For legend and intrigue this Halloween, one needs only look intoThe University of Memphis's past, which has its share of spookytales.
"I don't believe in ghosts, but I whistle past graveyards," saidLaurie Snyder, College of Communications and Fine Arts associatedean for undergraduate programs. Snyder recalled a strangeoccurrence she had at the Old Brister Library when she was agraduate student that almost made her truly believe though.
"It was Halloween night, 1985," Snyder said. "I was doingresearch in the library. I heard this howling all over the library,and it sounded like an animal. Any other time I would assume it waswind, but it was Halloween -- and in a spooky library."
Snyder may have had an encounter with the ghost of the OldBrister Library. Legend tells of a female student who was raped andkilled in the towers of the library. Nobody came to help her, thelegend says, and the crime was never solved. It is said that herspirit still haunts the library.
"Normally, I would've passed this off, but then I saw otherstudents searching the library for the source of the sound," Snydersaid. "I went to get a library attendant. When he heard it, he tookone look around and said, 'I'm not even going to bother.' He wasthat unnerved about it."
Over the years, staff, faculty members and students havereported hearing noises throughout the library. Some say they seethe ghost appear and then disappear when approached. Campus policeofficers have heard screams coming from the building, only to go inand find no one in the building, Snyder said.
"To the best of my knowledge no one was murdered, but there wasa rape," Snyder said. "You know how urban legends grow ...especially the fact that this was such a spooky library."
The haunting of Old Brister Library isn't the only ghost storyspooking The U of M campus though. Perhaps a more famous legend isthe spirit that haunts Mynders Hall.
"It is said that Elizabeth Mynders haunts the hall," said DanielArmitage, associate dean of Residence Life. "She was the daughterof The University's first president and died at a young age."
Elizabeth's portrait hangs in the lobby of Mynders, and thebuilding is in the shape of an "E," adding to the legend.
"It is said she appears to students who don't study," Armitagesaid, "or students who are partying a little too much."
Students have recalled encounters with Elizabeth toArmitage.
"One student said she had a test the next day and couldn'tsleep," Armitage said. "She noticed an outline of a person in herchair, so she turned on the light and no one was there. She lookedat her desk and there was the book she was supposed to study,opened to the chapter she was being tested on. She claimed she putthe book up before bed."
Armitage told another story in which students came into the hallaround 4 a.m.
"They were trying to be quiet," he said, "and they saw Elizabethat the end of the hall. Upon seeing her, pipes started banging. Itwas almost like they were 'caught.'"
Even to this day, residents of Mynders say Elizabeth frequentsthe third floor of the old dorm.
"I thought I saw her on the roof once," said sophomore Joy Coop,a 19-year-old theatre major, "but when I looked back, whatever itwas had left."
Coop said she doesn't know if she really believes in the spirit,but she's not taking any chances either.
"She's an easy person to blame" for noise and such, Coop said."But just in case, I always go to the portrait to say hello."
For 18-year-old freshman Abigail Johnston, Elizabeth bringsmemories of home.
"It makes me a little homesick when I hear something move aroundon the third floor because my sister would always make noises likethat back at home," Johnston said. "Elizabeth is too noisy."
Legend or reality, both stories bring culture and personality toThe U of M campus, especially during Halloween.
"Halloween itself is based off of Samhain," Snyder said. "Thiswas a time when the 'other' world opened up to the temporal world,and creatures could roam the earth for this one night."
