In light of the spooky season, Francis Marion University holds a number of legends and traditions including eerie tales, long-standing customs and, of course, the legend Francis Marion himself that are notable for students to know.
Word around the campus is that the Swamp Fox Trail is haunted. Claims state that some of these sites are haunted by soldiers or marked by hidden artifacts. According to a former FMU student and TikToker who goes by the handle @thatdudejuvie, he was walking from the library at approximately 10 p.m. one night when he felt a presence walking alongside him, only to discover that there was no one there. The comment section also provided some of their own experiences and input. One user elaborated on “the pregnant tree,” stating that a young, enslaved girl was killed there, and the roots of the tree grew to cover her body. Legend has it that if you touch the tree, she will bless you with a baby. The Kassab Tennis Courts behind the Smith University Center (UC) and the third floor of the Hugh Leatherman Science Facility (LSF) are also said to be haunted. The land of FMU sits on what was once a historic slave cabin from the Gregg Plantation—established around 1831. Could this be the site of tortured souls not yet at rest?
A less frightening urban legend worthy of mentioning is the tapping of the shoe on the statue of the university’s first president, Dr. Doug Smith, is said to guarantee students at least a B on their next exam. Walter Douglas ‘Doug’ Smith served from 1970-1983 as FMU’s president, and under his leadership, student enrollment rose remarkably from about 500 to nearly 2,900. His bronze statue is located in the rotunda of the Stokes Administration Building. Try it! What is there to lose?
Finally, it would be unfair not to mention the man the university is named for. General Francis Marion was a militia leader known for his guerrilla warfare tactics during the American Revolutionary War. He earned the nickname “The Swamp Fox” from British military officer and politician, Sir Banastre Tarleton, who complained that Marion was impossible to catch.
“Come my boys! Let us go back, and we will soon find the Gamecock [Thomas Sumter]. But as for this damned old fox, the devil himself could not catch him!”
This is what Tarleton is famously quoted for in exasperation on the night of November 8, 1780 following the Battle of Ox Swamp. Francis Marion hid and struck in areas of the Pee Dee Region, covering 33 miles of swamps, trees, thickets and forests. By January of 1782, Marion took a seat in the reconstituted South Carolina State Assembly. Peace and reconciliation followed, and the war hero lived a peaceful life thereafter until his death in 1795 at the age of 63. A plaque on his tomb described him as a soldier and citizen “who lived without fear and died without reproach.”
Francis Marion University honors Francis Marion through its sports name, “The Patriots,” and its mascot, Frank the Fox. Additionally, they also place plaques containing historical information that are found near the swamps and forests he once fought in.