Omens of The Oval
The wind is howling through the snaking paths. The Buckeye tree’s leaves are turning shades of scarlet. It’s brisk and biting as the temperature begins to drop. Fall is here, Halloween is near. Come gather round for stories of Ohio State’s haunted past.
Our first story starts in Hopkins Hall, our home for Art and Design, on a night 40 years ago…
In the spring of 1981, a student worked through the night to finish her senior final project. On her ride back to the first floor, the elevator shuttered to a stop, trapping the artist with her supplies in a steel box.
She screamed, she banged her fists against the walls and tried prying the doors open. At some point, her fright took over. When she was found on Monday morning, she had covered the elevator walls with handprints and was covered head to toe in the paint that was trapped with her in the elevator. She was found physically fine, but the experience emotionally traumatized her and she wouldn’t speak of it. After spending a few months off-campus, she returned, but within the week died.
Today, on a pillar outside the main entrance to Hopkins, there is an eerie black handprint that cannot be scrubbed off. Legend remains that she lost her spirit in the elevator that night. Her ghost made sure everyone would remember her by leaving a single handprint in sight.
Next, we’ll head to South campus, and share a scary tale from one of our oldest, spookiest residence halls: Baker Hall West…
There was a housekeeper who worked on the first floor of Baker West. She was a quiet and sweet older lady. From time to time, she would be teased by residents living in her floor section but was well respected.
One year, she had a hallway of entirely male students who were particularly rowdy. The group would constantly prank her and leave the place in terrible condition. One day she decided to put her foot down and told the boys that if they didn’t quit with the pranks, she would stop cleaning their spaces. The boys didn’t respond well and instead decided to play another prank.
On a Friday afternoon, as the housekeeper was getting ready to leave for the weekend, the boys surprised her in a basement hallway. They tied her up and left her in a custodial closet for the weekend. Unfortunately, that room had several leaks and floods. They left her on the floor covering the drain and the room flooded over the weekend, drowning her.
Shortly thereafter there were sightings of a shadowy figure all throughout the Bakers that only men have been able to see. The story goes that the figure is the spirit of the housekeeper and she will haunt men living in either Baker Hall.
Saving the best for last, I’d say, as Orton Hall starts to seem grayer…
Orton Hall is the second-oldest building on campus, named after Edward Orton Sr., Ohio State’s first president. Orton leaves behind many legacies, including the Orton Geological Museum. But one artifact is considerably livelier than others.
Legend has it a prehistoric man roams the museum halls. Confused by his modern surroundings, he is heard throughout the museum grunting, slamming doors and banging on walls. A student worker reported a man’s feet in the upstairs room of the museum. When she arrived at the top of the stairs to see if he needed help, there was no one there.
During his time at Ohio State, Orton would often be found in the evenings reading in the bell tower by lamplight. Today some say that if you look into the tower on top of Orton Hall, you’ll see a flickering light.
The Ohio Staters worked with The Ohio State University Archives, Chris Woodyard the author of Haunted Ohio and the director of the Orton Geological Library to collect these stories.
