Ohio University administrators known as Green Jackets and extra police patrolling The Ridges are more likely to lurk in the shadows of the old tuberculosis ward than ghosts this weekend.
Ohio University Police Lt. Chris Johnson warns that OUPD will take trespassing seriously on Halloween weekend and consequences for break-ins and vandalism will most likely result in a criminal charge.
Although people are welcome to explore the grounds of The Ridges, trespassing in the unoccupied buildings could result in a charge for breaking and entering. Trespassing into the renovated buildings would be a burglary charge, which is a felony, Johnson said.
Exploring the buildings at The Ridges is illegal and dangerous, said Johnson. Students tend to explore the non-renovated buildings, which contain lead paint and no electricity. Most students do not carry flashlights for fear of getting caught trespassing in the dark buildings and could be injured, Johnson said.
OUPD also takes vandalism at The Ridges seriously, he said. The number of people trampling through the cemeteries increases during Halloween, which means the grave sites are more likely to get damaged, Johnson said.
Johnson said to venture
but venture legally this weekend. Explorers should carry a flashlight, wear comfortable walking shoes and be cautious. Even so, the OUPD has very little tolerance for students who turn venturing into trespassing.
People want to treat [The Ridges] like an amusement park but it's not Johnson said.
The Ridges opened in early 1874 as a mental health institution, said Katherine Ziff, Asylum scholar and interim executive assistant to the Provost for Institutional Equity. Patients in the facility suffered from mental disorders now known as various forms of depression, schizophrenia, self-mutilation and substance abuse. During the early years of The Ridges, patients' rights were non-existent, Ziff said.
Astronomy professor George Eberts has worked at The Ridges for 14 years, and it was not until the mental health hospital was removed from The Ridges in 1993 that he started hearing stories.
The most infamous story involves a patient who hid herself in a closed-off room and was discovered months later, dead, leaving a permanent, body-shaped stain on the floor, said Eberts. People tend to connect this to the Wilson Hall legend in which a girl who touched the stain committed suicide, Eberts said.
Eberts often worked the night shift and as a result feels the hype around The Ridges to be 100 percent exaggerated.
[People] believe in it purely for fun because [they] are sort of thrilled or maybe scared
Eberts said.
Junior Donald Hayes said he is drawn to The Ridges because it is one part of campus that is forbidden.
Sophomore Amanda Catron describes the allure of exploring The Ridges as a form of peer pressure because people who go there coax their friends to go too. Catron also said she thinks it is unnecessary that students get punished for breaking in because usually they are not doing anything bad; they just want to experience the unknown.
I don't think people should get in trouble for victimless crime
said sophomore Amanda Catron. And it's a victimless crime ' unless you hurt a ghost.
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Caitlin McGlade
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The Ridges is a popular place for students to visit during Halloween weekend because of the stories that circulate about it being haunted. It housed a mental health hospital until 1993.
