By day it may be a child’s paradise, but by night, the poorly-lit, tree-lined playground on Duke’s Central Campus becomes a chilling display of the dark unknown.
Located between Alexander Avenue and Oregon Street, the Duke Children’s Campus, operated by Bright Horizons Family Solutions, neighbors the Duke Police Department and is just down the street from Central Campus apartments. On any given sunny afternoon, passersby can see children at play—bouncing a ball or swinging on monkey bars—through the chain-link fence that surrounds the playground.
Although it appears to be a safe haven for children during the day, the playground takes on a whole new persona by night. It is surrounded by towering trees and few street lights. In addition, the Duke buses do not serve Oregon Street, so it sees little traffic during the night. A passerby could easily feel deserted and isolated while walking in the area after sundown.
Sophomores Alex Semien and Samantha Greenky, who both live in apartments not far from the playground, consider it somewhat ominous and uninviting in the dark.
“I wouldn’t walk down there by myself at night. I always take a friend with me,” Greenky explained.
Semien said the area “looks kind of abandoned” after dark, adding that he finds the scene “a little weird.”
Despite its close proximity to the police department, this playground loses its daytime guise of innocence and, ironically, becomes frightening and formidable at nightfall.
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