HAUNTED PLACES

Baldwin Hill
Livingston, AL

Birmingham Public Library Archives
Birmingham, AL

Brown Hall
Athens, AL

Burrelson House
Decatur, AL

Cedarhurst Mansion
Huntsville, AL

Cleveland House
Suggsville, AL

Founders Hall
Athens, AL

Gainswood
Demopolis, AL

King House
Montevallo, AL

Leehaven
Coatopa, AL

Main Residence Hall
Montevallo, AL

Marengo
Lowndesboro, AL

McCandeless Hall
Athens, AL

Palmer Hall
Montevallo, AL

Pickens County Courthouse
Carrollton, AL

Reynolds Hall
Montevallo, AL

Sloss Furnaces
Birmingham, AL

Sturtivant Hall
Selma, AL

UNA Bookstore
Florence, AL

Upchurch House
Livingston, AL

Founders Hall
by Sandra Cook

Founders Hall is the most prominent building on campus. It was built with labor from the community in 1822. The whole community joined in to build Founders Hall because they wanted a place where their girls could grow up to be Southern Belles. The building has a lot of stories. The columns in the front of it are named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John because at that time, it was a religious school and was under the auspices of the Baptist Church until 1975. There’s a story about the columns. One of them supposedly has a keg of whiskey in it. The story goes that the brick mason that was working there liked to have a little nip now and then. One day, the supervisor came by, so he tossed the keg of whiskey in the column, and it’s still there. Madame Jane Hamilton Childs, who was headmistress of the school during the Civil War, supposedly saved the building from the ravages of the Yankee soldiers. The story goes that General Truxion, who was a Russian on the side of the Yankee troops who occupied Athens, had come to burn and destroy Founders Hall. And the story goes that Madame Childs marched out on the lawn and from the folds of her long black skirt she took a note, and the note was supposedly from Abraham Lincoln. After that, the soldiers left. We’ve not found the note. It may be stuck away in the archives somewhere.

Through the years, students and workmen who have stayed late at night have heard and seen things in Founders Hall. A professor who was working here late one night heard the jingling of keys outside of his office. When he opened the door, he saw something like fog standing there. One professor who came to the college to find a job was staying here overnight when he heard footsteps and the rattling of chains. He left the premises and never came back. Down through the years, students have reported hearing clicking sounds and squeaking doors. They have also felt puffs of cold air and smelled smoke. The ghost is seen in the third-floor window sometimes. I think the students call him the Night Stalker.

 

Last updated 07/24/01