SBC Ghost Stories

            I was pleasantly surprised by the old ghost stories the Chung Mungs put together. I came into the experience expecting it to be overly dramatic and slightly spooky, but most of the stories were sweet and not creepy. Looking back on it, I suppose I should not have been surprised, especially since I knew the stories were from the college’s early years. It makes sense that these stories weren’t creepy due to the college’s rural location—I’m sure no one wanted to start promoting weird stories that would scare people away. During the early years, Miss. Indie and Daisy were probably thought about and mentioned even more than they are today. These days they are simply people who passed away a very long time ago, figures from our history books, but to the faculty and students of the newly founded Sweet Briar, Miss. Indie, at least, would have been a woman some people actually knew. I am sure these ghost stories were a way of keeping the memories of them alive.

            There was a fairly good amount of historical accuracy within most of the stories. Daisy’s harp, which we still have, was mentioned in quite a few of the stories, along with her portrait still hanging in Sweet Briar House, and her garden. I think that the death of Miss. Indie had happened so recently that people might have found it disrespectful to use untrue historical references. The stories themselves, whether the authors really believed they happened or not, were not disrespectful to the deceased. I saw them as a way of honoring Daisy and Miss. Indie, a way that showed that the members of Sweet Briar still saw the spirits of their founders living on.