Wyatt Layton | Nov. 3, 2026
Despite appearances, Warren Wilson College (WWC) has its own slew of campus-wide troubles brewing in the shadows. From illumination issues to dining difficulties, it’s time to explore the darkest corners of WWC with the Top 10 Scariest Things That Will Keep Every Wilsonite Up at Night!
10. Vector Training
A student cringes at his laptop after receiving an email regarding online student trainings at Warren Wilson College in Asheville N.C.. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
Freshman and Transfer students: you don’t know what they took from you. In former years, incoming student Title IX training was not 150 minutes of VectorSolutions’ online videos, but a live play and information session titled “Sex, Drugs, and Rockin’ Consent” put on by our lovely Orientation Week Leaders. There are tales of condoms being thrown into the audience to thunderous applause – talk about STI (Student Transmitted Intelligence)!
Even though it wasn’t as creative as before, there’s no doubt incoming WWC students received an above-and-beyond education. Students were so engaged with the material that they didn’t want to turn it off, even in a window on their computer covered by multiple other tabs! Our campus feels safer (and more sober) already.
9. Whatever the “Freshman Flu” Was
A student leans away from a sick peer while a cloud of sickness envelops them in front of Sunderland House at Warren Wilson College in Asheville N.C.. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
A number of WWC students reported flu-like symptoms in the late days of September, a large portion of them being freshmen. The coughing, hacking and sniffling were present in all classrooms and the danger of infection was around every corner. Reports say the first exposure to this sickness was traced back to the Sunderland laundry room.
8. Jensen Bathrooms (Specifically the Second Floor)
Jensen Hall’s second floor bathroom at Warren Wilson College in Asheville N.C.. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
The Jensen bathrooms are an interesting beast, either perfectly normal or genuinely disgusting, with no grey area. Rumor has it that Jensen was built to look like an owl from an aerial view, yet many wish that the same levels of creativity went into creating bathrooms that don’t make you feel so desperately claustrophobic yet also completely claustrophobic and exposed. Please, let us pee in peace.
7. The Dark Spots Where You Genuinely Can't See Anything at Night
A comparison of the Pedestrian Bridge during the night and daytime on Warren Wilson College campus in Asheville N.C.. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
The walk from main campus to Ballfields is no joke. There are falling-apart wooden steps, jutting-out rocks and other obstacles that make me worry for the WWC barefooted population. At night, the end of the pedestrian bridge is a howling void, and peers’ silhouettes turn into creatures of the night, causing me to have the anxiety levels of a prey animal in an open field. Also, I’ve tripped up the hill like five times and it makes my asthma kick up.
6. The Two Spiders That Live in My Dorm – One in Each Ceiling Light
The ceiling lights of a Warren Wilson College dorm room where two spiders live. Asheville N.C.. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
Since they’re only silhouettes in the light fixture, I don’t actually know what kind of spiders they are, but I’m pretty sure they originated from the big hole where our ceiling fan meets the ceiling. I found out some spiders in N.C. can live up to 12 months with no food or water, so they may be walking around up there for a while, because both my roommate and I are way too scared to take them down ourselves.
5. The Villages Ash Trays
Multiple angles of the grime-filled ashtrays outside of the Villages Dorms on Warren Wilson College campus in Asheville N.C.. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
These things are absolutely disgusting and genuinely make me sad every time I see them. Allegedly, the Fire Marshall said that we shouldn't use the big ones anymore because people keep sticking trash in them and then when they’re used, it starts a genuine trash fire. But take it with a grain of salt because I can’t remember who told me that.
4. Gladfelter’s Hours
A student drops to their knees in hunger-based agony in front of Gladfelter Dining Hall at Warren in Asheville N.C.. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
Do you ever feel hungry? Sucks. Gladfelter is open every time you don’t need it to be and closed every time that you do. Do you want to eat before your off-campus shift on a weekend? Sorry, not open until your morning shift has already started. Hope you’re off before seven!
3. This Random Light That Comes on at Like 10:45 and Ruins the Whole Vibe
The bright outdoor lamp outside of the ANTC dorm at Warren Wilson College in Asheville N.C.. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
This one is most frightening for whatever poor souls’ windows are right in front of it. One moment you’re getting ready for bed, and the next you’re dealing with the retina-burning equivalence of a tractor light beam. It doesn’t illuminate anything important, and students refuse to take “we need light on the staircase for safety” as an answer. Some Wilsonites may believe it's one’s right to sit in the dark where nobody can see them smelling with my mouth open like a cat without the constant threat of visibility that light brings. Some Wilsonites probably even think it's cool if someone were to do that.
2. A Really Scary Clown
A really scary clown poses outside of Jensen Hall on WWC campus in Asheville, N.C. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
Okay, this one is more hypothetical, but just imagine if you saw a clown outside of your window, that would be so scary. Like looking out your window and seeing a really scary clown and not even knowing where it came from or anything. I don’t know, like, if you were at the Free Store and pulled back the fitting room curtain and there was a really scary clown there holding something scary or maybe with blood all over them. Like, you have to admit it would be really scary. Idk. Just a dive into my twisted mind, I guess.
1. 27 Unread emails from the WPO (and it’s Bad)
A redacted screenshot of the Google disabled account screen. (Echo News/Wyatt Darvin)
You’re behind on hours. They know you’re behind on hours. They're emailing your supervisor. You’re already halfway through the semester, did you really think you could catch up on 70 hours? Your supervisor is forwarding you the emails. You haven’t responded to any of them. You get one final GChat seconds before you get automatically logged out: “Come see me behind the White Barn.” Your WWC Google account has been terminated, your contract has been nullified and your time has run out.