Is Fresno State’s campus HAUNTED?
By Vicente Reyes | October 31, 2007
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Juan Villa / The Collegian
Cadavers, a bloody chainsaw and a dismembered body are things that you expect from a horror movie, but little do many students know that they are actually part of Fresno State history.
Some of the upstairs practice rooms in the Music building are rumored to be haunted.
Strong winds and unexpected lightning lit the night sky as DJ Clovis, a senior music performance major, said that he heard strange noises in the music building.
“Some people say that they hear voices or whistling in the practice rooms,” Clovis said.
There are other buildings on campus that hold some surprising tools used for studying.
Some classes held in Mclane Hall require students to work with cadavers. Amanda Lopez, a junior physical therapy major, is taking one of these classes. She said the rooms are always cold and have a morgue-like feel.
Being there alone is not something that she likes to do.
“It’s the whole setting,” Lopez said. “It’s cold and you know the bodies are there and they’re dead. You see all of these movies that bring up things in your head that freaks you out. You know that they are not true, but still.”
Another building that has a creepy story is the Mckee Fisk building.
Greg Lewis, a mass communication and journalism professor, said that late one night he was showing a few people the plaque in memory of Roger Tatarian, just outside of Mckee Fisk.
He stood on the plaque and said, “Hello, Roger.” Just then, the automatic doors behind him opened and closed by themselves.
According to an article written by Donald E. Coleman of the Fresno Bee in October of 1997, there is one professor from Fresno State history who has been referred to as “Jekyll and Hyde.”
Almost 20 years ago, Max Bernard Franc, a former political science professor from Fresno State, was arrested in August of 1988 for the murder of Tracy Leroy Nute.
Police discovered Franc after he rented and returned a chainsaw that was stained with blood, still containing bits of flesh.
He was charged for shooting Nute, and then cutting up the body to get it out of his apartment in west Hollywood. Parts of the body were found in Madera County and Los Angeles County.
If you happen to be on campus and feel a cold chill or your hair stand up, remember that it may be more than just your imagination.
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23 Responses to “Is Fresno State’s campus HAUNTED?”
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Nothing can be scarier than the stories of the IT bathrooms way back in 2002. That was not only haunting, but rather disgusting.
Those IT bathroom stories happened on and off for a while there. Especially in the 90’s when barstow was still a major street and stop for truckers. Of course now that there are all this development around that doesnt happen anymore or does it?
What about the IT bathrooms?
Chase, you don’t want to know. Lets just say Collegian reports in 2002 said bloody toilet paper and glory holes were involved. Senator Larry Craig has nothing on the IT men’s rooms. Yuck!
I just got my research lab keys issued and planning to work mostly in the nights, and now I am thinking again, this article scared me a lot, Please do not do this again.
So it was the IT men’s restroom that were involved? Huh? I’m confused. I wish to know more about these rumors.
ok…..
im so confused what r the rumors. whats the story?
I was at Fresno State back when Max Franc was there. In fact, HE was my Political Science Professor. When I heard about this chainsaw murder, it didn’t really surprise me all that much. I knew back then the man was weird. REALLY WEIRD. He gave me the CREEPS just looking at him and if he ever came close to me he gave me the shivers. I knew there was something wrong with the guy. I didn’t realize back then just how perceptive I was!
By the time this all happened, I was out of school and living in Santa Cruz. I went to Fresno for Christmas to see my family. My aunt and uncle, both alumni of Fresno State asked me if it was Max Franc that had been my poli sci professor because they remembered me complaining about how one of my profs was really weird and I told them yes it was him. They then told me what was going on and I do remember seeing a news clip when I was there of him in court. Still kind of freaks me out about how right I was about the man!!!
Yup, Max Franc was my Poli Sci professor back in the Fall 1983 semester. He wore a hairpiece affixed to his own hair with some sort of cheap hairpin. In many ways he was a weirdo. But I got an “A.”
What happened to him anyway?
Hi Sean…….
I totally remember that hair piece. UGH! It was awful…….just like his sense of dress. OMG. It was hideous. As far as I know he’s still in prison for murdering that male prostitute. You and I were at FSU at the same time. Fall 1983 I was going into my second year there.
Yes Fresno State is Haunted and I Know that for a Fact… In the Music building a girl hanged herself in one of the practice rooms on the second floor.. In the speech arts building in the basement you can see an old man going through walls.. In the North Gym and South Gym you can hear kids running down the hallways.. these kids also run through PHS, Macee Fisk and Social Science Building.. these kids were molested.. They are afro american.. The IT building or Engineering west on the second floor is very haunted.. something up there chokes you. at night if your up there alone…
so some girl hung herself in the music buidling. When was this and does anyone know her name? Was this a long time time ago? and what about this old man going through the walls who is he? did he also comitt sucide?
I must say these are the most interesting things that I have read about this school. I think that as the current students now, we have an obligation to not let these stories be forgotten. The students and others associated with Fresno State who lost their lives in some form on campus deserve to have their stories known. I wish I knew more about them myself, but I never heard anything about them until I came across this article. The Collegian should make it their effort to do some real investigation with these stories. As they find out more each semester, they can be the central story for each Halloween issue! I think every student on campus would be reading a copy of that issue.
I took a class from Max Franc while at Fresno state in the late 1970’s. He asked me, at one point, to correct papers for him which I agreed to do (in exchange for an “A” in his class). Little did I realize what I was getting into. Repeated unannounced visits to my apartment (one time he was carrying a bottle of champagne), invitations to go to a disco club then located on Blackstone Ave and, finally, an invitation to visit his “pad” in Hollywood. By that time, I had finally figured things out (I was very naive). I ended my “volunteer” work with him and told him to leave me alone.
Some years later, as an ordained priest, I opened up the newspaper to read that he had murdered and dismembered his “lover” in Hollywood. They found a pistol in his office on campus and he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. A few years ago, I heard he had died of a heart attack in prison.
The most creepy thing is that I was one of the few people who had ever seen the inside of his home. No grass in front or back–only cement. No furniture. He had range kitchen cabinets and a terribly matted shag rug. Later I read interviews with his neighbors who indicated that no one was ever invited into his home! Later, the police report also indicated that he was building a sound proof booth in his living room.
There I was–an innocent college student who agreed to correct papers for a man who turned out to be a deeply troubled man.
I prayed for him when I heard he had died. I’ve never heard of any ghost stories dealing with him.
Max Franc is dead? It would be helpful to get confirmation on this. I had also been to his house once, and it would be a bit creepy if he were now at large.
Did he die in prison? If not, when was he released?
Wow, haven’ heard about any of these. Are any of them true?
Well anyways, I think the men’s bathroom in the Psych building is haunted. On my way to a 7am class I decided to use the restroom in the psych building…the one downstairs…the stall doors in there creak. I went in and I believe i was the only one in there but i didn’t really look. While I was going, one of the stall doors start creaking as if someone was either opening or closing it. I was like oh I must not be the only one in here…so i went to wash my hands and looking at the stalls i can clearly see that no one else is in the bathroom with me! I got out of there and I swear I am never going in there again!
From what I know, a UHS student killed herself in one of the music rooms (hanging). It didn’t happen long ago. I remember it being in the newspapers.
Take Criminology class with Eric Hickey he will tell you guys about these stories.
Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s the Barstow was a major street like shaw. Since the university was basically located out in farmlands this was a stop for truckers. They use to fornicate in the restroom of the IT building because it was right next to the street. In the late 90’s there were posting on the internet by some people about it. The news and police caught on and started investigating. So they lock the building up at night. That is when it stopped. Sicko’s.
The UHS student is true, she hung herself and some music student or something found her in the morning. They never followed up on it though so I am still wondering why she did it.
The pyscho political science professor happened not to long ago. I never heard anything about it again either.
Fresno state has a rich history you just have to dig deep to find out more.
Can someone please tell me the story about the IT restromoom I’m very qurious!
Max Franc wasn’t psycho–he was being blackmailed by a 18-year-old male prostitute who was also blackmailing some important people down in LA (including a couple of high-ranking cops, apparently). The creator of Perry Mason, Erle Stanley Gardner, once wrote there were three things you could do with a blackmailer–pay him off, call the cops or kill him. Franc chose the latter.
The cops did a little illegal search and seizure in that case. They knew they couldn’t get a search warrant from the court, so they had the Poli Sci department secretary go into Franc’s office while he wasn’t there on a pretext to rummage around. She found a .38 pistol in a desk drawer. For those who might be horrified that a professor kept a gun in his office desk, this all happened in the early 1980s, when people weren’t so frightened about folks going postal.
Max Franc died in prison of a heart attack nine or 10 years ago.
As for the IT men’s room. Fresno State has been, over the years, a popular cruising spot for sex (both heterosexual and same-sex). The racquetball courts, as well as certain bathrooms have been used for sexual gymnastics for many, many years. Other popular spots have included the men’s room on the third floor of Family Sciences.
I have to mention that Fresno State hasn’t been “out in the country” since the 1960s. Everything that surrounds campus (except University Village) has been there since the 1960s, 70s or 80s.
The campus cops historically don’t take enforcement action. They’ll work through the campus community to get the message out to knock it off. IT locks the restrooms up more to stop people from blowing them up or setting them on fire, than for any other reason.
Just read this article and following comments, which I received today via email. Am very curious if anyone would be interested in an investigation by a paranormal research group. It would be interesting to see if in fact these Fresno State sites are haunted and by whom. You can contact us through our website http://www.ccpifresno.org.
someone should contact Ghost hunters. : )