With stories of an abusive secret society, the spirit of a roller-skating child and a jilted, organ-playing ghost, terrifying professors may be the least of students’ worries this fall.
Jeff Provine, an OU instructor of freshman programs, led students and alumni across campus this weekend and recounted the darker, spookier side of OU’s history.
“They certainly don’t include this stuff in the regular tour,” Provine said as he guided the tour through the night.
Provine brought the haunted tour, now in its third year, to OU after a trip to England.
“In December of 2009, I was backpacking through Britain and ... was staying with friend,” Provine said. “We were taking a ghost tour through her hometown, so I told the only hometown ghost story I knew about Ellison Hall ... and she said, ‘Wow, that’s great! You should totally do a ghost tour in Oklahoma.’”
Provine gathered the ethereal tales through a variety of means including personal interviews, a book by former OU president George Lynn Cross and microfilm. Delving into historical research frightens current students enough as it is, but Provine weaves these yarns into his day-to-day life.
“I write a blog, thisdayinalternatehistory.blogspot.com, which is all about finding the backgrounds of stories,” Provine said. “The History Channel does its ‘This Day In History,’ and I tweak it a little.”
As 8 p.m. bells filled the quiet autumn night, signaling the beginning of the tour, Provine’s interest in OU’s history became apparent.
Standing in front of Holmberg Hall, Provine explained how the ghost of organ professor Mildred Andrews Boggess became infuriated once the university’s organ was moved to Catlett Music Center. She now takes her grievance out upon Holmberg Hall by slamming doors shut and filling the air with eerie organ music.
In addition to an affronted apparition, OU has had its share of secrecy as well. A secret society under the acronym of D.D.M.C. formed in the early twentieth century to serve the university’s interest, Provine said.
The society sought to preserve academic integrity by kidnapping cheating students, taking them to an embankment and beating them with wet ropes.
Luckily for current OU students, flagellation by wet rope isn’t listed under the Academic Integrity Policy’s remediation for misconduct.
Acting as public relations for the university, the D.D.M.C. once invaded The Daily newsroom and branded each paper with the society’s stamp of approval.
As the tour arrived in front of Ellison Hall, Provine began to narrate OU’s arguably most famous ghost story.
In the 1930s, Ellison Hall was known as Hygeia Hall and served as the campus’ infirmary. One day, a car struck a child in roller skates on Elm Avenue, and the surgeons rushed to carry the child to the operating rooms on the third floor of Hygeia Hall. Unfortunately, the boy died in surgery.
Now, the boy’s spirit spends its time mischievously zipping through the third floor, setting off motion-detecting lights and playing pranks on unsuspecting occupants. If one listens carefully, he can hear the roller skates swish as they glide across the floor.
The 80-minute tour also includes legends of a decapitation in the Cate Center basement, an exorcism performed at the former Delta Delta Delta house and a specter that loves to shoot hoops in the Huston Huffman Center.
As the tour drew to a close, many attendants left spookily enlightened. Cheryl Ponder, an OU graduate of ’80, said she thought the tour was worth the trek across campus.
“This was very entertaining, and [Provine] was such a witty guy,” Ponder said.
Her husband, Ron Ponder, also an alum, mentioned this tour clearly stands out.
“We’ve been on a lot of ghost tours around the world, and I used to think, ‘Wow, they should bring something like this to Norman,’” Ponder said. “This tour left me completely fascinated.”
For those seeking to take a tour of the dark side of OU’s past, they will have to wait until next year’s set of tours. Until then, OU students have a new horror story to send a bitter chill throughout their bodies.
