THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Centenary College is associated with campus ghost stories involving its historic buildings and grounds. Students and staff have reported apparitions, unexplained footsteps, mysterious sounds, and other unusual activity attributed to unidentified spirits.
Centenary College is said to be haunted by Tillie Smith, who has a tragic story. When she was 18, in 1886, she lived and worked at the college. Her body was found in a nearby field, raped and strangled. College maintenance man James Titus was accused of the murder, although he was known to be of high moral character. Despite only circumstantial evidence, Titus was convicted and sentenced to hang. To avoid hanging, he signed a confession of guilt and was allowed to live for 19 years in prison, until he was paroled in 1904. He continued to live in town until his death in 1952 and was buried in Union Cemetery, where there is also a monument to Tillie, unveiled in 1887. A play about Tillie is put on at the Centenary Theatre, written by Jeanne Walker, who did extensive research on Tillie and the trial. The theater also sponsors Tillie Walks, in which actors and actresses follow her trail through town acting out the events of the night she was murdered. And, perhaps, Tillie does still walk. Staff and students alike have reported seeing Tillie’s ghost at the college.