John Wesley Lowery, professor in the Student Affairs, Student Success, and Disability Access Department, recently published a chapter in Myths, Mysteries, and the Macabre on American Campuses, a new book from the University of New Orleans Press.
Lowery coauthored the chapter “South Carolina College’s Civil War Nurse” with Christian K. Anderson. The chapter explores a Civil War-era nurse ghost story set at South Carolina College and examines how historical stories and legends become part of the traditions and lore of college campuses.
The story of the ghostly nurse in DeSaussure Hall is commonly featured in campus ghost tours. “These ghost tours are part of the broader processes of meaning-making about our own histories” (p. 289), Lowery and Anderson write. The authors also note that ghost stories can be important for “preserving personal and collective knowledge of the past” (p. 291), particularly histories that may be overlooked in more formal historical accounts. The chapter ultimately considers how stories passed down through campus communities can shape understandings of institutional history and memory.