Haverford College

History & local legend

During his first year at Haverford College in 1982–1983, John Whitney Pettit lived in Woodside Cottage, then also called Margaret Gest House. He and his roommate Jeff occupied an upstairs apartment in the former farmhouse, sharing the building with a professor and his family.

In a retrospective account published by Anomalien, Pettit described hearing a scraping noise while reading one night. Looking up, he saw the heavy ceramic plate beneath his ceiling lamp slowly turning on its threaded support. He called Jeff over, and said his roommate watched it turn too. Pettit openly recalled that he had been smoking cannabis that evening; he also said there were no open windows or noticeable drafts.

He remembered other disturbances during the year, including footsteps heard upstairs by the family while the students were away for Christmas. The rotating fixture was the most striking event he personally described, and he said he never saw it move again.