The Student Alumni Council has pieced together the darker side of University history by digging through old books and newspaper clippings in preparation for its first campus ghost tour today.

“We’ve been wanting to do a ghost tour or a historical tour for a while,” said Mehul Patel, a fourth-year political science and international affairs major from Grayson, who is also chair of the council. “We finally pushed it through, so I’ve been busy doing research with the help of the special collections library.”

The tour, “The Ghosts of Students Past” will highlight the history of more than 10 University buildings and sites. Tours will begin at the Arch at 9 p.m. today and Thursday, Oct. 22.

Patel said archived clippings from The Red & Black and the Athens Banner-Herald were helpful in piecing together historically accurate information for the event.

He said not all of the stories for the tour will be ghost-related, with some highlighting the University’s dark and spooky history, regardless of ghost sightings.

The event is open to members and friends of the Student Alumni Association, which is hosting the event. Each person attending is encouraged to donate one can of non-perishable food for the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia.

“We have a special love for the work of the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia,” said Julie Cheney, assistant director of membership for student and young alumni programs. “The Alumni Association on a few occasions has had events where canned food items were sought, and subsequently donated to the Food Bank.”

In addition to “spooking hunger,” the tour will allow students to get in touch with the University’s darker historical side.

“It’s nice to explain and share these stories with students,” Patel said in a telephone interview Monday. “The history is true, but some of the stories and myths may or may not be – it’s hard to tell.”

He said one of the more interesting stories he researched concerned a man named Willie who was documented as being buried headless in an unmarked tomb in the Jackson Street Cemetery in the late 1800s.

In addition, Patel said many students would be surprised to learn that the cemetery’s boundaries at one time extended to land which is now underneath portions of the Visual Arts building and Baldwin Hall, both on Jackson Street.

Much of the University’s dark history comes from the Civil War, Patel said. With troop stations and an infirmary, North Campus was a busy place during the war.

Each student will receive a program with written versions of the stories along with the sources used to obtain the information in case students want to research anything themselves, he said.

Stories featuring Phi Kappa Hall, the Chapel, Joseph E. Brown Hall, the Lustrat House and other buildings will be shared as well.

For students looking to attend the event, the group will leave at 9:05 p.m. Cheney advised students to meet at the Arch at 9 p.m.