Order of Gimghoul

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Coordinates: 35°54′43″N 79°02′10″W / 35.91194, -79.03611

Hippol Castle, headquarters of the order.
Hippol Castle, headquarters of the order.

The Order of Gimghoul is a collegiate secret society 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 students at the time.[3]

The society is open to "notable" male students (rising juniors and higher), and faculty members by invitation. The society centers itself around the legend of Peter Dromgoole, a student who mysteriously disappeared from campus in 1833.[4][5] 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 the 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 in nature, and has no clandestine agenda. Membership is closed and information about the order is strictly confidential as is access to archives less than 50 years old.[3]

The meeting place of the order, Hippol Castle, was built in 1924 at a cost of nearly $50,000.[6] Thirteen hundred tons of rough stone were used in its construction giving it the appearance of pre-Norman-England-style castle.[7] It is located at the end of Gimghoul Road, not far from Old Chapel Hill Cemetery on campus near Carmichael Auditorium.[8] According to real estate records, the 2.15-acre site is owned by a non-profit corporation entitled the Order of the Gimghoul and has a taxable value of over $1 million.[1][9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b HALLOWEEN: Secret Society In Chapel Hill Owns Gimghoul Castle. Raleigh Chronicle. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
  2. ^ Gimghoul Castle. WelcomeToNC.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
  3. ^ a b c Inventory of the Order of Gimghoul Records, 1832-2006 (bulk 1940-1997). UNC Libraries. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
  4. ^ The Legend of Gimghoul. Ghost Stories of North Carolina. ibiblio.org. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
  5. ^ Elliston, Jon; Priestley, Kent (2007). "Positively Goole-ish", North Carolina Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff. Guilford, CT: The Globe Pequot Press, pp. 102. ISBN 0762743662. Retrieved on 2008-05-09. 
  6. ^ Gimghoul Castle. Carrboro.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
  7. ^ Valle, Kirsten. "Secret society prompts ghoulish legends", The Daily Tar Heel, 2004-10-29. Retrieved on 2008-05-09. 
  8. ^ Gimghoul Castle, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.. North Carolina Postcards. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
  9. ^ Orange County Land Records. Data Summary Information Page Gimghoul Castle. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.