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Peter Pelham Dromgoole

Peter Pelham Dromgoole came to Chapel Hill in January 1833, failed the university's entrance examination, studied under a tutor and vanished that spring. Students later turned his disappearance into a legend of a fatal duel, and in 1889 formed the Order of Gimghoul, which completed its castle at the site in 1926.

Source: NCpedia: Dromgoole, Peter Pelham

1815– as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗

4 indexed works are connected with this person.

Search these 4 works Research sources View indexed works ↓

Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

Dromgoole, twice-murdered: unraveling a Southern legend of duels, disappearance, Seminole Wars, secret societies,mystery, castles, & Flagler's millions

Malone, E. T. · 2017 · Literary Lantern Press

E. T. Malone's biography of Peter Pelham Dromgoole, born 1815, the University of North Carolina student whose disappearance from Chapel Hill in 1833 grew into the legend behind the Order of Gimghoul. The long subtitle promises duels, the Seminole Wars, secret societies, castles and Flagler's millions along the way. Published by Literary Lantern Press in Warrenton in 2017, 276 pages with illustrations and portraits, some in color.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Library of Congress record: Dromgoole, Peter Pelham, 1815-.

NC Cardinal UNC Library of Congress CH Historical Society

Gimghoul : past and present

1978 · Order of Gimghoul

A short pamphlet on the history of the Order of Gimghoul, the Chapel Hill student society, and its castle, issued by the order in 1978. It includes the legend attached to Peter Pelham Dromgoole, a student born in 1815. Eight unnumbered pages with illustrations.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Dromgoole, Peter Pelham, 1815- -- Legends.

UNC

Dromgoole's revenge

Malone, E. T., Jr. · 2010 · Literary Lantern Press

A sixteen page short story by E. T. Malone, Jr., built on the campus legend of Peter Dromgoole, the University of North Carolina student who vanished in the 1830s, and on the Order of Gimghoul, the Chapel Hill secret society bound up with that legend. Literary Lantern Press of Warrenton published it in 2010.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Dromgoole, Peter Pelham, 1815- -- Fiction.

UNC

Peter Dromgoole : in which much light is thrown on an interesting tradition

Cotten, Bruce, 1873-1954 · 1924

Bruce Cotten's 1924 pamphlet on Peter Pelham Dromgoole, the student at the center of a Chapel Hill legend, with attention also to Edward Dromgoole and the wider family. It concerns legends of Chapel Hill and the Dromgoole name, so it serves local folklore and family history alike.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Dromgoole, Peter Pelham, 1815-.

UNC

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Peter Dromgoole disappears from Chapel Hill Peter Pelham Dromgoole came to Chapel Hill in January 1833, failed the university's entrance examination and studied under a tutor. That spring, after bitter letters with his father, he vanished from his lodgings, leaving most of his belongings and a debt to a Chapel Hill merchant.Search the index · NCpedia: Dromgoole, Peter Pelham
  2. Students found the Order of Gimghoul after hearing the Dromgoole story Five undergraduates founded a secret society after hearing university president Kemp Battle tell the Dromgoole story. They first called it the Order of Dromgoole and later shortened the name to Gimghoul. People: Kemp Plummer BattleIn the index: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · UNC-Chapel Hill: Carolina ghost stories: Gimghoul Castle
  3. The Order of Gimghoul completes its castle at Piney Prospect The Order of Gimghoul completed a gothic castle at Piney Prospect, the spot where legend placed Dromgoole's fatal duel and burial.Search the index · NCpedia: Dromgoole, Peter Pelham

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Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as Peter Pelham Dromgoole, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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Background

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  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Peter Pelham Dromgoole Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Historical records and collections

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