In 1899, University of North Carolina student Bob Bingham approached then university president Battle about founding a local sophomore order at UNC with connections to a national order. President Battle disapproved, but the plans proceeded. Bingham, along with four of his friends (Drew Patterson, Wray Martin, W. W. Davies, and Shepard Bryan) sought to find a name for the society and a myth on which it would be based.
The legend of Peter Dromgoole was chosen as the myth from which the order's name was derived. At first, they thought of calling the society "The Order of Dromgoole" but feared the family would object. "Gimghoul" is somewhat of a mutation of the words "gargoyle," "Dromgoole," and "ghoul."
Davies often went to Piney Prospect and sat on Dromgoole's rock, where he imagined a mysterious castle. Interestingly, thirty-six years later, Drew Patterson and Felix Hickerson, planners of the castle, would orient it to face north as Davies had envisioned it. Gimghoul Castle, sometimes referred to as "Hippol Castle," was built by a colony of stone masons brought to Chapel Hill specifically for its construction. The castle resembles those of pre-Norman England, and embodies all the glamour of knighthood and chivalry. Dromgoole rock can be seen near its entrance.
View a list ofnotable
members
of the Order of Gimghoul.
Photo of Gimghoul Castle: ©Copyright The North Carolina Collection, University of N.C. Library