Jeff Provine - Haunted Norman, Oklahoma

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2014 by Jeff Provine

All rights reserved

First published 2014

e-book edition 2014

ISBN 978.1.62585.097.3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Provine, Jeff.

Haunted Norman, Oklahoma / Jeff Provine.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

print edition ISBN 978-1-62619-563-9

1. Ghosts--Oklahoma--Norman. 2. Haunted places--Oklahoma--Norman. I. Title.

BF1472.U6P77 2014

133.10976637--dc23

2014030017

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All images are courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

PREFACE

Ghost stories became a regular part of my life when the OU Ghost Tour began in the 2009 Halloween season. I was working in the English Department at the university then, recently returned from a backpacking trip in the UK. Having studied abroad there some years before, I ventured back to check things off my to-see list and visit old friends. I toured everything from Inverness, Scotland, in the north to the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. During that summer, I attended ghost tours in London, Edinburgh, York and everywhere else I could find one. There was no shortage, either; with the land having been settled for more than one thousand years, there seemed to be ghosts anywhere someone started to look.

In my own experience, I knew of only two ghost stories. One was an old family legend about the Baby Ghost in our home. I grew up in the house my great-great-grandfather built in 1894, on land he had won in the Cherokee Strip Land Run the previous year. My parents returned to the house in 1976, remodeling it and having four sons there, in addition to my sister, who had already come while my father finished medical school at Baylor in Houston. According to family lore, when there was a baby in the house, my parents would awaken in the night to the mournful sounds of crying. They would pull themselves out of bed to go check the babys crib and find him sleeping peacefully as the crying died away. This happened again and again, but only while babies were in the house. When one brother grew to sleep through the night, the cries would stop. When the next baby came along, the wails started up again, only to fade away as he grew up, too.

The story that began the OU Ghost Tour was the ghost boy of Ellison Hall, the first student infirmary on campus. Campus legend says that a boy was roller-skating on Elm Avenue next to school grounds. Some versions of the story say that he was hit by a car, others that he had an asthma attack, but both agree that he was in desperate need of help. He was rushed into Ellison, the nearest medical facility, where he died in surgery. The boys spirit is believed to still roam the building, now offices for the College of Arts & Sciences. He bounces a ball, plays with gurneys, rides the elevator from floor to floor and causes motion sensor lights to flick on when no mortal is around. People claim to have heard his giggles and even blame him for messes in their offices.

When I related the roller-skating boys tale to Tess on the Isle of Wight, she suggested I make a tour for the school. I doubted there were enough stories, but once I began researching the buildings on the century-old campus, I discovered all kinds of hidden history and strange happenings. It turned out to be enough for a whole collection, which became Campus Ghosts of Norman, Oklahoma. As of 2013, more than three thousand people have taken the OU Ghost Tour, and many of them stopped by afterward to ask about spooky stories in Norman.

Once again, I didnt know many stories at all. But as soon as I started looking, the stories made themselves known. The city is packed with tales of bygone citizens still walking the earth, making stairs and floorboards creak, raising hairs on the living and sometimes even appearing as otherwise unexplainable sights. Beyond the ghosts, Norman carries stories of gangsters, lake monsters and a gold rush. If anyone considers history boring, they arent taking a good enough look.

Even more important than the stories is the history of our community. People might know Norman for its connection to the university or as a commuter suburb for Oklahoma City, but our city is so much more with a vibrant art scene, some of the best eats in the state and bustling festivals. No wonder people stick around even after they die.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks go out to all those who helped in the research for this book by offering their time for interviews and leads on where to look. I would like to thank Erin Smith and Sue Schrems at the Cleveland County Historical Society; Joseph and Nancy Stine at the Timberlake Rose Rock Museum; Kim Lock, Dee Downer and the crew at Kendalls; the staff of Griffin Memorial Hospital; the rangers at Lake Thunderbird State Park; the hardworking team at the Sooner Theater; the easygoing fellas at Midway Barbershop and all the folks at S&J Antiques, Johnnies, Hollywood Theaters and S&B Burger. Thanks to all of the facilities management staff, secretaries, public relations liaisons and faculty at the University of Oklahoma and Norman Public Schools who took time out of their busy schedules for interviews. Thanks also to Rick Smith and the National Weather Service. Christy Clark and the team at OKPRI gave great lessons in research and parapsychology, as well as applying science and historical evidence from Kathryn Wickham to the ghost investigation. Special thanks to Joe Griffith, Sally Austin, Lara Kelly, Bob Oliphant and Charles Burnell for sharing their own stories.

And thanks to everyone who stopped me after a ghost tour and said, Do I have a story for you!

INTRODUCTION

The ground on which Norman, Oklahoma, rests today goes back to time immemorial. Geologists tell of an Oklahoma from millennia ago that rested along the Western Inland Seaway. The hills to the east served as the shore to a landmass called Appalachia, where Cretaceous dinosaurs roamed. Meanwhile, the sea carved out flatlands to the west that would make the iconic, rolling Great Plains. As the land aged, the North American continent rose, and the water drained away to leave rich grasslands. Herds of bison millions strong roamed these plains and, after the introduction of horses, served as the main source of food for Native Americans.

The land that would become Norman stood at the eastern frontier of the realm controlled by Comanche, known as some of the most skilled warriors in the Southwest. Osage tribes lived to the east before their removal to northern Oklahoma, and for centuries the two battled back and forth over the rich hunting grounds. In his book on the history of Norman, written as part of the celebration for the U.S. bicentennial, John Womack describes Osage braves hunting Comanche scalps, as well as buffalo, to prove their masculinity. There is no clear evidence of Native Americans living for an extended period in the area, but many Normanites believe certain areas of the town were once used as burial grounds. Through its thousands of years of history, there is no doubt that some people would have been buried where today roads, malls and houses stand.