Looking for a fun way to kick off the pumpkin-spice-latte-and-ghosts-and-stuff season? The Hills Have Eyes is always a good choice for movie night. But if you’re looking to get out of the house and go somewhere that’s just naturally creepy, The Ridges is where it’s at. And this year on 23 September, you can find a very unique and supernaturally-inclined arts fair there – The Hill Has Eyes Paranormal Psychic Fair.
Hosted by Jessica Stinson and Chris Nevil at the historic Ridges Auditorium, this exciting event will include things like haunted walking tours by the Ohio Ghost Hunters, food and other refreshments, and nearly 50 vendors of items like crystals, palmists, tarot, and other paranormal fun.
Is The Ridges Really Haunted?
It’s pretty obvious why this event is best hosted at the Ridges – it’s the Ridges! It was a psychiatric hospital in the age of horrific and barbaric treatments. Though, as a Kirkbride campus, the Ridges was actually known nationally for its innovative, compassionate and rehabilitative brand of care. Patients had woodland trails to roam, the grounds were beautifully kempt and spotted with fountains, and everyone had a job, which is what made the campus self-sufficient. All in all, the Ridges showed 20th century “insane asylums” that there was more to psychiatric patients than just the disorder.
All that said – that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some dark history spanning 1874 to the ‘90s, especially during the advent of experimental and invasive treatments like ice baths, lobotomies and electroshock therapy. As a result, there may be some permanent residents who’ve stayed way past the hospital’s closing in 1993. If you like spooky stuff, this place is a paranormal geek’s playground.
The most famous haunting at the Ridges is Margaret Schilling, the woman who disappeared and laid down to die in an abandoned room in 1978. When they found her body, her clothes were neatly folded in a pile. There is a stain on the floor from where she sat decomposing, and it’s never been able to be washed away, no matter what was tried.
When renovations began in the ‘90s and students started moving into the newly-converted hospital campus, more weird stuff came to the surface. Fine Arts students and faculty, as well as campus staff who’ve lived and worked up at the Ridges have cited supernatural events like:
- Rattling doorknobs
- Midnight screaming
- Vanishing spectral images
- Electric anomalies
- Poltergeist activity
Eat your heart out, Haunted Ohio.
Other Spooky Season Events at The Ridges
The Ridges always has something going on, and ghosts don’t only come out in the fall. Other things you can do at the Ridges include walking tours of the grounds, hiking on the campus’ trails and self-guided walking tours. Plus, OU’s observatory is up there, and so is an awesome treetops climbing course! And later this fall in October, there’s sure to be several nighttime haunted walking tours, too.