As a student, Rachael Ross Weitknecht ’04 saw the figure of a man in her residence hall suite’s common room, among many other unsettling happenings. She stumbled across a portrait of that man hanging in the treasurer’s office not long after. It was Oscar F. Bernheim, an alumnus of Muhlenberg’s Class of 1892 who returned to his alma mater to serve as secretary and treasurer of the college.
In this capacity, Bernheim lived on campus in a home situated approximately where Trexler Pavilion is today. He died in that home on February 14, 1946.
Bernheim House
The building, Bernheim House, was later used as a residence hall, first for women who were training to become, essentially, resident advisors; then for female German majors; then for performing arts majors. In 1997, Bernheim House was demolished to make way for Trexler Pavilion.
The area where the house stood is considered the most haunted area of Muhlenberg’s campus. Legend holds that, in his will, Bernheim asked that his wife’s rose garden behind the house be preserved into the future. Benfer Hall, followed by South Hall, was constructed over the footprint of that garden.
Below, hear Rachael Ross Weitknecht ’04 describe the creepy happenings she and her suitemates in South experienced in early 2004.
Our friend since freshman year touched the lives of many people during her four years at Muhlenberg and throughout her life, so we established a fund to support biology student research in her memory.
