urban myths
 

To play off the hazing myths thread. What are some urban myths (or possible myths) about your chapter of your sorority or fraternity?
***to PNMs these are going to be listed as urban myths, meaning at no time were these stories true unless listed as such!! **
For example, i know one urban myth is that our sorority house is haunted. Another urban myth is that we had a member about four years ago who worked at hooters and got kicked out of hte sorority for it!

Yeah our house is "supposedly" haunted by a teen that hung himself by one of the tree branches. Our house is 105 years old and is in the historical society. Whenever something goes wrong in the house, we blame it on the ghost.

At my alma mater, most of the sororities have a floor in an old dorm that was a hotel waaaaaay back when. When I was in school, the legend was that an actress or singer got dumped by her married lover and slit her wrists in one of the bathrooms on the 9th floor. Supposedly, she haunts the place but I've never seen anything although, granted, I hadn't spent too much time on that floor. I was safely down on 2!

Interesting! I never heard that one, but there was supposedly a butler who hanged himself in the closet in 1004. Some people swear by it, but in the year I had that room, there was no problem. People believe what they want to believe.

this isn't about our house but the Sig Ep house across the street. Rumor (not proven and very doubtful) is that it has a secret passage underneath it that was used as part of the Underground Railroad. My american history prof said it wasn't true though...

THAT would be totally cool!!! Especially knowing that Cinncinnati was a likely "stop" on the Underground Railway!

i got to school in Athens...i was born near cinci and raised there, but yeah i think it is really cool!

Since my school is surrounded by 3 cemeteries (in trivial persuit because of that fact)...it is rumored in our chapter that the last suite in our wing of the greek hall is haunted since it overlooks the cemetery right next to it...

I think there was a thread similar to this a loooooong time ago, and I posted the rumors that some of the sorority houses at UK (mine included) are haunted. I remember hearing something about a ghost boy in the basement of the Kappa house, but I can't remember what it was.

By the way, whoever said they liked ghost stories, I do too! :D

Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BROTHEL LAW.

There may be zoning laws prohibiting sorority houses but if you check them out they prohibit ANY large group of unrelated students living together. It has nothing to do with women or brothels. The reason men sometimes have houses and women don't is that women sometimes weren't allowed by the college to move out of the dorms in the olden days - or the colleges were all male - so the men sucked up all the available land. By the time the college OKed the women moving out, no land was available.

Plus, Panhel regulations won't let one group get housing without all of them getting it (if it is sanctioned housing). THIS is most likely what prevents campuses from gettting sorority houses nowadays. There isn't enough room to move everyone out at the same time.

So, if you have ever had a school or town/borough/county official use the "brothel" story on you, please tell them to show you the exact law they are quoting...then you can laugh hard.

ZONING LAWS ARE NOT BROTHEL LAWS.

Re: Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

The story I heard about Miami Ohio isn't that there is a brothel law but that a benefactor of the university (a woman) would only continue to donate money if they agreed not to let the sororities ever have houses, mostly because of ffear of them becoming like a brothel, but that story doesn't indicate any sort of law.

Re: Re: Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

I'm pretty sure this is true for a handful of schools, although I don't remember which ones. We've discussed it before on the board. But yes, like 33girl said, "brothel laws" don't actually exist.

Our sorority house is theoretically haunted by a woman who lived (and died) there before it became a sorority house, but I've yet to see any evidence to back this up.

I suppose your History Prof might have researched this point, but it wouldn't surprize me if it were true. Athens was definitely a stop on the Underground Railroad -- although I don't know of any specific sites.

We won't even get into hauntings since Athens has been mentioned in several books as one of the most haunted sites in the world and has been the topic of several TV shows on the subject. (See other thread on hauntings)

I don't know why I'm telling this, because my mama would be furious, but...

She grew up in her granddaddy's (very large) house. They had heard, and family members had "seen" two different ghosts; one, a young woman, and the other, a priest. She & her next-elder sister shared a room, and after feeling a presence one night, they took turns sleeping at night - until the elder sister graduated from high school!

I can't even imagine being 4-5-6-16 years old, and so afraid of your own home that you or your roomie sits guard duty! She's afraid of the dark to this day!

Do we have any idea why Athens Ohio is so haunted? Sorry this is off the subject I was just curious. If someone wants to pm me that's fine :)

It's a rumor in my House that one of our founding members (cerca 1924) of my chapter haunts the house. If you lean over the third floor railing of the spiral staircase, people say if feels like someone is trying to push you over. People also say that she wanders around on the sleeping portch at night, so no one ver wants to be the first one to go to bed!

storty in my Chapter is that we have 2 ghosts. One is a lady who haunts our upstairs( we have 2 floors of rooms, upstairs is a hallway with 9 rooms, and down stairs are 2 apartments a 2-man and a 3-man, all single rooms, and of course a basement). Yet, she only comes out when there are no more than 2 or 3 people in the whole house. The other ghost is a dead pledge from the fraternity that had the house before us. He's in the basement and likes to turn the lights and sound system on and off on people, he also lightly pushes them into corners, this only happens with 2 or 3 people also. I actually experienced this ghost one night when I was sent to the basement to get something, and I can say there was no one behind me pushing me because I would have heard or seen them when I turned around to look.

Re: Re: Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

that is the story i always heard when my sister went to miami and then when i went to miami. they also said that she left money for the school to build a brick wall around the only women's dorm at the time, but that she died before they built it so they built it underground.

It's not true. We don't have houses (:( ) because if one sorority gets a house then they aaaaaaaaaaallll have to get houses.

And to WarEagle1918: WAR EAGLE!

Supposedly my chapter house has a ghost, I forget the name of her but it's something old fashioned and not common at all. A lot of the girls claim that they've seen her and she does weird things like open and slam their doors, turn their lights on and off, open their windows, etc. All these claims come from the girls on the third floor and apparently the ghost is of a girl who was killed in room 301. That's the only part of the story that we know is true, is that someone did actually get killed in there. So I dunno, I have yet to experience the ghost, but I am also never going to live on the third floor so, who knows? ;)

Apparently our SAE house is haunted as well since it used to be a Civil War hospital back in the day and many people died in there. Their philanthropy though is a haunted house that they run through their house in October, so whether or not it's true it kind of adds to the theme of their philanthropy.

I don't know any other myths though about our Greek houses, maybe AXJules can add some if she reads this. :D

Who says you all have to have a house?
NPC or the school?

I think that rule is BS. If you were at a school where all the sororities have houses and one sorority lost their house, would all the sororities have to suddenly give up their houses?

The school doesn't give a shit (this statement of course depending on overage or lack of dorm space). The NPC has a clause that all groups must have equal facilities or some such thing. This usually only applies if the houses are on campus and the sororities' housing corps helping pay for them. However - wasn't someone on here (I think KappaKittycat) saying one NPC at her school got a house on campus and the other ones didn't?

If one sorority lost their house, it is assumed that a) they either did something to deserve losing it or b) if they are losing it due to campus expansion and such, the school will find them a new one.

Good question. I've heard Athens stories since I was an undergraduate there in the 1960's.

Check out the following link:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/oh-athen.html

I found it by doing a Google Search on "Haunted Athens, Ohio"

You'll notice a prominent mention of a sorority house and the underground railroad as noted in a previous posting on this thread.

we have 5 cemetaries, shaped in the form of a pentagram surrounding the university. we also have the old Athens Mental Health Hospital, which is rumored to be very haunted by all the people that have died that.

The NPC *urges* that sororities on your campus have equivalent housing and nothing more. And honestly, the national sororities don't have much desire to spend oodles on housing escalation games - if all the sororities are in dorms, even if you personally want a house, your national probably isn't going to care much. It saves money! But the moment Sorority A gets a house, the rest will run to catch up.

Example? A dozen years ago, no sorority on my campus had a house; they all had dorm floors. Then our school started moving them into houses. First Alpha Chi got a beautiful house, then several of the chapters moved into dorm-style buildings, then Phi Mu got a cute house, and then A Phi got the ultra-modern former TKE house. The university moved them based on size, which meant the smaller sororities never had a chance to keep up as the rushees just loved the houses! Sigma Psi, an old local, has a dorm-style house, and my chapter just had a dorm floor. At no time did NPC rush in and say - wait! you can't give just Alpha Chi a house! - or anything like that.

DeltAlum, i checked out that website and i think the Zeta house they're talking about is now the Sig Ep house, but i could be wrong. if it is, the website must be pretty outdated 'cause i know before it was the sig ep house it was the Sigma Nu house. that website is really interesting though.

** edited to add**
here's something else i just found

http://www.geocities.com/athens/acro...ntou.html#delt
1. Delt House (University Terrace): Strange things started to happen a few years back at the Delta Tau Delta house after some members made a trip to a local cemetery, Simms'. Simms' cemetary, found on Peach Ridge, one of the several mountain ridges surrounding the valley of Athens, is one of the cemeteries said to form a pentagram around the city, with its center over Wilson Hall, on the College Green. Its also listed as one of the most haunted places on earth. The story goes that in the first years of the city, the Simms clan were very involved in city life, with the father serving as local magistrate and executioner, all rolled into one. It is said that after sentencing a criminal to hang for his crimes, the town would process out of town to Judge Simms Peach Ridge home to carry out the verdict. In the dark of night, in the secluded family cemetery, the victims were hung until dead from the branch of an old, dead tree overhanging the family's wooded grave plots. The rope marks on the tree branch, worn down from years of swinging dead, are still clearly visible on the "hanging tree", and many people have reported strange events in the area.

The cemetery is said to change positions in the woods on Peach Ridge, and in fact many who know the area well are unable to find the tombs and hanging tree, despite the fact that they have been there dozens of times. Many local high schoolers, who use the area as a late-night hangout, report seeing a hovering spirit, dressed only in a black, flowing robe, rising from the mists. Local spiritualists have also reported similar phenomena, which one identifies as a "guardian spirit", placed on the grave site by a cult or perhaps a local witch coven. The spirit stares with piercing eyes at the invaders, and utters only one word: Leave! Few stick around to see what happens if they say "no".

Finally, many have reported seeing a slow moving figure, rocking back and forth in the still night air. Upon closer inspection, the source of the figure becomes obvious…it is the spirit of one of the hanging victims, slowly swinging to death over and over each night, moved by the breeze from another age…

The Delts, having heard such tales, went exploring one autumn. Stumbling across the cemetery, they entered the sacred site and removed a headstone, carrying it back to their University Terrace house as a fraternity prank. Soon after the problems started. Residents were awakened at night by doors opening and closing, windows moving up and down, pushed by invisible hands in the dead of night. Certain rooms became intolerable, including the chapter room where the tombstone lay. Fraternity members were soon suffering nightly, unable to sleep or study in their own house, and after a while the events grew more ominous. Members were soon injured almost daily…drawers would fly from their places just as residents entered the room. Windows would crash down, spraying sharp glass on nearby people. People were tripped going up and down stairs. The situation grew worse by the night, and eventually a decision was made. The events didn't begin until the fateful trip to Peach Ridge. The stone must be returned. At that moment the stone fell over from its spot leaning against the wall. The name etched on the stone became evident: Simms. The stone was returned promptly, and no further supernatural problems have taken place in the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity House.

From what I've heard, it's Auburn's rule.

I think.

Re: Re: Re: Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

Just out of curiosity, how do you build a wall underground? :confused:

Re: Re: Re: Re: Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

Haha that's an excellent question. I was wondering that myself....:confused:

Geez. What a bunch of wimps. Just kidding.

I never heard any of this. Of course the House on University Terrace opened after I left there.

The "old" shelter where I pledged was right at the top of the Richland Avenue Bridge -- now that place could easily have been haunted.

Only dead soldiers I saw there had names like Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, and Ron Rico, though.

Edited to say, you should all follow Lioness's last link, though. Some pretty strange stuff.

Who made the cemeteries arranged into a pentagram? Seems to me that maybe the cause of a lot of the problems. I also couldn't find any pics of the houses at Ohio

The Greek houses aren't anywhere on the web that I'm aware of. You can see the university buildings mentioned at www.ohio.edu on the virtual tour.

I've tried to post a pic of the OU Delt house a few times, but my computer just doesn't want to cooperate. Maybe someone can PM me on how to post an existing JPEG.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

it's actually quite simple. You have to trench out to build a wall anyway, for the foundation. You just trench down as high as you want the wall to be, probably a little higher, and you start building the wall, giving room for the persons to work on the wall. Then you fill in the work area and cover over the wall and you have an underground wall.

For the comment about the brothels. In the county my school is in there is a law actually on the law books about too many women (or men for that matter) unrelated in a house. However, it isn't enforced and I doubt that is why we don't have houses. It is more likely a land issue and the fact we live in a highly urbanized area. The fact that it is considered a brothel is ALL over my school as a myth. Well, it has SOME fact behind it, just not all.

I believe there is something similar to this in Guelph. You can't have more than 3 unrelated people living in a house. Obviously that law is not enforced otherwise there would be far too many students without housing. However, when it is reported someone has to go an check on it.
A Pi Phi sister was subletting a room in a house with 3 other people. She hadn't moved in yet, but a neighbour called the inspector and the inspector had to come and check things out. My sister wasn't able to move in for a couple of weeks because of this ridiculous law, and a nosy neighbour.

On the face of it, this kind of law does sound ridiculous.

It occurs to me, though, that this kind of law or zoning regulation could be aimed at allowing the city to enforce some good rules and regulations.

Like mandatory fire escapes, smoke detectors, sprinkler systems and other stuff.

On the other hand, they could also allow a city to play other games like cutting back on student off campus housing or greek housing.

Brothel and Cult Laws
 

I went to a SUNY school (Stony Brook). We have no fraternity and sorority houses on campus because of the so-called brothel and cult laws. Four or more unrelated females living together is considered a brothel house. In that same token, four or more unrelated males living together, it considered a cult. Ironically, at least half the dorms are suites that house 4 or six (two per room) unrelated males or females in one suite. Go figure!

Has anyone else heard of the cult law (the male equivalent of the brothel law) since we know about the brothel law?

http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili.../pinkieone.gif http://burns.thefinaldimension.org/cwm/cwm/eek5.gif

more craziness
 

I guess i bumped this up cause the thread kind of just focused on two things ghost stories and brothel laws. I was more intending to be urban myths or dispelled urban myths too about your chapter. To try to give another example, we always thought it was an urban myth that the frats and our sorority used to have keg rollling races down our busy street until we were talking ot an alum and she confirmed it. cRazy!

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

Alright, so then what would the purpose of an underground wall be?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Urban myth for MANY chapters
 

If she left money and the condition of the university being able to use that money is that they have to build a wall around a dorm or on the side of the dorm they build it undergroud if they think it would be undightly. That and it also helps to make the ground around that area sturdier. It would help, to a point depending on how tall the building is and what not, to sure up the foundation and stop erotion on one side of the wall.