Five cemeteries are said to form a sign of the occult in Athens in addition to the haunted aura of the former mental healthcare facility.
Over the years, Ohio University has gained numerous reputations: the No. 1 party school in the nation, the best place to be on the night of Halloween and one of the most, if not, the most haunted college campuses in the U.S. What defines OU as such an eerie place to be is due not to just one story, but multiple that have happened over the course of many years.
In 2001, Athens was featured on “Scariest Places on Earth,” a week-long FOX News program. In this program, it was noted that the main fault of OU’s haunted tendencies is the supposed pentagram formed by five of 300 cemeteries in the area.
The five included in the supposed pentagram are the Simms, Hanning, Cuckler, Higgins and Zion cemeteries. Each cemetery is distinguishable by its own unique qualities.
Simms Cemetery, known to be the most haunted one in the area, is said to have been named after John Simms, a local man who had been reported in the past to have used a tree near the cemetery to carry out executions, as he was a supposed hangman. To this day, it is believed that the ghost of Simms, as well as those of all of his executed victims, meander through the neighboring land.
Hanning Cemetery has been said to be haunted by an old man who appears to be dressed in a robe and is associated with chilling screams.
Some of the most conspicuously notorious cemeteries local to Athens are those that are located on the property which was previously home to the Athens Mental Health Center, aka, The Ridges. While the cemeteries located in The Ridges are not known to house any notable ghostly encounters, they provide an additional feeling of eeriness to the campus as a whole.
The most infamous cases of haunted background at The Ridges is that of Margaret Schilling, a patient at the mental center in the 1970s who escaped from reach of the center’s doctors only to be found dead nearly two months later in the attic of the hospital. It is now said that due to the length of time that it took for her corpse to be found, there is currently a stained imprint of her body on the cement where she passed.
Schilling’s spirit is believed to still be residing in what used to be the hospital along with those of other patients who once resided there.
While OU is said by many to be one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States, it also has its history of mysteriousness. Whether it be noticed on a trip to The Ridges or through a strange supernatural occurrence in one of the residence halls, it is undeniable that Athens is home to both the bizarre and the unknown.
Bri Shaniuk is a freshman studying journalism. Do you think Athens is haunted? Email her at bs714714@ohio.edu.
