{"id":28052,"date":"2019-10-31T05:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=28052"},"modified":"2019-10-31T01:18:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T06:18:35","slug":"graduate-student-explores-the-ghost-stories-of-apsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/10\/31\/graduate-student-explores-the-ghost-stories-of-apsu\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate student explores the \u2018Ghost Stories of APSU\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-324279\" title=\"Austin Peay State University - APSU\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Austin-Peay-State-University-APSU.jpg\" alt=\"Austin Peay State University - APSU\" width=\"250\" height=\"64\"\/><strong>Clarksville, TN<\/strong> &#8211; It gets chilly around this time of year at Austin Peay State University (APSU). As the crisp autumn air slowly swirls with falling leaves, there\u2019s nothing better than gathering around a fire to hear a hair-raising ghost story.<\/p>\n<p>And Austin Peay State University has its ghost stories.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_470490\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-1.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-470490\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-470490\" title=\"Melissa Arrington, far right, prepares her team for the ghost hunt. (APSU)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-1-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Melissa Arrington, far right, prepares her team for the ghost hunt. (APSU)\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-470490\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa Arrington, far right, prepares her team for the ghost hunt. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Graduate student and adjunct instructor Melissa Arrington is compiling and investigating these stories in a documentary to answer the question, \u201cDo ghosts create the stories or do the stories create the ghosts?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs humans, we want to know the unknown,\u201d Arrington said. \u201cAnd one of the biggest unknowns in life, is death. So, of course, we want to know what happens after death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arrington \u2013 who earned her bachelor\u2019s in communication at APSU and is pursuing her master\u2019s in the same field \u2013 teaches in the Austin Peay State University Department of Communication. The documentary, \u201cGhost Stories of Austin Peay,\u201d and an accompanying research paper will complete her master\u2019s degree work.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"APSU grad student explores the \u2018Ghost Stories of Austin Peay\u2019\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HPhU6x69c0s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe question that we\u2019re asking isn\u2019t necessarily are ghosts real without a shadow of a doubt, but where do the stories come from?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Arrington interviewed Austin Peay Police Officer Charyl Ramsey, Printing Services graphic designer David Johnson and the Department of Communication\u2019s Cindy McElroy to share their paranormal stories on the documentary. Arrington focuses on ghost stories from the basement of APSU\u2019s Felix G. Woodward Library, Harned Hall and the Memorial Health Building.<\/p>\n<h3>The ghost of Harned Hall<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cYou hear the stories here and there on campus,\u201d Arrington said. \u201cThe big one is always about the girl who killed herself in Harned Hall. That\u2019s one of the reasons I picked Harned Hall. At least two of the people I interviewed brought up Harned Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[320left]Completed in 1931, Harned Hall was a girls dormitory until the 1980s. The legend goes that a young woman hung herself either on one of the railings in the stairwell or on the railing of the second story balcony. The woman\u2019s reason for killing herself is not a part of the ghost story, and Arrington has been unable to verify if anyone actually killed herself there.<\/p>\n<p>But Harned has all the creaks and groans of an old building, and the tales of haunting persist.<\/p>\n<p>The documentary asks, \u201cAre all the weird things that go on at Harned because a girl killed herself there or have people just created the story to explain something inexplicable?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou come up with a reason why you\u2019re hearing these sounds,\u201d Arrington said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_470491\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-2.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-470491\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-470491\" title=\"Witnesses have reported paranormal activity at Woodward Library. (APSU)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-2-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Witnesses have reported paranormal activity at Woodward Library. (APSU) \" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-470491\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Witnesses have reported paranormal activity at Woodward Library. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Civil War soldiers tread here<\/h3>\n<p>Famous paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren visited campus in 2009 and reported visions in the bottom floor of the library. She said she saw a Civil War hospital in the bottom floor of the library.<\/p>\n<p>[320right]\u201cShe said she had to get out,\u201d Arrington said. \u201cShe said she could see Civil War soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Research conducted by Clarksville author Carolyn Stier Ferrell supports the history. In one of her books, Ferrell mentions Stewart College \u2013 which operated from 1855-1874 where APSU is now. The college was evacuated in 1862 because Union soldiers were marching from Fort Donelson to capture Fort Defiance. The Union Army used buildings on the campus as a hospital, Ferrell said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey did evacuate Stewart College to put soldiers here,\u201d Arrington said. \u201cWhen Lorraine Warren was here, she said that she could hear them screaming, she could see them on beds.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_470492\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-3.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-470492\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-470492\" title=\"One of the ghost hunt team members explores Harned. (APSU)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-3-480x252.jpg\" alt=\"One of the ghost hunt team members explores Harned. (APSU)\" width=\"480\" height=\"252\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-470492\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the ghost hunt team members explores Harned. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>The ghost mule at Memorial Health<\/h3>\n<p>One ghost story centers on the reported sounds of hooves clopping in the Memorial Health Building on campus.<\/p>\n<p>While the building was under construction, a farmer lent his mule to the builders, the story goes. The mule also gave rides to children in nearby Castle Heights neighborhood, the namesake of the current Castle Heights residence hall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSupposedly this mule was loved by everyone and it died before Memorial Health Building was finished,\u201d Arrington said. \u201cThe story goes that they buried the mule under center court. People have claimed to hear hooves in the building. People have said they\u2019ve seen a white mule around campus.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_470493\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-4.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-470493\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-470493\" title=\"Ghost hunters explore Austin Pea State University's Harned Hall. (APSU)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-4-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Ghost hunters explore Austin Pea State University's Harned Hall. (APSU)\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-470493\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ghost hunters explore Austin Pea State University&#8217;s Harned Hall. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Why ghost stories are important<\/h3>\n<p>Arrington is fascinated with ghost stories and thinks they help explain what it is to be human.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot more to the world,\u201d she said. \u201cHave I ever seen a full body apparition? No. Are there times when I\u2019ll go somewhere and feel something weird that can\u2019t be explained? Yeah. Is it a ghost? Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Humans perhaps tell ghost stories for the reasons all stories are told and retold, to keep the memories alive. And ghosts keep the people in the stories alive as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there are ghosts then that means when we die, we don\u2019t just get erased,\u201d Arrington said. \u201cI think that is why ghost stories are so important to people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>[470center]<\/p>\n<h3>Harned Hall ghost hunt<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_470494\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-5.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-470494\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-470494\" title=\"Austin Peay State University's Harned Hall has all the creaks and groans of an old building, and the tales of haunting persist. (APSU)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/APSU-Graduate-student-explores-the-\u2018Ghost-Stories-of-Austin-Peay-State-University\u2019-5-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Austin Peay State University's Harned Hall has all the creaks and groans of an old building, and the tales of haunting persist. (APSU)\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-470494\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Austin Peay State University&#8217;s Harned Hall has all the creaks and groans of an old building, and the tales of haunting persist. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Arrington wants to maintain the integrity of her film.<\/p>\n<p>For the documentary, Arrington and her team performed a ghost hunt during the summer in Harned Hall using electromagnetic field meters, which yielded several responses. Whether it was interference from the building or paranormal activity is up to the audience to decide.<\/p>\n<p>[320right]\u201cAnytime we got something that looked like responses, one of the first things we would do is we would start looking around for something near us that could have set the EMF meter off,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want my personal beliefs to influence someone. I want you to see what we do and then form your own opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the debate continues over what happens to people after they die, Arrington believes the tradition of telling ghost stories will continue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn some subconscious level, we all want to know what happens after we die.\u201d<br \/>\nA compelling answer to that question is immortal.<\/p>\n<h3>To learn more<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>For more information about the Department of Communication, go to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.apsu.edu\/communication\" >www.apsu.edu\/communication<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clarksville, TN &#8211; It gets chilly around this time of year at Austin Peay State University (APSU). As the crisp autumn air slowly swirls with falling leaves, there\u2019s nothing better than gathering around a fire to hear a hair-raising ghost story. And Austin Peay State University has its ghost stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,28,12765,6570,6423,6831,262,12679,31537,2169,1485,512,825,23354,1482,1820,3683,34256,29368,23677],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-7is","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28053,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28052\/revisions\/28053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}