The Littlefield mansion has long been a mystery to the students of UT. Audio Staffer Hannah Berns seeks to uncover the truth of the Victorian mansion. Join her in the first episode of the Haunted Houses series. This episode was edited by Emma Rikalo and music is by Jake Gripp and Blue Dot Sessions. Art is by Madison Tran.
Monica Ballard: “I do remember that someone who worked at the Littlefield building came home and was hugged by their grandchild. And the granddaughter said, Grandma smells like a ghost.”
Hannah Berns: Built in 1893 as George and Alice Littlfield’s house, the Littlefield House is the oldest building on main campus and supposedly one of the most haunted. The three-story, southern, Victorian style house sits mostly empty on a silent corner on an otherwise crowded campus with an impressive Deodar Cedar from the Himalayas watching over it.
Welcome to Haunted Houses, A series where we exhume the history of the haunted houses and other buildings in Austin.
I’m Hannah Berns, and in this episode, we talk about the Littlefield House and Dormitory.
*Podcast theme music*
This is Monica Ballard, tour guide at Austin Ghost T ours, paranormal investigator with Haunted Texas, and author of The Haunted Tales of the Driskill Hotel, Volume 1.
Ballard: “Everyone kind of unanimously knew that there was a woman in a very full period dress, who they would, in the, and I don’t know the particular hallway, but they would see her in this hallway. And it was a period dress. No one could describe her face.”
Berns: The figure is commonly believed to be the ghost of Alice Littlefield. She and her husband George were very involved at the University of Texas at Austin. George Littlefield was a wealthy ranch owner, businessman, and donor to UT , and Alice Littlefield was a guest of honor at the dedication of the Littlefield Memorial Fountain and nine other University buildings. It is important and sobering to note that George Littlefield was a Mississippi slave owner and supported a glorified confederate perspective in the community and at the University. Later in her life, it is rumored that Alice Littlefield developed a mysterious paranoia about the Yankees returning to seek revenge for George’s involvement in the Confederacy, which only receded after George’s death. During that time, Alice supposedly stayed in a room on one of the turret towers on the second floor, where her ghost allegedly still roams.
Loretta Adams: “I had talked to a security guard actually at one point that confirmed this, that when he locks up at the end of the night, last one out, hears somebody walking around upstairs still and the staff hears this as well.”
*Footsteps sounds*
That’s Loretta Adams, tour guide for Haunted ATX.
Adams: “And then we’ll capture photos and guests will share them with us. And we can pretty much recognize Alice in the photos pretty easily.”
Berns: Also in many of the photos Haunted ATX receives of the Littlefield House are apparitions and orbs that move quickly in and out of frames.
Adams: “I heard that the security company has this interesting policy for the Littlefield house that they don’t check on the house unless there’s multiple motion detectors being triggered. Because there’s always one motion detector being, you know, triggered somewhere in the house. There’s always one going off.”
*Motion detector sounds*
Berns: Reported hauntings also include objects unexplainably being moved, an apparition of a housekeeper who passed away in the house, nightly screams, the feeling of being watched, and the sounds of running on the staircase and a piano playing upstairs heard by students late at night and staff during the day.
*Door creaking, walking on leaves sound*
Scott A. Johnson: “Littlefield Manor is world famous.”
Berns: This is Scott, a prominent author specializing in the horror genre.
Johnson: “There’s a very oppressive feeling in that house that starts to take effect right around 6:30, 6:30 or so. You go walking around in that house at that time, you know, and of course, a lot of this has to do with your own perception, you know a lot of us, if we’re in a house by ourselves, you know, it’s really easy to give yourself the wooly boogers, right? But to hear so many people describe the same situation, you can’t discount it as imagination immediately.”
*Walking on leaves sound*
Berns: The eeriness of the Littlefield House, as Scott said, is felt by a wide variety of people, and the house is well-known both on and off campus.
Ballard: “You’ll see a lot of online people talking about the Littlefield building, but they have since not let ghost tours in.”
Berns: The Littlefield House is closed to the public. Most of the original furniture and objects are preserved inside the house, including portraits of Alice Littlefield that supposedly watch people as they pass by.
Adams: “The whole house is a little bit of a mystery as to, you know, what else is in there, what’s still going on, what’s in the basement and what’s going on down there, and then, you know, why, why they have the house kind of so locked down.”
Berns: The Littlefield House is currently used as space for the University Events office. Per the family’s wishes, the University removed any mention of the house being haunted from its website
Jeanine Plumer: “Oftentimes you’ll find, in places that are actively haunted like that, the people get quieter about it, or more distant about it, because they feel like by talking about it it’s making it happen, and they don’t want it to happen. And that’s the case of the Littlefield building.”
Berns: Separating myths about supernatural beings from reality and correctly interpreting historical evidence is important to those impacted by a location’s reputation of being haunted and the paranormal community as a whole. Connected with the Littlefield House are an abundance of haunted rumors that University Events staff and Littlefield descendants wish not to encourage. As far as the ghost stories shared in this episode are concerned, students, community members, and the general public can appreciate the drama of the house while recognizing the supernatural myths as unfounded.
Ballard: “Well, there’s a saying in our business, you’re never truly dead until the living stop telling your story. And if we’re going to tell these stories, then I damn well want to make sure that it’s the right story. I owe it not only to you, but I owe it to them, particularly when they come from the other side to correct us.”
*Music and fade out*
Berns: In 1893, George Littlefield donated $300,000 to the creation of the Littlefield Dormitory, which is said to also be haunted by the ghost of Alice Littlefield, who the building was named in honor of. Alice had a close and maternal relationship with the women who lived in the dormitory. They often called her “Auntie Alice.”
Adams: “They get reports that there’s a woman that’s seen kind of gliding down the hallways–just eerie presence in general is felt by ladies. And then there’s even reports that ladies have seen like, you know, objects kind of inexplicably moving in their, in their bedrooms, you know, books and things like this that, you know, perhaps Alice is affecting.”
Berns: Alice’s ghost is also seen peering from the windows. Her presence is felt by many of the dorm’s residents.
Sabrina Bhattarai: “So, it’s kind of like the sound of snoring, but me and my roommate are, like, completely awake, and we’ll be sitting in the dorm late at night. No noise from us.”
Berns: This is Sabrina Bhattarai, a freshman government major currently living in the Littlefield Dormitory. She said that the snoring sounds also happen during the middle of the day or when most of the other residents are awake.
*Snoring sounds*
Bhattarai: “One time in the study room I saw the lights just like flickering so it kind of creeped me out Because I was the only one there at the time.”
Berns: While Sabrina and her roommate believe that the Littlefield Dormitory is haunted by the ghost of Alice Littlefield, they do not think that she has malevolent intentions. Most stories about the Littlefield Dormitory describe Alice’s ghost as taking care of the dorm’s residents and visitors.
Bhattarai: “I feel like it’s a good, safe environment, and I feel like maybe she’s protecting that good, safe environment here.”
Berns: Austin’s ghosts are reportedly less menacing than others. According to Monica, friendly ghosts are a trend in Austin.
Ballard: “You know, it’s hard to find a ghost in Austin that’ll get up in your face and yell, Get out! It really just doesn’t happen around here. We’re, we’re just all having a good time, even in the afterlife.”
*Music transition*
Berns: In the case of the Littlefield House and other haunted locations, it doesn’t matter if you actually see these apparitions and ghosts; they could still be out there, listening to and watching you.
Bhattarai: “Maybe it’s the illusion of the dark and night time, but I feel like there can always be something out there if it’s visible or not.”
*Music (same as intro)
Berns: Thank you for listening. This has been a production of the Daily Texan Audio Department. This episode was reported by me, Hannah Berns and edited by Emma Rikalo. Thank you to Lilian Vest and Mercy Solis for supervising. Music by Jake Gripp and Blue Dot Sessions.
