At least this ghost doesn't disturb naptime.

The Bunnell House, the UAF childcare, is rumored to be home to more than just it's 36 children. Some say its haunted by the ghost of former President Charles Bunnell.

"That's what we think," said Paige Vonder Haar, the director of the Bunnell House. "Whenever we're swapping stories, it's like, it's Bunnell."

It's mostly a joke, Vonder Haar said, but that doesn't explain some of the weird things that happen from time to time in the house. Refrigerator doors have swung open on their own. Odd bells have been heard chiming late at night when there's no wind. Plastic bins have fallen over by themselves.

Sometimes, while on the phone at night, employees say they've heard a rotary dial turning in the background. All the Bunnell House phones are touchtone.

"That rotary dial thing is wicked, because why would there even be a rotary dial?" said Pammy Fowler, a Bunnell House teacher.

Fowler, though, doesn't believe the ghost rumors.

"I never had those experiences," she said.

Vonder Haar said once, late at night while on the phone, she said she just got a really weird feeling while on the phone.

"It was like someone else was on the phone," she said. "I got really uncomfortable, and just had to leave."

But luckily, the "ghost" shows up only after the children have gone home, Vonder Harr said.

"It's never during regular hours," she said. "But it could be Bunnell saying, you should go home."

Still, she adds, "We've probably conjured it up."

That might be the case. Terrence Cole, a UAF historian who's written extensively about the university, said he doesn't believe that Bunnell haunts his old home.

"The story could have originated from the fact that of course he was an old man and lived at the university for more than thirty years," Cole said, adding it's "a little ironic that the old mans house became a day care center."

Built in 1922, the Bunnell House was made to be Bunnell's residence halfway down the hill. Bunnell continued to live in the house, even after he retired, until he died in 1956. Two years later, the house was moved to Chatanika Drive. No other UAF president or chancellor lived in it since.

If Bunnell is still stomping around the house, he does good to not bother the children. They're all at least 30 months old, but that's still young enough to get scared of even Play-Doh snakes, Vonder Haar said.

But they're not too scared for Halloween. On Friday, five children gathered around Fowler carved pumpkins and pulled out seeds. Justin Durkee, 6, grabbed a cut out eye and tried to eat it as other children gathered around.

"Yuck," he yelled. "It is disgusting."

The Bunnell House also plans to take its children trick-or-treating this week. And every child there Friday afternoon had a costume in mind.

"I'm going to be Superman," said Kai Clein, 3, as he and others built fire trucks out of graham crackers and lickerish sticks on Saturday.

Anne O'Hara, 4, said she's going to be a princess, with a purple dress.

"Because I love princesses," she said. "My brother hates princesses."

It's typical of the children to dress like superheroes and cartoon characters, not phantoms, Vonder Haar said.

"I bet not one of them will tell you they'll be a ghost," she said.

Actually, one Bunnell House regular said he was going to be one.

Asked what he'd dress like, Ethan Runstadler, 5, said, "A ghost. Because I've never been a ghost in this neighborhood."

Even with a "ghost" around, Vonder Haar said the Bunnell House is a nice, friendly environment for children. She used to work in Signer's Hall, where it can be much scarier late at night.

"I felt more afraid of who'd have a key," she said. "It's not so child friendly there."