Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Halloween is the season for ghouls, goblins, and ghosts. Many hallowed institutions boast an apparition or two on premises: the Opera has the Phantom, Hogwarts has Nearly Headless Nick, George Eastman House has its namesake spirit.<\/p>\n<p>And here at the University of Rochester we have the ghost of Pete Nicosia.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_34726\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34726\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-34726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/campus-times-front-page-19341.jpg\" alt=\"news clipping\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/campus-times-front-page-19341.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/campus-times-front-page-19341-162x184.jpg 162w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/campus-times-front-page-19341-904x1024.jpg 904w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34726\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Campus Times, March 16, 1934<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Who is Pete Nicosia?<\/h2>\n<p>Pete Nicosia\u2019s ghost haunts Rush Rhees Library. The legend dates back to the building\u2019s construction in the late 1920s.<\/p>\n<p>The story goes that Nicosia, a mason\u2019s helper and recent Sicilian \u00e9migr\u00e9, was working on the library tower when he slipped and fell 150 feet to his death. His foreman, James Conroy, supposedly signed the death certificate and saw to the burial arrangements.<\/p>\n<p>A few years later, things got spooky.<\/p>\n<h2>School spirit<\/h2>\n<p>In October 1932, student George Maloney \u201934 recalled meeting a stranger dressed in a tattered sweater and workman\u2019s overalls near the library. The man asked where he could find James Conroy, because Conroy still owed him pay for time worked.<\/p>\n<p>Maloney directed the man to the service building and thought nothing more of it.<\/p>\n<p>But a year later, Maloney and another student, Robert Metzdorf \u201933, were standing in the library tower when the strange man came up to them. He commented on the great height of the tower. The students informed him that it was about 150 feet to the ground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh boy, 150 feet!\u201d he said in accented English and then laughed. The man continued to stare down, shaking his head and chuckling, while the students got in the elevator and left the tower.<\/p>\n<h2>Coincidence or conspiracy?<\/h2>\n<p>Still confused, the students reported the strange man to a librarian, who showed concern. Apparently, this was not the first time the man had been seen wandering campus.<\/p>\n<p>The librarian wrote to Conroy, giving the man\u2019s description. Conroy is said to have answered in a letter that the description matched that of Pete Nicosia\u2014a dead man.<\/p>\n<p>A file photo, supposedly of Nicosia, soon surfaced. Witnesses\u2014including Maloney and Metzdorf\u2014swore that the stranger looked just like the man in the photo. But the photo\u2019s provenance is questionable, as no records of Pete Nicosia have been found in River Campus construction files or Rochester city directories.<\/p>\n<p>In February 1934, Maloney encountered the stranger again and confronted him, saying, \u201cDo you know of anybody named Pete Nicosia?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShu,\u201d he chuckled. \u201cThat\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But didn\u2019t you get hurt? Didn\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d he said, cutting Maloney off. \u201cIt didn\u2019t hurt a bit.\u201d The man then disappeared into the library cellar.<\/p>\n<p>For years afterward, the campus newspaper reported claims of Nicosia sightings in the library stacks, basement, or tower, but with no concrete evidence. One person recanted his sighting; others doubt the original source, since Maloney\u2019s story first appeared in<em>The Soap-Box,<\/em>\u00a0the literary magazine of the men\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n<p>In 1985, Maloney wrote, \u201cThe story of Pete Nicosia was inconclusive in 1934. At this late date, I expect that it will remain so.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Scare today, gone tomorrow<\/h2>\n<p>At 186 feet high, the library tower remains the building\u2019s most imposing feature; and after 80-plus years, the story of Pete Nicosia remains its most enduring mystery.<\/p>\n<p>With the Halloween season upon us, modern-day ghostbusters can attend Scare Fair 2013 on Thursday, October 31. Rush Rhees librarians will host a Stack Stalk and Tower Tours.<\/p>\n<p>Who knows? You might have your own close encounter to report.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>2013 Scare Fair<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-34756\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/scare-fair1.jpg\" alt=\"scare-fair[1]\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/scare-fair1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/scare-fair1-276x184.jpg 276w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The annual Scare Fair is one of two times each year the Rush Rhees Library tower is open for tours. Take a spooky look through the stacks, while snacking on cider, donuts, and Halloween treats.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Thursday, October 31<br \/>\n1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pete Nicosia\u2019s ghost haunts Rush Rhees Library. The legend dates back to the building\u2019s construction in the late 1920s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":34716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Haunting at Rush Rhees Library: A Ghost Story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/haunting-at-rush-rhees-library-a-ghost-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Haunting at Rush Rhees Library: A Ghost Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pete Nicosia\u2019s ghost haunts Rush Rhees Library. 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