Gimghoul Castle

This mysterious stone castle sits just east of the UNC campus, built in the 1920s by the secret Order of Gimghoul society. The castle overlooks a rock formation called "Hippol Rock" and is closed to the public except during rare open houses.

Gimghoul Castle rises on a hill near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a stone fortress built in the 1920s by Waldensian stonemasons from Valdese. It serves as headquarters for the Order of Gimghoul, a secret society founded at the university in 1889. But the castle was built upon a legend far older—the tale of Peter Dromgoole, a student who mysteriously disappeared from campus in 1833 and whose ghost is said to haunt the grounds to this day.

The legend centers on Peter's love for a Chapel Hill girl known only as Miss Fanny. According to the story, Peter fought a duel to win her hand, meeting his rival near the site where the castle now stands. Peter lost—badly. He died on a rock, his blood staining the stone permanently red. The duel's winner and the panicking witnesses used that very rock to cover the shallow grave they quickly dug for Peter's body. The rock, known as Dromgoole Rock, still sits directly in front of the castle, its surface supposedly marked forever by Peter's blood.

Retellings of the legend vary from there. Some say Miss Fanny died of sorrow after visiting Peter's grave every night. Others claim she held his head in her arms as he passed. What remains constant is the belief that Peter Dromgoole's spirit roams the castle grounds at night, endlessly searching for justice or revenge.

Visitors and locals have reported strange occurrences for decades. Shadows flit across the grounds after dark. Mysterious lights appear in the trees and in the castle windows—even though no one is supposed to be inside. Footsteps echo across empty halls, and the chill of an unseen presence has been reported along Gimghoul Road. Some swear they have heard whispers carried by the wind.

The founders of the Order of Gimghoul originally called themselves the Order of Dromgoole, naming their secret society after the legendary ghost. They later changed the name to Gimghoul, "in accord with midnight and graves and weirdness." The order remains fiercely private, and the castle is off-limits to the public. Members are bound by secrecy, adding to the haunted mystique.

Historians have investigated the legend. Peter Dromgoole was real—he did indeed apply to Carolina in 1833. But records suggest he failed his entrance exams and left for Europe rather than dying in a duel. The story may have been inspired by his uncle, George C. Dromgoole, who fought a duel in 1837. Yet the legend persists, too powerful to be dismissed by mere facts.

On dark nights, shadows still move across the grounds of Gimghoul Castle. The Order keeps its secrets. And somewhere beneath that blood-stained rock, Peter Dromgoole may still be waiting.