The rustle of textbook pages, the rhythmic ticking of your wristwatch and the hum of fluorescent lighting are the only sounds present. Tucked away in a small wooden desk surrounded by the seemingly endless rows of books, you are studying in the stacks of Alderman Library alone. Or are you?
Some believers in the supernatural think the imposing brick structure of Alderman library houses more than just books. Through generous donations by library patrons, this central library is rumored to have acquired resident spirits that occasionally make their presence known.
Jared Loewenstein tells the tale of two ghosts residing in the depths of Alderman Library. Now working as the reference services librarian and curator of the Borges Collection, Loewenstein started working in the library as a first-year University student in 1962, eventually taking three degrees here at the University.
"I've been at the library for the last 39 years," Loewenstein said, reclining on the soft leather back of his chair, situated in the center of his cozy wooden office. "From my time here, there are two stories involving the supernatural that I can think of."
Spirit of the stacks
When Louisa County resident Bennett Wood Green died, he bequeathed his substantial library collection to the University. Some believe Green was unable to part from his books - even in the afterlife - and followed his books to their new location in the University library, which at the time was housed in the Dome Room of the Rotunda.
When the Rotunda library was transported to Alderman, his spirit supposedly followed.
"Every now and then, someone will say they feel a little uncomfortable in the stacks, as if a person is watching them," Loewenstein said. "There are many instances when the library is closed and no other person possibly could be in the stacks."
These strange encounters, Loewenstein said, usually are reported just after the midnight hour.
"Whenever the library staff hears these kind of reports, we always blame them on Dr. Green," Loewenstein said with a chuckle.
One long time female employee of the government documents section claimed to have seen Green's ghost on several different occasions, usually late at night. Students studying in the stacks late at night also have reported seeing part of a figure on the side, and turning to find nothing but a seemingly endless row of stacked books.
Other University students have heard the echoes of footsteps in the aisles but found them void of human presence upon further investigation.
"Come to think of it, none of these experiences have been reported in the new stacks," Loewenstein said, pointing out that the old stacks - home to Green's collection - are the crevices of the library most filled with ghost tales.
The Garnett Ghost
One spirit story involves a donation to the library of a Southern planter's complete literary collection. Just before the Civil War, the Garnett family lived on the sprawling Elmwood estate in the Fredericksberg area near the banks of the Rappahanick.
On many occasions, the family entertained a certain unnamed visitor, who was very fond of the Garnett's library. This guest would spend vast amounts of time perusing the extensive collection.
After he passed away of natural causes, his visits allegedly continued. At the end of the Civil War, Elmwood was deserted for nearly a century.
Though the rest of the house sank into disrepair during this period of abandonment, the library collection was well maintained - supposedly dusted and cared for by the ethereal patron.
When Alderman library first opened in 1938, the Garnett's library, along with pieces of old furniture and paintings, were donated to the building. Rumor has that this unnamed visitor accompanied the collection when it was moved to Alderman and still haunts the Garnett room to this day.
Home on the hill
Resident spirits on Grounds are not limited to Alderman Library. Right in the center of the University, just to the southeast of Thorton Hall, lies Montebello. The large estate, which sits on a hill in a thicket of trees, has been deemed a haunted house.
Completed around 1820, John Perry, one of Jefferson's principle builders in the construction of the University, built the residence for his home at the University.
"I remember going there as a student," Loewenstein said. "The trees surrounding the house were all covered in ivy which really added to the ghostly atmosphere."
The property was owned privately up until sometime in the early 1960s when it then became possession of the University. Since then it has been renovated and is offered to University employees on the same basis as one of the Lawn pavilions.
Vice President for Development Robert Sweeney spent two years residing in the Montebello estate.
"During my time there, I was not aware of any ghostly activity," Sweeney said.
Before Montebello became University property, however, the house was deserted for at least decade. The last occupants of this house, before it was deserted and later renovated, were known as a group of reclusive old ladies, the Moran sisters.
"They all had really strange, little old lady, Southern Belle names," Loewenstein said. "But now I just can't remember what they were. I think one of them was named Sarepta."
Eventually they all passed away, one after another, and the place was left alone and unattended for many years. Physically, the building remained in a slow state of collapse, with fading bricks and soiled columns.
Inspired by stories reporting spiritual visits by the Moran sisters, students used to frequent the abandoned estate on nights when the moon was bright.
University students supposedly witnessed the appearance of lights in empty windows and noises from deep within the structure. At the time, the estate was popular during Greek Rush Week, when fraternities would take advantage of the setting for initiation ceremonies.
Easter Parade
Not all of the University legends are of a supernatural origin. Seated comfortably on the edge of a stuffed chair in Alderman Cafe, John J. Owen, vice president emeritus for University development and a 1939 University graduate, recalls an old legend related to him by a former secret society member.
One Easter morning, University professors and students living on the Lawn awoke to a strange if not terrible sight. Behind each professor's classroom desk and poised at the front doors of the pavilion residences were various types of animals.
The exotic stuffed animals were University property stolen from the basement of Old Cabell hall. The menagerie included a Danish moose, a kangaroo, a Bengal tiger, a South American condor, an ostrich, a three-toed emu, a boa constrictor and a polar bear. The animals were transported from Old Cabell Hall by two members of the HOT FEET Society, founded in 1902 and a precursor to the I.M.P. Society.
The only casualty of this escapade was the polar bear.
"The story is that after they put the polar bear in front of a pavilion, a child of the faculty family saw this bear looking in the window, and he got his father's shotgun and shot the head off the bear," Owen recounted with a chuckle.
A large crew of workers labored all of that Sunday and the animals were returned safely to the basement of Old Cabell Hall by Monday morning, never to see the Lawn pavilions again.
"According to Charles Edward 'Chic' Moran, the King of the HOT FEET, it took several large men from the buildings and Grounds crew to get them back down there, when he and one other student got them all up themselves," Owen said.
Like the fading bricks of Alderman or the weathered trees on the Lawn, these myths and legends provide a sense of connection from the experiences of years long gone to present day life on Grounds. Who knows what stories will come out of today's eerie holiday of Friday the 13th.
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