Doris & Harry Vise Library, Cumberland University
Lebanon, Tennessee

There is a ghost cat that haunts the library. Where it came from and why it is haunting the library is unknown. He may belong to the little girl ghost who also haunts the library, although they have never been seen together.

On the evening of March 5, 2001 at approximately 9:45 PM, I was in my office at the Cumberland University Library in Lebanon, TN when I saw a ghost cat come floating across my office floor and disappear among the boxes stored under the table behind my desk. I did not see any legs or paws and no motion like a normal cat walking on a floor. The apparition was near the floor, about the right height for a cat, but it appeared to be gliding smoothly through the air instead of touching the floor. I couldn't tell if it came in through the door or came from under my desk. Hallucinating? Nerves? Heard too many ghost stories about Cumberland? Gone gaga? I don't know for sure, but I swear that I did see a cat-like something sail across the room and disappear. It appeared to be gray in color, but I could not discern many features, as it appeared to be willowy and in the general shape of a cat. There were other people in the library, and I had just gotten up from my desk to make my nightly rounds prior to closing when I saw the figure.

According to Dr. Frank Burns, Cumberland's archivist, we have a ghost of a little girl in the library. He and a former librarian have seen her. She appears to be dressed in white and so far as is known, she has been seen only by these two people. The former librarian would sometimes play peek-a-boo with her around the checkout desk. No one knows who she might be. I have not seen her, but I have had an eerie feeling some nights especially when I am back in the Clement Room and Castle Heights Room. The sensation is like a feeling or vibration that something else is there even though I have never seen or heard anything out the ordinary, except for the ghost cat in my office.

John D. Boniol
Vise Library