21 that the bell tower and Claud Rogers Lee Building, built from the bricks of the torn down Godden Hall, held the spirit of Gertrude within their walls. Students in the Lee Building reported hearing footsteps above them, doors slamming and opening, locked doors being unlocked and faint tinkling of the piano keys as the spirit of Gertie played the piano. Harding’s Special Collections Librarian Hannah Wood recalled her experience of the mysterious rumors that students told while she was a student at Harding in the late 1990s. “I had friends who talked about the practice rooms in the Lee Building and would hear someone practicing upstairs and would go check it out and see no one there,” Wood said. Professor of Mathematics Debbie Duke associated the ghostly myths with the Lee Building in her time as a student at Harding as well. Duke said the stories she heard from her parents, who were at Harding before Godden Hall was torn down, were funnier than the campus folklore itself. “Godden Hall was thought of as being haunted and creepy Harding’s history includes not only tales of great success and achievement, but also rumors and whispers of past ghosts, haunted buildings and prophecies of future life events passed down through the student body. Popular Harding lore throughout the past century included Gertie the Ghost, the classic “three swings and a ring”, the old bell tower and the pregnant tree. These legends remain in the memory of the student body. The generational influence and longevity of these campus myths can be seen in past editions of The Bison. The most prominent legend in Harding’s history started before the university moved to Searcy and the land belonged to the Galloway Women’s College. The first recorded account of a ghostly presence was found in the Sept. 1936 issue of “The Bison” and described Godden Hall from the Galloway college as haunted by a ghost. This spirit, dubbed the “Galloway Ghost” in the following years, was reported roaming the corridors of Godden Hall. Students fabricated a story of the Galloway Ghost’s past in the 1940’s, but the most famous account of the ghost’s backstory came from then student Chris Elliot’s version of the tale in 1950. Elliot wrote a story about a young Galloway girl named Gertrude who died from falling in an elevator shaft in Godden Hall. The story was revived in the 1960s when students declared TALL TALES OF The stories behind the infamous legends of Harding University’s campus. Old Godden Hall built in 1902 and demolished in 1951. Clipping from The Bison 1948 Students pictured together by the bell tower on the front lawn. Photo from Brackett Library Archives A recreation of the “Galloway Ghost” from The Bison. Clipping from The Bison April 6, 1948
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