WILMINGTON — Haunted horses aren’t the only spooky presence to be seen at Wilmington College.

Libby Hayes, Senior Director of Human Resources at the college, managed to take a photo of what appeared to be a ghost at College Hall.

In February 2021, a co-worker had told Hayes there was a hawk on one of the trees outside College Hall, and it could be seen outside an office window on the third floor.

“I went to take a look and took a couple of photos and a video. I didn’t notice anything at the time I took the photos or video,” said Hayes. “When a co-worker asked to see my photos, I brought them up on my phone, and that’s when I noticed the person in the window. I was shocked.”

She told the News Journal she was standing directly in front of, and leaning on, the window sill. She knew it wasn’t her reflection due to her having blonde hair and wearing a mask at the time. Also, no one else was in the room.

“It sent chills through me,” she said.

She contacted a colleague at the college library who had been researching other ghost sightings in College Hall. Hayes said there had been several people who had seen a ghost in the building in various places, but there were no photos. Hayes’ ghost isn’t the same as one that others had seen.

“I reviewed several photos of College people back in the 1800s. There is one photo that has a woman in it that looks similar, but I’m not sure if it’s her,” she said.

While this was her first time spotting a possible ghost, she did have a prior paranormal encounter at a Wilmington house she used to live in.

“(The ghost) would walk the hallway and move about in the kitchen at times. Never saw it, just heard it,” she said.

While that ghost’s story is still unknown and Hayes hasn’t seen it again, she does have an idea who it might be.

“At the time, I had just lost my mother and I wondered if there was some connection to that loss that I was being reached out to. I found some comfort in that,” she said.