Students Leave Mark on SU History by Creating Their Own Campus Legends
It was a dark and stormy night in 1970, and Sammy’s statue cast a shadow over the quad.
The previous year, the Salisbury men’s soccer team had earned its first championship victory – and now the pressure was on to bring home the gold again. After a streak of disappointing losses, the team made a pact with Sammy. A few months later, they would bring home their second trophy.
But Sammy’s blessing always comes at a price … One of the students wouldn’t graduate that year.
By Mikayla Wiseman
… Is that how it really happened?
Fact or fable, the best stories always suggest an element of truth.
Through research into Salisbury University’s history and campus traditions, students learned the stories they tell have power – and sometimes, the truth is stranger than fiction.
A folklorist at heart, Dr. Viktoria Basham wanted to share her love of storytelling with her students. With the help of a course enhancement grant through the library, she designed a Clarke Honors College course to encourage students to learn more about SU’s rich history, culture and traditions, and use that knowledge to inspire their own campus legends. The course was taught in conjunction with Dr. Ryan Habermeyer’s honors creative writing course, where students learned how they can use fairy tales and folklore to bring their personal stories to life. (See related story about the two below.)
“I believe we should learn as much as we can about the environments we exist in,” Basham said. “By knowing more about the institution, students build a stronger bond with SU and feel more at home, which is very important for their academic success and personal wellbeing.”
Basham’s course took students to SU’s Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture to investigate the wealth of primary sources available to them – from old photos of residence halls and letters written by students 50 years ago, to family heirlooms and creepy dolls.
By taking a piece of SU’s history and incorporating it into their own stories, they are leaving their mark on SU’s culture and passing it on to the next generation of Sea Gulls.”
SU’s Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture is a humanities laboratory for our students and serves the historical needs of our community.
Students were surprised not only by the resources they have access to, but by the truth that lurks behind campus superstitions they hear today.
Biology major Justice Jensen set her story in the 1960s in Wicomico Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus. A group of rebellious boys wanting to enjoy their college freedom find a way to outsmart their draconian house matron, Mrs. Stirling, by using a curious place to hide their empty beer cans: within the very walls of the dorm.
Jensen’s strange story ends with poor Mrs. Stirling buried alive by Coors and Budweiser inside the walls of Wicomico Hall, where today, students can still hear the clinking of cans …
Yet, there are surprising truths behind the tale.
Jensen’s story was inspired by research into campus culture in the 1960s, with its more restrictive living environments compared to what students experience today. The campus then had a “no drinking” policy. Instead of student resident assistants, there were older house parents who enforced dorm policies. As for the beer cans in the walls … they’re real, too.
“I listened to an audio tape recorded by a student in the 1960s, detailing the hiding spot of their beer cans,” Jensen said. “It inspired me to write a story about drinking culture and the temptations of college students exploring their newfound freedom.”
Having students write their own legends wasn’t just for the whimsy. Basham and Habermeyer said that fairy tales and folklore serve an important purpose.
members of the African American sorority, used for dancing and performances. Kade
Richardson included this detail in a story addressing campus racism and hazing traditions.
“Folklore always has a shred of truth,” Habermeyer said. “Historically, people have told fairy tales to navigate their deepest emotions and life experiences. They tell us a lot about the sociopolitical circumstances of the time – and moreover, they teach us what it means to be human.”
In addition to preserving pieces of SU history, the campus legends addressed a variety of struggles common to college students: tests and academic pressure, getting along with roommates, quirky professors, athletic rituals, racism and discrimination, alcohol and substance use, mental health, and more.
Basham said that by exploring difficult subjects through writing, students were able to share their experiences in a safe environment, with a community of people who understood what they were going through. Many felt the experience was important to help them feel at home on campus and empower them.
For Kasey Wilson and Tessah Good, their legends were an effective way to incorporate a message that was important to them. Both read news articles and obituaries about real SU students who died or committed suicide, and they were motivated to write stories to help break down stigmas about mental health.
“As honors students, the danger of academic pressure is relevant to us,” Good said. “My story helped me emphasize the importance of mental health and remind everyone that we have amazing support systems on campus. We can feel comfortable reaching out to someone.”
Of course, the SU story wouldn’t be complete without its beloved mascot.
Legend has it that there’s more to Sammy than meets the eye. Many students have heard rumors that if they don’t touch or take a photo with the Sammy the Sea Gull statue, they won’t graduate on time.
While looking through Evergreen yearbooks from the 1970s, Paige Currie made a discovery that unfolded like an odd, creeping sensation: Sammy’s presence was everywhere. Figures, plush dolls, mugs, t-shirts, even chalkboard drawings – the students’ love for their mascot was undeniable. Even more uncanny was the fact that the true origin of the name “Sammy the Sea Gull” is unknown. (If you know, let us know!)
“My high school mascot was a dragon, so a seagull didn’t seem very intimidating to me at first,” Currie said. “I wanted to see Sammy in a new light. That’s when I thought about all the rituals and superstitions we have in sports, which really come from the pressure to succeed.”
Currie’s legend explored the possession craze of the 1970s and the presence of Sammy in campus traditions and superstitions. Following the release of The Exorcist movie in 1973, fears of demonic possession became widespread. “Ghost stories” were a way for people to confront their darkest fears during a time of major societal change, where many were struggling with shifting ideas on gender roles, religious practices and a loss of structure.
“It was amazing to learn so much about student life in the ’70s versus now,” Currie said. “This gave me a connection not only to Sammy, but to the SU campus as a whole.”
By knowing more about the institution, students build a stronger bond with SU and feel more at home, which is very important for their academic success and personal wellbeing.”
The course culminated with walking “Lore Tours” across campus, where students shared their legends for an audience and explained some of the research that inspired them. At the end of the course, they received a printed book of their stories, with illustrations by their classmates.
“I love my students and am inspired every day by their intelligence, creativity and bravery,” Basham said. “By taking a piece of SU’s history and incorporating it into their own stories, they are leaving their mark on SU’s culture and passing it on to the next generation of Sea Gulls.”
As SU approaches its centennial celebration in 2025, the research and creative work of its students will serve as a testament to the growing history and culture of the campus. Engaging with campus traditions is a way for current SU students to both preserve history and connect themselves to past SU students, continuing the legacies they leave behind. Their college experiences and the stories they tell may even inspire SU students 100 years from now.
As for Sammy, students are still trying to sleuth out the real events behind his sudden appearance in SU’s history books. Is he just your friendly neighborhood seagull? The spirit of student-athletes from eons ago, trapped in the mascot’s statue in exchange for his power? Perhaps, he’s one of the other-dimensional Old Ones, biding his time until the day humanity falls. Or maybe, like a shapeshifting, wish-granting fae, he is simply whatever you need him to be.
The “truth” may never be known.
Students Examine 100 Years of SU History
On September 7, 1925, the State Normal School at Salisbury opened its doors to students for the first time.
As SU approaches its 100th anniversary in 2025, students are researching the institution’s history. Students in the Topics in Writing and Rhetoric: SU at 100 course examined Nabb Center archival materials related to campus programs, academics and activities.
Research topics have included the evolution of special education courses, social organizations, international student experiences, the history of the campus elementary school, student publications and an analysis of first year composition documents dating back to 1925.
Josey Zeunges, a marketing and English – creative writing double major, followed her passion and researched campus literary magazines and the development of creative writing at SU.
“I am involved in the Scarab magazine, so this research has given me a new perspective on the importance of literary publications,” Zeunges said. “I’ve seen students who had pieces in old Scarab issues, and they’re names I recognize because they’ve gone on to do amazing things like publish their own books.”
Investigating the creative writing published in past Scarabs also offers historical and cultural context for issues that were important to college students in those times. For example, one issue from the 1970s contains a poem in response to Anne Sexton’s death.
Thanks to the research, Zeunges has developed an even greater appreciation for SU and feels more connected to the campus.
Call for Scarab Magazines!
Zeunges plans to continue her research and was selected for a summer research grant to fill in missing gaps in the Nabb Center’s archives. She is seeking Scarab magazines from the years 2005-2012 and hopes that SU alumni who may own these issues will share copies to further her research. If you own a copy of the Scarab from 2005-2012, please email nabbcenter@salisbury.edu.
Faculty Earn Fulbrights to Study Folklore
Vampires and generational war stories aren’t topics explored on every college campus.
At SU, however, Drs. Viktoria Basham and Ryan Habermeyer are delving into the supernatural and strange, sharing the importance of folklore and the cultural stories we tell. Next year, both will spend several months in Europe teaching and furthering their research as 2024-25 U.S. Fulbright Scholars.
Basham will return to her native Bulgaria to research the mythology of vampires, including museums and even burial sites of purported vampires. She hopes to produce a bilingual digital map highlighting the regional differences in vampire folklore, an important initiative for the preservation of a cultural history that is being lost.
“Eastern Europe is the birthplace of the modern Western European view of the vampire,” Basham said. “However, we are forgetting our own traditions as we mimic the Western vampire. This project will help preserve Bulgarian cultural heritage while making it more accessible in the digital age, thus positioning it in a global context.”
Habermeyer will serve as a visiting scholar at the University of Gdansk, Poland, and explore the history and folklore of the region to inspire a novel about his great grandfather’s exploits as a U.S. soldier during World War I.
He plans to visit parts of Poland where the war took place, as well as the history and culture of the area through artifacts and folkloric figures such as the Rübezahl mountain spirit, Plague Maiden and Polish vampires.
“Gdansk was leveled during World War II,” Habermeyer said. “I will be researching the lore of objects in a city that doesn’t have many artifacts left, so it itself exists on the edge of reality and fiction.”
Both Basham and Habermeyer hope their Fulbright experiences will advance SU’s study abroad programs. Habermeyer has participated in the University’s “SU in Scotland” global campus program, teaching a course on myth, legend and folklore. (Read more.)
“I’m hopeful our work will inspire students to understand the value of their experiences in college,” Habermeyer said. “Whether it’s academic or creative, what they invest in themselves now could lead to other opportunities such as study abroad, graduate programs or fellowships like the Fulbright.”