Belmont University

Belmont University is a beautiful university located in Nashville. One of it’s most prominent features is Belmont Mansion, located on the campus. The mansion was built in 1850 and inhabited by Adelicia Acklen, who was noted as being good at manipulating men. As a result, she become one of the most wealthy women in the South. Even after the Civil War, when many in the South found themselves bankrupt, she continued to flourish. The luxerious parties and balls held there became known all over the nation, and became the stuff of legends. When Adelicia died in 1887, the mansion was sold. It became a girl’s school for many years, until Belmont University began there during the 1950s.

Adelicia Acklen remains a controversial figure today, seen by some as heroic and others as simply an opprotunist. Despite her lavish lifestyle, her life certainly had it’s share of pain. She lost several children to diseases, and this hurt her very baddly. Some say this is why her ghost still haunts the mansion today: she is still longing for her children to return. Others say she haunts the place purely for greed: it’s often said “you can’t take it with you,” and when she realized she couldn’t, her spirit returned to the mansion she loved so much in life. Either way, there are a number of stories of her presence, dating back years.

Many students and facualty claim to have seen the ghostly figure of a antebellum area woman walking the halls of Belmont Mansion at night, or seen her staring out the window. One of the most amazing accounts comes from a woman who claims to have come face to face with Adelicia one night. She says she was passing through a hall, when she rounded a corner and came face to face with a ghost of a woman dressed in a lavish, 1800s style dress. Needless to say, she exited the premise fairly quicky!

In any event, don’t be surprised if you see such a figure in Belmont Mansion late at night. Be afraid, but don’t be surprised