Ghosts scare and silence their haunted

Supposed haunted houses and buildings often turn out to be disappointing

Gone are the days when ghosts scare people by rattling doorknobs, making drafts and fading in and out of rooms. Oberlin ghosts may still try to work in the traditional ways, but most people seem more scared of their earthly counterparts' reactions than the presence of the ghouls.

Jean Davidson, technical coordinator and theater and dance lecturer, preferred not to talk about the ghost rumored to inhabit Warner Gymnasium because she said it was hard enough to get people to work in Warner late at night.

"I've been here by myself a lot and not seen anything," Davidson said. But she admits that there are stories.

A student who worked in Warner was killed in the early 1990s, and the tales of haunts often point to that student. Davidson also feared upsetting theater and dance staff members who knew the student, and had been close to the student.

Davidson wasn't the only person swayed more by earthly fears and conventions than the ghosts that may haunt.

Wayne Miller, a junior who lives off campus, has seen a ghost twice in his house. "I got up one morning at 5 a.m. and saw the silhouette of a little boy sitting on a stool in the bathroom," Miller said. "I took off," he said. Miller saw the ghost again standing in a doorway.

Another of Miller's housemates has seen the ghost. "He is afraid to be in the house alone," Miller said.

Miller said that people who have lived in the house in past years have also seen a ghost. "Everyone sees a little boy," Miller said. He said that when a guest slept over in the house, she dreamt of a little boy as well.

The story could be bigger however. When renting the house from their landlord, the housemates were told not to enter a particular room. Curiosity eventually got the better of them, and some house members broke their promise, entering the room.

But not wanting to be betrayed to their landlord, the residents didn't want to talk about the room or what they found in it.

The residents don't mind some attention however. Miller said that the landlord also warned them about storing boxes in the basement because of flooding. "But we tell people it is because the ghost lives there," Miller said. "I think we like to talk about it too," he said.

But perhaps the most legendary haunted house in Oberlin proves to be a disappointment as well. The house at 172 Elm Street had been rumored to have a ghost for years and even made History Professor Geoffrey Blodgett's book on Oberlin architecture. The story claimed that the crying sounds residents heard in the night were the cries of a baby killed when a woman servant of the house committed suicide.

But when contacted, a resident said, "We don't do that story anymore. We found it was pretty much untrue."

Another often-named home to local spirits is Johnson House, the student dorm built by a railroad executive who was later killed on the railway. His wife, according to rumor, went crazy after his death.

Residents this year have reported doors closing on their own, strange glowing lights and chronically and inexplicably malfunctioning lights.

But some are not convinced. "I think it's all a hoax," Vannessa Filley, junior and resident of Johnson House, said.