HAUNTED
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Livingston, AL
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Birmingham, AL
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Athens, AL
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Decatur, AL
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Huntsville, AL
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Suggsville, AL
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Demopolis, AL
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Montevallo, AL
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Coatopa, AL
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Lowndesboro, AL
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Athens, AL
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Montevallo, AL
Pickens County Courthouse
Carrollton, AL
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Montevallo, AL
Sloss Furnaces
Birmingham, AL
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Selma, AL
UNA Bookstore
Florence, AL
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Livingston, AL
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Palmer Hall
(University of Montevallo)
By Dr. Frank McCoy
Palmer
Hall is a huge building. It has
an 1100 foot auditorium. As far
as the students are concerned, their contact with the ghost occurred on
college night. College night was recognized by the Smithsonian Institute
this year as having the longest-running continuous student-produced and
directed student show in the country. It
is a really intense rivalry. You
declare that you are gold or purple (the school colors). Then you go through various athletic competitions followed by
debates. Then it culminates in
a series of nights beginning on Wednesday and ending on Saturday.
Each group writes, produces, choreographs, and acts in a production
it has written. Then on
Saturday, a winner is declared. Probably
no more then ten days a year do students have an interest in Palmer, but
during that time, the rivalry and intense emotion are raucous on College
Night.
The
ghost of College Night is Trumbauer. They
affectionately call him Trummy. He
liked theater and he liked the University of Montevallo.
There is a Trumbauer award given by the theater department every
year. Supposedly, Trummy was
miffed because his name was left off the outside of the building.
He had something to do with designing it. So upon his death, he decided to get even with the people who
used the hall, not in a malicious way, but more in the spirit of College
Night, which is intense but fun. So
Trummy will wander backstage and appear and disappear as students are
getting ready. Most of these
students have never appeared on stage before and certainly not in front of
1100 people with bands playing and cheerleaders and that sort of thing. So the fact that they would see an apparition in the
labyrinth below the stage is understandable.
Every once in a while, he gets really mischievous and determines the
outcome of the competition by spinning one of the statues, and where it
points toward the gold side or the purple side wins the award for the year.
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