Jaclyn had been on bed rest at the hospital for 10 weeks after going into labor at 22 weeks. She delivered Luca on Oct. 1, 2017, at 32 weeks, and he stayed in the NICU for a month.

Jaclyn says she had a unique experience at the Center for Women and Infants at UofL Hospital. She worked with a music therapist to write songs for her baby and visited with a therapy dog to ease her anxiety.

“I had a daily a routine, and the weeks passed quickly,” she said.

“The staff did so much to spoil us and make the season of Halloween with our son special despite being in the NICU,” Jacyln said. “Thanks to the staff, we have fond memories of what could have been a very difficult time for our family.”

She received a Halloween card with Luca’s footprint, and a group of volunteers who knit costumes for the NICU babies made him a sock monkey outfit with his name and birthdate.

“It was a gift you don’t expect that means so much, and we treasure that,” she said.

As a way to pay it forward, Jaclyn launched a fundraiser this year to fill enough Halloween baskets for every family in the NICU. Filled with candy and care items like tissues and lotion, she delivered the baskets in time to make it a special Halloween for those in a similar circumstance.

“We can’t believe it has been a year – they did so much for us while we were here and we are glad to bring cheer to others,” Jaclyn said.

Still, that doesn’t mean the university doesn’t have any mystery or intrigue. After all, the cremated remains of Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis and his wife, Alice Goldmark Brandeis, are buried underneath the portico at the law school. Students leave coins and animal crackers on their graves before exam week, attempting to conjure up some luck from the dead.

We asked Tom Owen, archivist for regional history in Archives and Special Collections, if he knew of any more detailed campus ghost stories.

“The only thing we can come up with is the fact that before our campus was developed as a city-owned orphanage/reform school in 1860, it was a city cemetery for almost 10 years called, variously, Southern or Oakland,” Owen said. “We have evidence that there were burials, but our sources indicate that the bodies were disinterred and reburied at Cave Hill.”

There is, however, the story of UofL’s Chi Omega sorority house, which is outlined in the book, “,” by Michael Norman (2006). He writes:

“The sisters at the Chi Omega sorority house got along famously with a ghost named George. They knew it was a male because passersby looking through the large front window at night sometimes noticed a bulky figure wearing a suit and standing on the staircase. Just who it was no one seemed to know. In absence of an identity back in 1984, someone took to simply calling him George.

“The Chi Omega women didn’t live in the house, so there weren’t many instances of nighttime shenanigans by George. They did figure out that he seemed to live on a back staircase that connected with the kitchen because footfalls as if someone was trooping up those steps were heard during the daytime …”

One of the sorority sisters told a reporter that when she was alone in the house, lights would blink on and off, which seemed to be George’s favorite activity.

“The plink-a-plink of single notes struck on the living room piano also alerted sorority members that George was about.”

Uncomfortable moments aside, the sorority sisters described George as a friendly ghost. 

In 2012, throughout the city, noting some haunted downtown landmarks such as the Palace Theater and the Brown Hotel. The only UofL connection mentioned in the story was the old Medical Department, 101 W. Chestnut St.

The building was formerly a part of Louisville Medical College and was acquired by UofL in 1909. It is now owned by the Greater Louisville Medical Society Foundation and it is said to harbor mysterious footsteps, squeaky gurney wheels and other heart-racing noises that are likely unsettled spirits from the old Medical School, which opened in 1893.

From the Cardinal:

“The school has a tradition of innovation in medicine. For example, in 1911, the facility launched the nation’s first trauma care center, in 1970, the Pap Smear was invented, and in 1999, the first successful hand transplant was performed. But the school has a tradition of spooky happenings as well … The medical school is home to the Wolf Gallery, a location where the art of physicians and their families is displayed. On the tile floor at the end of the gallery is a permanent stain. This stain developed when the rooms of the Wolf Gallery were still anatomy classrooms. Students would often leave the rooms carrying trays of heads or limbs which were soaking in blood or formaldehyde. Sometimes the students would let their guards down, and the solution would slosh onto the floor. After years of this treatment, the stain formed, and cannot be removed …

“In the basement of the building is the old embalming room, which was not a popular hangout for medical students. In it was a vat in which cadavers would soak in formaldehyde in the fetal position. When a body was required, it would be removed from the vat and hung on a hook to drain into a trough. This trough led directly into the city sewer. In 1996, the basement was renovated. While redoing the ceiling of one room, workers were surprised when a body part fell out of the ceiling. The school’s coroner ruled that the part had simply been misplaced.

“In the late 1930s, one student at the school failed an exam which caused him to be expelled from medical school. Distraught, the student hung himself in the school’s four-story stairwell. Some time later, his professor noticed that he had made a grading error on the mathematics portion of the test, and that the student had actually passed. The professor was so upset that he committed suicide in the same way that his student had …”

For obvious reasons, the building has been a stop on many ghost walking tours in the city.

Tonight, all graduate students are invited to the Graduate Student Council’s Halloween Party at 8 p.m. at Hopcat, 1064 Bardstown Rd. This event includes free food and a costume contest with prizes.

The Student Activities Board is hosting the classic fright film, “Dawn of the Dead” on Saturday beginning with a 2 p.m. showing at The Floyd Theater. The movie follows a growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead.

On Saturday, the Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium is hosting its Fright Light Halloween Party from 1-4 p.m. Cost is $5 per person and includes treats for the kids and a laser music show featuring songs such as the “Monster Mash,” “Purple People Eaters” and more. Showtimes are 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Other activities run from 1-3:30 p.m.

On Sunday, Oct. 29, go trick or treating with the Greeks. The fraternity and sorority life community at UofL invites all faculty, staff and students to bring their children to a safe and fun Halloween extravaganza from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Community Park. The event will include food and trick or treating along Greek Row.

Join the University Writing Center and the White Squirrel Literary & Arts Magazine on Halloween night, Tuesday, from 7-8:30 p.m. for an evening of scary stories. This is an “open mic” event in Ekstrom Library’s University Writing Center (first floor), so bring your favorite and original scary stories and poems to share. Costumes are welcome, and candy will be provided. There will also be a six-word scary story contest with a prize.

Also on Oct. 31, the University Symphony Orchestra will host its Halloween Spooktacular. The concert, at 8 p.m. in Comstock Hall, will be directed by Kimcherie Lloyd, and will include a variety of spooky song favorites.

Finally, show off your jack-o-lantern carving/decorating skills for a chance to win a prize. Submissions can be made either by using the hashtag #Cardoween on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or by emailing photos to ultoday@louisville.edu.

The event is Tuesday, Oct. 10, at Buckhead Mountain Grill, 707 W. Riverside Dr., Jeffersonville, Indiana. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6 p.m. Admission is free and open to breast cancer survivors only. Participants must register to attend by calling 502-852-6318.

Attendees are invited to dress for the occasion with prizes for the best Halloween costume and the best “Rocky Horror Picture Show” costume.

Rachel Platt of WHAS11’s “Great Day Live!” will emcee. The nonprofit theater company Acting Against Cancer will present “The Rocky Horror Halloween Party,” marking the fourth consecutive year the company has staged the production for Kentuckiana audiences.

The event is made possible with support from Buckhead Mountain Grill, Anthem BlueCross BlueShield and Rocky’s Italian Grill.

The Kentucky Cancer Program is the state mandated cancer control program jointly administered by the University of Louisville (West Region) and the University of Kentucky (East Region). At UofL, the program is sponsored by the James Graham Brown Cancer Center.

Named after Louisville’s first settlement, the Corn Island Storytelling Festival was a nationally-known autumn fixture that drew thousands of fans for three decades before ending its run in 2007. This will be the sixth year that UofL and the Corn Island organizers have partnered on the event. Blackacre joined the event last year.

Additional sponsors include Louisville Metro Government and Kentucky Homefront.

Storytellers and musicians for the weekend include:

• The Juggerloos, a local jug band that uses a mix of early jazz and ragtime tunes mixed with a few modern covers.
• Leigh Ann Yost, storyteller and songwriter in Louisville.
• Graham Shelby, writer and professional storyteller. He’s performed in hundreds of venues including Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Texas Storytelling Festival and the Moth Mainstage in New York City.
• Roberta Simpson Brown, “The Queen of Cold-Blooded Tales,” a paranormal investigator and author of more than a dozen books and tapes of ghost stories.

Details for each day of the festival are below:

Friday, Oct. 21

Storytelling begins at 7:30 p.m. with a mix of family-friendly stories and spooky tales in the George J. Howe Red Barn, Belknap Campus. Col. Bob Thompson, storyteller and writer for the Kentucky Homefront radio program, will be the master of ceremonies.

Organizers will also host a series of storytelling and music workshops during the afternoon on Oct. 21. Workshops will be held in the Swain Student Activities Center, rooms 312 and 314. Paid parking is available in the Floyd Street Parking Garage. 

1-2 p.m.: (Choose 1)

Leigh Ann Yost: “Stories are songs, songs are stories.” An hour into the heart of the stories behind the songs of one of Louisvilles best performers.

Juggerloos Jug Band: “A short history of Jug Band music,” in Louisville and the nation, from its origins on the riverboats of the 19th century to its modern day practitioners.

2:15-3:15 p.m. (Choose 1)

John Gage: “Hope and health through stories and music.” A lifetime of wisdom, spirit and song from one of Louisville’s most beloved performers and teachers of all time.

Roberta Brown: “The Queen of Cold Blooded Tales,” a prolific, nationally-known author and storyteller shares the method behind her obvious madness.

All Friday events are free but registration is required and , as space is limited.

Saturday, Oct. 22

Storytelling will be held at Blackacre State Nature Preserve & Historic Homestead, 3200 Tucker Station Rd. Kids activities including face painting will begin at 6 p.m. and storytelling begins at 7 p.m.

Saturday’s events are $7 for adults and $3 for children and tickets may be purchased onsite.

For more information on this event, contact Bob Thompson, 502-553-2406.