Heath Hutcheson, Campus Carrier features editor
For a school with as vast a history as Berry, it is only natural that over time some myths and legends have risen regarding its history. Given the current Halloween season, some Berry college staff have shared some spooky stories that they’ve heard about throughout their time here.
Dr. Jim Watkins, Professor of English recounts the story of a certain disappearing lake.
“When Berry allowed a lease for a company to come in and build a quarry on Berry property, Victory lake disappeared and then it came back after they stopped work on the quarry,” Watkins said. “That’s something of a legend because they never really confirmed whether it had anything to do with the quarry, but it was very coincidental and when the lake came back up, we started actually having a lot of sinkhole issues on campus.”
One of the most infamous Berry legends actually pertains to the ghost of a certain historical icon in the community, Martha herself.
“When the new dean for the school of education, Leo Anglin moved his family to campus, their daughter Ashley was told to look around and find something to do, and she ended up wandering over the Hoge building and when her parents asked what she had been doing, she said, ‘Well I went into the Hoge building and this nice lady showed me around,” Watkins said. “Later they went to dinner that weekend at the president’s house and when Ashley saw the painting of Martha Berry, she said, ‘That’s the nice lady that showed me around the Hoge building.”
Watkins as well as multiple other professors at Berry can attest to the story’s validity given how many actually knew the family closely. Watkins himself even bore eye witness to some strange goings on at the Hoge building.
“I have not seen Ashley in a number of years and I’ve never asked her to verify that story, but her mother confirmed to me that is exactly what happened that day,” Watkins said. “I used to live over on Faculty road myself for a number of years and from the front porch of my house you could see the southeast corner of the second floor of the Hoge building. That was where Matha Berry’s office was from what I understand and the light in that office would come off and on at weird times in the middle of the night.”
Some myths extend even beyond Berry into the larger Rome area as well, such as one from Mike Burnes, Director of Lifeworks Operations.
“I grew up in Rome and I used to hear all the time about a ghost who would stand on the highway as you’re approaching the mall and she was dressed in all white and people would see her as they went by,” Burnes said.
Dr. Watkins also shared why he believes that stories like this even become a part of our culture in the first place.
“I think people become connected to places through stories,” Watkins said. “You don’t necessarily need to prove that they’re true to be telling them from generation to generation. I think it’s part of our need to tie the human world to the non-human world. With Berry being such a close knit, small community, it’s bound to have that kind of thing.”