Dr. Tamela Smith has been a paranormal researcher and historian for decades. It’s what inspired her to create “Hilltop History and Haunts”, along with a kid-friendly version called “Spooky Tales on The Hill” to share her passion for storytelling with locals and tourists alike. I met her atop “The Hill” on the campus of Western Kentucky University just as the sun was setting on Bowling Green one early autumn afternoon. Perched atop a rock wall at the foot of Van Meter Hall, she showed me an EMF (electromagnetic field detector) and asked if I knew what it was. As it lit up like a Christmas tree, she explained, “It should be just green, but it goes off like this a lot up here.” She winked at me, as she knew the EMF had set the tone for our visit.
If you’re a child of the 80s, you may remember the fictional device, the P.K.E. (Psychokinetic Energy). Perhaps, Gozer the Gozerian could’ve been averted, had the Ghostbusters used an EMF instead? I guess we’ll never know. Regardless, an EMF detects electromagnetic fields and is used by electricians frequently. Although paranormal investigators also use the EMF readings as evidence of ghost activity, they believe that ghosts might create anomalous EMF spikes. As you can imagine, speculative minds abound in the case of whether there is such a thing as paranormal activity. But if you’ve had an up close and personal encounter with the spirit world as I have, there’s no denying the supernatural.
A skeptic, Dr. Smith is not. Quite the contrary, as she is deeply acquainted with the spirits and those who tell their stories upon the University of Western Kentucky, Bowling Green (WKU) campus.
As a first-year undergraduate student back in the day, she heard the stories of haunted buildings and the spooky characters who resided there. She had always been fascinated with the paranormal since she was a kid. So, those stories resonated with her as loud as an actual howl at the moon. But, when she became a WKU campus police officer working night shifts, it’s no big shocker that she experienced those hair-raising encounters first-hand. But that didn’t stop her. Smith went on to earn her Doctorate of Education within the halls of this very campus.
Since her retirement as a WKU professor, Dr. Smith has interviewed more than 100 people who have shared their own personal accounts of the haunted campus, and is painstakingly penning a book of the stories she has unearthed. Although she was careful to mention that the hauntings reported aren’t necessarily attached to a specific event, “A lot of people want to think that because a tragedy happened in a building, that's automatically who's haunting it. But there are some buildings in which I have no records of tragic happenings or deaths. For example, the description of who's been seen doesn't match who we know has passed away there. So, we rely on the paranormal theory that the land can hold energy, and that the land can be scarred by things that have happened in the past.”
To start at the beginning, Dr. Smith commenced the digging. As Bowling Green was founded in 1798, she pointed to the very hill we were sitting on and said, “This was all just still wilderness. Newspapers of the day noted that the hill might have afforded a lovely view of the surrounding countryside, but its thick coverings of cedars, underbrush, and limestone outcroppings marked it as a mysterious, even dangerous place. So, we don't know a lot about that time period, but we do know that in the late 1800s, there was a woman who lived up here on the hills, and she was kind of an outlaw. Her name was Betsy, and she made moonshine. But, she said that she was making vinegar. That’s how this area became known as Vinegar Hill.” Smith read from a 1892 Louisville Times story, "Betsy's unsavory enterprise attracts assorted ne'er-do-wells and gangs of bandits." As history will prove, the gangs of bandits were indeed merciless.
You’ll have to take one of Dr. Smith’s tours to learn how Vinegar Hill set a most spooky precedent for centuries to come, filled with eerie tales. And, while her tours aren’t necessarily theatrical in nature, you’ll feel as though you have audited a history course in Cherry Hall, named after the university’s founder – President Henry Hardin Cherry.
Spoiler alert: President Cherry is WKU’s GOAT of all Ghost GOATS!
The Hilltop History and Haunts 90-minute walking tour is offered by Dr. Smith on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays starting promptly at 7 pm CST in front of Gordon Wilson Hall. Advance online registration is required. Reserve your spot by visiting spookysmith.com.
*The Hilltop History and Haunts Tour is brought to you by Dr. Smith’s Spooky Stories, LLC, and is in no way affiliated with Western Kentucky University.
