Story By: MC 305, Fall 2023
The University of Montevallo has a rich history, from being the first all-girls college in Alabama to our unique homecoming tradition, but something more eerie looms on campus.
According to UM lore, the campus is haunted by ghosts of students, house mothers, and previous landowners. Here are the top five most haunted locations at the University of Montevallo
1. Condie Cunningham of Main Hall
By Amber Lynch, Kylie Jordan, and Rachel Raiford
Condie Cunningham was a resident of Main Hall in 1908. Condie’s story was commonly used as a lesson by upperclassmen to freshmen. “Condie Cunningham was a real person,” said Carey Heatherly, University of Montevallo archivist. Heatherly told the story and impact of Condie Cunningham.
The night of February 4, 1908
Condie and her friends were making fudge in their dorm. They were using what was called a “chafing dish,” which is a hot plate run with an alcohol lamp.
They were getting alarms, “30 minutes to lights out, 15 minutes to lights out, lights out,” Heatherly said.
Curfew was called and in a rush to extinguish their flame, the alcohol bottle was tipped over and the bottom of Cunningham’s nightgown was drenched in alcohol. She got too close to the flame, and her gown caught fire.
“She ran,” Heatherly said. They were able to catch her, and one account said they wrapped her in a carpet to try to put out the flames.
“Regardless, they got the fire out,” said Heatherly, “but it was too late.”
Cunningham was rushed to the doctor, where she was attended to, but was mostly sedated. “She lived for 48 hours,” said Heatherly. Her parents were able to come to visit her on February 6, 1908, the day of her death.
Her spirit
According to local legend, Cunnigham’s spirit still haunts Main Hall. Many believe her spirit can be seen within a particular door from Main Hall.
The door to Condie’s room is now kept in the library of the University of Montevallo. It is said the door is ingrained with a girl’s face with hair streaming back, as if on the run.
Heatherly said school records don’t indicate which room in Main Hall was hers. “The most pointed to room is the one on the fourth floor in the middle section,” he said. One of the fourth floor rooms has a metal door on it now, and it is only used for storage and custodial services.
“We don’t know what she looks like,” said Heatherly. The style of the yearbook back then usually had more names listed than pictures of the women.
“We know she was on the basketball team at the time,” Heatherly said. “There are pictures of the girls on the basketball team, and she’s listed, but there’s more names than there are, and again they don’t correspond.”
Heatherly has been in contact with her family and siblings to find a picture, but to no luck. “So we may never know what Condie looks like,” said Heatherly. “She may be right there front and center in these photos, we just don’t know.”
Condie’s Impact
After Cunnigham’s death, there were many changes made to Main Hall. “The brand new president at the time, Thomas Palmer,” Heatherly said, “from the minute he became president, he was worried about student safety.”
Main Hall is made of brick on the outside, but wood on the inside. Condie’s incident could have caught the entire dorm on fire, Heatherly said.
President Palmer added a water tower to the back so that if the dorm caught on fire, they could flood the building. He also added the fire escapes to the ends of the building.
In addition, he bought King House to make an on-campus infirmary until they could build an infirmary and hired the first female doctor on staff, Dr. Willena Peck from Boston. She stayed for four decades on the staff and had a residence hall on campus named after her.
2. The supernatural sightings of King House
By Sarah Turner, Elijah Knight and Riley Underwood
The story of King House is one of the more well-known tales of the supernatural on the University of Montevallo’s campus.
Edmund King was a wealthy settler from Virginia who moved to central Alabama in 1817. King operated an orchard on his land, and his house was built almost entirely by slaves that he owned.
It is said that the building’s construction is unusual for the region and the time period. With crisply laid bricks and clean-cut corners, there is no wonder there’s so much interest in one of the oldest buildings on campus.
There is a lot of allure around King and his family. His wife and some of his sons died strange, untimely deaths, with one of his sons being shot by a different son in a hunting accident. All the King family members are buried in the nearby King Family Cemetery, next to Harman Hall.
“The house is kind of a little unnerving at night…I feel more comfortable at the graveyard at night than I do at the house,” said Dr. Carey Heatherly, the University’s Archivist.
King was reported to be a very greedy man, and most of his wealth came in the form of gold coins. “He can be seen with his lantern and a shovel walking around outside the house looking for the place in the orchard where he buried his gold to hide it from the Yankees,” said Heatherly.
Other accounts describe seeing moving curtains in the windows that reveal a shadowy figure, on the upper floor of the house. There are also reports of sounds coming from King’s bedroom that stop as soon as someone gets to the door of the room.
While there is no evidence of ghosts at King House, it is somewhere students avoid when it gets dark outside.
3. Reynolds Hall: The Haunting Tale of Captain Henry Clay Reynolds
By Trudy Crowson, Nick Dumke and Easton Fothergil
Legend has it that Reynolds Hall is haunted by the spirit of Captain Henry Clay Reynolds.
Captain Reynolds’ Infirmary
The tale begins during the Civil War Era. The folklore is that Reynolds Hall was temporarily made into a Confederate hospital and Captain Reynolds was left in charge of the injured soldiers in the makeshift hospital.
Reynolds left to Brierfield Ironworks to help to protect it from Union troops. While he was gone, Union troops came and slaughtered all in Reynold’s Hall.
Riddled with guilt, he vowed never to leave the building unprotected again in his lifetime or the next.
According to Carey Heatherly, the University of Montevallo’s archivist, “there is not any historical data showing that Reynolds Hall was a confederate hospital, although it is a possibility.”
Captain Reynolds died October of 1920 in Tampa, Florida.
Captain Reynolds’ Presidency
Reynolds was removed quickly as president. It was found out that he was taking the students’ tuition money and putting into his business over on Main Street.
Bittered by having to leave the job that he loved and the college that he had worked hard to get started, some believe that this is the reason that he haunts the hall.
“Someone could have unfinished business,” Jeff Walker, UM communication professor inputs, “and that could be a reason why they bind themselves to a building.”
The manifestations that have been reported are varied. Some have said that they have seen a ghostly blue apparition walking about the building. It has even been reported to be seen walking about campus.
David Callahan, UM Theatre professor, reported “doors and windows would opened and closed by themselves.”
The best known ghostly activity in Reynolds Hall involves the portrait of the disgraced president. Dr. Frank McCoy said, “I have been over to Reynolds Hall on nights when maintenance people will see that Reynolds’ portrait has been moved. They will take it down and move it back to its proper place. No one has ever been caught moving it, but it does in fact move around the building.”
The portrait has now been permanently attached to the wall.
Another staff member, that wishes to remain anonymous, communicated that a television in an office kept turning off and on. There are supposedly cold spots within the building and you can have the sense of someone watching you.
4. The Residence Hall House Mothers
By Cypris Wilkinson, Hollie Mann, and Grace O’Riley
In the heart of the University of Montevallo, where academic pursuits and student life intertwine, whispers of otherworldly residents have woven their way into campus tales. From the nurturing spirit of Lady Hanson to the academic guardian Julia Tutwiler and mysterious presence of Myrtle Brooke, each residence hall has its own different narrative to tell.
As we dive into the haunting history of Brooke, Hanson, and Tutwiler Halls, prepare for ghostly pranks, mysterious occurrences, and eerie late-night encounters that have left students with raised eyebrows and a touch of fear.
Brooke Hall
Nestled within the walls of Brooke Hall, Myrtle Brooke is said to reside and cause strange occurrences.
In 1908, Brooke came to the University of Montevallo, known as Alabama Girls’ Industrial School until 1969, to teach psychology. She later taught psychology and sociology for the school.
Former students remember her vividly for her teaching ability. One account from a former student and later colleague described her as very intentional with her students. She was skilled at drawing someone out of their shell, but never really opened up or connected with others herself.
At Homecoming in 1945, her Sociology majors presented a portrait of her painted by Virginia Barnes of the Art Department. This portrait, which now hangs in Brooke Hall, is the centerpiece of many legends.
Inhabitants of this dorm have shared spine-tingling tales of a spirit that causes televisions to go haywire, TVs to crackle with eerie black and white static and even showers to switch on unexplainably.
Erica Mills, a senior at UM says, “Myrtle does haunt Brooke, whether you believe it or not. She is a figment in Brooke, but as long as you’re good with Myrtle, she won’t haunt you.”
This is a spooky truth for residents of the hall to live with.
Hanson Hall
Lady Hanson, the benevolent “house mother,” is said to roam the halls of Hanson. She is known for playing the role of a caring guardian to her residents.
Built in the “Roaring Twenties,” Hanson Hall is named in honor or Wenona White Hanson, the wife of Birmingham News publisher Victor H. Hanson, whose substantial contributions enabled Alabama College to construct Hanson Hall.
Her spectral presence is known for making nightly rounds rattling doorknobs to ensure her charges are safely in their rooms. Some even claim that Lady Hanson goes the extra mile, tucking students into their beds.
Be forewarned, as her motherly nature takes on a mischievous twist when students dare to break the rules, especially when it involves the opposite gender.
Tutwiler Hall
In the halls of Tutwiler, another figure makes her presence known.
Miss Julia Tutwiler was in the running to be the first president of the Alabama Girls’ Industrial School in Montevallo. However, she never served in that capacity. Tutwiler was already obligated to Livingston Normal School the year that the University of Montevallo.
Tutwiler Hall was still named in her honor and her spirit is rumored to reside there.
Julia Tutwiler was an advocate for women’s education during her time. She is rumored to be particularly active when she perceives students slacking academically.
Objects mysteriously tumble from walls and string lights turn on or off without explanation when she is displeased.
One chilling account from two students stands out involving a series of innocent “tests” to detect a ghostly presence in the residents’ room. These “tests” lead to a terrifying awakening with a mysterious picture frame crashing and unexplained bruises and scratches on the residents’ bodies.
This is just hint of the many encounters residents of the University have in their college experience.
5. Trummie: The ghost of Palmer Auditorium
By Laura Moxim and Amanda Boothe
Walter Trumbauer, or “Trummie,” was born on Halloween of 1887 and later moved to become an English professor at the University of Montevallo. He lived with his wife and daughter and served as caretakers for College Night at UM.
College Night events
It’s rumored that Trumbauer haunts the building of Palmer, after he designed and opened in the 1930’s and was discouraged that the building was not named after him.
After his death in 1973, online sources state that Trummie was known for swinging chandeliers, rustling banners and turning statues during College Night to predict the winner before it was announced.
“He would sprinkle confetti to show the winner of College Night,” said Bethany Singleton, a theater major at the University of Montevallo.
“I went into college night hearing a lot about Trummie but never believed it. Then I got here, and my mind was changed.” said Singleton. “One time we were rehearsing, and we kept hearing really loud rustling and banging noises, so I went outside and told Trummie to stop for five minutes, and he did. Five minutes later, he continued.”
Bethany said she’s not scared of the building Palmer, but since her personal experience with Trummie, she is a little more reluctant to go backstage and down the stairs by herself.
Students working and rehearsing in Palmer have all had their fair share of spooky experiences.
Whether Trummie is haunting out of anger or just trying to keep his tradition alive, students at the University of Montevallo never believed the rumors until they heard it firsthand.
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