I graduated from Huntingdon College some time ago. This church affiliated college is located in Montgomery, Alabama. Anyone remotely acquainted with this institution has probably heard the story about the Red Lady. According to legend, there was a young woman student who committed suicide at the campus sometime in the distant past. Some stories say that the young lady killed herself at the old campus located at Tuskegee. Other stories say that she died on the fourth floor of Pratt Hall at the present campus located in Montgomery. At any rate, the legend claims that the young woman was friendless and had a strange obsession with the color red. Her ghost is said to haunt the campus to this day.
Well, getting back to the olden days when I attended Huntingdon College. During my sophomore year I lived at Pratt Hall. I do recall one fateful night in October when the lights suddenly went out. I was trying to find my way to the end of the hall when suddenly the side hall opaque window glass glowed an ominous red. Then a young woman dressed in a white gown seemed to float up the side stairs. She was holding a candle in her hand. It was like a scene from a horror movie. I screamed and ran down the other direction of the hall. My best friend was with me. We hastily decided to hide inside her room. Never mind the logic with this thinking. If there were a real ghost, it could easily float through the walls of a room, so trying to lock ourselves inside was at best a futile attempt to elude the spook. My friend frantically tried to unlock the door to her room, but I was jumping up and down holding my flashlight, which made it difficult for her to see the keyhole. I finally decided that she was taking too long, and I just knew the ghost was going to get us if we waited any longer, so I made a mad dash for the stairs to the third floor. My friend also made the decision that she didn't want to be left alone on the second floor with the specter from hell, so she grabbed onto my shirt, and up the stairs we ran together. We must have made quite an impression--two young woman screaming and laughing, with the smaller girl hanging onto to the shirttail of the bigger female. The screaming was understandable. We were terrified. However, the laughter might need some explaining. I think our laughter was due partly to nervousness and partly to the subconscious realization that the whole thing was utterly ridiculous.
There was another student on third floor who witnessed the spectacle we were making. She asked, "What is it?"
We yelled back, "We don't know! " Then we raced passed her. She had an astonished look on her face.
Needless to say, we spent the night with some friends who lived on the third floor of the dormitory. When morning arrived, we found out some key information that helped solve the mystery of the spectral appearance that we saw.
There was an electrical outage in the area that lasted for about an hour or so. In the meantime, the fire department came out to investigate a call that someone had made from the cafeteria next door to the dormitory. Of course, the fire engine had its bright red light flashing. That is why the dormitory window appeared to glow red when I shined my flashlight in the window. The girl in white was some hapless student who trying to climb the stairs in the dark. She was dressed in her bed clothes and was carrying a candle since she had no other source of light.
It is amazing how your imagination can get carried away when you think you see something peculiar in the dark. I wonder how many other "ghost stories" have a similar, logical, earth bound explanation. But then that would ruin all the fun if we knew the real source of such sightings.
Such ghost stories abound in the month of Halloween. May each of my loyal readers remain safe and sound during this month. I promise not to do anything rash, although my hubby and I like to walk the dogs through the cemetery at dark. Spooky you say? Nah. The worst thing we have seen is dog poop. There is a greater danger of stepping in a canine hershey bar than there is in having a frightful encounter with a ghost.
Boo!
