“A baffling personality.” “Eclectic.” “A genius.” These are the words used to describe Nathan Snyder, the inaugural director of paranormal activity and investigation for the Communication Building at Boise State University.
Snyder, a media professor at Boise State, has taught at the university for 13 years. Now, he’s expanding his resume to feats beyond the classroom.
As Halloween comes and goes, conversations about ghosts and the paranormal are in high gear, especially for one of Boise State’s allegedly haunted buildings on campus: the Communication Building.
The building is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a former Boise State student, Dinah. Although there are no records to verify her existence, the rumors are enough to draw attention from students and the local community year after year.
“Inevitably, at this time of year on Halloween, people come looking for ghost stories. This year in particular, we had some students in a room holding a seance unbeknownst to anybody in the building,” Snyder said. “One of my employees walked in on them in the dark not seeing them. They started talking to him and scared him pretty badly.”
Although information regarding the building would normally go through the building coordinator, Snyder decided to undertake the responsibility of answering paranormal-related questions. After seeking approval from the chairs of the Media and Communication Departments earlier this year, he was appointed as the first-ever director of paranormal activity and investigation.
As director, Snyder coordinates with anyone who is interested in ghost-like activity within the building. He also arranges investigations and tours for those looking to conduct seances or ghost hunts.
“I realized we’ve always had people want to know more about this building, particularly about the ghosts,” Snyder said. “I just decided that I would create this position of the director of paranormal activity and investigation because those were fun words to throw out there, and they sound like something that Peter Venkman from ‘Ghostbusters’ would put on the title of his door.”
Though initially taken aback by news of his new position, many of Snyder’s students were unsurprised by his decision to take on such a unique role within the building.
“[This position] is very on brand for things that he talks about,” said Lacey Jensen, a senior integrated media and communication major and a student of Snyder’s. “I think that he has spent a lot of time researching things like this, or spending time on his own studying paranormal-type stuff.”
Students also attested to Snyder’s credentials as the building’s director of paranormal activity and investigation.
Taya Thornton | The Arbiter
“Like most things Nathan says, I had to question if it was a joke, but then he went on to explain how he came to have that position,” said junior film and television arts major Sebastian Mendoza. “I don’t think he’s a religious man, but I do think he is a spiritual man in … a very analytical sense. And truly, if anyone would be tasked with that job, I think it should be Nathan.”
Mendoza described Snyder as a “Renaissance man” with a foot in every door, stating that Snyder could talk about nearly any topic while being somewhat knowledgeable in it.
“[Nathan] is like a mini-historian for everything he touches. He grabs on to the whos, whats and wheres of everything,” Mendoza said. “I think he could apply that knowledge to the paranormal.”
Though many attribute Snyder’s credentials to his analytical prowess, he believes that dealing with the paranormal requires a philosophical approach rather than a scientific one, describing his bachelor’s degree in philosophy as his “best credential” for the position.
“A ghost might be something like something that exists in my imagination or your imagination, but we both believe it and have some sort of concrete world or real world experience around it. That might be the kind of thing that qualifies as a ghost,” Snyder said when explaining his perspective on the paranormal.
Snyder used money as an example of this concept. Since money carries an assigned value that is collectively agreed upon, it bears real-world consequences despite its imaginative properties.
Though Snyder’s domain on campus is limited to the Communication Building, he is no stranger to ghosts outside of a university setting.
After purchasing property with his wife in an old mining town in Boise County, they discovered the history behind the property’s previous owner, Bella Cathcart. Old postcards were tucked behind the baseboards and personal items strewn underneath the house. Over time, they formed an impression of who she was.
“The ghost of Bella Cathcart haunts us in that house, because her presence was kind of left behind with it,” Snyder said. “Her activities and her life were there.”
As for the future of his role as director of paranormal activity and investigation, Snyder explained that he is content with the current scope of his position and believes it is well-suited for the Communication Building.
“[The position] is a very informal title. In fact, the sign on my door says ‘director of paranormal activity and investigation,’ and it’s just written in Sharpie. It’s as serious … as anybody wants to take it,” Snyder said.
Regardless of whether the ghost stories are true, the rumored paranormal activity within the Communication Building is enough to “haunt” generations of college students for years to come. And for those who are brave enough to test the validity of these ghost stories, they’ll have Nathan Snyder to guide them.
