From the files of the secret ghost-hunting society of Morgan College—so secret, it doesn’t have a name!

KNOWN SPIRITS OF MORGAN COLLEGE, FILE #16

MADELEINE MORGAN, THE GHOST OF BURKE THEATER

The ghosts of Morgan College are plentiful, dating back to the school’s founding in the 1870s—our dear academic home has changed dramatically over the years, but these spirits have always been with us. Some, however, are better known than others. The Courtyard Ghost, for instance, is a classic staple of the Morgan experience, that fearsome pioneer woman who rides through the Morgan Hall courtyard in a horse-drawn wagon—always looking for something, but never finding it. Nearly every student who’s passed through our hallowed halls has seen her at least once.

But not as many of our esteemed students have seen Madeleine Morgan, the ghost of Burke Theater. This is especially interesting since Madeleine has a direct and very important tie to Morgan—she was the daughter of the school’s founders, noted academics Clara and Daniel. Daniel inherited a fortune when his wealthy father passed, and used that money to open the school. Initially, it was an offshoot of San Francisco College, a satellite institute of sorts, founded as a finishing school for proper young ladies. Quite different from the progressive and empowering haven it is today! It officially became Morgan College, its own entity, many years later—and now it’s difficult to imagine it any other way.

Madeleine was only twelve when the school was founded, but she was always destined to attend, and her parents hoped she would become one of the school’s shining lights, a glorious example of proper young womanhood. But Madeleine was, in her parents’ words, “a hellion,” and she rebelled against the elder Morgans with every fiber of her being. She skipped more classes than she took, she spent most of her time seeking out thrills and indulging in mind-altering substances, and she failed out of Morgan almost immediately. The piece of land where Burke Theater now sits is rumored to be the area where she had her final showdown with her parents, telling them she was setting off on her own and leaving them, their fortune, and their judgmental ways behind.

And so she did. No one ever heard from her again.

Of course the more macabre among paranormal enthusiasts insist she never made it off campus—that her mother flew into a rage and murdered her, right here on our hallowed grounds.

And now poor Madeleine haunts Burke Theater, enraged at her parents for trying to force her into a life she didn’t desire.

Madeleine looks like many of our ghosts: humanoid with hollowed-out pits for eyes, gaping mouth, and a bit of a blue-white glowing aura.

Of course, not all of our ghosts look the same—that’s part of what keeps things so exciting around here! But if you look closely, most of them have that aura. That glorious blue, so reminiscent of Morgan’s blue and gold school colors.

If any of our members have experienced sightings of Madeleine, please send your accounts to our current Head of Society. We are dedicated to keeping these spirits’ memories alive—even if the people behind them haven’t been alive for a good, long while.