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Huntingdon College, founded in 1854, is a coeducational liberal arts college in Montgomery, Alabama. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the college is known for its music, business, and science programs. The college has recently restructured and now includes a football team. The college remains very small in size with fewer than 1,000 students and is known for having a high quality faculty.
All students to the college receive a personal laptop for their use while at the college and junior and senior students are eligible for a trip abroad with most expenses covered by tuition.
History
Huntingdon College was chartered on February 2, 1854 as Tuskegee Female College by the Alabama State Legislature and Governor John A. Winston. In 1872 the name was changed to Alabama Conference Female College as it was now under the auspices of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. A decision was made in the late 19th century to move the campus to a larger city. The college, renamed the Women's College of Alabama relocated in 1910 to a 58 acre (235,000 m²) parcel in the Cloverdale section of Montgomery. A campus plan was commissioned from the Olmsted Brothers amd several new buildings were constructed to complement the "collegiate Gothic" style of the main college building, Flowers Memorial Hall.
The college admitted its first male student in 1934 and changed its name the next year to Huntingdon College in honor of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a notable supporter of Methodism.
Greek Life
Sororities
- Alpha Omicron Pi 1975
- Chi Omega 1976
- Alpha Kappa Alpha 1999
Fraternities
- Sigma Phi Epsilon 1977
- Kappa Sigma 1981
Fun Fact
Huntingdon can be seen in the Tim Burton movie Big Fish where the campus is used to portray Auburn University.
Various Hauntings, Ghosts, and Poltergeists around Campus
Pratt Hall
Pratt Hall is perhaps the most famous haunted dorm in Alabama. The Red Lady as she has been called was a former student who committed suicide. The young lady was rather anti-social and is known for her obsession with the color red. Martha is till known to haunt these halls. Students report seeing flashes of red coming from under the doors and through the windows of the building. Strange moaning and whimpers have also been reported by students of the college consistently for more than eighty years. Both Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Chi Omega have their chapter rooms in this building, and one night in October, both sororities always take part in "The Red Lady Run," painting their faces, wearing all black, and running around campus.The real individual on which this myth is based came to the Alabama Woman's College at the bequest of her father's will. He wished his daughter to go to his mother's alma mater. Dispite the fact that the real incident of her death occered in the former Tuscolusa campus, the legend continues unabaited with the move to Montgomery.
Martha, 'The Red Lady' is featured in Kathryn Tucker Windham's famous book "Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey"
Houghton Library
Frank the Library Ghost was perhaps a natural addition to the group of hauntings on campus. Looked on as a pest by the Library staff, He is known to reverse entire book shelves over night. Library staff also reports hearing the old and rarely used dumbwaiter rising up and down the stacks on its own. Frank is particularly active in the fourth floor of the stacks. Students report hearing someone walking around on the metal floor outside their field of vision, when they go to investigate they find nothing but a blast of chilling air and a distant sounding maniacal giggling.
Ghost seekers should get particular joy out of being in the Houghton Library during Halloween during which Library staff decorates the building. It has also been said that there is a vampire on staff in the library. There is a rumor that the remains of a former employee named Mrs. Tallulah are stored in the building's attic. Though the student newspaper has pressed, the staff has refused to answer to this grim accusation and no one is allowed into the attic.
Searcy Hall
- What now is an all male dorm, it is fitting that the ghost that stalks the halls is female. Dressed only in a towel, this temptress seems to appear, smile, and then vanish before one's very eyes. There is no background story since no one has been able to stop her long enough to ask her a question, or for that matter close their mouth upon seeing her majestic and transparent beauty. Lights turn on and off in unused rooms of the building and unexplainable noises have been reported by resident assistants and other staff who at times are required to stay in Searcy alone.Massey Hall
If someone asks you to walk the fourth floor at midnight, don't bring a flashlight... just trust me on that. A feeling of being watched that can only be described as "searching" is reported by those who dare go down the hall at night alone. The top floors of this building have been condemned and are blocked off. Crafty students have been known to find ways around the blocked off stairways to explore the top floors at night. Massey, one of the oldest buildings on campus is also one of the creepiest, especially because most of it has gone unused for decades.Hanson Hall
Hanson Hall houses the Kappa Sigma Chapter room. Several brothers of the fraternity have noted hearing footsteps in the closed floor above them, lights suddenly turned off, and other strange noises. The third and fourth floors of Hanson are completely closed off to everyone. Crafty students have been known to remove the chained and locked door from its hinges to gain access to some of the creepiest places on campus. The third floor is an unused and long abandoned dormitory covered in spray painted curses and threats to the administration written by the angry students who were being forced out of the hall when it closed after an incident. All furniture on the hall remains in place since the hall closed decades ago, beds with mattresses, desks covered in old assignments and notes... People left this dormitory very quickly. The fourth floor of Hanson is partially demolished but offers an excellent view of campus. Students who have been to the top two floors of Hanson note the feeling of being watched and strange stains on the mattresses and recent looking trash that indicate that they are not the only people who have been on these floors since the closing. There have been reports (some confirmed by campus security) of the homeless taking shelter in abandoned spaces on campus.The Green
There are supposedly three ghosts that frequent the Green, all of whom died at an early age."Billy" was a little boy who was visiting his older sister in the 1970s. Rumour has it that while playing the wind blew his ball into the pond. Apparently he drowned trying to retrieve his toy. This is just an assumption because the ball was never found. Sometimes while walking along the green students have reported seeing a glowing figure like a young child looking around in the bushes near the pond late at night. Some rationalize this as the President's children sneaking out at night, but freshmen frequently report talking to a boy wearing out-of-style clothes about his missing ball. Only later do they realize what actually happened.
A second story involves the brutal assault and murder of an unnamed young girl in the early 1960s. After studying one night at the library she left for her dorm room at Ligon, but never made it. Sometime during the night she was strangled to death and dragged into the forest where the assaulter proceeded to mangle her body. Her friends thought they knew who the assaulter was, but even after months of investigation no one was charged. It is said that, if you stay out on the right night, you can hear her calling out the name of her assaulter.
A young male student committed suicide on the green in the late 1970s in the area down by where the pond is now. It has been said that if you lie on the grass by the pond at night to look at the stars with your boyfriend/girlfriend you can feel this disturbed young ghost lie down next to you to watch. Girls note the feeling of having their hair stroked while sitting in the gazebo alone.
References
1854 establishments | Montgomery, Alabama | Liberal arts colleges | Universities and colleges in Alabama
"Huntingdon College"