|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
University of Dayton - Dayton, Ohio
The Theta Phi Alpha House
According to reported accounts, the Theta Phi Alpha house is hunted by what is believed to be the ghost of a older man, who, in a strange sort of way seems to watch over the girls. The history of the house and the nature of the haunting is not known, however, a possible explanation for the haunting could be that the ghost is the departed father of a past resident of the home.
For quite a number of years now, the girls who have lived in the home have reported similar recurring phenomena. Heavy objects, such as furniture, are mysteriously re-arranged while the girls are out of their rooms, and at times various other heavy items are moved or tipped over. Small objects frequently turn up missing, but after a few minutes of searching, are usually found in rather odd places. Lights inexplicably turn on or off on their own, at just about any time during the day or night, as if some unseen person is merely walking in or out of the rooms.
In many instances the girls claim that they can literally feel a presence, a somewhat uneasy feeling or a sense that they are just not alone. A frequent unnerving experience is that a cold spot occurs in various parts of the house from no apparent physical cause. Often times, if the girls go to bed on a night when these cold spots are occurring in the house, they report that they wake up in the morning feeling strangely drained of all their energies and feel like they’ve had no sleep at all.
*One of my friends is in this sorority. She told me about this.
Woodland Cemetery, Dayton Ohio
Possibly one of Dayton Ohio's better-kept secrets is an historic and picturesque cemetery that overlooks the city. Nestled in tree shrouded rolling hills, Woodland Cemetery is serenely beautiful, with elaborate and richly ornate monuments and massive iron gated vaults. Many of these impressive tombs mark the final resting-place of several of Dayton's more well known citizens, such as Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and the Wright Brothers. Woodland is also the final resting-place of several individuals who do not rest so soundly. There are many well-known and well-documented stories about Woodland Cemetery and it's spectral inhabitants, here is something more recent.
Woodland Cemetery is bounded on its southwest side by the University of Dayton. In the fall of 1992, three young men were returning from one of the many off-campus parties that give U.D. a less then welcome "party-school" reputation. Since the boys had consumed their fair share of cheap beer, they wanted to avoid taking the long walk along public streets back to their dorm. They knew, that if they cut through the deserted cemetery they could crawl through the fence right behind the dorm, and sneak quietly into the building. While each was privately apprehensive about walking through the large, darkened cemetery there was no way they'd admit it to each other. They slipped into Woodland through a gap in the ornate iron fence and started up-hill.
As they labored up and over the first set of hills in the older gothic section of the cemetery, the boys began to notice the eerie silence of the graveyard and a distinct chill in the air. While the moon was full, the old and stately trees broke the moonlight into sharp shafts of pale light that cut through the chilled mist, giving the massive monuments a surrealistic if not ominous appearance. To keep their courage up, each taunted the other as they stumbled trough the cemetery. Not fully realizing how large Woodland is, and that their dorm was over a half mile away, the boys began to get disoriented, and stopped to talk.
As they argued over direction, one boy spotted something or someone moving through the mist few yards ahead. "Hey" he blurted, "there's a babe over there." The others didn't believe him at first but, then convinced themselves that a couple of girls had the same idea they did. After all, the girl's dorm backed up to the cemetery too. Even though they all didn't see her, the boys decided to head in the direction of the sighting. Approaching a massive stone vault, the boys were aware of soft crying then the uncontrollable sobbing of a young woman. The boys looked at each other, they called out, "Hey, are you alright? Are you hurt? Where are you?" The crying stopped. "Don't be afraid," one boy said. "If you're hurt we can get help." The boy's calls were met with silence. They waited, after a few minutes of silence they started to move on, thinking who ever it was, was just messing with them. They walked a few yards.
The crying started again. They turned to look behind them. Sitting on a large stone step leading up to the massive bronze and stained glass gate of the vault, was a young woman. She sat slumped forward with her head in her hands, long blond hair streaming down her back and shoulders. She sat in a shaft of pale moonlight and wept uncontrollably.
The boys were startled, but realized she must be in serious trouble. "Can we help?" one boy called out as he stepped forward. The young woman looked up. She had a startled look on her face, her tear streaked cheeks glistened in the moonlight. She stood quickly, and nervously looked at the boys. One of the boys held out his hand toward her and said, "are you lost, com on we'll help you get out of here." Without turning, the young woman quickly drifted backward and passed completely through the heavy bronze gate, into the darkness of the massive stone vault. Stunned, the boys starred at the large tarnished lock on the bronze gate. They nearly crippled each other as they wheeled around to run. Never looking back the boys found their way through the hills and gravestones to the main entrance to the cemetery. Attempting to get out, they made so much racket at the gate that the university police and a grounds keeper were called to let them out. The campus police officer decided to cut them a break and wrote it off as some college boy nonsense. The grounds keeper simply said, well you're not the first to meet her.
This cemetery is right across the street and parts of it are right next to the dorms that I will be living in this up coming year! Creepy but I love all this ghost stuff!
|