Episode 23 Ohio University

Come join Joey and Sabryna as they discuss the long history and current hauntings of Ohio University. This episode will leading to the story of an upcoming future episode.

Don’t forget that you can message us at ghostandgavel@gmail.com so if we have any local listeners that have stories from attending or visiting this university send us a message. Don’t forget to also add us on our social media pages Ghost and Gavel on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Sources:
Ohiohauntedhouses.com
littlehouseofhorrors.com
Google.com
Ohio.edu
Wikipedia.org
Collegeraptor.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to Ghost and Gavel with Joey and Sabrina. But welcome to episode 23 of Ghost and Gavel. Today we're handing it over to Sabrina.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Today on Ghosts and Gavel, we're going to be talking about Ohio University, not Ohio State University. Let's not get them confused, just Ohio University. Following the cliche about any horror movie, a school that has once was once a mental asylum built over a Native American burial ground. And to top it all off, it is surrounded by cemeteries, which is said to be in the shape of a pentagram. Now, of course, we know pentagrams are not meant to be evil things, but the theory behind it, we have to add it in there, of course. Now, as an enthusiast of the dark and scary, we know the meanings behind the pentagram, like I said, and know it all depends on the person and how they see it. We are not here to change anybody's mind, but it is part of what the campus history is about, so I wanted to make mention of it and make sure that it was in here. So we're gonna get into the history of the campus. Founded in 1804, the oldest university in Ohio and in the Northwest Territory, opening to students in 1808. The university actually predates the state's founding. So before even Ohio was considered a state, the university was founded, is basically what I'm saying. Some key phases in history. Cutler Hall was built in eighteen sixteen as a cornerstone of the campus, count canvas. The plans for the land establishments were done by Rufus Putman and Manasea Cutler. I probably said that wrong. In 1896, the school gained its first dedicated off-campus residence hall for women. However, prior to this, and the reason for this dedication was because the campus had grown beyond college green to include east, west, north, and south greens.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

But no, just going back on the thing, though, it is the Ohio State Buckeyes.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Yes, Ohio State Buckeyes for Ohio State University. This is not Ohio State University, this is just Ohio University. Two different separate universities. The ridges, or formerly the Athens Lunatic Asylum, were developed on a wooded hill side. It is a large complex that was acquired by the university at later dates, but now a significant part of the campus life and landscapes today. It is the ridges that will obviously be focused on today's topic.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Sorry, going back off track, but yes, there's three colleges in Ohio. Ohio. Ohio State University.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Correct. So just Ohio University, not Ohio State.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Ohio State.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yes. The asylum was originally developed over a hundred and fifty years ago, and with declining patient numbers and the onset of de-institutionalization movement, which we have discussed lightly in previous episodes, as for the timing, the hospital saw its end in the 1980s. It wasn't until 1990 or in the 1990s that Ohio University acquired the land and the buildings to which the asylum was part of. So the university was founded long before, but they acquired the buildings that were part of what was considered the asylum. So it was in the nineteenth century that the Kirkbride plan was adopted, and in Ohio's post-Civil War era, they wanted to take on a progressive vision. Dr. Thomas Kirkbride advocated for moral treatment of those with mental illness. His plan took an approach to humane conditions for the time and a goal to rehabilitate patients to the highest extent possible. This plan included certain specifications for build for buildings that included size, access to light, and fresh air, and natural setting for recreation. Again, like I have said in previous episodes, like we can bring like can we honestly bring some of this back because uh rehabilitation, you know, we talk about it being a goal for people that go to prison. Why can rehabilitation not be a goal for people that are in mental institutions?

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Maybe because uh in prison uh they just done a crime, but mental they seem mentally insane and uncable. But he hasn't getting your reference.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Yeah, but a crime could be also something that is, you know, not possible for rehabilitation depending on the crime. I'm not saying every crime, but there are some crimes that I would not see as having the ability to rehabilitate. Whereas when you talk about mental illness, there is an option for rehabilitation. Honestly, as someone that struggles with mental health still and still working on myself, some things that really help in some of my struggles is just sitting outside on a porch on some days and soaking in the sunshine and fresh air. So honestly, something that would have been something that would have greatly helped me when I've gone through my struggles in hospitals being a part of nature. If this stuff would have been incorporated in previous hospital stays, I'm not going to say it would have completely solved the issues at hand, because that does not just happen, obviously, with mental struggles, but it definitely would have opened new avenues for me at a younger age and led to better coping skills earlier in life for myself personally.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

But also that guy did start where once he got older in the films that they wasn't allowing him to go out, they just solitated him into his room 24-7. But at one point I think they did used to allow you to go outside.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Well, like we've talked about in previous episodes, you know, you have different levels of mental illness. You have people that do need more solitary confinement. Or like me, for instance, who struggles with things like depression, severe anxiety, PTSD, you know, those are things that, like I said, things like nature and fresh air do tend to help me when I'm struggling. You know personally, I like to go sit outside where it's quiet, where I have some peace, where I'm surrounded by greenery. And in 1874, the asylum was open. In 1880, an endeavor was started calling it the Healing Landscape. Like in other episodes that included asylums, landscapes were updated to make an area for sustainable, more sustainable for healing, including water purification systems and ponds, farming and working fields, boating, adding vegetable gardens, livestock, and a greenhouse and an orchard. In 1903, the moral treatment model shifted to custodial care approach, the asylum shifted to research-based modern medicine specialties, and they began grouping patients in dormitory-like rooms and adding on to the to house more patients. In the 1950s, the facility had begun treating 1,800 patients at some points, and the numbers exceeding triple what the Kirkbride plan had originally envisioned. This is also around the time that psychiatry went back to methods such as hydrotherapy, which we've talked about in the past, electroshock, which we've talked about in the past, lobotomies, and incorporating things like art therapy. Again, something that would have been very beneficial for me, art therapy. This is also around the time that the release of the first, I'm hoping I'm saying this right, psychotropic drugs for treatment of mental health came along. Patients that saw improvements with these medications were released, and the need for institutionalizations greatly decreased. From the 1970s to the 1980s, the patient population was reduced to around two hundred, and new, more modern hospital was built. In nineteen eighty eight, the state transformed transferred facility to stewardship of Ohio University. Today, the huge building is home to the Kennedy Museum, an auditorium, an office, several classrooms, and storage facilities, and maybe even a couple ghosts. The first patient admitted to the asylum, can you guess what their age was? Fourteen years old. It was a 14-year-old girl with epilepsy whose parents had admitted her to admitted her with the thought that she was possessed by a demon, which is something I didn't know. Um, some of the things that asylums took care of was things like epilepsy back in the day. I mean, could you imagine today having a serious medical condition like epilepsy and being admitted into a mental asylum? That would honestly probably scare the living hell out of me. Yeah, but medicine could have advanced from way back then to well, obviously, yes, it has advanced, but I mean just the thought of uh having something like epilepsy, a serious medical condition, and being admitted into a place where people have severe mental illnesses. The history of the people that were admitted into the asylum line up pretty well with what we know about the type of people that were admitted, such as in such places in the past. People among those admitted were Civil War veterans, rebellious teenagers, the homeless, the elderly, and even violent criminals. As discussed, epilepsy was one reason that people were admitted. Other reasons came to menstruation issues, menopause. Well, hun, I guess we're going to have to pick a nice institution for the next month's cycle, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Maybe a nice long-term facility for when the menopause hits? Sorry guys, I didn't mean to make a joke about that, but you know, we do have to learn from our history in the past, and especially as women, we have to be able to make light of the things now. Other reasons include alcohol abuse. And did you know that even people with asthma were admitted into mental asylums?

SPEAKER_01 17:23

That one, I do not.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Which I didn't know was actually something commonly treated in an asylum in those days. However, the most common reason to be admitted here was for you want to take a wild guess? Masturbation.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

No, that one I have heard.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

I've heard that one too, but I didn't know that it was the most common reason to be admitted into that asylum specifically. Being admitted was something serious because part of the uh Kirkbright's plan or Kirkbride's method was to cut all contact with family, which would explain why so many who lived there died there and were buried there as well. It is said that a total of 1,930 people were buried in the asylum cemeteries. Some patients were actually cla Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Why is every asylum you do they bury their patients on the ground?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Because you have to think asylums back in times like this, families didn't want to admit that they had people that were claimed to have mental illnesses. They were ashamed of people and their families. So a lot of families did not come back to claim members that were admitted. Some patients were actually claimed by their families, so I was kind of getting into that. After they had passed, though, and moved elsewhere. However, most families were too ashamed of the fact that there was mental illness linked to their family. Before 1943, headstones were only given a number, so, like a patient number was on the headstone. During that year, they began adding names and the data to the headstones, and it is said that over 80 of those buried were Civil War veterans, which is honestly kind of sad because our veterans definitely deserve better than that. It wasn't until the 2000s that the National Alliance for Mental Illness began to honor those soldiers that were actually buried there. Which is even more sad because again, our veterans definitely deserve better than that. When the area and the buildings were an area and the buildings were in asylum, they were known to hit the news about twice a week, and we all know that is not meant in a good way. Some of the times they happen, some of the some of good grief, I cannot speak. Some of the times they appeared on the news were recalled. In 1977, Billy Milligan was admitted, and it made news because he was known he was a known rapist with multiple personality disorder that had several felonies, including armed robbery and rape, of three Ohio State University students. Well, not students, some of them were actually workers there. So this is a different university, Ohio State University. A year later, another popular report hit when a patient, Margaret Schilling, disappeared from her department. Which actually Billy Milligan, we are going to bring up in a later episode. That was one that I may be my first two parter. It is Reported that they had searched everywhere except the top floor of the building of building 20, where she was found about 42 days later by a caretaker. Her body had begun decomposing. This report was made in December when she was found. It is said that prior to passing, she had removed her clothes, folded them neatly in a pile, and laid on her back with her arms crossed over her chest. And it is said that even today they can still see the stain of the outline of her decomposing body on the floor. So I don't know if you've heard the theory, but okay, we're talking about this being December, we're talking about this being earlier days. Um, so I'm sure the heat was not great in the building. But did have you actually heard the theory as to why people remove their clothing when they're going through uh hypothermia? Because towards the end, they actually feel overheated, so they feel the need to take their clothes off. And a lot of people that die of hypothermia, they actually find them with their clothes removed and folded neatly next to them. So I thought that was a little interesting, fun fact to throw in there. The stories that revolve around the main building persist of strange figures roaming, disembodied voices, footsteps, and screams. Some say the creepiest area of the building is in the basement, where it is rumored that disabled people were kept and chained to the walls, although there is no evidence of this, and that this in fact happened to patients. It is said that the chains are heard rattling along the walls, though. Another area on campus that is claimed to be haunted is Wilson Hall. It is said that this is where the Native American burial grounds were and also claimed to be the most haunted dormitory on campus. Also, speaking of the pentagram of five cemeteries, it is told that the hall is located right in the center and rumored to be a witch's meeting point. Apparently, over the years, when the buildings were abandoned, the cemeteries were severely vandalized. On the fourth floor of the building, apparitions are seen, voices have been heard, and doors are known to shut by themselves. It is reported that a student had committed suicide on the fourth floor in a room, and it is said by a former student that many students that reside in Wilson Hall have actually pretty much lost their minds and proceeded to again commit suicide. The convo center, located on the West Green area, is also said to be haunted. It is claimed that one ghost is the ghost of the student who had passed in their sleep and now embraces other students while they're sleeping in a form of comfort. A resident assistant was also said to have been killed by her boyfriend here and now continues to roam and monitor the halls. Another area claimed to be haunted is Washington Hall on the East Green area. The dorm is allegedly haunted by an entire basketball team. Although the team is said to be a team of high schoolers that had visited the university and unfortunately died in an accident when leaving.com, some former students have actually shared personal accounts. One student says that there that where they had stayed in Bush Hall, they had never heard haunted accounts until one night everyone was in their rooms, and the student and their roommate were in their individual beds studying, and they heard marbles go rolling across the floor outside the door. Thinking a friend down the hall was messing with them, they went to ask and were told, oh yeah, Bushaw has a ghost too, and will do that when she actually likes you. They said they continued to hear it throughout the their time there. They also say that when the roommate was sleeping, they had heard scratching coming from the wall by them and had to wake the roommate to realize that it was in fact not them that was making the scratching. The scratching is said to have continued all the way around the room, only stopping when it had reached the door to leave. Many say that the university was the university has tried to cover up the fact that tunnels running under the buildings for maintenance purposes are frequently used to perform rituals. So tell us in an email at ghostangavil at gmail.com. What are some of college experiences that you have had that may be ghostly, or maybe a college you have heard that has that is haunted that you would like us to do some research on? College parties that have ended in ghost hunts, maybe haunted dorms. What are some other haunted universities that you have heard of or have been to that you would like us to cover and post on next? Goodbye. Well, before we say our goodbye, we would like to remind you guys to make sure that whatever um platform you are listening on, you leave us a rating, a comment, and make sure you find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook and keep up to date with us. All Ghost and Gavel. And again, our email is ghost and gavel at gmail.com. I hope you guys have a great Monday and a fantastic week, everybody.