The air is getting colder, night is falling earlier, skeletons and spider-webs have emerged on front lawns. Halloween is upon us. Looking up at the huge, old houses of Oberlin , one can sense how they have grown eery with age. Inside, the floorboards creak, windows rattle, bats swoop around the attic. These old walls are the homes of scary legends. Ghosts of Oberlin's past are known to roam around Tank, Harkness and Johnson House.
According to Residential Coordinator Ann Karp, Tank has suffered a number of fires since it was built in 1896. Karp reports that one fire took place at the turn of the century, around which time Tank was inhabited by the children of missionaries who were killed in China. According to the popular story, these orphans were locked in a room, could not escape the fire, and burned to death. There is reason to believe that their young ghosts are still living in Tank.
Four years ago, when Maura Murry first moved into an apartment on the first floor of Tank, with her husband, Area Coordinator Tracy Murry, she was frightened awake in the middle of the night by a voice. Someone had said: "They're here." She sat up in bed and saw a group of children standing in the doorway. There was an older boy around 13 and a bunch of younger children around 4 or 5. Murry said, "They were pointing at us and talking to each other, saying 'they're here, they're here.'"
The older boy said, "It's okay," at one point. Maura woke up her husband, who told her she was dreaming and to go back to sleep. In retrospect Maura said, "I was probably dreaming." It may be that she had seen the ghosts of the orphans.
Tracy Murry reports that three years ago, there was a scare that the third floor of Tank was haunted by a male apparition in his late 30s or 40s. He said, "Everybody said they saw him."
But Karp said there have been no glimpses of ghosts lately and she feels at ease in the cottage. She said, "The house to me has a comfortable feel. Any ghosts around here would be warm and benign." Karp doesn't actually believe in ghosts.
But there are students who do believe in ghosts, and one of them is senior Mark Sackman, who lives in the haunted Harkness room number 311. The story of room 311, according to RC Mike Hoddap, started around 15 years ago during fall break. At the time it was inhabited by a student named Lindsay, who had a cat that she illegally kept. Hoddap heard that Lindsay's neighbor was startled by the sound of a window crashing in the room so she went to the door and called for Lindsay. No one answered. She entered the room and saw the broken window but not Lindsay. Everyone assumed that Lindsay was out and that someone had broken the window with a rock. Two days later, Lindsay was still missing. Her parents were contacted, but they had no ideas as to where she might be. The police were notified next, but Lindsay was never found. The cat also disappeared.
Hoddap further reports that a couple years ago a student unaware of Lindsay's story was living in room 311. Said Hoddap, "[On two occasions the student saw] a college-age woman in a long white flowing gown wandering around her room, or hovering outside her window."
Hoddap also said, "Streak marks appeared across her mirror... other people that have slept in the room hear a cat meowing in the night." The student was driven out of the room by supernatural phenomena. AC Tracy Murry reports that she asked him to bring in an exorcist.
Sackman, who currently lives in the room, said, "I think the cat got stuck in the heater because it [the heater] breathes, cackles, purrs." The knob for his heater has broken off, and he says it only works when the room is flooded with sunlight. Sackman believes his room is haunted. He said, "I stay out of my room whenever I can...I sleep very light and wake up with every crackle and purring noise." However, instead of being terrified, Sackman sees the bright side of the situation. He does not think the ghosts have anything against him personally, and said he likes the supernatural for keeping him on edge.
Legends of phantoms abound at Johnson house, where ghosts of horses are said to haunt the stables and Mrs. Johnson's spirit still lives in the basement. AC David Castro confirmed the story. "After Mr. Johnson died in a railroad accident, Mrs. Johnson killed all the horses and then hung herself in the basement," said Castro.
However, the last time the Review reported this story, a resident of Oberlin who lives in Queen Anne House, Richard Lothrop, wrote a letter to the editor in which he writes: "Mrs. Johnson continued to live in the house following her husband's tragic death until 1911 or 1912 when the property was purchased by the College. Mrs. Johnson purchased the house at 190 Elm and lived in it until her death in 1915, her death being caused by cancer."
Oddly enough, Oberlin's ghosts have chosen to avoid the cemetery, which has been beautifully preserved since groundskeeper Frank Zavodsky moved in to take care of it 50 years ago. Zavodsky passed away in 1997. The Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization published a book in his memory called Westwood: A historical and Interpretive View of Oberlin's Cemetery. It is a fascinating look into Oberlins past, since figures such as James R. Severance, James Dascomb, Henry King and John Barrows are burried in Westwood. The names of buildings around campus are proof of their prominence in Oberlin's history.
Mrs. Zavodsky, who lives in front of Westwood on Morgan St. said that the cemetery holds no ghosts. She knows it to be a place where the children of Oberlin grow up happily playing. She said, "There might be things that go on after dark but I don't know about them." She also said that prior to the civil war the cemetery was located up on the hill of Johnson house.
Back from the dead: Ghosts may not haunt the Oberlin cemetery, but they are prevalent around campus. (photo by Maria Breuninger)
Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 128, Number 7, October 29, 1999
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