Gimghoul Castle

Chapel Hill, NC

Almost inexplicably, on the outskirts of UNC Chapel Hill stands an actual castle. Even better, this castle belongs to a local cult. Or, “club,” whatever. The Order of Gimghoul (originally Dromgoole) is a creepy, exclusive club made up of all-male faculty and students “of note” at Chapel Hill. The club was named for a student, Peter Dromgoole, who was allegedly killed in a duel for love in 1833. The legend goes that he bled out on a rock that stands on the Gimghoul property and that it is persistently (and ghostily!) bloody to this day.

I have had honestly too many run-ins with this castle at this point. Danny used to live a fifteen minute walk away from the thing and I have no doubt he’s been there more than me by a factor of ten. It’s not hard to get to and technically most of the paths around the castle are property of the university and therefore completely legal to trot all over. However, the knowledge of the sturdy legal footing does little to abate the feeling that you’re about to get snatched and Eyes Wide Shutted, or whatever, by a bunch of robe-wearing cult fellas. First of all, it involves walking through a bunch of dark woods. Terrifying. Also, whoever designed the lighting on the castle itself (which is lit, as far as I can tell, all the goddamn time) definitely nailed “foreboding and menacing.” Around the back of the castle is the Famous Bloody Rock (I didn’t see any blood, but it was dark, so I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, blood-wise) and a gigantic stone fire pit. The backyard was littered with lawn chairs, empty handles of liquor, cups, and various items of a nondescript but still menacing and foreboding nature.

Because he is a maniac, Danny shot a scene of one of his short films in front of the castle on the absolute coldest night in January. The groundskeeper, whose telltale beige truck has been parked in the driveway of the castle every time I’ve been there, called the police. After talking to Danny for under two minutes, the cops gently persuaded us to move literally 10 feet back into the woods where the property goes public again and then told us all about how weirded out they all were by the spooky creepy castle, the spooky creepy cult, and especially the spooky creepy groundskeeper who calls them out there all the time to deal with trespassers. I think they might have even helped us move equipment.

Rating: 3/5 Chill As Fuck Cops

Prognosis: Definitely not haunted but definitely definitely the home of a super real and very sketchy cult.

If you want to learn more about the Order of Gimghoul and see some top-notch footage of the castle, Murf from The Chris Gethard Show has done a stellar piece of journalism on the whole thing. Check it out here.