Rockefeller College (Rocky)

This Collegiate Gothic dormitory is built on what was once a cemetery for the FitzRandolph family. When Italian stonemasons began digging at the site, they made a disturbing discovery buried beneath the grounds.

Rockefeller College — known affectionately as "Rocky" — stands upon what was once the FitzRandolph family burial ground, a Quaker cemetery dating back to the early 1700s. Nathaniel FitzRandolph, son of one of Princeton's original 17th-century Quaker settlers, donated the original 4.5 acres of land upon which Nassau Hall was built in 1753. More than any other citizen, he was responsible for securing Princeton's founding, raising money by personally visiting residents and ultimately ensuring the college was built here rather than in New Brunswick. When FitzRandolph died in 1780, he was buried in the family plot on what is now the Rockefeller College site.

The dark chapter began in 1909 when Italian stonemasons, hired for their expertise in Collegiate Gothic architecture, began excavating for the foundations of Holder Hall. They made a grim discovery: thirty-two unmarked graves of FitzRandolph family members, their bones disturbed after nearly two centuries of rest. University President Woodrow Wilson directed that the remains be preserved in separate boxes and reinterred beneath the eastern archway of Holder Hall. A memorial tablet was placed in the arch bearing Wilson's inscription: "Near this spot lie the remains of Nathaniel FitzRandolph, the generous giver of the land upon which the original buildings of this university were erected." Dean Andrew West contributed the Latin epitaph: "In agro jacet nostro immo suo" — "In our ground he sleeps, nay, rather, in his own."

The spirits of the FitzRandolph family, it seems, did not appreciate their eternal slumber being so rudely disturbed. Students report that few can rest peacefully within this gothic dormitory. The most documented account comes from a married couple who lived in the room directly above the archway where the remains are entombed. They reported that a couch and a painting in their room would move independently — objects shifting positions without explanation, as if guided by invisible hands. The phenomena persisted throughout their time in the room.

Visitors on ghost tours describe sensing a heavy presence in the archways and hallways of Rocky, particularly near the eastern arch. Cold spots are reported even on warm evenings, and some students speak of difficulty sleeping, as though unseen figures watch over them in the night. A team from Weird NJ magazine investigated the campus and concluded there was "unusual energetic activity" at Princeton's haunted locations — though they could not explain it further than simply calling it "weird."

The gothic spires and shadowy cloisters of Rockefeller College seem to draw the spirits of the disturbed dead. The vaulted cloister passages, leaded casement windows, and heavy slate roofing create an atmosphere of antiquity — and perhaps, unease. Interestingly, many scenes from the 2001 Academy Award-winning film "A Beautiful Mind" were filmed here, with Russell Crowe walking the same hallways where students report supernatural encounters. Today, Rockefeller College remains one of Princeton's residential colleges, where undergraduates live among architectural beauty — and, some believe, among spirits who have called this ground their own for nearly three centuries.