The old music building, Harding University

Arkansas · United States · School

Gertie is said to have fallen to her death in a dormitory dumbwaiter. An update from the university says the whole story was invented to frighten new.

The old music building at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas is associated with a girl called Gertie. The top window where she was said to appear is painted black, and people report hearing a piano being played in an empty building.

The backstory given in December 2003 held that Gertie had been a student many years earlier, when the institution took only women, and that she fell to her death in the dumbwaiter of her dormitory.

An update in September 2004 says something more useful: the tale of Gertie was made up to scare freshmen.

We keep the entry because that correction is the interesting part. This is a documented case of a campus ghost with a known function, invented deliberately by older students to unsettle the new intake, and successful enough that it acquired a name, a location, a manner of death and a painted window.

The piano is the detail that has kept it going, and an old music building will always supply one.

FAQ

Where is The old music building, Harding University located?

The old music building, Harding University is in Arkansas, United States.