22 and mysterious,” Duke said. “It was so old and beat up that they would throw screwdrivers at the walls. There were bats in it. The boys would throw tennis rackets to try to chase out the bats.” Another legend in the Harding canon was the “pregnant tree.” As described in an 2013 article from The Bison, the phenomenon that caused a bump in the tree was called a “burl.” The story of the time claimed that anyone who touched the “pregnant belly” of the tree would become pregnant themselves. “I remember walking past the tree my freshman year with my guy friends, and they would push each other into it,” senior Hallie Davis said. “It was so funny because it just continued the lore.” The “three swings and a ring” marriage myth was another legend created much later in Harding’s history. This rhyme was first mentioned in “The Bison” in the late 1990s. The articles describe the “dangerous” swing story as if a couple sits on the classic Harding wooden swings more than three times, then wedding bells will soon follow. An issue in October 1996 described the nuances of the bell tower variation of the legend, which said if a couple walked under the bell tower together, then they are destined to be married; however, if a man walks through the bell tower alone, he was said to never find love. Senior David Perkins said he first encountered these stories during his time at Harding Academy, but that most freshmen are given the full index of spooky stories as a way of initiating the new class. He attributed the preservation of these stories to the generations of families that have continued to send their children to Harding throughout the century. “I think it’s cool that [the legends] have continued to live this long,” Perkins said. “I do think that Harding has a very unique culture of being able to maintain things that are important to it and being able to pass down stories like that.” While these stories were just myths, Wood said the longevity of these stories was a reflection of the Harding student body during every decade. “I think part of it is that it provides a point of connection from generation to generation,” Wood said. “Every four to five years, we get a whole new crop of students here, so to me it’s one of those things that helps tie and weave those generations together … Each new crop of freshman gets told these same things and it gets woven into the tapestry of Harding.” She said while it may have begun as a way to scare freshmen, these stories formed a unique Harding identity known across campus. Duke realized through the stories passed down from her family that the qualities and hearts of Harding students and faculty had remained the same through the past century. “I think so many things about Harding have not changed over the years,” Duke said. “We’ve grown and gotten a lot bigger, but as far as the mission, what we’re all about and who we are, the fun times [my parents] had, students still have a lot of fun and they ought to… and it was that way back then and it’s that way now. That we still have these stories that we can laugh about and continue is just a part of who we are.” Written by Lauren Simmons Campus swing and the “pregnant tree” pictured in the 1980s. Photo from Brackett Library Archives Photo from Brackett Library Archives
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