Text #2: Evening Primrose
(i) Source:
Excerpt taken from October 26, 2018 edition of The Daily Beacon,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s campus paper
Author: Kelly Alley, columnist, writing about her own experience
with the Hoskins Library ghost
Alley, Kelly. “That’s the Spirit…go Vols.” The Daily Beacon. University of Tennessee Daily Beacon, 26 Oct. 2018. www.utdailybeacon.com/opinion/columns/that-s-the-spirit-go-vols/article_e974b226-d97d-11e8-858a-7346394bf6e8.html.
(ii) Text:
The University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus is haunted, I’m not kidding.
I’ll never forget the first day I went into Hoskins Library. I was filled with awe and excitement (because I’m a history nerd).
I didn’t know much of the history behind the building, but I knew that that building had to house some sort of supernatural being. It just gave off that vibe.
Flash forward a couple of months and I’m talking with one of the folks in the library about Hoskins. It was then he told me about the main spook over there, the Evening Primrose.
Ms. Primrose is a peculiar ghost, known for playing tricks on those in the storage area in Hoskins and messing around with the elevators.
She was a student here at good ol’ UTK, studying to be a librarian. One evening she stayed in the library to study, but she never came out. The next morning, they found her buried under a pile of books – no one knows how it happened.
They say you can always know when she’s around – the air will start to smell of fresh cornbread. I’m not sure if it’s regular or sweet cornbread, though.
(iii) Texture:
Kelly takes up a very conversational, informal tone with her reader, and her usage of everyday speech throughout allows her (as the storyteller) to better capture the audience’s “attention.” This results in a sense of being “taken aside,” and confided in, as though the reader was being let in on a secret. She builds up a sense of action and momentum by using lively speech (“flash forward a couple of months,” etc.), and she keeps some details to a minimum while emphasizing others, such as the scent of cornbread, a memorable sensory cue sure to stay in the reader’s mind. Along the vein of any good ghost story, the ghost is kept mysterious, and we are given just enough specifics to feel like we know something, but never fully know everything. Knowing too much would surely erode some of the story’s entertainment value, as it is with nearly every paranormal tale.
(iv) Context:
I couldn’t glean too many contextual details from the article itself, but it does tell me that she’s a junior studying journalism and electronic media, and a columnist for The Daily Beacon (campus newspaper) at UT Knoxville. Otherwise, I have no other concrete details. If her story is to be believed, then she was a firsthand witness to the Hoskins Library “ghost,” so at least we know that she is recounting her own tale and not that of someone else.
(v) Interpretation:
Similar to the “sinking library” legend, the fact that Ms. Primrose died by literally being crushed under the weight of her studies also weaves the unspoken pressure students feel into a more easily digestible, palatable form. The art of campus legends can indirectly tackle shared anxieties in a poignant, yet more entertaining way. The fear and wonder associated with Ms. Primrose’s paranormal activities helps to alleviate some of this stress by placing it in an alternative, less literal context. Her ghost is also endowed with a personality, allowing students to connect to the story on a more personal level, and while she is unpredictable, she doesn’t appear to be malicious. The scent of fresh cornbread evokes pleasant memories of the comforts associated with home cooking, providing a calming element that could serve as a balm of sorts. The ghost both thrills and comforts at the same time.