Untold mysteries at Santa Clara revealed
By Chris O'Connell
This Friday night as Santa Clarans head out to trick or treat, they may want to know where, or on whom, they're treading. What lies beneath Santa Clara will surprise many. Ã
"There are not one, but at least three cemeteries on this campus," warned Russell Skowronek, professor of anthropology. "Stretching from Kenna Hall to the Daly Science building is a prehistoric Native American cemetery."
Skowronek said that the burial ground dates from 400BC and was in use until 700AD. In fact, archaeological research conducted with the Native American community suggests that an ancient Ohlone village once stood on present day campus nearly 2400 years ago.
The second cemetery, as many students know, lays to the right of the Mission Church and extends into the grassy field between Mayer Theatre and O'Connor Hall. This gravesite dates from 1822 to the arrival of the Jesuits in 1851. There rests the remains of over 2, 000 people, including Native Americans, Franciscan priests, early Spaniards in California, Mexican and American families.
The third reported cemetery is located at the main entrance of the school on Palm Drive. Here nearly 4, 000 Franciscans, Native Americans, and Spanish, Mexican, and American settlers rest, unbeknownst to the passersby.
Cemeteries we can deal with (maybe!), but are there any ghosts at Santa Clara?
"Although we've got the ingredients for hauntings, with so many cemeteries," said local historian and history professor Gerald McKevitt, S.J., "I've never run into any ghosts here."
There are no documentations of ghost sightings at the university and the school has conducted no official investigations of paranormal activity. However, some report that there are indeed spirits among us.
"There is a ghost in Walsh Hall," confessed senior finance major Adam Urrutia. The ghost is said to be a little boy. And if you're concerned, yes, he probably does reside in your dorm room. "But I've never seen him myself," Urrutia later added.
This seems to be the case at Santa Clara. Many students hear of alleged hauntings, but none confirm these accusations. Perhaps this is because only a small number of students believe in ghosts.
In fact, data compiled by Scene's research interns reveals that only 20 percent of Santa Clara students believe in ghosts. How can we expect to see them if we don't even acknowledge them?
This is not to say that amazing activity has not been documented at Santa Clara. Fortunately, it is not as scary as it would seem.
In 1794 Fr. Magin Catala arrived at Mission Santa Clara. A Franciscan from Spain, he was known as an extremely holy man, praying piteously several hours a day and often into the night. He had a special veneration for a crucifix acquired from Mexico City in 1802, which still hangs to the left of the Mission altar. After serving the Mission for 36 years he died in 1830.
So holy was this man that in 1884 the Ecclesiastical Court convened at Santa Clara to investigate Fr. Catala's life for beatification. Two of sixty-two eye witnesses who knew him, claimed that they had seen the holy man levitate as he prayed before the crucifix, and while levitating, the figure of Christ would embrace him. Fr. Catala rests in the Mission Church beneath the very same crucifix.
Another myth revolving around the Mission concerns the Mission's bells. The bells were given to Santa Clara by King Carlos IV of Spain in 1798. They are de profundis bells, or bells to commemorate the dead. In the Mission fire of 1926 Santa Clara students rescued one of the bells and rang it for those who had passed before. Ã
So as you prepare for Halloween, remember that Santa Clara is not only a beautiful campus lined with palm trees, but also a cemetery and sight for miracles. While heading to Benson for dinner or maybe snoozing with your little stuffed bronco, listen for the bells that still ring for the dead after more than 200 years.