I worked in the basement of a Caltech campus building that had been periodically haunted by the specter of the upper half of a roofer who had fallen from the six story roof twenty years earlier.
On the day of the 6.0 Whittier earthquakes of 1987 I arrived at the building an hour earlier than usual and took the elevator to the top floor where the snack bar was located. After buying a cup of coffee from the dispenser I strolled out of the snack room onto the penthouse balcony to gaze over the lovely campus. Just as I was about to take a sip of coffee the whole building jolted upwards and nearly knocked me off balance. Thinking the short earthquake could be a precursor to an even bigger earthquake, I turned to find my way to the stairwell. However, as I turned I was slammed to the tarmac so violently and swiftly that I had no time to break my fall with my hands.
As I struggled to crawl towards the stairwell I felt a sharp jabbing pain of my left ankle. I descended the stairs to the lobby and observed huge cracks in the corners and stumbled over chucks of plaster that had fallen onto the stairs. As I stumbled and limped through the lobby I encountered marble wall panels that had fallen and broken.
我在加利福尼亚理工大学校内的一个地下室里工作。20年前，有个盖屋顶的工人从这栋六层楼的房顶摔了下去，从此，这楼就闹鬼，那个工人的上半身总在这楼里游荡。
1987年惠蒂尔发生6级地震的那天，我比平常早到了一个小时。坐着电梯到了顶楼的快餐店，从自动售货机买了一杯咖啡后，我踱出小吃店，走到有遮阳雨篷的阳台边，欣赏这可爱的校园景色。正当我要嘬口咖啡时，突然整个建筑向上晃动起来，我差点失去平衡。我想这个轻微的地震之后肯定还会有场剧烈的地震发生，便转身想下楼去。但我一转过身，我就被狠狠地甩倒在停机坪上，速度之快让我都没时间用手撑着不至于跌倒。
我挣扎着向电梯间爬去，忽然左脚踝传来一阵剧烈的刺痛。我下楼来到大厅，听到角落里传出很大的墙壁裂缝的声音，我一瘸一拐得跨过楼梯上散落的一堆堆的石灰，穿过大厅，中途看见大理石的墙壁嵌板也掉下来，摔碎了。
