One former staff member, however, Mrs. Moore, was not hesitant to complain about the ghostly presence in the mansion. Mrs. Moore was a mature woman, experienced and worldly, not easily frightened, and certainly not given to fantasies.

One of the perks of her position with the school was that she could board for free on campus. Mrs. Moore had an apartment just off the main hall of the mansion, adjacent to what at one time had been the ballroom.

Unlike the majority of the faculty and staff, Mrs. Moore was familiar with Adelicia’s home by both night and day. Apparently, she and Addie did not get along, for Mrs. Moore was continually complaining about the "noises in the night." They were more than just an occasional nuisance, apparently.

The nightly disturbances by Adelicia’s (and perhaps other) ghosts caused Mrs. Moore to complain about them to nearly everyone on campus. Unable to get a whole night’s sleep because of the haunting, Mrs. Moore finally moved out.

Perhaps the most dramatic incident cited as evidence of Adelicia Acklen’s continuing presence at Belmont was the incident of the mantle clock. Like the timepiece in the old song, the clock supposedly had ceased to function the day that Joseph Acklen died. By tradition, however, it was believed that if one placed the clock on the mantle in Joseph Acklen’s sitting room, it would begin ticking again and keep perfect time unless removed from the room.

Some years ago, a young man attending Belmont got the notion of placing the clock on the mantle and then photographing it ticking. It would be a nice photo for the college annual. In due course, he placed the clock on the mantle and, sure enough, the clock began to tick. He snapped a photo of the clock working and sent it to the developer. When the prints came back, however, he was astonished to discover that not only was the clock working but there was the figure of a woman in the photograph as well.

The woman was standing to the right of the mantle; she was tall and wearing a hooded cloak. No such person had been in the room when the young man snapped the photo, and neither the negative nor the print had been retouched in any way.

During the 1960s, some coeds were up after lights out, studying for exams. They were busy reviewing notes in a small study lounge located behind the main part of Acklen Hall, in a part of the original mansion. They had gotten permission to stay up after curfew and were engrossed in their studies.

Then they saw her-a beautiful woman dressed all in white. She had on a long, flowing gown, loosely tied at the waist, and long black hair. The woman possessed a radian sort of beauty and appeared to be both real and solid-not some gray gossamer phantom.

The coeds sat there awestruck. By the time they recovered their wits enough to chase after the apparition, the woman in white had disappeared completely. Needless to say, when the students told school officials of the incident the next day, they did not take the girls’ report seriously.

There also have been persons from outside the college community who have occasionally seen Adelicia.

As part of its ongoing commitment to preserving the old mansion and its proud history, the university has, for some years now, brought in artisans and conservators to help restore the mansion room by room to much of its former glory. Those working on the restoration have, from time to time, reported ghostly encounters that have been attributed to the spectral presence of the mistress of Belmont.

In particular, the people involved in the restoration of Adelicia’s bedroom have reported strange occurrences that are generally ascribed to the room’s former resident. Every time work got underway in the room, something always seemed to happen. In one notable instance, an entire wall collapsed, ruining the workman’s tools.

In another case, a member of the Historic Belmont Auxiliary whose daughter was a student at the college spent the night in a guest room while engaged in restoration work there. The room was located behind the old ballroom, and during the night, the woman was awakened by noises coming from that room. She heard the unmistakable sound of teacarts being pulled across the ballroom floor and the repeated rustling of long hoopskirts. The volunteer was a woman of some breeding and education, not prone to superstition, but she could not deny the evidence of her own senses.

The ghostly echoes of a cotillion from long ago, a haunted clock, brushes with the unknown at Yuletide, and assorted other close encounters-for generations these and countless other incidents have provided proof to students-if any proof were needed-that the spirit of Adelicia Acklen, the phantom Belle of Belmont, yet dwells within their school’s hallowed haunted halls.