Macabre Maryland

Rossborough Inn

The University of Maryland completes our regional road trip of spooky schools. The UM campus is at College Park, near to the hyper haunted towns of Baltimore and Washington, DC. And it holds its own in the realm of the paranormal.

Alpha Omicron Pi House: The girls claim to have seen and heard the ghost of a sorority sister who died in a 1995 car accident. Other phenomena include music suddenly playing, computers humming away on their own, and objects falling or moving on their own accord. It's also been reported that at least one AOP sister saw a disembodied pair of red eyes staring at her.

Davidge Hall: Davidge Hall is the oldest medical school building in the western hemisphere. One of its quirks is the fact that there are many escape routes from its rooms, dating back from the day when students sliced up cadavers illegally brought to them by grave robbers.

But for all that history, the Hall is gently haunted. Many people have a feeling of uneasiness while in building, and report hearing unexplained sounds and voices. It's not very spooked out for a body chop shop.

Delta Tau Delta House: Soon after a fraternity brother was killed in an auto accident in 1955, there were reports of strange happenings in the house. Furniture was shifted around in the middle of the night. The cook was afraid to be in the kitchen because a piece of the dead brother's furniture moved itself there, and a cabinet was always warm to the touch inside. Chairs move by themselves late at night.

This was based on a 1976 story, so whether the DTD house still is home to its departed brother's presence or not is unknown.

Easton Hall: The story here is that a freshman committed suicide by jumping out an window in the 1990s, and his spook still haunts the eighth floor of the co-ed hall.

Kappa Delta House: University Registrar Alma Preinkert was much beloved on campus. The entire UM community was stunned when she became the victim of an unsolved murder in her Washington, D.C. home in 1954. That held specially true for the KD sisters. Alma was a founder of the Kappa Delta sorority at Maryland.

She's said to haunt the halls of the sorority house she helped establish. And she's not alone; the shades of girls in white dresses dancing on the KD sundeck during the summer when the house is closed have also been reported. Otherworld rush, maybe?

Medical Center: This building used to serve as a morgue. Custodial and security staff have reported hearing strange noises and sensing a presence at night, and a feeling of ill ease bordering on fear when they enter the basement, where the cadavers were on ice. Whether they're having a natural reaction to a death house or whether there are actually ghosties bumping things in the night we'll leave for you to decide.

Morrill Hall: The Hall was built in 1898 and is the oldest campus building with its original facade intact. Workers found human remains under a sink while renovating the Hall, but it's paranormal claim to fame has more to do with sensations than spooks. The custodial and maintenance staff have heard noises late at night, and claim that people trip and fall with some netherland assistance.

But it's most known for its mysterious smells. Morrill Hall's lore includes the Thanksgiving fire of 1912, in which it was the only building to survive the blaze. It's alleged that to this day, you can still smell the smoke from conflagration that almost claimed every structure on campus.

Marie Mount Hall: Constructed in 1940 as an addition to Silvester Hall, its walls and ceilings slant at odd angles to merge with the old construction. It went by a couple of names - the Home Economics Building and the Margaret Brent Hall - until in 1967 the Board of Regents renamed it Marie Mount Hall in appreciation of Marie Mount's contributions in home economics at the university.

Campus employees claim to have seen Mount's ghost and heard her playing the piano on stormy nights, and on Halloween evening. A portrait of Marie Mount is said to watch the Hall's visitors, its eyes following their every move around the room. We guess the old Home Economics Building is the perfect eternal home for its matron.

Patterson Hall: It's allegedly spooked by a mist. An employee saw a shadow move across the wall while working alone in the building. Not the most solid case for a haunting, but hey...

Rossborough Inn/Carriage House: The Inn was built between 1804 and 1812 by John Ross, a tavern keeper. The land passed through various hands until it became part of the Calvert family holdings. In 1858, the Calverts sold 420 acres of their land, including the Rossborough Inn, to the Maryland Agricultural College, later to become UM. It's also the home of Miss Betty.

Miss Betty is alleged to have been a Civil War nurse that tended to her charges at the Rossborough Inn, and apparently she took a liking to her surroundings.

She's one of the most sighted ghosts on campus, described as short with dark hair and wearing a yellow dress. Miss Betty has been credited with turning the Inn lights on and off, showing her face in the mirror, and setting up vases with fresh flowers.

There's also lore about about a dualist who fought more bravely than well outside the Inn, and died in one of its rooms. His blood is said to reappear on the floor.

In the attached Carriage House, there's reports of two spirits sitting on stools in the first floor restaurant.

Stamp Student Union: The SU hosts a myriad of campus organizations, and they report some hazardous working conditions. Lights go on and off, elevators run by themselves, doors open and close unaided, and there are cold spots. A fire went through the building years ago, and the smell of smoke is still present. And this is where a student goes to relax?

Washington Hall: Ill-fated hoop star Len Bias' ghost is rumored to still be bouncing basketballs in his former residence hall.

But in spite of all those tales, we still think the strangest thing to haunt Maryland's campus is the statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog, in front of the Stamp Student Union. Terrapins and frogs, oh my...



Picture from Wikia

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.