Blood that won't come off of walls, Indian burial grounds and pentagrams are all part of the legend of Wilson Hall, a West Green residence hall.
Whether or not spirits really roam the residence halls of Ohio University, the British Society for Psychical Research ranks Athens as one of the most haunted places on earth, and the city has been featured on the show Scariest Places On Earth.
Many residence halls report eerie tales, but some of the most chilling rumors pertain to Wilson, Jefferson and Washington Halls. Be it fact or fiction, many residents claim their buildings are haunted.
Wilson, which was featured on Scariest Places on Earth, is the subject of various supernatural legends. It supposedly lies at the center of a pentagram of cemeteries in the area, and, according to forgottenoh.com, it lies on top of an ancient Indian burial ground.
The most popular Wilson legend, however, is that a girl went to The Ridges, touched the infamous stain of a deceased inmate and went crazy. She channeled witchcraft and killed herself in her fourth floor room, staining the walls with Satan-shaped bloodstains that refused to wash off.
Drew Tonkovich, a sophomore who lives on the third floor of Wilson, said rumor has it the room has been closed off and turned into a boiler room.
Tonkovich said he and some friends bought a Ouija board and met several spirits in Wilson.
One of the spirits said its name was Sarah, gave her age as 69 and her year of death as 1864. Another group later borrowed the board and had an experience with a spirit who gave the same name and dates.
He said they later took the board by the boiler room on the fourth floor, and the spirit they connected with there spelled out 'Lucifer.'
When we asked what it wanted it said
'Burn ... all ' Tonkovich said, adding that the board has now been properly disposed off.
The Wilson legends combine fact and fiction, said R.J. Abraham, Athens native, former high school teacher and local historian who has taught classes and lectures about Haunted Athens. Abraham also led Fox around Athens when it visited to film The Scariest Places on Earth.
A boy, not a girl, actually died of natural causes in Wilson in the 1970s.
Abraham also described an incident that occurred when he was leading Fox around Wilson, and they were looking for the haunted room.
I swear I saw a spirit that looked like the girl from The Shining the movie
in the bathroom
and she was pointing. When I followed her finger
I found the supposedly haunted room we had been searching for
Abraham said, although he conceded he is not sure whether he was simply tired or had a particularly strong will to find the room.
Washington Hall is also rumored to be haunted but by an entire basketball team.
Sophomore Michelle Kappeler, who is studying photography, lived on the fourth floor of Washington last year, and said she heard the squeaking of sneakers, like those a basketball team would wear, when no one was around. She also said she woke up in the middle of the night, overcome with chills and an eerie sense that there was a spirit in the area.
Across the way, Jefferson Hall is rumored to be haunted by a schoolteacher. Many students have reported hearing the sound of marbles falling on the ground, according to forgottenoh.com., and the catacombs of Jefferson Hall have been the location of ghost sightings, according to smashinglists.com.
The stories about haunted dorms change and become more exaggerated every year
Abraham said. I don't know if I would describe (Athens) as haunted as much as spooky. Weird things have happened. I don't believe in ghosts
but I do believe in spirits.
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