Tag Archives: #athens

Stairs to Nowhere

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Does this look familiar to anyone?

From The Red & Black:

On March 1, 1972, UGA student Stanley Park Haddock was found hanging deceased and badly decomposed in room 112 in the southern wing of Joe Brown Hall.

According to a March 2, 1972 article from the Athens Banner-Herald, Haddock’s body was found after a janitor went to investigate a foul odor on the first floor of the building. Cleaning of Haddock’s dormitory proved to be impossible, and the entire wing where the body was discovered was sealed off.

The circumstances surrounding Haddock’s death were never fully clear. It is still unknown whether his death was suicide or an accident. Regardless of the specifics, Haddock’s death has left Joe Brown Hall home to a lot of heartache and unanswered questions.

The “stairs to nowhere” are a most unusual byproduct of the hall’s devastating history. In the southern wing of the building, there is a stairwell that leads to a bricked-up doorway with a photo of a hallway hung in front of it.

It is said that this doorway was sealed due to university officials being unable to completely clean Haddock’s room after his death, leaving it unusable. However, this has never been confirmed or documented.

“Every time I go past the staircase I get the worst sensation,” said Margaret Lonsway, a junior environmental health science major. “It’s awful … It just feels like the place would be haunted.”

Lonsway had multiple classes in Joe Brown Hall for their minor in German. In 2021, they had a hybrid class that offered the option to go to class in person or on Zoom. After attending class in person one time, Lonsway opted to attend online for the rest of the semester.

“After one visit I stopped going because I hated the building so much,” Lonsway said.

Students and faculty have reported hearing knocking and footsteps coming from the sealed wing of the hall, as well as a foul smell, according to the Southern Spirit Guide.

Even beyond these three halls, reports of ghostly activity and otherworldly interactions have popped up all over UGA’s campus.

“There’s no way campus is not haunted,” Lonsway said. “It’s so old — there’s just no way.”

As a young music major, our saxophone teacher, Kenneth Fischer, had an office there and I used to go over there some weeknights for lessons when I was coming up in high school. Can’t say I ever recall any spooky feelings…there again, I never saw this door in my days there, and may have thought different about it had I know. Gives me the heebie jeebies just looking at it.

You know any good ghost stories from you days in Athens?

Sunday Red and Black Opinion: But for Legion Pool

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After the ripple that was created around the news that Legion Pool was to be no more, one Red and Black columnist offers their two-cents on how to right the wrongs that have been purportedly taking place there for years now:

In March 2026, the University of Georgia began demolition on the historic Legion Pool. A working group tasked on Jan. 15, 2025 by President Jere Morehead, Vice President for Student Affairs Michelle Cook, and Vice President for Finance and Administration Ryan Nesbit, and chaired by Dean of Students Eric Atkinson determined that the pool leaks, would require costly repairs and attracts less and less visitors. The working group decided that the only feasible way forward was to demolish the Legion Pool entirely, replacing it with parking lots and extending the neighboring Legion Field, which will be upgraded into a central meeting place for students.

The planned demolition was met with opposition both at UGA and in Athens. A main contra argument was that demolishing Legion Pool, a recreational facility of some historic value, to add, what was, 70 parking spots to UGA’s existing approximate 21,000 regular spots is a bad deal. The West Campus Parking Deck II, located about 750 feet from Legion Pool, opened in 2025 and provides more than 1,100 spots. Several nearby green spaces would have offered ample opportunity to build additional parking. In contrast, Legion Pool, with its shaded terrasse, historic bath house and multi-usage pool open to the public, erases not just greenery but a community source with rich history. Future students might regret UGA’s rushed decision to demolish an outdoor pool and wonder why nearly all of UGA’s peer institutions, the other colleges in the SEC, and almost all state-flagship institutions in warm-weather U.S. states have outdoor pools for student use. Oddly, the demolition of Legion Pool and the other nearby outdoor sport facilities on campus is communicated to the UGA community as student wellness measures and an effort to increase sustainability. 

Regardless, with Legion Pool demolished, this debate can stop, as now is the time to look forward and ensure this central piece of campus will indeed serve our students best. It was later announced that some of the area will be used for sand volleyball courts and less of it for parking. This is good news and a first step to correct the often bleak appearance of UGA’s campus. In other good news, UGA agreed to provide an appropriately-sized temporary, or mobile, stage for student usage and events since the new Legion Field will no longer have a permanent stage.

Further, UGA committed to reserve the initial 70 parking spaces at Legion Field for our students. Since the revised plans will add just 20 new spaces, an additional 50 parking spaces of the current Legion Lot should be reassigned for student usage.

Students should receive top priority reservation rights for the new Legion Field complex, including on game day weekends. In correspondence provided to by the Tate Student Center, from Jan. 1 to Nov. 5, 2025 UGA’s more than 850 student organizations combined used it for 12 events, all UGA departments together for four events, and the UGA Athletic Association, or the UGAAA, for five multiday events around home game weekends.

It is difficult to comprehend how the new Legion Field will serve the students when they are barred from using it during the most important events on UGA’s calendar. In the past, I remember student organizations who regularly used the field on Fridays before home games for music events. However, in recent years, student organizations have been effectively booted out by the UGAAA, which uses the field for multi-day stretches around game weekends to host pre-game events for VIPs and corporate sponsors. These events often involve alcohol advertised on widely visible banners right in the middle of UGA’s main undergraduate housing area. To remain convincing with its strict stance on alcohol consumption on campus, President Morehead should ban all advertisements for alcoholic beverages on campus, but for Sanford Stadium and select UGAAA facilities.

UGA’s guidelines for the usage of student activity fees are clear: “Students are the only beneficiaries of this fee.” Nevertheless, UGA used several hundred thousands of dollars in these fees to operate a pool that students by-and-large were prevented from enjoying since the administration kept it closed but for a few weeks during the summer.

One starts to wonder whether this entire maneuver of letting students pay for, but not use, the pool, and the subsequent indignation about this unfairness, was a smoke screen to demolish Legion Pool. It ostensibly gives over this piece of our campus to the UGAAA as a zone for alcohol-fueled parties and corporate donor events, all while stripping UGA and the community of a beautiful outdoor aquatic facility.

The core of Athens disappearing to corporate greed? It’s not just Athens, it’s college football, it’s the world we know, it’s everywhere…remember when…

Memories…

Tuesday Refugee Roundtable: Ancient Athens

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Saw this and thought it would make for a good Roundtable (maybe Friday Foodie) post for today:

I liked DePalmas, but I can’t say I’m as heartbroken to see it go as I was the original Mellow Mushroom go (so many hazy memories), Chow Goldstein’s, Harry Bisset’s, The Mean Bean, The Grit, or a host of other great Athens eateries disappear.

So for today’s Roundtable, for those of you who frequented “ancient” Athens, which Athens restaurant from days gone by do you miss the most?

Have at it in the comments.

Thursday Though Provoker: Having a Good Time

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Let’s use this to kick off today’s discussion:

I personally enjoy the night games, but that’s mainly because I have friends in Athens and always have a place to hang out for the weekend when we attend an evening game. I realize not all of us have that luxury, and honestly my joy of a night game changes a bit when it’s late November and 40 degrees, too. But for a big game against a big opponent, I’ll take the Sanford Sound of 90k+ liquidated and roudy fans to possibly sway a game.

But he does have a point. 3:30 is a sweet spot. I don’t care for nooners, but also watching the sun set and finishing a game in cooling temperatures for the walk back to the car from the 3:30 game is a nice time slot for enjoying a day in Athens.

So where do you stand? What’s your preferred time slot and why?

91 and 90 Beers on the Wall, Barhopping Question

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I missed a day yesterday, namely because I was indulging in this very topic and got lost in afternoon fun of doing some yard work and building a roaring fire in the backyard. Listening to music, knocking back a few cold ones, smoking some chicken, and a huge fire. Insert caveman grunts here. Apologies, scamps.

Anyway, to make up for the miss, I’m proposing two, which blend into one beautiful one:

The Black and Tan. You can technically make this with Guinness and any other beer, but for me, I cut my teeth on this with Harp as the lighter end of the combo, and I could easily substitute Harp with Bass. The one-two combo of the lighter Guinness top that ends with the denser and crisper finish is something else. Just thinking about it takes me back to this place in Athens:

My main hangout was either Washington Street or Nowhere Bar, and for a while, Mellow Mushroom, where we worked progressively to get our names on the 100 Beer wall of honor.

So a fun little Sunday question, where was your favorite hangout in Athens…or if not Athens, where was your happy place to enjoy a pint or twenty, back in the day?