Has Anybody Seen Father Murphy?
Written by Donna Davies
The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park - NY
The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY - You may remember Father Murphy as a sitcom from the early 1980’s, but at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) located in Hyde Park, NY, Father Murphy means something entirely different. The presence of Father Murphy is somewhat of a culinary tradition amongst CIA faculty staff and students.
The CIA is a five-story, 150-room building, situated on 80 acres of land overlooking the Hudson River and formerly a Jesuit seminary. There is a cemetery on the grounds, which is the final resting place of many of the Jesuit priests that resided at St. Andrews. Having a cemetery on the grounds would not seem too far fetched, however the college librarian, Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer, shared an interesting story and disturbing story with me about the some of the deceased. “One of the rooms under the former seminary chapel was a mausoleum. When the school bought the building, the bodies had to be moved out, and it turned out that one of the bodies had not been properly embalmed, and had exploded in its coffin. This left a terrible stench in the room. People tried many different remedies for it, with little success. Finally, the president of the school pulled out some “bad sherry” that had been given to him, and had it sprinkled liberally in the room. This got rid of the smell.”
When the bodies were moved did their spirits remain behind? Was this the re-birth of Father Murphy? It appears that the unexplainable happenings that occur at the CIA seemed to get blamed on the poor Father.
I can not determine how, why or even if Father Murphy really exists, but security officer Andrew Rivera thinks the good father likes to make early morning calls while listening to Beethoven. Rivera explains,” The weirdest thing happened to me on the graveyard shift. The phone rang at 3 a.m. and no one was there I just heard Beethoven on the other end of the phone. The call came in on the emergency line, so we had to check it out. When we visited the room, the current student said that there was no phone there it was just an empty jack!” Rivera states that this has happened on more than one occasion. Was someone getting their wires crossed?
The attic of the CIA seems to be the father’s favorite place to haunt. There have been reports of footsteps being heard as well as Father’s Murphy desire to conserve electricity. The CIA’s purchasing agent shared an incident with me that left him spooked. He had entered the attic to do an inspection and the light went off. He thought, ok we’re having a power outage. Once again, he turns on the light switch and viola light. This was a sturdy switch mind you. Once again, lights out. He clearly stated that there is no way someone could come into the attic and flip the switch with him hearing. Maybe Father Murphy needed his rest after his 3:00 a.m. calls.
Does Father Murphy haunt the attic of the CIA or is he just an icon of folklore that keeps the historical element of the Jesuit Seminary alive? Stay tuned for an update. This is all I can share with you right now.
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