This year at our school, we have been challenged to do more things together as a faculty. These social events are meant to bring us together outside of the school walls and be real people with each other. Often, we get boxed into these little categories of teacher-hood and we decided to try to branch out a little and bring the many new young hires together with us old people.
“Let’s do a haunted tour!” they said.
“It will be fun!” they said.
Only 2 of us showed up.
Two of us “old” people. That just means the young kids are big scaredy cats and couldn’t hang with our bravery and coolness. Which is perfectly fine with us.
Tuscaloosa has a long storied history of paranormal activity. That little fact was shared with me tonight and I had no idea until tonight just how weird T-town could be. So, off we go with some paranormal investigators in the dark of the night before Halloween to see who’s haunting who.
About 20 of us got on a trolley, complete with haunted music, and took us to several places on and off-campus of UA including Capital Park, Bama Theater, Gorgas Library, Greenwood Cemetary, old Bryce, Little Round House, and the University Club. There were several places around the Quad that had interesting and unique tales of paranormal activity.
The tour ended at the Drish House. The story goes that when John Drish dies, his wife Sarah lit candles around him as he lied in state. She wanted the same thing for when she died and she hid those candles. Her family could not find them for her death and it’s rumored that she haunts the house by lighting fires in the tower.
To this day, people call the fire department to report seeing a fire in the tower. Since the fire department relocated their building to the same street as the Drish house, they just walk out of their door to get confirmation on the report. In September, the fire department received 7 or 8 calls reporting a fire.
