Marshall's Thundering Herd...Of Spooks

Marshall University's Old Main
Marshall University is a public university in Huntington, West Virginia, with 13,435 students. It was founded in 1837 as Marshall Academy, back when Huntington was still part of Virginia, and named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. And yes, a school that old has to have some spooks on campus.

Alpha Chi Omega House: Alpha Chi Omega was founded in 1885 as a music sorority. It's house is located directly across from Corbly Hall on Fifth Avenue, and they share it with more than the sisterhood.

It's gently haunted by the ghost of little boy who died in a fire at the house. He's said to cause gusts of cool air (cold spots, as they're called in the paranormal biz), flickering basement lights that electricians have checked out and can't explain, and missing objects in the house. Hey, what would you expect from a pesky little brother fooling with his sisters?

Gullickson Hall: This is the classroom part of the Cam Henderson Center, the Thundering Herd's basketball arena. The women’s locker room is said to have a playful voyeur. Girls have had her hair pulled when no one was around and many feel the presence of someone watching them.

Harris Hall: Built in 1976, professors and students have heard children talking and walking through the building.

Hodges Hall: Ah, a tale of love gone bad. The most popular version of the HH tale is that a football player was dating several girls, telling each that she was his one and only. Well, the girls found out about each other, and one took it hard. She committed suicide by jumping out of the third story window. Legend has it that her soul lives on in the attic.

You won't find her there anymore, though. Hodges, built in 1937, was razed in 2007.

Jenkins Hall: Jenkins Hall was constructed in 1937 and named in honor of a Confederate calvary officer, General Albert Jenkins, who was a native of Cabell County. Until 1970 the building provided kindergarten through high school education and served as a lab for prospective teachers.

There have been reports of children laughing, and ghost hunter Tigger Conn caught a picture a few months ago of two young kids who were staring and laughing while looking out one of the windows in Jenkins.

Laidley Hall: This 1937 dorm provides upperclassman resident housing. The lore here is that every night at nine, coincidentally the start of dorm quiet hours, the fire alarm (or glass breaking, depends on who's talking) can be heard, joining noises like footsteps and banging radiators to raise a cacophony. Some say the spooks are raising a ruckus; others say an old building makes noise, quiet hours or not.

Memorial Student Center: The Memorial Student Center was completed in 1971. Its name commemorates the loss of the entire Marshall football team in the 1970 plane crash.

It hosts a ghost who walks down the stairs and goes out through the double doors of the front entrance in the student center.

Morrow Library: The James Morrow Library was once MU's main book center; it's the haunt of special collections like the Appalachian Research Center and scholarly academics now. The original bulding was erected in 1872-73, and it was dedicated as a library in 1931.

Morrow survived the 1937 flood (barely) but fell victim to digital technology and modern architecture, as its general stacks have been moved to the John Drinko Library, opened in 1998. But it still has its allure - and lore.

Its ghosts violate the first rule of libraries across the world - they won't be shushed. Students have heard loud arguments while no one was around, and seen books fall off the shelf for no apparent reason and no one around. A little quiet, please! Ghosts are supposed to be seen, not heard. And actually, they have been: white orbs have shown up on pictures taken by the building.

Old Main: The landmark Old Main, which now serves as the primary administrative building for the university, was built on land known as Maple Grove, once the home of the Mount Hebron Church. It's also served as an infirmary during World War II and a girls dormitory.

Old Main is actually a series of five buildings that have been joined together between the years 1868 and 1908 (the oldest dates back to 1830), ranks as the oldest structure on campus, and its spires have become the symbol of the university. It even looks spooky, with a gothic ambience, cobbled together in both Romanesque and Gothic styles.

The attic and the Yeager suites are said to be haunted by past spirits that have made Old Main their home after death, and eerie tales abound from each part of the old structure.

There have been several reports of basement spooks. One is of a man walking in and out of the girl's loo. Another is the shadow of an old handy man dressed in overalls who still dishes out directions and help, then disappears.

But its main claim to ghostly fame comes from the acting area of the old Auditorium. It starts with footsteps from the catwalks above the auditoriun, which can be plainly seen from the floor - but no one is on them.

It's most noted for its ghost of the stage. A large, well-dressed man has been seen sitting backstage during performances who quickly disappears when he attracts someone's eye.

The dapper shade is believed to be the ghost of a 1920's theater director who was wrongfully accused of embezzling money from the college and disappeared. Proof exonerating him wasn't found until the eighties, too late to do his his earthly incarnation any good, but his ethereal self could still enjoy the show.

One Room Schoolhouse: It was built in 1889, and is a museum now. During the 1937 flood some students were drowned and there are stories of kids singing and laughing inside the schoolhouse. They must have moved with the school; it was relocated in 1995.

Sigma Phi Epsilon House: The Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity House is located on Fifth Avenue. Its lore is that in the late 1960s or early 1970s, a woman named Gail and her twin sons died in a basement fire of the home. Reports of hearing sobbing and seeing blurred images are among things that are attributed to the ghosts. One brother said of Gail: "We don't mind having her here. We feel she takes care of the fraternity house." Hey, every frat needs its house mother.

Twin Towers East: The dorm was opened in 1969. In room 1218 of Twin Towers East, a student claims to have seen a young man sitting in his room, looking at him and his roommate. He pulled his blanket up over his head to make it go away, and it worked. When he looked again, the image had disappeared and the door was still locked. He later learned from friends that a student had committed suicide in that room; he assumed that's who his mysterious visitor was.

Hey, is it any wonder the school hosts Ghost Walks on campus?

(H&H took the tales posted here primarily from articles from the Marshall student newspaper, the Parthenon.)

Ohio University of Haunts

Wilson Hall
Hey, my kids think that this blog is a sure sign of their old man's fast-approaching senility (where did I go wrong?) But every so often they have a useful suggestion.

They both went to Dayton for their degrees, and said that if I had to post about spooky campuses, look no further than Ohio University in Athens; every Buckeye state college kid knows it's the most ghostly spot in higher education.

So I checked out Wikipedia (I trust my kids as much as they trust me, hehe), and it said "Ohio University is also considered by some to be the most haunted campus in the United States." So here it is, in its full paranormal glory - and the southeastern Ohio campus has a million tales:

Brown House - It was donated to OU by Millie Brown, who was its life-long resident. It now houses the Contemporary History Institute. Legend has it that she can still be seen sitting by the window, and even took a child on a tour of her home. It was said that the actor Paul Newman saw Millie waving at him from the house - after, unknownst to him, she had died.

Bush Hall - The girls' dorm is the site of poltergeist-type phenomena, like running water and lights going off and on. It also includes the "marbles" sound heard in Jefferson Hall, a noise like someone dumped a bag marbles on the floor and let them roll down the hall.

Bryan Hall - Students living on the fourth floor have claimed to hear someone upstairs in the bell tower, even though it is used solely for storage, and kept locked. On other floors of the dorm, students have heard scratching on the doors and walls, odd noises, and seen strange lights.

Convocation Center - The Convo holds the school gym, where the basketball team plays, and has dorms built around its outside frame. Its most famous legend involves an RA that was killed there by her former boyfriend who still walks the halls, making sure doors are locked.

It's also said to be spooked by the spirit of a girl that died in her sleep there.

Crawford Hall - This dorm is where Laura, an RA, fell to her death in 1993 from a fourth floor window over Easter break. Her misty apparition has been seen on the first floor, near where she landed.

Laura was a fan of Bob Marley music, and many say when you pass by Crawford, any Marley reggae will quit playing, although others say it only happens when they try to play the Marley song "Laura"

Cutler Hall - Some claim that there's a ghost inside the bell tower, setting the time wrong even when its recently been changed. The administration says it's just a clock that doesn't keep time too well. Both sound like fine explanations to us.

Delta Tau Delta fraternity - The brothers liberated a tombstone from the haunted Simms Cemetery and immediately began to experience weird poltergeist activity at their house. Doors slammed shut on their own, things flew through the air, and a window shattered completely. They quickly returned the stone to Simms, and the activity stopped. Another initiation prank scratched off the hell-week list!

The Drum - One Athens home sports a large drum in its front yard that is pierced with holes and is used as a flower pot. But in spite of the holes, this drum never leaks, no matter how much water is poured into it.

The stories say that it was used by a local college professor to dispose of his wife's body in the lake after he murdered her. Her ghost is still said to be clinging to the drum. Supposedly, she is still seen today peering out the second-story window of her house.

Jefferson Hall - It's said that students, exploring the upper halls of the building a decade ago, saw a teacher behind a desk, dressed in 1950's clothing, in an attic room. The only problem, besides the square outfit, was that she was transparent and floated. They ran for help, and when they returned, the door was locked, and the desk was covered with dust.

The building also boasts of poltergeist trickery, the best known being the sound of rolling marbles from the top floor, a phenomena shared with Bush Hall.

Lin Hall - Once known as "The Ridges," it was formerly part of the old State Mental Hospital. As with many state mental institutions, the Athens center was shuttered during federal budget cuts in the 1980's. Lin now houses the Kennedy Museum of Art. And Margaret Schilling is reported to still be in building.

She was a patient in the hospital when she disappeared in December of 1978. A maintenance man discovered her body a month later in the attic of a ward that had been closed off for several years. Schilling had starved to death. There's still a stain in the floor that forms an outline of her body. It's been reported that Marge roams the floors of the old ward at night.

Main Green - Here, you can allegedly spot Stroud, a headless buffalo who was killed by Confederate soldiers hunting in Ohio during the Civil War. Stroud was supposed to be the last buffalo remaining in Ohio.

Perkins Hall - Residents have claimed to hear laughter and a woman speaking. Others have watched electrical appliances turn on and off on their own. How ghosts love electronica!

Sigma Phi Epsilon sorority house - This East Street home was once a stop in the Underground Railroad. Confederate soldiers raided the house, and killed an runaway slave named Nicodemus, who was hiding in the basement. The rebs shot him in the back as he tried to escape.

Other versions say that some locals stoned him, either afraid of the retribution a slave station would bring on the town, or just as a mob of southern sympathizers.

The place has been reported to be haunted by his ghost ever since. Residents of the house have reported hearing scratching and whining sounds behind the wall where the slaves once hid, creaking noises and footsteps, the unlocking of doors and even the apparition of a man in tattered clothing.

The house has been home to a number of sororities, and they all have their Nicodemus stories.

Washington Hall - Talk about your basketball jones! This place is haunted by an entire b-ball team, although its make-up is up for debate.

One story says a girls' high school team stayed there, and had the time of their lives there attending basketball camp. The girls, unfortunately, were soon killed in a bus accident, and their spirits returned to the place they all enjoyed the most to spend eternity - Washington Hall. Reportedly, you can hear the bouncing of basketballs and the laughter of the girls.

A likelier version of the ghostly five is focused on the top floor of Washington Hall, in the attic, which used to be a recreation room when it was a men's dorm. This time the team is all male, and keep their haunting limited to the attic.

Either way, it's a great tribute to team chemistry, even in the afterlife. Coach K would be proud.

West Green - Legend has it that the West Green is built on an Indian burial ground. The Hocking River, which ran through campus, can still be heard rushing by, along with the chants of the disturbed native Americans.

Wilson Hall - This place is meant to be spooked out. It's allegedly the center of a pentagram formed with the five haunted cemeteries (Simms, Hanning, Cuckler, Higgins, and Zion) in Athens. But there are 270 graveyards in Athens County, which means you could connect the dots and draw a star or a pentagram just about anywhere in Athens.

Others say that it's built on one of the old State hospital's cemeteries. Neither is very promising if you're looking for an occult-free existence, though neither is proven.

The most famous Wilson Hall story is that of room 428. It is told that a girl who practiced the occult died violently in the room. In fact, in some places it's thought that she visited the old Asylum, and something frightened her so badly - perhaps she ran across Marge, or another former inmate - that she returned to Wilson and committed suicide.

Since then, students have reported items coming of walls and smashing into walls, footsteps and strange sounds in the rooms, furniture being rearranged and reports of an apparition of the girl. It's also rumored to have a face hidden in the wood grain of the door.

Misty spirits have been reported roaming in its halls, too, adding to its reputation as the most haunted building of Ohio University.

The University has closed the room and doesn't issue it to students any longer; they use it for a storage area.

And one final note - it's also claimed that Ohio U's Halloween party is the best in all of collegedom.