October 15,1999
FEATURES
Ross Hall: the mystery of Savannah Hm
By JAMIE WELCH
When Fall has taken center-
stage, the mountains of North
Carolina give us a mystical show.
The mornings bring frozen dew,
and as the fog lifts from the earth,
the trees begin to blare their reds,
yellows, and oranges. And as the
sun sets, a deep and desolate
darkness falls over the mountains
and hills of Brevard. It is here in
the cold, silent fall night that Savan
nah Hill comes alive.
As All Hallows Eve quickly
approaches, what resides at the top
of Savannah Hill gets the attention
of the locals. Frances Ross Hall
was built in the early 1900’s on
what used to be called Savannah
Hill.
Originally built to be a summer
home for tourist was later bought by
Brevard Institute, who transformed
contained a morgue for those
soldiers whom died. Many years
after the war, R. H. Zachary, a local
farmer, built what is now called
Ross Hall upon the old hospital
grounds.
the summer home into a boy’s
dorm. However the legends of
Savannah Hill date back to the late
1800’s during the Civil War.
Clippings from The Clarion,
dating as far back as 1935, reveal
Savannah Hill housed a Civil War
Hospital. The hospital basement
Staff Photo
It is rumored that those who
died and were kept in the cool,
damp cellar have remained prison
ers of Savannah Hill, lurking about
the halls and rooms of Ross Hall.
Ross Hall functioned as a
dorm up until 1995 when it was
converted into an educational
Staff Photo
facility: Center for Recreation
and Wilderness Education.
However, the mysterious
stories told by those who once
lived there can still heard.
A local favorite seems to
be the story of a girl who was
mysteriously pushed down a
flight of stairs falling to her
death. Dying an untimely
death her ghost is said to be
one of Ross Hall’s many.
Ross Hall even has its own
love story. Legend says that
Ross was also a hospital
during WWI. A soldier, while
being nursed back to health
fell in love with his nurse.
However, one night a fire
broke out in Ross trapping the
soldiers beloved, as any man
blinded by love, he went to
rescue her from the flames.
Unfortunately the soldier and
his dame dies together in the
flames. Today he wanders
about in hopes that he will
find her. Rumors, as they
might be, many students have
chosen to keep a safe distance from
the haunted hll.
However there are those few
on campus that have kept their wits
about them. Clyde Carter, Assistant
Professor of Recreation and Wilder
ness Education, seems to be more
reluctant to buy into the ghost
theories. “I believe that many of the
stories have been made up.”
Mike Staton, working on his
internship lives in Ross Hall as a
caretaker, said, “I don’t believe in
ghosts, so the stories that I have
heard are kind of hard to believe.”
Whether or not ghosts and
spirits are your thing it is certain that
Savannah Hill and Ross Hall
present a certain mystery. So as All
Hallows Eve draws near and sun
falls from the sky beware of the
Staff Photo
shadows of afar for they just maybe
the ghosts of Savannah Hill.
I
Diamond Brand Camping Center, The Asheville Citizen-Times, Brevard College Outmg Club
and Twister Productions present
]n of V verest
By Adrian Burgess, Full Time Mountaineer, Writer, Photographer
Friday, Nov. 12 at 8 p.m.
Brevard College, Dunham Auditorium
Free to Brevard College Students u /ctoff
Tickets- $5 for the public, $3 for all other students and BC Faculty/Statt
Ticket Outlets: Br^ard College Porter Center Box Office, Diamond Brand Campmg Center, Lookmg Glass Outfitters,
Backcountry Outdoors, NOC Asheville ' '