The Mystery of
the Bell Tower

THE BIBB GRAVES BELL TOWER STANDS AS A SENTINEL over the graceful sweep of Jacksonville State University's front lawn. It graces the cover of thousands of publications. It is to JSU what the Denny Chimes tower is to the University of Alabama -- a landmark that's nearly a trademark. While it is a familiar sight to students and Jacksonville residents, the tower itself remains something of a mystery. What's behind those huge bay windows?

Though most people assume Bibb Graves has only three floors, there are actually five stories of space. There's much more to this Gothic building than meets the eye. Constructed in 1930, the building was never quite finished.

The chime's tune is "Westminster Peal," which precedes the toll of hours that can be heard by more than 12,000 people in a five-mile radius. But there are no bells in this tower. To "get to the bottom" of the bell mystery, you have to go to the basement. There, you find the ringing comes from an antique carillon in the Telephone Center. It controls eight speakers on the tower roof.

If there are no bells, then what is in the tower? Mysteries. Ghosts of students long gone.

Climb the stairwell to the third floor of the building's southern end and wind your way upward onto a dimly-lit extra flight of steps leading up beyond the third floor's computer labs. The stairs rise and you approach a platform and a locked door.

Having permission to explore, we open the creaky door and find ourselves on a vacant fourth floor in an unfinished attic filled with rows of records dating back to the university's early history. Bubble-gum pink insulation covers the floor, except for a narrow plywood walkway leading you past rows of dusty filing cabinets. About 25 yards into the dark, cavernous room you find additional steps leading up to the tower.

A few short steps puts you into the tower proper, but the climbing is not over. The fourth floor room contains a few file cabinets, abandoned chairs, scraps of white markerboard, and a dented cash box.

Rising against the west wall of the room is a rusted iron ladder bolted into the brickwork. This narrow ladder is the only way to the top room of the tower, the fifth story.

Climbing the ancient rungs is frightening. With the camera swinging around your neck, you grip tightly and don't look down. Crawling into the upper room you're surprised at the light -- there are windows on three sides. This room commands one of the most spectacular views of campus and the Houston Cole library. Two old chairs are facing each other as if their occupants abandoned them in mid-conversation.

Until the late 1950s, the tower served as dormitory rooms for students on scholarship. The rooms were later put to service as storage.

JSU's past litters the floor. A yellowed grade report reveals that 70 years ago a student earned a C in Science 201-B during Fall semester 1928. Another card shows that a student received an "Incomplete" for non-payment of lab fees. Other documents detail how tuition was afforded -- fifty cents here, a dollar there.

A notebook filled with shorthand is covered in decades of dust near the windows at the front of the building. With the help of a maintenance man, we broke loose one of the windows glued tightly in thick layers of paint, and lifted it high enough to climb onto the narrow 5th floor balcony. We were rewarded with a breathtaking view of the east side of campus.

The sight of the hazy foothills of the Appalachian Mountains has made the journey to the top worth it.

Thomas is a junior with a double major in communication and political science.