Ghosts of Austin Peay State University

By Meghan E. Gattignolo 

The city of Clarksville is 240 years old. A place with such deep history hides few corners where no one has ever tread. Particularly in downtown, you’ll be hard-pressed to walk a path not traveled by many people hundreds of years before. Every place in Clarksville has history, and maybe a secret or two.  

Austin Peay State University is definitely one of those places. 

A center for Halloween fun, not only because of G.H.O.S.T. – APSU’s answer for safe trick-or-treating – but also because of all the stories and legends surrounding some of the buildings on campus. 

The current college, as we recognize it today, was established in 1927, but the site of APSU has hosted a few other colleges, dating all the way back to 1806. Campus has seen a lot of history. 

Last year, two student organizations at Austin Peay teamed up to host a Spooky Tour that was open to the community. The tour trailed all around campus after dark, relaying the stories in creative ways, but also teaching the community a little about Clarksville history. A few of these stories are well-known if you’ve spent enough time on campus to hear them.

Harned Hall. Courtesy of The Customs House Museum Collection.

Harned Hall

Probably one of the saddest ghost stories on campus comes from Harned Hall. Today, the departments of Arts and Letters as well as History and Philosophy are housed here, but nearly a hundred years ago, Harned Hall was built as a women’s dormitory. 

Sometime between when Harned Hall was built and the 1980s, a young woman passed away inside the building. The story is that she may have been involved in an unrequited romance and took her own life. Most of the occurrences have been reported as taking place on the third floor. From the elevator not working properly, to noises in an empty bathroom, fire alarms going off by themselves and doors closing abruptly, many students and teachers working in Harned will attest to odd activity.

 

Margaret Trahern. One of two women with the name. She was one of the first women to enroll in Southwestern Presbyterian University and the very first to graduate in 1921 from Southwestern Presbyterian University, which was located where APSU is now. She married William G. Patch.

Trahern Building

The Trahern building is home to a ghost named Margaret, maybe one of two different real-life Margaret Traherns who have ties to campus. In the 1950s, Margaret Fort Trahern was an English teacher at APSU.  She and her husband Joseph Trahern were patrons of the arts and are the namesake of the Trahern Building. 

Every unexplained occurrence that happens in the building, particularly when lighting on stage fails to work or when things go wrong on stage, is blamed on Margaret. Some people believe they have even seen a woman’s apparition. Maybe Margaret just wants to remind everyone that she’s still here and watching. 

The Memorial Health Building

The Memorial Health Building on campus is now the center of ROTC, but it has housed an indoor pool and was the gym where the basketball team used to play. People say the building is also home to odd noises such as the clomping of hooves and disembodied braying sounds.  

Immediately following WWII, a flood of soldiers with families moved onto campus. In the late 1940s, these families with few resources shared a garden plot and a mule. The mule became the community’s treasured pet, providing rides to the young children who lived on campus. When the mule passed away, it was buried in the plot of land before the school built “The Red Barn”, as the Memorial Health Building is called. The intention was to not disturb the mule’s grave, which is roughly located under the center court in the gym. 

Woodward Library. APSU.

The Felix G. Woodward Library

The lower level of Austin Peay’s Felix G. Woodward Library is one of the creepiest locations on campus to be alone. Reportedly, items have gone missing, and people have experienced phantom phone calls and heard voices when there was no one around, particularly in the Printing Services area. According to historian Carolyn Ferrell’s research, the site of the library was once the location of a men’s dormitory called Stewart Hall. This dorm was used as a makeshift field hospital for injured soldiers following the Union occupation of Clarksville after the battle at Ft. Donelson in 1862. Many dying or grievously injured men spent time suffering where the library now stands. 

Without knowing any of the history, in 2010 famous psychic and spiritualist Lorraine Warren visited Austin Peay campus and gave a talk to students. She also toured some locations on campus, including the library. Witnesses say Lorraine went downstairs in the library but immediately requested to leave. Fans of The Conjuring series of films will know that Lorraine Warren claims to experience visions, like flashes of past events in a location. Lorraine explained what had disturbed her: she saw rows of cots full of injured Civil War-era soldiers. 

Learning about local history can be interesting, and bring new information into places you thought you knew. Come learn about Clarksville’s history at The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center, Tuesday through Saturday from 10am-5pm and Sundays from 1pm-5pm

Want to be on campus after learning about all the fascinating ghost stories of the campus’ history? Dress up and bring your kids to APSU’s annual Greater Halloween Options for Safe Trick-or-Treating, open to the Clarksville community – this Sunday October 27th from 2pm-5pm in the center of Austin Peay’s campus. 


References

https://www.wkrn.com/news-2-plus/the-hauntings-of-austin-peay-state-university/

https://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/local/2016/10/28/apsu-ghost-stories-feature-mule-civil-war/92698256/

https://www.apsu.edu/about-apsu/legends/red-barn.php

https://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/local/2016/10/28/trahern-ghost-stories-have-ties-apsu-history/92697730/

First Women: Margaret Trahern and Margaret Huxtable Townsend | Rhodes College


Meghan E. Gattignolo is a freelance writer and longtime Clarksville, TN resident. She loves to obsess about historical subjects and annoy her family daily with unsolicited random facts. Meghan holds a History B.A. from Austin Peay State University and lives in town with her husband and two children. 

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