Swope Hall, Room 305

Iowa · United States · School

A house stood where this room is now. The story says lead poisoning drove Mary out of her mind and out of the third floor window.

Swope Hall at Storm Lake, Iowa stands where a house used to be, and room 305 is where its upper floor was.

The woman students call Mary is said to have gone out of the third floor window, after lead poisoning drove her out of her mind.

No record supports the story, but the mechanism in it is real and worth knowing. Lead was in paint, in pipes, in cosmetics and in patent medicines throughout the nineteenth century, and chronic poisoning genuinely does cause confusion, aggression and psychosis. Households were poisoned by their own plumbing for decades without anyone understanding why.

She opens and closes doors, including locked ones, and works the closet doors in that room in particular.

She also goes out into the rest of the building.

The hall is student housing and is not open to visitors.

FAQ

Where is Swope Hall, Room 305 located?

Swope Hall, Room 305 is in Iowa, United States.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.