Do we really believe there are spirits on the other side?
The first documented seance — or communication attempt with spirits — was in 1848 when two sisters living in New York knocked on a door to communicate with a man who had been murdered in their home.
It has also been said that Mary Todd Lincoln held seances in the White House to contact her son, William, who died when he was 11. Young people have been playing “light as a feather, stiff as a board” and experimenting with Ouija boards at sleepovers for decades, but is there an underlying danger with these games?
With Halloween approaching, thoughts migrate to spirits, hauntings and unusual happenings or stories linked with some of the old buildings and former residents on campus.
The astral world is said to be a zone between the physical world and the spiritual world. Spirits who reside in the astral world are said to be allocated to specific zones. The zones closer to the physical world are occupied by spirits who had led negative or evil lives when they were alive.
Coming from England, I grew up hearing stories of presences and sightings in many of the old castles and sleepy villages, but I have never personally felt a “presence” or had the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. It wasn’t until I came to Otterbein that I started to come in contact with the possibility of living with spirits.
When I pledged Tau Epsilon Mu, I started hearing stories about the ghost of a little girl living in the house. Described as having a white button-down shirt or dress and messy brown hair, the little girl, according to my sorority’s history, has been known to stand at the ends of our beds, sit at our desks, move furniture, ring the doorbell and play with our alarm clocks. My initial thoughts were that this was a myth, until I heard women living in the house talking about it and sharing their experiences recently.
“One night, I was having trouble falling asleep,” junior studio art major Claire Stinedurf said. “I looked around my room and noticed a figure sitting on the end of my roommate’s bed dressed in a man’s white shirt. I could not make out the figure but instinctively knew that it was a young girl. The shirt was almost transparent, and she was hovered over my roommate’s alarm clock playing with the buttons. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, she was gone.”
Another sorority house on campus, Kappa Phi Omega, is said to be haunted. Sarah Metzger, junior women’s, gender and sexuality studies and psychology major — and Kappa Phi Omega active — said the ghost in their house is named Annabelle.
“A dentist used to live in our house, and Annabelle was his servant. The story we understand to be true is that one night the dentist raped Annabelle, pushed her down the stairs and murdered her. She has never done anything mean to the ladies in the house, but when there are men there, she gets mad.
“One time last year when one of our actives got into an argument with her boyfriend, Annabelle threw a mirror off of our bathroom wall. She has locked people out of rooms, slammed doors and made noise to remind us that we live in her house. If anyone ever says they don’t believe in her, it’s almost guaranteed that she will do something to remind us that she is there.”
Six years ago, Otterbein hosted John Zaffis, a 30-year veteran “Ghost Hunter.” He rated Otterbein as an eight out of 10 in spiritual activity. His rating was based on his experiences in the Philomathean Room in Towers, where he described an “oppressive male atmosphere” that “felt like a tomb” with a high number of spirits present. He also said that in the Pit Theatre, he felt the presence of two warmer female spirits by the stairs in the small hallway leading to the stage area. Conversations around campus support his findings, as students reported feeling a “strong spiritual energy” in these areas.
And now, I’m curious.
Determined to find out more about the spirits living in my
sorority and on campus, I decided to find a local psychic. I came across Christopher Scott — or maybe he found me — and less than 24 hours later, I was navigating downtown to his Fifth Avenue location. The large white office building held smaller rooms rented out to businesses for offices. I made my way to the basement to find 10B and saw a note on the door telling me he’d be back in a few minutes and to make myself comfortable.
The room was small with draped windows, a couch and a large armchair. A rack in the corner held all sorts of spices and strange-looking lotions and potions, while the rest of the room was lined with mythology books, statues, paintings, wind chimes, dream catchers, Tibetan prayer flags, candles, incense and other knickknacks. It was calm and welcoming, but I was definitely out of my element.
At first, Scott talked to me about my own future. Although being a special education teacher and military wife with twins might sound like good prospects, I’m not convinced.
We talked about the main reason for my visit: the spirits in the TEM house. I brought some artifacts, including an old mug, some antique green worm statues and some rocks found in the hidden tunnel in the basement that I am told played a part in the Underground Railroad. Scott held the artifacts and told me that I wasn’t in harm’s way, but the little girl seen in the TEM house was just “looking for a mother figure” and is therefore drawn to women. I was comforted with all of this until he told me that “she comes and cuddles with you at night,” and then I was ready to leave.
My research and conversations with those who have personally felt a presence has not altered my opinions on the spirits and the “extra residents” in the TEM house. Nor has it changed my belief that there is a spirit of a little girl in the TEM house. Like many people, I find it hard to really grasp the concept of the paranormal, but I believe that there are too many sightings, experiences and fascinating stories dating way back in history for there to be no truth behind it. Or is it just overactive imaginations? Take a trip to the Philomathean Room, the Pit or the Otterbein Cemetery during “witching hour” on All Hallow’s Eve. Decide for yourself. Just don’t ask me to come with you.
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