Dr. Robert Mays, the director of counseling and testing at Augusta State University, holds a window containing the etched names of Lucy and Emily Galt. Some staff and students say the two girls still haunt Bellevue Hall. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

Emily Galt died more than 140 years ago, but some say she has never left the house, which is now part of Augusta State University.

The tale of her suicide and a 141-year-old etching in a second-story window have become the seeds of a fabled ghost story at the campus, which was once a military arsenal.

The story of Emily Galt's ghost is among several haunting tales told by faculty and students at the university - tales that have inspired sophomore Adam Cowart to get a few friends together to investigate.

"I was thinking it might be fun to check things out," Mr. Cowart said. "There's probably about seven or eight haunted locations on campus."

The tales also have spurred Dr. Ed Cashin, a former history professor at the college, to add a chapter about Augusta State's ghosts to his book, General Sherman's Girlfriend and Other Stories About Augusta.

"There are a lot of weird things going on that people swear to that you can't explain," Dr. Cashin said, adding that the college's history as a site of Civil War-era homes and as a former military arsenal helps the mystique.

The tale of Emily Galt, he said, is "probably the most interesting."

Miss Galt was 21 when she and her younger sister, Lucy, supposedly etched their names into a window of what is currently Augusta State's Bellevue Hall, which was built around 1820 and is the oldest building on campus.

Emily Galt supposedly etched her name in this window pane at Bellevue Hall. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

"Emily Galt, 1861," reads the etching, preserved in glass to this day.

As legend goes, Emily was engaged to a soldier who was going off to fight in the Civil War. She supposedly engraved her name in glass with her diamond engagement ring soon before her death.

Miss Galt had argued with her fiance about whether he should leave for the war. In the end, her betrothed joined the war and was killed in battle.

A distraught Miss Galt decided to take her life, so says legend, and leaped to her death from an upstairs window in Bellevue. Through the years, workers have reported hearing a man and woman arguing late at night inside Bellevue, but no one is ever found. And sometimes the phone system goes haywire.

"There have been people in the building by themselves and they've heard two people arguing," said Ginny Luke, who has worked in the building for the past 15 years.

She said she's seen other strange things occur, including a television downstairs that often turns on and off by itself.

"It just pops right on," she said, noting that one day recently "She (Emily) was watching the Today Show. We like her as a friendly ghost."

Lucy Galt supposedly etched her name in this window pane at Bellevue Hall CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

When Bellevue Hall was renovated about two years ago, the etched window was removed and placed in storage.

Dr. Robert Mays, the school's director of counseling and testing, said some construction workers took no chances of meeting Emily.

"One of the workers said he wasn't going back in there at night anymore," Dr. Mays said. "There were too many strange things. Doors opening and shutting."

But the hair-raising stories at Augusta State don't stop there. One building away from Bellevue is Benet House, which now houses the school's admissions office.

Workers there say they've often heard footsteps upstairs at night. Brenda Johnson says she's seen things in a mirror.

"It's like a gray flash, and then it's gone," she said. "It's just eerie. I don't like coming in here by myself."

She said another legend contends that a rocking chair can sometimes be heard rocking back and forth at night inside the house.

Ben Atkins, the assistant to the director of admissions, said he's been in his office at night inside Benet House when doors have seemingly shut by themselves.

At night, he admits, he stays away from a basement area in the house, which has what appears to be an entrance to a closed-off brick tunnel from the Augusta Arsenal days. When he works at night, he makes sure to say hello to "our resident poltergeist."

The Benet House at ASU is one of the buildings on campus rumored to be haunted. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

"I talk to it when I arrive, and I talk to it when I leave," he said with a laugh.

Other people have said things are sometimes mysteriously rearranged inside the house. A few years back, construction workers reported seeing someone inside the house at night when no one was supposed to be there. They searched the home and found no one.

But one of the most well-documented accounts of a ghost sighting on Augusta State's campus occurred at the Walker cemetery, located on Arsenal Avenue. In his book, Dr. Cashin describes the sighting of a Confederate soldier walking through the graveyard.

"It invites ghosts," Dr. Cashin wrote of the cemetery.

He writes that witnesses have reported seeing a man wearing a long gray coat and a yellow sash walking through the cemetery.

Dr. Helen Callahan, a former Augusta State professor, also reported experiencing a "cold spot" while walking with a friend through the cemetery.

Such tales inspired Mr. Cowart to form a paranormal investigation club; however, he said he recently canceled the charter because of his lack of time. But he said he does plan to continue investigating the supernatural occurrences.

"I have the necessary equipment, such as flashlights, walkie talkies and a electromagnetic field detector," he said. "I'm looking forward to this."

Reach Preston Sparks at (706) 828-3904, and Ashlee Griggs at (706) 823-3552 or ashlee.griggs@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Wednesday, October 23, 2002 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle