Wilson Hall boasts history of haunting 

by Sara Schonhardt
Staff Writer    

Is Wilson Hall still haunted?

Depends who you talk to. But of all the rumored hauntings in dormitories on Ohio University's campus, this hall on West Green is perhaps the most famous. According to county records, Wilson was built over an old Indian burial ground.

Every year the advent of Halloween brings out old tales and spooky stories that revolve around Athens—a city that the British Society of Psychological Research calls one of the most haunted places on earth.

This year the old stories will continue to frighten hoards of new students, and the most famous ghost story, about a young resident's suicide in the 1970's, will circulate around Wilson Hall.

Legend has it that a fourth floor resident, known for her chanting and strange behavior, committed a horrific suicide in her room more than 20 years ago. When a RA opened the room, she found that the resident had somehow drawn symbols and signs on the walls with her own blood before she died.

Although no records confirm them, rumors say that despite paint, the bloodstains continued to seep through the walls and the room was eventually sealed and joined with a maintenance closet.

According to legend, the room is still identifiable by a demonic face seen in the wood grain of the door.

Of course this story is just a legend and the Ohio University Police Department does not have any records from the ’70's that would confirm any student suicide.

Joanne Prisley, the curator of Athens County Historical Society, said these stories are a figment of the imagination.

Many of the original stories probably developed because of students' use of drugs such as LSD, she said.

"The first stories centered around cemeteries on Peach Ridge Road and that's where people went to get high and do LSD," Prisley said.

However, aside from the chanting and the suicide tale, students have verified other strange occurrences in their rooms at Wilson Hall.

In 1971, residents of room 428 reported that a jar of Noxzema flew from a bookshelf and shattered against the opposite wall completely unexplained.

Again in 1975, Susan Herrington and Sue Goestschius, who were living in room 420, reported hearing the water fountain clicking and bathroom doors opening and closing when no one was around.

Then in 1976, when the unexplained noises were at their worst, Debbie Southall said she saw a faded ring of light glowing around her ceiling.

Crystal Mazarowski, current fourth floor RA, said no residents have complained about strange occurrences, but they have noticed that things are out of the ordinary.

"Residents will tell me that a radio will turn on when it shouldn't, but it's nothing that hasn't happened before," she said.

When Mazarowski was checking door keys before students returned to OU this fall, she said she noticed something odd.

"One of the rooms was locked and when I tried to push the door open, I saw that a desk had been pushed in front of it," Mazarowski said.

A housekeeper later noticed the same thing, which was strange because no one was living in the dorms yet, she said.

"How could anyone manage to push their desk in front of the door and still get out of the room?" Mazarowski asked.