Vaquero Voice - The Rider Newspaper

“So, it was 12 midnight, I had to turn in an assignment in two days. But, the next day, I was not going to have access to the Internet at all. So, the only time I had to turn in my assignment was right then and there. … I had just finished my assignment, I drove to campus ’cause that’s the only place I had access to the Internet ’cause McDonald’s closed. They shut down the Wi-Fi, and I came here. There was nobody and I walked to the library and there was nobody. It was really dark, really spooky and I just turned in my assignment and then I walked off and it was just spooky, like, the darkness and silence. And then a cop stopped me and he was, like, ‘What are you doing here?’ and I was, like, ‘I just came to turn in an assignment.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, OK, you’re fine.’ I thought I might’ve gotten stopped for some reason. But, no, it was fine and that was pretty spooky. I’ve heard of people getting stabbed here, so I was, like, s–t. I’m sorry about that, I thought maybe I might get stabbed.”

Aaron Aviles

Biology sophomore

“Bueno pues una vez creo que cuando … [fui] a la casa de mi abuelita en México … escuché una voz que gritaba mi nombre y no se … se escuchaba así como: Yuli, Yuli, y no pues a mi me dio mucho miedo y me salí corriendo a otra casa y pues así ya fue. Dicen que siempre se escuchan [voces] ahí … donde vive mi abuelita pero no se, sabrá Dios qué sería”.

Yuliana Quiroz

Estudiante de segundo año de estudios interdisciplinarios

“Years ago, when I was 16, I went to bed like normal and then I woke up and I was super dizzy, like, the room was rocking … and I heard a woman’s voice. I heard her say, ‘Turn around, look at me,’ and with her voice I also heard, like, people screaming, like, in the background and … I turned the opposite way of the voice, trying to ignore it and then I felt my body start falling and start going towards the voice and then I freaked out. I started trying to shift my weight. So, I’m completely on my shoulder but whatever I did, like, I always felt my body turning around towards the voice and at that point, I just kept my eyes closed, and I remember trying to wake myself up and eventually, I did kind of wake up. The room stopped rocking and I thought, ‘OK, that was really weird, maybe it was a one-time thing.’ And I started falling back to sleep and as I was trying to fall asleep, I started to feel dizzy again and then I woke up and this happened, like, three times. The second time … it happened again when I started falling asleep and then I felt dizzy. … On the third night … I went to sleep and then I woke up and I was dizzy again. It was kind of foggy. I remember turning and looking at my door and I saw, like, a shadowy figure. I’m pretty sure it was a woman and then I also saw, like, the door slowly close. I don’t know if that was part of a dream. That’s what I remember.”

John Villarreal

Environmental science sophomore

“I would say, when it was still UT-Brownsville. I was in the North Hall, right? I think it was North or South and I was in the restroom, and I think I heard–I don’t know if it was me, maybe, I’m scared of the dark and being alone, I heard, like, a door slam. So, I just ran out and I got scared. Ever since then, I’ve hated those [buildings], North and South. I think that was the only thing that has happened to me here, but it was, like, years ago. So, I loved when everything moved over here because I think over there, it’s kinda spooky.”