It’s not unusual for old buildings to have ghostly accounts attached to them. How many of us don’t remember a house, a cemetery, a lonely stretch of road or even a railroad track in your hometown about which you heard tales?
So, it’s not surprising that a few haunting stories exist about the former St. Joseph’s Hospital on the campus of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. Portions of the hospital once served as residential living space for students and later as classrooms and faculty offices after 2012 when the Student Center, the current residential space, opened.
Dr. Jack Waddell, a physics Instructor of Excellence and a member of the Class of 1999, had heard plenty of the stories, both as a student and faculty member. He’s now collecting stories from alumni and employees for a booklet. He has received just over 40 so far, he said.
“I’ve had this idea for a while now, usually each October,” Waddell said. “I know when I was a student there were always ghost stories and alleged sightings. I think of ghost stories as a kind of communal folklore. All of us who have lived and worked here have a throughline of shared experiences with this special place, and ghost stories are a fun way to connect us to it.
“To me, it’s not important whether the ghosts are real. The stories are real, and they serve as a purpose to our community.”
One of the stories that stands out to him that has been shared by several staff members is about a figure they call the Tall Man. The figure is a tall man in a black coat and a wide black hat who carries a bag or briefcase. Most of the reports about the Tall Man have been second-hand stories, but one alumna shared a first-hand experience with Waddell.
“An alumna from one of the first years of the school reported a story of her climbing the stairs and suddenly feeling a spike of fear,” he said. “As she started running up the stairs, she saw in the corner of her eye a tall man wearing black with a black hat. It struck me that she used the same description as the staff members’ story, even though none of the staff were even here at the same time as the alumna.”
Waddell is still collecting stories, which can be sent to him via email at waddellj@asmsa.org. He said he’ll also accept audio recordings of ghostly accounts if the person doesn’t want to type a long story. He wants to capture as much as possible of each person’s story.
He hopes to at least have a rough draft of the booklet completed in PDF form by Halloween, but he plans to continue collecting stories to have a more complete set of stories by October 2025. He may print a few copies for people who want a hard copy, either at cost or with proceeds going to the ASMSA Foundation, he said.
When asked if he had any ghostly interactions of his own as a student, he said, “I did! But you’ll have to read the booklet to find out.”