Inside the dim rooms of Shackelford Hall, rumors spread of a spirit named Sally
Inside the dim rooms of Shackelford Hall, whispers of phantom footsteps and stories of flickering lights have haunted Troy University students for decades.
The story varies depending on who tells it, but students gossip about a spirit named Sally. She was possibly a former student, or maybe the lover of Troy University’s third president, Edward Madison Shackelford, who oversaw the dorm’s construction in 1930.
Either jilted by her lover or left behind by a boyfriend who was deployed in World War II, Sally hanged herself on the off-limits fourth floor. Or maybe it was in the left-wing stairwell? Now, she haunts the hallways of Shackelford Hall, mostly targeting boys or those who dare to find love where she failed.
“I don't want to say that she's a bitter or jealous ghost, but one time, my boyfriend was in town visiting . . . and we were in Shackelford with my roommate,” said Mackenzie Heath, who graduated in 2021 with a communications degree. “The lights were flickering in our dorm, and I remember looking at Claudia, my roommate, and being like, ‘that was weird.’
“And then – all of a sudden – our AC cut out.”
Heath said her now husband was convinced it was an electrical surge, but the roommates jokingly asked him to leave, sure that Sally was upset to see young love blooming in front of her.
There were times when Heath’s roommate refused to sleep in the dorm alone. The girls lived on the second floor of Shackelford, right next to the elevator.
“We would hear people get on and off the elevator at all hours of the night, and there were a few times when we would hear people get off, walk down the hallway and go, ‘Did you hear that?’” Heath said. “There were also a few times when the fire alarm would go off mysteriously, and whenever the fire department would get there, they would find nothing that should have set the alarm off.”
Kaitlyn Munger graduated from Troy University in 2022 with a degree in English education. While she never lived in Shackelford Hall, she had spent time on the Shack Quad for rehearsals with the marching band, The Sound of the South.
“We were warming up, and then messing around, before a performance for the band competition,” Munger said. “There was a guy messing around on the floor above the one that was always dark – I believe it was the 4th and 3rd floor.
“We were laughing at this guy making an absolute fool of himself when we looked down a floor and saw a woman in white staring out the window who then walked away. We all looked at each other, shocked and confirming that we’d really seen her.
“The Shack ghost terrified me because I knew she was violent. I heard so many stories of people who had to be moved out of certain rooms or to another dorm entirely because she would terrorize some of them so badly.”
Munger said that same year, a ghost attached itself to the skeleton ghost decoration she put in her Trojan Village 200 dorm. Munger and her roommate nicknamed the ghost, “Betsy.”
“Suddenly, our utility closet, which was supposed to be locked, was unlocked and constantly being opened and closed,” Munger said. “Soon after, bowls and glasses were being knocked off counters right in front of us.”
Even after college, Betsy was a permanent fixture in Munger’s home for six years.
Clark Smith is a junior accounting major from Huntsville, Alabama. He has lived in Shackelford Hall for two years and is currently a resident assistant there.
“One of the complaints I heard was someone's bathroom light kept turning on and off during the night,” Smith said. “I believe being an RA in a haunted building is more fun since I can see the different reactions of residents.”
Heath agreed that living in a haunted dorm added to her college experience.
“We all made a joke of it,” Heath said. “It was a fun talking point of ‘Oh man, I forgot to do my homework; it was because of Sally,’ or, ‘oh no, my outlet's not working, I have to tell my RA it's Sally's fault.’
“Part of the nostalgia of being on campus is that you're walking the path so many people before you have walked, but you're also learning about all these traditions and and go, ‘Did you hear that?’” Heath said. “There were also a few times when the fire alarm would go off mysteriously, and whenever the fire department would get there, they would find nothing that should have set the alarm off.”
Kaitlyn Munger graduated from Troy University in 2022 with a degree in English education. While she never lived in Shackelford Hall, she had spent time on the Shack Quad for rehearsals with the marching band, The Sound of the South.
“We were warming up, and then messing around, before a performance for the band competition,” Munger said. “There was a guy messing around on the floor above the one that was always dark – I believe it was the 4th and 3rd floor.
“We were laughing at this guy making an absolute fool of himself when we looked down a floor and saw a woman in white staring out the window who then walked away. We all looked at each other, shocked and confirming that we’d really seen her.
“The Shack ghost terrified me because I knew she was violent. I heard so many stories of people who had to be moved out of certain rooms or to another dorm entirely because she would terrorize some of them so badly.”
Munger said that same year, a ghost attached itself to the skeleton ghost decoration she put in her Trojan Village 200 dorm. Munger and her roommate nicknamed the ghost, “Betsy.”
“Suddenly, our utility closet, which was supposed to be locked, was unlocked and constantly being opened and closed,” Munger said. “Soon after, bowls and glasses were being knocked off counters right in front of us.”
Even after college, Betsy was a permanent fixture in Munger’s home for six years.
Clark Smith is a junior accounting major from Huntsville, Alabama. He has lived in Shackelford Hall for two years and is currently a resident assistant there.
“One of the complaints I heard was someone's bathroom light kept turning on and off during the night,” Smith said. “I believe being an RA in a haunted building is more fun since I can see the different reactions of residents.”
Heath agreed that living in a haunted dorm added to her college experience.
“We all made a joke of it,” Heath said. “It was a fun talking point of ‘Oh man, I forgot to do my homework; it was because of Sally,’ or, ‘oh no, my outlet's not working, I have to tell my RA it's Sally's fault.’
“Part of the nostalgia of being on campus is that you're walking the path so many people before you have walked, but you're also learning about all these traditions and