my.smu is Supernatural

Platform UGGs are definitely not ideal for a walking tour, and yet I was hoofing it around campus in my furry boots in 90 degree weather because I had forgotten about our walking tour scheduled for Thursday. You might think that I do not pay enough attention to my campus since I forgot about the tour, but that all changed after SMU’s associate director of media relations, Nancy George, took us on a guided tour that reminded me how lucky I am to be a mustang. 

You may be aware of how unique SMU is based on the intense rush process, the affluent area in which the university is located, or the fact that the sand on our volleyball courts was imported from Brazil, but there is so much more that makes this place unlike any other university. 

For one, according to SMU lore and Nancy Geroge’s very informative tour, there is paranormal activity on our campus. Thankfully, we got past Friday the 13th without anything too weird happening, but it is almost Halloween, so try to avoid the ghosts in the library that may be extra active around this time. 

But, I am getting ahead of myself. I think my nerves about the ghosts got to me. After all, I am writing this in the library, so I better watch my back, if the lore is true. 

Anyway, we began the tour near Dallas Hall, and if you are an SMU historian or just a history minor like me, you might know that Dallas Hall is the oldest building on campus, built in 1915. However, even if you took your history classes in Dallas Hall, like I did, you still might not be aware of the lore that lies within the walls of the oldest building on campus. 

Nancy George confirmed the conspiracy theory that there is a “secret” apartment on the third floor of Dallas Hall. There are several theories as to who lived in the apartment. However, the most commonly accepted theory is that a man by the last name of Patterson lived there while he served as the night watchman. This would have been when Dallas Hall Lawn was just a muddy field, and he looked after the campus from his perch in the tiny apartment on the third floor. Today, students still take on the challenge of finding the apartment from the inside of the building at some point before they graduate. While on the topic of graduation, I thought I would calm all your nerves and tell you that the lore about stepping on the seal in Dallas Hall does not have any historical context. So, even if you tripped on your campus tour while you were still in high school, I promise if you don’t graduate, it was probably due to your own undoing, rather than some supernatural curse. 

Now that we know SMU has always had watchmen looking after the campus, just like our SMUPD today, I feel safe enough to tell you about the spookier lore that has haunted this campus since SMU’s first president. 

If you have seen Ghostbusters, you are probably well aware that spirits, vapors, and any other supernatural beings, love to hang out in libraries. Maybe, they just like to read in their free time, but the ghosts on our campus also like to bust the students who are getting busy in the stacks, if you know what I mean. 

Umphree Lee became the senior pastor at Highland Park United Methodist Church, on SMU’s campus in 1923, and became SMU’s fourth president in 1939. Unfortunately, he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1953, while in the stacks of Fondren Library. According to the lore and Nancy George, his office was also back near the stacks, and it is said that his spirit still haunts that area to this day. However, based on several ghost sightings claimed by students, his ghost has a mission, to stop any students who attempt the age-old college cliche of getting busy in the back of the library together. Students have also claimed that they have seen doors open on their own, books fall off of shelves, and papers move without any breeze, while in the stacks.

Of course, Lee’s spirit would be lonely on campus if it were the only one haunting our buildings. Not to worry about Lee’s ghost’s social life, because we have a second ghost on our campus that is just as active as Lee, but likes to have more fun. Jack, a friendly ghost, haunts McFarlin Auditorium, and according to the night crew for the building, there have been several disturbances that can only be explained by paranormal activity. Jack was a stage hand while he was alive, and he still lends a hand every now and then to the night crew, by opening elevators on his own.

Hopefully he can lend a supernatural hand to our football team this Saturday when we face off against the horned frogs, continuing our lasting rivalry with TCU. Even if we lose, Nancy George reminded me of what it means to be a student at SMU. As scholars on our campus, we represent over a century of history being made, memories never forgotten, moments to remember, and yes, even lore. Plus, I bet TCU students and faculty don’t love their school enough to stick around after death and haunt the place. If you are once a mustang, you’re always a mustang, even beyond the grave.