Ohio University
PANICd#: 1029
In 1803, Ohio became a state and on February 18, 1804, the Ohio General Assembly passed an act establishing "The Ohio University." The opened in 1808 with one building, three students, and its one professor, Jacob Lindley.
1 Park Pl
Athens , OH 45701
Phone: (740) 593-4020
Open to the public: Yes
Lat: 39.3256738
Lon: -82.1010568
Database Summary:
Demographic Rank: 6
History: 1
Stories: 2
Claims: 27
Evidence: 0
Resources: 2
Retrievals: 9122
Vistor Rating: 5.0
Votes: 1
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History
History information is some background and history about the location. This is meant to be a basic summary. Below the history records you will find sources in which you can click on to find out more information. There may be multiple history records per location.
At the end of the war both Cutler and Putnam found they had "an abundance of liberty but no property, and their occupation gone." Hoping to emigrate to the vast Northwest Territory that the defeated British would have to forfeit, Putnam petitioned the Continental Congress to honor its promise to pay soldiers for their military service with grants of land. Three years later, Congress still had not drafted a satisfactory plan for distributing land and governing the Northwest Territory. Putnam decided on a new tactic. He would try to buy land in the Ohio territory, specifically in the Muskingum valley, which he had been told was fertile. Consequently, he placed an "Information" in Massachusetts newspapers, inviting veterans of the Revolution who had been promised land in "the delightful region" of the Ohio Country to send delegates to a meeting at Boston's Bunch of Grapes Tavern, where they would form an association to purchase lands from Congress.
Though seventeen years passed before the founding of the university, Manasseh Cutler and Rufus Putnam did not waver in their determination to see it become a reality. By the spring of 1788, Putnam had gathered fifty laborers, surveyors, and boat builders and proceeded to the mouth of the Muskingum River, near Fort Harmar, where he founded Marietta, the first settlement in Ohio. The following year, the Ohio Company's directors urged Putnam and Cutler to seek "the establishment of Instructors in the university," to "procure a charter for that Seminary," and to "Fix the townships which the Directors are obliged to Set apart for the support of a University." However, it was not until 1795, after General Anthony Wayne's devastating campaign against Ohio's Native Americans the Shawnee, the Miami, and the Delaware that Putnam could complete a survey and select the two centrally located townships for the university's land. When he persuaded about twenty "substantial men" to pole their way up the Hocking River in 1797, the slow settlement of the area began.
Added by: jragan on 01/07/2011
DB#:28
Source(s):
http://www.ohio.edu/bicentennial/history/index.cfm
Stories
Stories are just that. Stories and personal accounts that have been reported about the location. This section could also contain research notes as well.
Many of the ghost stories associated with Athens and the University center around the former Athens Lunatic Asylum and the horrors that supposedly went on there. Two notable examples of alleged local hauntings are a statue of an angel in the cemetery on West State St which is said to be crying, and the spirit of a civil war veteran called Michael Ward, who chants names of the university's students.
Added by: jragan on 01/14/2011 DB#: 1004
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_University
Ohio University is known in state folklore as the most haunted college campus in the entire United States, if not the world. Established in 1804, the university is quite old by Ohio's standards, which only adds to its ghostly reputation. A large number of places on campus are said to be haunted, and numerous other popular tales are told about the university across Athens county.
The British Society for Psychical Research claims that Athens, Ohio, is one of the most haunted places in the world. Fox at one point also taped an episode of its Scariest Places On Earth program at OU
Added by: jragan on 01/13/2011 DB#: 1002
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_University
Paranormal Claims
Here are the paranormal claims for this location. These have been found through Internet research, reports from members, or reports from personal interviews. To add a claim, please contact PANICd.com, and we will review and add your information.
| Claim # | Added | Added By | Claim |
| 1088 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | The spirit of a civil war veteran called Michael Ward, who chants names of the university's students. |
| 1109 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Wilson Hall there are several reports about shadowy ghostly figures in the hallways. |
| 1108 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Crawford Hall CD and tape players will not play the Bob Marley song “Laura.” |
| 1107 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Crawford Hall lights will flicker and doors will either slam or open. |
| 1106 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Crawford Hall an apparition of a student named Laura who fell to her death from her fourth floor window is seen late at night. |
| 1105 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Voigt Hall students have reported seeing the apparition of a woman dressed in black standing in their room. Also, items on their desk were strewn all over the floor. One of the student’s even reported hearing the woman tying on her laptop computer… which was off. |
| 1104 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Perkins Hall, students have reported cold chills and the feelings of uneasiness. |
| 1103 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Perkins Hall a refrigerator door opens by itself. |
| 1102 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Perkins Hall a TV has turned on by itself. |
| 1101 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Perkins Hall lights have turned on and off by themselves. |
| 1100 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Perkins Hall voices have been heard in the RA’s room. |
| 1099 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Bush Hall there are the sounds of falling marbles and dripping liquid. |
| 1098 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Bush Hall there is a poltergeist that pulls pranks such as turning on and off water faucets and playing with lights. |
| 1097 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Washington Hall an entire basketball team haunts the whole building including the arch that connects Washington and Read Hall. It is said that a girls basketball team, which was killed in a bus accident, returns to one of their favorite locations. |
| 1096 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Jefferson Hall sounds of hundreds of marbles being dropped on the floor are heard. |
| 1095 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Jefferson Hall toilet paper in bathroom stalls unroll by themselves. |
| 1094 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Jefferson Hall toilets flush by themselves. |
| 1093 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Jefferson Hall lights turn on and off by themselves. |
| 1092 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | In Jefferson Hall there was an apparition of a school teacher dressed in 1950s clothing spotted in the attic. |
| 1091 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | At the Contemporary History Institute, which was formerly the Brown House, there is sometimes seen an apparition of Millie Brown looking out her window and the sounds of children splashing in her swimming pool which no longer exists. |
| 1090 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | The Sigma Phi Epsilon house located at 24 E. Washington used to be a stop for the Underground Railroad. It is reported that a former slave named Nicodemus, who was killed in the building, haunts this location. |
| 1089 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | There were reports at the Delta Tau Delta house of poltergeist after a tombstone was taken from Simms Cemetary. Once the stone was returned, the activity stopped. |
| 1087 | 01/14/2011 | jragan | The statue of an angel in the cemetery on West State St which is said to be crying on occasions. |
| 1199 | 01/29/2011 | jragan | In the dorms of the “Convo”, a ghost of a student who died in her sleep embraced another student who slept in her same bed. |
| 1200 | 01/29/2011 | jragan | Another room in the “Convo” has a haunted closet, whose door opens and closes on its own and from which books and clothes fly. |
| 1201 | 01/29/2011 | jragan | On the West Green you can hear a river that once ran near and the chants of native Americans. |
| 1202 | 01/29/2011 | jragan | On the West Green, there are reports of a headless buffalo roaming the grounds. |
Paranormal Evidence
Paranormal evidence is based on claims that have been reported for this location. There can be several types of evidence; however, we have grouped them based on media type for better organization. Here you will find evidence that are logs, audio, video, or photographic.
To add evidence for a claim, you must submit it to PANICd.com for approval to be entered into the database.
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Additional Resources
This is a collection of Internet resources for this location. This section will house links to other websites that contain information related to history, claims, investigations, or even the location's website.
| Wikipedia Record
Added: 01/07/2011 By: jragan |
Record on Wikipedia about Ohio University |
| Forgotten Ohio
Added: 01/13/2011 By: jragan |
Website with several claims about Ohio University. |
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