Students seated along a brick walk beneath tall trees in front of the stone Monticello Seminary building in Godfrey, Illinois, about 1890

Lewis and Clark Community College – Godfrey, IL: Harriet Haskell and the Monticello Library Ghost

Midwestern US Haunted Schools

At Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois, the best-known ghost story belongs to Harriet Haskell, the principal who ran the campus’s earlier school, Monticello Seminary, for roughly four decades. Her ghost is said to linger in the Reid Memorial Library, announcing itself with the smell of lilac perfume and a tap on the shoulder. The school’s history is well documented. The ghost story appears to be far newer, and most of its supporting details do not match the record. This guide keeps the two apart.

What the record says

Captain Benjamin Godfrey founded Monticello Female Seminary in 1838, and the Monticello College Foundation names Haskell as principal from 1867 to her death in 1907. Other sources give 1868. A 1888 newspaper report that she had then led the school for 20 years fits the later date.

On a Sunday morning in November 1888, the main building burned. The Alton Democrat of November 7, 1888 reported about 120 students enrolled, all of whom escaped without injury, and a loss near $100,000. The school was rebuilt within two years to designs by Theodore Link. Reid Hall, built in 1890 as the new chapel, is the room that is now the library.

Haskell died on May 6, 1907. Biographical accounts, citing the Alton Evening Telegraph and the Chicago Tribune of May 7, 1907, give heart disease as the cause. Her alumnae later raised the memorial gate at the front of the campus. In 1970 the trustees voted to close the college. They sold the 183-acre campus for $4 million to the new community college district, and the Foundation’s account puts the transfer at July 1, 1971. The Foundation, which kept The Evergreens, Haskell’s former home, as its office, still exists.

The legend

The ghost story as told today runs back to Troy Taylor’s Haunted Alton (1999) and his essay The Ghost of Harriet Haskell, which carries a 2007 copyright. Taylor says it began with students scaring new arrivals soon after she died. His accounts include a librarian touched twice on the shoulder, a tall woman in an old-fashioned dress who faded near the main desk, a Halloween radio broadcast that ended with a student fleeing, and an early 1990s stuck elevator with a crying woman who was not there when the doors opened.

The student newspaper The Bridge retold it in 2017, adding staff and student accounts of folded tablecloths, flickering lights and shut-off equipment. Writer Michael Kleen repeated it in 2025. These are retellings of one narrative and are not independent evidence.

What the record does not support

  • The 1907 origin. No source found dates the stories before Taylor’s 1999 book.
  • A tree that fell the day Monticello became Lewis and Clark. The change was gradual: a 1970 closing vote, a shared 1970-71 school year and a July 1971 transfer. Kleen says the tree fell after her death and was later memorialized, which conflicts with Taylor’s version. No dated record of the tree was found.
  • The library as her chapel of four decades. Reid Hall dates from 1890, so she knew it for at most 17 years. Before that, the Foundation says, the chapel stood across the highway. Kleen calls the room her favorite, which is unsourced.
  • Lilac as her scent. No document found links her to lilac perfume.
  • Fire details. Taylor says the fire began in laundry ovens and counts nearly 130 students. The 1888 report says it began in an old kitchen building and counts 120.
  • The elevator woman. No record ties her to Haskell, and Taylor tells it as a separate tale.
  • The Santa Claus beard burn. The Foundation and Wikipedia repeat it, but Wikipedia sources it to a ghost book, and no contemporary record was found.

Visiting

Lewis and Clark is a working community college at 5800 Godfrey Road. Its campus page says public events are held throughout the year and the Monticello Sculpture Gardens can be visited anytime. The library lists weekday hours and a circulation desk number, (618) 468-4301. Whether visitors may enter after hours, or tour Reid Hall, was not confirmed. The Foundation says The Evergreens is open for tours by appointment, at (618) 467-2370. Call ahead for all of it.

FAQ

Who was Harriet Haskell?

A Maine-born educator who led Monticello Seminary from the late 1860s until she died in 1907.

Does the college say the library is haunted?

No current statement was found. Taylor wrote in 2007 that the college had no official stand.

Did the 1888 fire kill anyone?

No. The contemporary report says all students escaped unhurt.

More haunted schools in Illinois

Read about Eastern Illinois University, Millikin University or Lourdes High School.

Sources

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Top image: Students on the grounds of Monticello Ladies Seminary in Godfrey, Illinois, circa 1890. Photo: Emil Boehl, Missouri History Museum, public domain, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons