Joyce Eger, assistant director of admissions at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, had a spooky experience involving a light with an apparent mind of its own at the Hempfield campus building where she works.

“I reached in and totally overshot the light switch, wasn’t anywhere near it, and the light came on,” she said. “It scared me to death.”

Nevertheless, she was back at the Rossetti House on Friday evening, joining a tour led by paranormal investigators who say they may have found proof of otherworldly experiences that students and staff have reported over the years at the 1946 house that used to be the home of Mary Lynch Quinn.

Recalling the incident with the unexplained illumination, Eger said, “I was thinking, ‘Mary, thanks for putting the light on for me.’

“But it scared me. I grabbed the stuff out of my office, left every light on and got back into the car and got out of there as fast as I could.”

Quinn died in 1997 in her 80s, after she was found in a swimming pool near the home by her caretaker.

After Quinn’s home was acquired by the university the following year, its various uses included housing for international students. Students have reported strange noises — including what seems to be a female voice humming or footsteps — as well as lights that unexpectedly flick on and off, similar to Eger’s experience.

Others have said they’ve felt a cold chill in the living room, where Quinn’s body was laid out following her demise.

Jason Iampietro of Monongahela, founder of Revenant Entity Paranormal Society, said his group appeared to have made contact with Quinn and with a entity named Juan, possibly a former student, when they conducted an initial investigation at the Rossetti House in July.

Attempting to repeat that experience on Friday, members of the group asked questions of people whose spirits are thought to remain connected to the house. They watched for results from devices meant to react to such presences — by generating lights or noises, some of which seem to be verbal responses.

A light sensor flickered on a living room couch next to seated tour participant Mia Stohon of Cranberry, a junior psychology major at the Pitt campus. When she invited a supposed spirit to sit next to her, one of the group’s devices appeared to answer, “Later this evening.”

“I’ve always believed in ghosts,” Stohon said after the tour. “I thought it was neat that they had the one (device) next to me that flared up like I had a ghost next to me. That was really fun.”

Another tour member directed a question to Quinn, wondering if she approved of the university’s current use of her former home as an admissions office.

“Certainly,” a static-filled voice seemed to reply.

Quinn’s one-time home now is named for the late Guy Rossetti, who served for 29 years as professor of Hispanic languages and literature and later as vice president for administrative affairs at Pitt-Greensburg.

In October 2023, the Revenant Entity group led a similar tour of another Pitt-Greensburg building with a haunting tradition: Lynch Hall, a Tudor-style mansion that now houses administrative offices.

It belonged to Quinn’s father, Comm. Charles McKenna Lynch, a coal magnate and U.S. Naval Academy graduate who served in both World War I and World War II.

Campus lore holds that Lynch’s spirit still is present at his former home. Staff have reported unnerving experiences there — including a security guard who found nobody nearby when the front door opened.

During the tour of Lynch Hall, a voice generated by an investigator’s phone app seemed to issue a plea: “Can you help me?”

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