Few People Know One Of Ohio's Most Popular Colleges Is Hiding A Dark And Terrifying Secret
By Sarah McCosham|Published October 26, 2022
×
Sarah McCosham
Author
I write like it's my job - because it is! I have a Master's in English and love words: crossword puzzles, Scrabble games, Wordle, and, of course, good, old-fashioned books.
I'm a writer and editor at OnlyInYourState, and a contributing writer at Cincinnati Magazine. I love the Great Outdoors and am endlessly awestruck by this beautiful country of ours. Coffee keeps me going, yoga keeps me sane, my kids keep me grounded, and my writing keeps me inspired.
Athens is widely regarded as the most haunted city in Ohio, so it’s only appropriate that the city’s popular college is steeped in its own haunted lore and legends. On the hill overlooking Ohio University sits The Ridges, a stately part of campus that is hiding a dark and haunting secret. You see, the site was originally the Athens Asylum for the Insane, and there’s something downright eerie about these grounds.
With one of the oldest universities in the United States and a former insane asylum, Athens, Ohio is bound to have a haunting or two. In fact, it just might be the most haunted city in the entire state.
The Ohio University is the oldest college in the state, founded on Feb. 18, 1804. The campus spans 1,800 acres in Athens, a beautiful town in Southeast Ohio.
What was once the Athens Lunatic Asylum is now known as The Ridges, and it's owned by (and a neighbor of) Ohio University -- but parts of the facility still hold shadows, stains, and spirits of former mental patients who often suffered from violent treatments such as lobotomies.
What's more, the grounds of the former asylum are still home to a few unusual -- and extremely unsettling -- cemeteries. (Yes -- there are multiple cemeteries on this Ohio college campus!)
Many of the grave sites are unmarked. It's said that patients whose parents had disowned them due to their mental disorder (a surprisingly common practice back then) were simply given numbered stones in lieu of a named gravestone.
Have you explored The Ridges before? Did you know about this haunted college in Ohio? It’s lovely, but absolutely not the kind of place we’d want to visit at night by ourselves…
Looking for more hauntingly beautiful places to explore in Ohio? Spring Grove Cemetery is absolutely stunning, despite being one of the most haunted places in Ohio.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
