So it’s Halloween and you’re craving that sick-to-your-stomach, hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck scary kind of feeling, right? Well, you may be interested to know that OSU is said to have it’s fair share of lurking spirits. Before you try a seance in your residence hall, let me tell you where legends say they hang out.
The Lady of Mirror LakeAccording to this tale, in the autumn of 1915, some students and faculty said they saw a distraught woman sitting on the banks of Mirror Lake. They reported seeing her in the early morning and evening, and some even described seeing her walk across the lake. Who was she? It turns out that the body of a Professor Clark was found in Mirror Lake in 1903. He had apparently taken his own life after losing a considerable amount of money in the stock market. Clark had advised several of his colleagues to buy a particular Alaska mining stock that turned out to be a bad investment. He slipped into a deep depression afterwards. His widow vowed never to leave the spot where he died. In 1915, she died and her image was seen by the lake for the first time.
Why Oxley is no longer a residence hallOxley Hall, now home to university offices, was Ohio State’s original residence hall. Supposedly, the university stopped assigning rooms in the building because so many parents heard ghost stories that they wouldn’t let their daughters live there. Many stories have been reported over the years by people who have had peculiar experiences in Oxley. Articles published by the Lantern in the 1980s and 1990s give details of lights that switch on and off by themselves, doors that unlock themselves and eerie sounds that can be heard inside both Oxley and neighboring Mack Hall. People who have reported spooky incidents include the former night security staff of the building and Bill Wahl, former community and visitor relations manager. Explanations for these strange occurrences offer legends of a woman who died while locked in Oxley over winter break in the 1930s. Supposedly every December 17, the date of her death, her third floor light can be seen on and screams can be heard. Another tale states that three women now haunt the building, and people claim poltergeists come to Oxley Hall to steal things, such as a Christmas tree that turned up mysteriously missing in the middle of the night.
Though they may not be widely known, OSU ghost stories can be found with a little digging. They may simply be products of overactive imaginations, but some people swear by their truth. As with any legend, it is your choice whether or not you believe in them. The only way to make this decision is to check them out for yourself, if you dare . . . .
-Thanks to David Hothersall and the staff at the Ohio State University Archives for their help compiling these stories.