| Order of Gimghoul | |
|---|---|
 Hippol Castle | |
| Founded | 1889 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Type | Secret society |
| Status | Active |
| Scope | Local |
| Chapters | 1 |
| Headquarters | Gimghoul Road Chapel Hill , North Carolina United States 35°54′43″N79°02′10″W / 35.91194°N 79.03611°W |
The Order of Gimghoul is a collegiate secret society at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is headquartered at Hippol (or Gimghoul) Castle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. [1] [2]
The order was founded in 1889 by Robert Worth Bingham, Shepard Bryan, William W. Davies, Edward Wray Martin, and Andrew Henry Patterson, who were University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) students at the time. [3]
The society centers itself around the legend of Peter Dromgoole, a student who mysteriously disappeared from campus in 1833. [4] [5] An urban legend evolved surrounding his departure, centering around his love of a Chapel Hill girl known only as "Miss Fanny." Supposedly, Dromgoole attempted to fight a duel to win her hand but was ultimately slain. Retellings of the legend vary from that point, variously stating that Miss Fanny either died of sorrow after visiting his grave every night or held his head in her arms as he passed. In reality, it is believed that Dromgoole left for Europe after failing his entry exams or joining the Army, possibly under the name of his roommate, John Buxton Williams. The legend may have originated, at least partially, from a duel involving Peter's uncle, George C. Dromgoole. [6] [7]
The founders originally called themselves the Order of Dromgoole, but later changed it to the Order of Gimghoul, "in accord with midnight and graves and weirdness," according to archives. [3] Tradition has it that the order held to the "Dromgoole legend and the ideals of Arthurian knighthood, and chivalry." From all accounts, the order is social and is believed to have no clandestine agenda. Membership is closed and information about the order is strictly confidential as is access to archives less than fifty years old.
The society is open to "notable" male students (rising juniors and higher), and faculty members by invitation.
The meeting place of the Order of Gimghoul is Hippol Castle, commonly known as Gimghoul Castle. Club founder Edward Wray Martin was noted as the most vocal proponent of the castle: former UNC English Professor Charles Phillips Russell recalled, "Gimghoul Castle, medieval in form and mysterious in air, owes its existence to the romantic fancies of law student Edward Wray Martin of the class of 1891, a devoted reader of Arthurian and other medieval legends, who saw shining knights where others saw grey professors. He perceived blond princesses instead of fat waitresses." Martin dreamed of the club having a "great gloomy pile standing on the edge of a cliff" where it could perform secret activities. [8]
There is some disagreement about exactly how old the castle is, as well as who built it. According to Russell, the castle was finished in 1926—its elaborate stone construction the handiwork of Waldensian stone-masons from Valdese, North Carolina. [8] Others are less definite in their claims, stating the castle took between four and six years to finish and was completed in the 1920s by French artisans. [9] [6] A third variation of the tale states that its construction started in 1924 and took 1,300 tons of rough stone . [7] All sources agree that the cost of construction exceeded $50,000 ($868691 in today's money).
To finance its construction, the Order sold 35 acres (14 ha) of property that was later designated the Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District. [10] The castle is located off-campus at the end of Gimghoul Road, not far from Old Chapel Hill Cemetery near Carmichael Auditorium. [11] According to real estate records, the 2.15-acre (0.87 ha) site is owned by a non-profit corporation the Order of the Gimghoul and has a taxable value of over $1 million. [1] [12] The castle is a contributing building in the Chapel Hill Historic District.
According to legend, the castle is situated on or near the grave of Peter Dromgoole and his ghost still haunts the grounds. A rock, known as "Dromgoole Rock," is supposedly permanently stained red with his blood after it was used to hide his body; it sits directly in front of the castle. [2] [7]
The Chris Gethard Show , a public access comedy television show in New York, has filmed several "exposés" on the order, none of which have substantiated any of the show's allegations. [13]
The archives of the Order of Gimghoul are available in Wilson Library at UNC; although, access to records less than fifty years old requires permission of the order. [14]
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-most populous municipality in the state. Chapel Hill and Durham make up the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 608,879 in 2023. When it's combined with Raleigh, the state capital, they make up the corners of the Research Triangle, which had an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States.
Orange County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 148,696. Its county seat is Hillsborough.
The University of North Carolina Center for Public Media, branded on-air as PBS North Carolina or commonly PBS NC, is a public television network serving the state of North Carolina. It is operated by the University of North Carolina system, which holds the licenses for all but one of the thirteen PBS member television stations licensed in the state—WTVI in Charlotte is owned by Central Piedmont Community College. The broadcast signals of the twelve television stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The network's operations are located at the UNC Center for Public Television at Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham.
Howard Nathaniel Lee is an American politician who served as Mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from 1969 to 1975. He was the first African-American mayor elected in Chapel Hill, and the first African American to be elected mayor of any majority-white city in the South.
Woody Lombardi Durham was an American play-by-play radio announcer for the North Carolina Tar Heels football and men's basketball programs from 1971 to 2011.
The Ackland Art Museum is a museum and academic unit of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded through the bequest of William Hayes Ackland (1855–1940) to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is located at 101 S. Columbia Street near the intersection of Franklin Street at the northern edge of campus.
The University of North Carolina School of Law, sometimes referred to as Carolina Law, is the law school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Established in 1845, it is among the oldest law schools in the United States and is the oldest law school in the state of North Carolina.
Franklin Street is a prominent thoroughfare in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Historic Franklin Street is considered the center of social life for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as the town of Chapel Hill.
Robert Sidney Martin is an American librarian, archivist, administrator, and educator. He is Professor Emeritus, School of Library and Information Studies, Texas Woman’s University, where he was the Lillian M. Bradshaw Endowed Chair until his retirement in 2008.
David Grier Martin Jr. is an American retired lawyer, politician, and university administrator. Martin was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1984 and 1986, losing to Alex McMillan. Martin later served as Secretary and a Vice President for the University of North Carolina system and has served as the host of North Carolina Bookwatch, a public access television show.
Walter Royal Davis was a Texas oil tycoon and philanthropist originally from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was also an influential figure in state politics and higher education. Davis Library, the main library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since it opened in 1984, is named for him, he having been a trustee at the university for 16 years. He died at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at the age of 88. He also had a home in Midland, Texas.
The Carolina Inn is a hotel listed on the National Register of Historic Places on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Orange County, North Carolina, which opened in 1924. The Carolina Inn is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is a cancer research and treatment center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. One of 52 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States, its clinical base is the N.C. Cancer Hospital, part of the UNC Health Care system. UNC Lineberger is the only public NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in the state of North Carolina. The current director is H. Shelton Earp III who succeeded current NCI director Norman Sharpless.
The Louis Round Wilson Library is a library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Completed in 1929, it served as the university's main library until 1984. Today, it houses several special collections. The dome rises 85 feet over the university's South Quadrangle.
Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District is a national historic district located at Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 42 contributing buildings and 1 contributing structure in a predominantly residential section of Chapel Hill. The district developed after 1924 as faculty housing and includes notable examples of Colonial Revival and Bungalow / American Craftsman style architecture. The acreage was sold for development by the Order of Gimghoul to fund the construction of neighboring Hippol Castle.
The North Carolina Collection is the largest collection of traditional library materials documenting a single state. It is part of the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The origins of the collection began in 1844 with the creation of the North Carolina Historical Society. The collection formally came into existence after a donation from John Sprunt Hill in 1930 totaling $25,000. The collection includes The Thomas Wolfe Collection and The Sir Walter Raleigh Collection.
UNC Medical Center (UNCMC) is a 932-bed non-profit, nationally ranked, public, research and academic medical center located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, providing tertiary care for the Research Triangle, surrounding areas and North Carolina. The medical center is the flagship campus of the UNC Health Care Health System and is made up of four hospitals that include the North Carolina Memorial Hospital, North Carolina Children's Hospital, North Carolina Neurosciences Hospital, North Carolina Women's Hospital, and the North Carolina Cancer Hospital. UNCMC is affiliated with the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. UNCMC features an ACS designated adult and pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center and has a helipad to handle medevac patients.
Ricky Hurtado is an American politician and educator who previously served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 63rd district. Elected in November 2020, he assumed office on January 1, 2021.
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