| Order of Gimghoul | |
|---|---|
 Hippol Castle | |
| Founded | 1889 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Type | Secret society |
| 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 ($834345 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 counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-most populous municipality in the state. Chapel Hill, Durham, and the state capital, Raleigh, make up the corners of the Research Triangle, with a total population of 2,106,463 in 2020.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is the flagship of the University of North Carolina system. After being chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States.
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Tony Waldrop was an American academic administrator, researcher, and athlete. In 2014, he became the third president of the University of South Alabama.
Chapel Hill Museum was a local cultural and historical museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The museum was founded in 1996 by leaders of the Town of Chapel Hill's Bicentennial Committee and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006. In the decade since its founding, Chapel Hill Museum averaged over 20,000 visitors a year and provided education programs to over 3,500 local students a year. The museum closed on July 11, 2010.
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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.
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.
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