Is There Another Explanation?

One story takes place on a dark, stormy night as Peter sat in his room in the South Building. He answered a knock at the door and was met by a robed and hooded figure who bade him to follow as he headed toward the woods on Piney Prospect. Here Peter and this mysterious, robed figure dueled until Peter was slain; his body was buried under the rock. Some say his ghost arises from beneath this rock at midnight on the anniversary of his death, to catch glimpses of the moon.

Some say he ran off to join the army, enlisting under the name of his roommate, John Buxton Williams. It was even reported that he had been seen on the streets of Wilmington, North Carolina, but no records have been found. Williams himself once wrote a letter in which he declared his certainty that Peter had no differences with anyone and that the entire story was the product of someone's wild imagination.

Still another explanation is that, despondent over his failure at the University, he drifted westward where he later died. It seems that the mystery of Peter Dromgoole's disappearance will forever remain a Tarheel legend.

Go Backward></A>
</CENTER>
<A HREF=Back