When security officer Sandy
Sobek-Allen heard that there was
a ghost in Tyler Hall she was
skeptical, but her experiences
working the night shift at Bucks
made her a believer.
Have you ever felt a presence
that you couldn’t explain, especially
in an older building or
property? Some believe Bucks
actually has its very own ghost.
Although Stella Tyler has been
dead since 1963, she has not left
Tyler Hall, her beloved home; at
least not entirely.
George Tyler and his wife lived
here on approximately 2,000
acres during the early part of the
20thcentury, most of what is now
the college and the adjacent state
park.
Sandy Sobek-Allen, who has
worked in the Office of Security
and Safety for 20 years , told me
of her own experiences with both
the historic building, and Stella’s
spirit.
When Sobek-Allen began here
in 1989, she was only a part-time
employee, but after a year or so,
she expressed an interest in the
midnight shift, so she began
training with the other security
guards. They began telling her
about their strange experiences in
Tyler Hall
She thought nothing of them at
first, dismissing them as mere
stories. “I sort of pooh-poohed
them, maybe they were trying to
spook me,” she said.
Then, while patrolling on her
own one night, she had her first
experience.
“I was walking to the dining room, which is through the
kitchen. As I got to the door to the
dining room, I reached around to
turn the light on, and I immediately
felt a distinct presence. I automatically
thought it was another
guard or maintenance, and I actually
said out loud ‘I’ll be with you
in a minute,'” said Sobek-Allen.
She then realized that no one was
there.
Sobek-Allen said that the presence
was heavy and mist-like,
with no actual form. Based on
both the stories she’d heard, and
her own research, she knew definitely
that it was Stella.
“Another time, near Christmas, I
had another meeting with Stella,”
remembers Sobek-Allen.
“I was walking through the building
when an alarm started to go
off.”
She immediately knew that the
alarm was coming from T142,
which at the time was the music
room. “We kept it locked and
alarmed because it contained musical
equipment, including a large
grand piano that Stella used to
play,” said Sobek-Allen.
The alarm had stopped by the time
she got there, but she unlocked the
room and went in.
“The room was set up as if for a
musical program. There were
chairs lined up with an aisle in the
middle. There were curtains
along the wall, heavy fabric curtains.
I heard a sort of a swishing
sound, like skirts rustling. The
curtains moved as if someone had
moved them to walk behind
them,” said Sobek-Allen.
Not taking any chances, she
called in another security guard,
who had also had similar experiences
and had ‘seen’ Stella on a
few occasions.
“He told me, ‘Oh, that was
Stella, she was in here,'” said
Sobek-Allen.
They took a report just in case it
was an actual break-in attempt,
but believe they knew who had really
appeared there that night.
“It was only a few days before
Christmas, maybe she wanted to
play some holiday music,” said
Sobek-Allen.
Sobek-Allen has also experienced
more than just the sound or
the presence of Stella.
“I was near the staircase to the
Pub, and I got the strongest aroma
of baked apples. It was almost as
if someone was cooking an entire
turkey dinner. It was overwhelming,”
said Sobek-Allen.
She knew it was Stella, imparting
some warmth.
Sobek-Allen has had numerous
encounters in Tyler Hall over the
years. Appliances turn on and off,
and the aroma of baked apples
fills the air from time to time.
This happens to her at different
times of the day and week, usually
when she’s alone in the building.
“The swishing sound will come
to me when I’m in a specific
room, and I’ll say to myself, ‘Oh,
okay, it’s just Stella,'” said Sobek
Allen.
She says that none of these visitations
are malevolent or scary in
any way. Sobek-Allen feels that
Stella is merely staying where she
was happiest, here in her home.
“I always feel that Stella is just
here protecting her home, and
watching over the school,” said
Sobek-Allen.
So, if you’re ever in Tyler Hall
and you sense something that just
doesn’t feel “right,” you might be
having a visitation from our very
own Stella Tyler.