Student leads haunted tour of campus
By Rose Finnerty, Staff Writer
October 26, 2007 | 2:39 p.m.
Ohio University is said to be one of the most haunted colleges in America. Senior Tom Ogilvie fully embraces this fact, and on Halloween night he will be leading a tour featuring some of the most haunted spots on campus.
Athens, Ohio, has been listed as the 13th most haunted city in the United States with the Ohio University campus as the center of paranormal activity. “This is the most haunted part of the state. There are stories that stretch here from the border to Columbus,” Ogilvie said. Almost every student on campus has heard stories about the Ridges or seen the episode of “Scariest Places on Earth” that features Athens.
Many people are interested in the stories about ghosts, hauntings and mysterious deaths that occurred on campus. Ogilvie has spent about four years researching these stories and trying to discover their truth. “Ghosts and legends represent our psyche and fear of what’s out there,” Ogilvie said.
This year Ogilvie is organizing a “haunted tour” of campus on Halloween night. He hopes to lead a group of about 20 people around campus, pointing out the most haunted places, including dorms. He plans to start in Bryan Hall at 8:00 p.m. The first story on the tour will be the story of Flick.
Legend says that Flick was a student at OU in the ‘70s who hung himself on the fourth floor of Bryan. After the suicide, another student spray painted “Flick Lives” on an attic wall. No matter how hard the wall is scrubbed or painted over, the graffiti seeps through. Ogilvie hopes to start the tour by allowing people to file up in small groups to see the graffiti.
Ogilvie has a long list of places he plans on visiting including Washington Hall, Crawford Hall and Wilson Hall. Wilson Hall is the only other hall he hopes to actually enter. If the group receives permission to go inside, they will try to see a demon face in a door on the fourth floor. This face was supposedly imprinted there after a student who was involved with the occult committed suicide in the room. This was one of the stories featured on “Scariest Places on Earth.”
He will not be able to lead the students through the Ridges, though, because it is illegal to go inside. Instead, he will situate the group near the Convocation Center with a nice view of the old mental institution to tell some of the stories.
Stories about hauntings can be found in various locations, such as the Internet and television. The way most of the stories travel, though, is by word-of-mouth. There are numerous stories that span the campus, the city and the whole state. “Some stories I’m a little skeptical about. Some stories about ghosts and poltergeists might just be strange noises, but others I do believe. They have basis and fact.” Ogilvie said.
Ogilvie grew up immersed in the culture of the fantastic. He believes the house he grew up in was haunted, and ever since he was young, he was able to sense the spiritual world. “I used to go up the stairs, and I would feel like someone was tugging on my shirt. When I turned around, no one was there,” he said.
Ogilvie hopes to completely scare every member of the group. He will be dressing up to lead the tour and will tell each story with as much flourish as possible. “Sometimes I get so into it, I scare myself, and I don’t scare easily,” Ogilvie said.
Students interested in the tour should contact Ogilvie or a resident assistant in Bryan Hall. Ogilvie hopes to give everyone who attends the thrill of a lifetime. It is Halloween after all, and as Ogilvie said, “Everyone deserves a good scare.”