OU's past haunts the present

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Okla. -- The stories about hauntings on OU's campus are endless. From the old campus hospital to the musty volumes of ‘The Stacks,' ghosts supposedly roam the University of Oklahoma.

The basement of OU's Cate Center is a popular spot for a well known ghost story. Twenty years ago, a teenage boy died in the dumbwaiter.

"How he died, I don't know, but he got wedged in between. And ever since that day in the basement, it's believed to be haunted," OU film student David Burkhart said.

Burkhart decided to explore the basement and look for the ghost.

Watch Burkhart's film about his experience in the basement.

OU's past haunts the present

"I was freaked out. It was really bad...I was terrified," Burkhart said.

He still can't be sure if he found a ghost in the basement.

Ellison Hall, the first campus hospital, is another well known haunt. One day, a small boy was roller skating near the street when he was struck by a car.

"He was brought into Ellison Hall to be treated for his injuries and died while he was here," said Angela Startz of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Since then, people have reported hearing strange sounds at night.

"There were sounds of people moving about in the hallway and even going to the point of hearing roller skates going up and down the hallway," Starz said.

Startz has worked late nights and heard the strange noises for herself.

The gargoyles outside the Bizzell Memorial Library are supposed to keep ghosts away, but some claim a ghost still got into the library.

Beyond the Great Reading Room lies the oldest part of the library. ‘The Stacks' house several floors of musty volumes, with each floor made of translucent glass.

The story about this ghost says years ago while a student was looking for a book in ‘The Stacks,' he fell through the glass and broke his neck. Some believe you can still see him sometimes, walking above on the glass floors, searching for the book he never got to check out.

One of the spookiest ghost stories is about a former organ professor who haunts Holmberg Hall.

"The legend is that Mildred Andrews Boggess, who was an organ professor here at OU, was very upset about the removal of the organ during one of the renovations. And even after her death, you can hear organ music up on the third floor," said Jack Hobson of OU Education Abroad.

"If you stand on stage and you look up at the spotlight booth, under the cover of a dark auditorium, you can even see her face appear," Hobson claims.

Click on the map below to learn where the haunted spots are located.