Duke’s Spooky, (Non) Haunted Campus

The gargoyles and Gothic architecture may give the impression of a place where things can go bump in the night, but at Duke, the threat of running into a ghost or ghoul isn't very likely.

There is a spooky side to some of Duke's history - and it's not just a crypt below Duke Chapel that houses the remains of the Duke family. Whether it's an on-campus cemetery or the search for extra-sensory perception, it's the perfect time of year to highlight Halloween at Duke.

While you're getting into the spirit, grab your camera and capture some Halloween moments as part of Working@Duke's 3rd annual Blue Devil Halloween Photo Contest. Faculty and staff are invited to submit work- or Duke-related photos by midnight Nov. 1.

Buried History

Duke Chapel isn't the only place on campus where prominent Durhamites are buried.

Partially hidden in a saved space among the shadows of Wallace Wade Stadium is an inauspicious plot of land that sticks out from the Blue Zone parking lots.

Encased with a stone wall about three feet high is a cemetery where members of the Rigsbee family are buried.

Before Duke moved to where West Campus is now located, the Rigsbees owned the land - pigs once fed where the Blue Devils play football.

The local family sold part of its land to the Duke family in 1925 and in the deed requested the space be saved and Rigsbee descendents care for the property.

Search for a Sixth Sense

These cards may not be haunted, but they can give off a ghostly aura.

Commonly known as "Zener cards," these were used at the Duke Parapsychology Labratory as a way to conduct experiments for extra-sensory perception - the ability to realize information sensed only with the mind. Several decks of cards were created for the lab between 1930 and 1950 and were used in hundreds of thousands of trials by children to adults.

The lab now exists as the Rhine Research Center and is independent from Duke. Its offices are located just off West Campus on Campus Walk Avenue.

Final Resting Place

Certificates like this one were the necessary paperwork used nearly 80 years ago to bring Washington, James and Benjamin Duke to their final resting place in Duke Chapel.

In the early hours of the morning on May 14, 1935, a group of men entered Durham's Maplewood Cemetery, only aware they were hired to move three bodies. They entered the Duke Mausoleum, collected three corpses and took them to a newly created Memorial Chapel on Duke's West Campus.

The move was authorized by North Carolina's secretary of health and overseen by Durham's Hall-Wynne Company, a funeral service and crematory still in business today.