OU URBAN LEGENDS
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Marnie Vinge [00:00:00]:
This is the way it feels to move through summer in Lululemon iconic aligned softness without the front seam for our smoothest look and feel ever. Summer won't know what hit it. Stretch your limits in the non stop flexibility of the new Lululemon align no line pant in select stores and@lululemon.com I'm Marnie Vinge and this is Eerie Okie. Join me and my friends as we explore the darker side of the Sooner State. We made some changes. Bear with us through these first four episodes before the rebranding is final. The new email is eerieokiepodcastmail.com Instagram is @eerieokie and Facebook is also Eerie Okie.
Marnie Vinge [00:01:10]:
Thanks for all your constant support. We couldn't do it without you. I'm Marnie Vinge and I'm here today with Marissa Mohi, who is a friend of mine that I made at a creativity retreat last summer and she's gonna tell us what she's been up to and what she's about.
Marisa Mohi [00:01:28]:
Wow, that's a really broad thing and I hope that I get it within the space.
Marnie Vinge [00:01:33]:
Oh, you got. You got plenty of time.
Marisa Mohi [00:01:36]:
So I am Marissa Mohi. I'm a writer, I'm a blogger, I'm a YouTuber. I have a day job where I teach kids to write and they hate it. And it's not. Yeah, yeah, you know.
Marnie Vinge [00:01:47]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:01:47]:
I am that teacher that told you to write essays and that you hated. So. Yeah, so that's what I do. I'm currently working on a novel that's kind of set at a fictional version of the University of Oklahoma. Just because I'm employed by the University of Oklahoma and I don't want to get sued. And if I want to continue teaching, maybe after I publish the novel, I feel like can't say that it's at ou.
Marnie Vinge [00:02:08]:
Right.
Marisa Mohi [00:02:09]:
Because it centers around a ghost. And the Griffin Memorial Hospital, which is the mental hospital over, you know, east of campus. And a long time ago, like in the 30s, that hospital actually took up like three mile blocks.
Marnie Vinge [00:02:28]:
I did not know that.
Marisa Mohi [00:02:29]:
Yeah. So you know where. I think it's Griffin park, actually.
Marnie Vinge [00:02:33]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:02:33]:
So just north of Robinson, where all those silos are. Yeah, so those silos are actually part of it because they turned the mental institution into like a working farm. So all the patients there were like fishing and growing stuff. Oh, my God.
Marnie Vinge [00:02:45]:
I had no idea.
Marisa Mohi [00:02:47]:
Yeah, it was intense.
Marnie Vinge [00:02:48]:
That's some dark Norman history.
Marisa Mohi [00:02:50]:
Yeah. So. And there used to be a cemetery there, but I don't know if you heard this story A couple years ago where a mass grave was found at the cemetery at.
Marnie Vinge [00:03:01]:
That sounds so familiar.
Marisa Mohi [00:03:02]:
Yeah, it's the one on Rock Creek and the.
Marnie Vinge [00:03:05]:
Ioof.
Marisa Mohi [00:03:06]:
Yeah. Yeah. So at that cemetery there was just a mass grave found of people that Griffin Memorial had to get rid of.
Marnie Vinge [00:03:13]:
Oh, my God. Wow. Oh, that is crazy. I had no idea.
Marisa Mohi [00:03:17]:
Yeah. So I don't know how related to the university, the hospital is, but I would assume that it at one point was very related to it. Because without ou, Norman would not exist to the extent it does today.
Marnie Vinge [00:03:29]:
Oscar, leave her alone. My dog Oscar is joining us today. He's been bad today and he thinks that he deserves some attention for his bad behavior. So he's staring at Marissa right now, but that's the noise that you hear. The little click clack is him walking out of the room, walking back in. So hopefully he'll lay down and let us get down to business. Yeah, There we go.
Marisa Mohi [00:03:49]:
Good boy.
Marnie Vinge [00:03:50]:
Okay, so go ahead. Griffin Memorial.
Marisa Mohi [00:03:53]:
So, yeah, so I'm kind of obsessed with that. And then at the same time, I'm interested in a lot of the Native American boarding schools that popped up around the state. And so a lot of Native Americans were told that they had to send their kids to these schools. And basically their kids hair was cut, they were given an American name and, you know, not allowed to speak any of their languages. And so kind of combining a lot of these things into one story. And probably once I get to, you know, like the editing phase, I'm gonna have to scale it back. But I think that Oklahoma was a. I mean, I don't know how everybody else feels about it, but I don't think it's a very, you know, open minded sort of place.
Marisa Mohi [00:04:35]:
And in the past it was really pretty terrible. So I think that a lot of that breeds a lot of the ghost stories and urban legends that we have now. So I really like to kind of play pull from those for fiction reasons. And also like I. Some of the stuff that happened, like, I could not make it up. I'm not that good writer, you know.
Marnie Vinge [00:04:52]:
Right, yeah. Oh, yeah, I totally know. Sometimes strange truth is so much stranger than fiction.
Marisa Mohi [00:04:57]:
Yeah. For real.
Marnie Vinge [00:04:58]:
So. Yeah. So Marissa's here today to talk with us about some OU urban legends and spooky stuff like that.
Marisa Mohi [00:05:05]:
Yes, yes.
Marnie Vinge [00:05:06]:
So let's get started.
Marisa Mohi [00:05:07]:
Okay, so we're gonna start with my favorite story, which is one that I have never been able to prove, but it's something that I've heard people talk about and I want to, you know, Keep publicizing the story just in case anybody has information on it and can give it to me or, you know, we can make it part of the official record. So I believe this happened in the late 20s or early 30s. But there was a professor who was well known for, you know, being a hard class and just nobody liked him. And so there were a group of students and I mean, this is like next level frat boy shenanigans. But they put on masks and they kidnapped him and they drove him down to the Texas border and left him there to walk back to Norman.
Marnie Vinge [00:05:52]:
That's insane.
Marisa Mohi [00:05:53]:
Yeah. So I don't know if it's true, but OU is the only university in the state, I believe, that still has an anti mask rule. So you cannot wear a mask on campus. And people say that that's where that law came from.
Marnie Vinge [00:06:07]:
That's really interesting. Yeah, I have never heard that before.
Marisa Mohi [00:06:10]:
Yeah. And I've only heard it from one person. And I believe that he would know. His name is Jeff Provine.
Marnie Vinge [00:06:16]:
He.
Marisa Mohi [00:06:17]:
Yeah, he does the Haunted Oklahoma tours. So he does them in Oklahoma City, he does them in Norman. He did them on campus. And he used to teach at ou. Super into the history. And I think that he did a lot of consulting and research work on like the history of OU book that came out recently, which part of me wants to read to find out some information. But also like it's like 600 pages.
Marnie Vinge [00:06:39]:
Oh, wow.
Marisa Mohi [00:06:40]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:06:40]:
That's a lot of history.
Marisa Mohi [00:06:42]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:06:43]:
That's a lot of nonfiction.
Marisa Mohi [00:06:44]:
Yeah. 600 pages for like a 100 year old university. That seems.
Marnie Vinge [00:06:47]:
That's a lot. That. That is a little. Yeah. Oh, man, that makes me think of. Do you remember that TV show that was on a few years ago called Saving Grace?
Marisa Mohi [00:06:57]:
Yes.
Marnie Vinge [00:06:57]:
That was set in Oklahoma City. There was an episode where her, I think he was her partner, went down to the. It was the fictional Oklahoma, Texas border. There was like this bridge there and he was able to get up on it and he painted Texas sucks on the bridge. And like, I appreciated it so much because it was such an Oklahoma thing. But like nobody else in the nation would really fully appreciate that moment on tnt. I think that's what it was on. But I was so excited.
Marnie Vinge [00:07:26]:
I was like, we've made it.
Marisa Mohi [00:07:27]:
Yeah. Like finally everybody else knows that Texas sucks.
Marnie Vinge [00:07:30]:
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. That's crazy. I can't imagine, like if somebody did that today, like kidnapped a professor, put a mask, put on masks, kidnapped them, drove them, what would that be? Hundreds of miles away from their home and just Dropped them off on the side of the. I feel like that would be. I mean, somebody's going to jail.
Marisa Mohi [00:07:54]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:07:55]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:07:55]:
But also, like, I guess today, if you were to drive somebody to the Oklahoma, Texas border, like, you're just gonna drop them off at that hardcore porn store.
Marnie Vinge [00:08:02]:
Right. They're just gonna call somebody and, like. Yeah. Or stay there.
Marisa Mohi [00:08:06]:
Just have a good time. Really. Whatever. Yeah. I am very thankful that my students are probably too interested in social media and their cell phones to know that this is an option.
Marnie Vinge [00:08:17]:
That's a good point. They're too involved in their phone to kidnap you with a mask on.
Marisa Mohi [00:08:22]:
And also, my class isn't really that hard. Like.
Marnie Vinge [00:08:25]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:08:25]:
If you show up and do the homework, you're good.
Marnie Vinge [00:08:27]:
Yeah. So you're probably safe.
Marisa Mohi [00:08:29]:
Yeah. Probably, like, fingers crossed. You never know.
Marnie Vinge [00:08:31]:
Never know.
Marisa Mohi [00:08:34]:
So that is my favorite OU urban legend. But there are a ton of, you know, urban legends about ghosts on campus, and I have never seen one, despite trying very hard to.
Marnie Vinge [00:08:47]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:08:48]:
But I've heard a lot of really good stories, so. And they kind of range from, like, little kids to students to, like, deceased deans and professors. And so it's kind of. It depends on who you ask. And the custodians, you know, tell some really good stories and talk about the offerings that they leave, but.
Marnie Vinge [00:09:06]:
Oh, wow.
Marisa Mohi [00:09:06]:
Yeah. So, like, with the custodians, one of my favorites is in Dale Hall. So Dale Hall. There's Dale hall and Dale Hall Tower. And the tower is. I think it's like, nine or 10 stories, and it's on Lindsay Street. So you've probably seen it and just not thought anything of it because it's just. It's a real.
Marisa Mohi [00:09:25]:
It's not a bad building. It's just ugly and compared to everything else.
Marnie Vinge [00:09:28]:
I actually know where it is because my mom always mentions it when we drive down Lindsay. Because my uncle's name is Dale and he used to work at ou, so she's like, it's Dale hall. So I know where it is.
Marisa Mohi [00:09:38]:
That's funny.
Marnie Vinge [00:09:39]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:09:41]:
So, yeah, I've had classes in there. I. I think I had a class on the ninth floor. It's just. It was a really nice building, I think, in the 70s. And now, like, you go in there and you're like, okay, let's update this. But in the 70s, two students actually killed themselves by jumping off the top of the tower.
Marnie Vinge [00:09:58]:
Oh, so this is true. This is, like, verified.
Marisa Mohi [00:10:01]:
Okay. Yes, this is true. There were actually several suicides throughout the 70s on campus. Like, so either jumping off the Top of the dorms or Dale Hall. Wow.
Marnie Vinge [00:10:09]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:10:10]:
It's crazy. Like, I had. I mean, I know that the university doesn't, like, want to advertise that.
Marnie Vinge [00:10:15]:
Right.
Marisa Mohi [00:10:16]:
You would think we'd know a little bit more about it. Just, you know, like, this did happen, let's prevent it from happening sort of thing.
Marnie Vinge [00:10:21]:
But the two that killed them, did they do it together?
Marisa Mohi [00:10:24]:
I don't think they did.
Marnie Vinge [00:10:25]:
Okay. It was, like, different times that they did it.
Marisa Mohi [00:10:27]:
Yeah, I think so. But I could be wrong. So they jumped off the top of the building and killed themselves. And now the custodians in Dale hall actually leave out food and snacks like that. College kids would like, wow. And they say they can feel a difference in the building when they do that. So, like, when they're cleaning overnight.
Marnie Vinge [00:10:44]:
Oh, man.
Marisa Mohi [00:10:45]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:10:45]:
That's spooky.
Marisa Mohi [00:10:46]:
Yeah. And I mean, like, I guess if I wanted to, because they don't really lock buildings on campus, you know, like, you could probably camp out overnight and see.
Marnie Vinge [00:10:57]:
Yeah. See what there is to see.
Marisa Mohi [00:10:58]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:10:59]:
Oh, man. I'm like, halfway, like, we should do that. And then I'm like, what if something actually happened?
Marisa Mohi [00:11:05]:
Yeah, I'm not. I don't want to see it.
Marnie Vinge [00:11:07]:
Yeah, exactly.
Marisa Mohi [00:11:08]:
By yourself, though.
Marnie Vinge [00:11:08]:
That's like. When I was. I was probably early 20s, and my family, we went to Colorado, actually, to visit that uncle, Dale Hall. His family full name was Dale Hall. And they took us to a hotel in Leadville, Colorado, that was supposed to be haunted because I had made this big deal about how I love haunted stuff. Well, we get there, everybody settles in nicely except for me. I am terrified. And my mom's like, we should go explore.
Marnie Vinge [00:11:39]:
We should, like, get out of the room and go walk up and down the hallways. There's all these giant, old antique mirrors on both sides so that when you look into them, you see your reflection on either side, like, really creepy. And I. I could not handle it. Like, I was like, this is. I'm not about this.
Marisa Mohi [00:11:55]:
I'm not a ghost hunter.
Marnie Vinge [00:11:56]:
Like, I want to be. Like, I want to be so bad, but I'm not. So I would probably not be a good partner for, like, hunting ghosts in Dale Hall. But I would want to be.
Marisa Mohi [00:12:05]:
I'd want to feel that.
Marnie Vinge [00:12:07]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:12:07]:
I've gone on one ghost tour in Fort Reno, Oklahoma, or it's in El Reno, but it's called Fort Reno, and it's an old military base, and they actually have World War II prisoners of war buried there.
Marnie Vinge [00:12:20]:
I didn't know that.
Marisa Mohi [00:12:21]:
Yeah. There's a fun urban legend. We'll talk about that in just a second. Yeah, so I went on a ghost tour there, and it was a lot of fun, but also it's like, you know, 20 people pay their five bucks, and then these overly serious ghost hunters, like, lead you through, and they're like, all right, let's stand quietly and see.
Marnie Vinge [00:12:38]:
If we can hear the old man.
Marisa Mohi [00:12:39]:
And you're like, okay. You just wait. And then. Well, he's not active today.
Marnie Vinge [00:12:44]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:12:45]:
Okay.
Marnie Vinge [00:12:45]:
Yeah, it's like. It's like the most convenient business. Like, you can just be like, well, they're not active today. It's not like the zoo where, like, you know, the animals are there and they're just not coming out.
Marisa Mohi [00:12:54]:
Yeah, exactly.
Marnie Vinge [00:12:56]:
Nobody can go, like, make them come out.
Marisa Mohi [00:12:58]:
Yeah. I feel like I want my five bucks back now. Yeah, that way. But, yeah, like, it's. It's really fun. And then the tour ends at the cemetery because apparently there's the ghost of a Native American woman who protects the cemetery. And then there's also the ghost of Otto, who's a German World War II prisoner of war who died in custody.
Marnie Vinge [00:13:20]:
Okay.
Marisa Mohi [00:13:21]:
And so he was buried there, and then in the 70s, some teenagers got rowdy and then robbed his grave of his skull. Oh, yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:13:30]:
That's like serious grave robbing. Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:13:33]:
Which is like, who does that?
Marnie Vinge [00:13:34]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:13:34]:
And I mean, it's. It was, you know, like, 30 years after the body was buried. There's no way that it's all, like, completely.
Marnie Vinge [00:13:41]:
You know what I'm saying? Yeah, exactly.
Marisa Mohi [00:13:43]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:13:44]:
That's. So you're getting a pretty gnarly skull in that case. Yeah. Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:13:51]:
So if you go and kiss his grave, then you get, like, a button that says, I survived the. Oh, really?
Marnie Vinge [00:13:58]:
Oh, my gosh. How funny. Did you do it?
Marisa Mohi [00:14:00]:
I did it.
Marnie Vinge [00:14:00]:
Yeah. I would do it for the button, too.
Marisa Mohi [00:14:02]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:14:02]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:14:03]:
But that. Sprint it away. Like.
Marnie Vinge [00:14:06]:
Don'T come with me, Otto. Stay here.
Marisa Mohi [00:14:08]:
Yeah. Then imagine, like, you're a ghost. I mean, granted, he was a Nazi, so I feel like this is your punishment.
Marnie Vinge [00:14:15]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:14:15]:
Like, strangers, strange weirdos kissing your grave all the time.
Marnie Vinge [00:14:19]:
You have to deal with that. That's just what you've got to deal with.
Marisa Mohi [00:14:21]:
That's what hell is like. So.
Marnie Vinge [00:14:22]:
Yeah. Strangers walking over your grave and kissing it.
Marisa Mohi [00:14:25]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:14:28]:
I've actually never been to Fort Reno. I have thought several times about going there, like, when they do the Halloween type stuff, but I've never actually been there. Is it worth going to see? Even without the ghost tour element, is it pretty cool.
Marisa Mohi [00:14:42]:
It is pretty cool. Like, you can walk through old buildings and old barracks and, like, the cemetery is pretty cool. Also, if you go over there and, like, El Reno's famous for their onion burgers. So, like, you go have dinner and then do the trip. Yeah. Totally worth it.
Marnie Vinge [00:14:54]:
Yeah. Yeah, totally worth it. That sounds that. Oh, man, an onion burger. That sounds so good.
Marisa Mohi [00:15:02]:
That's a good thing about Oklahoma. You can, like, organize everything around food.
Marnie Vinge [00:15:05]:
You really can.
Marisa Mohi [00:15:06]:
What is this city known for? Okay.
Marnie Vinge [00:15:07]:
That's right.
Marisa Mohi [00:15:08]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:15:08]:
That is so true.
Marisa Mohi [00:15:11]:
So, I mean, I wish Norman had something that we were known for. I think we're just famous for, like, cheap beer, but.
Marnie Vinge [00:15:17]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:15:18]:
Yeah, yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:15:19]:
I would say Oconnells is probably the most famous place down there. Or the Mont. Yeah, yeah, either one of those.
Marisa Mohi [00:15:27]:
You guys want to do some shots?
Marnie Vinge [00:15:28]:
Yeah. Every time Marissa and I see a ghost on campus, we'll do a shot.
Marisa Mohi [00:15:33]:
Yeah, exactly. Let's see what other ghost stories. Okay, so have you heard about the little roller skating boy on campus?
Marnie Vinge [00:15:43]:
I have heard vaguely of it. My uncle told me a little bit about it, but I haven't heard, like, the details or anything like that.
Marisa Mohi [00:15:48]:
Okay, so Ellison hall is on Elm Avenue between Boyd and Lindsay. So kind of right in the middle, if you're driving there, there's a large statue out front of a woman who looks like she's just kind of sitting in the grass. So it's the building right there. It's just three stories, and that used to be the infirmary. And so, like, the first floor was for student patients to come in. The second floor was, like, actual hospital beds. And then the third floor was an operating room. And so there was a little boy that was roller skating just up and down Elm.
Marisa Mohi [00:16:19]:
I don't know if it was Elm then, but he was just roller skating back and forth, and he got hit by a car right in front of the hospital. So they bring him in, and, well, the legend, he was either hit by a car or he had an asthma attack. It kind of depends on who you ask. So they bring him to the hospital, and he dies. And people say you can still hear him roller skating back and forth in the building. And so that building is actually now the offices for the College of Arts and Sciences. So, like, the first floor is where you go get advised. The second floor is, like, dean's offices.
Marisa Mohi [00:16:51]:
And the third floor, I don't know what it is, but people will say when they're working late that they can hear him just, like, roller skating. Like that kind of Tinny wheel sound just up and down the hallway.
Marnie Vinge [00:17:02]:
I can like hear it in my mind right now. Imagining that, like echoing in a big hallway.
Marisa Mohi [00:17:05]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:17:06]:
Oh, that would be spooky. Like.
Marisa Mohi [00:17:08]:
Oh, yeah, there was a ghost hunter. Well, so he was an advisor in the journalism college. Ghost hunter. Yeah. I feel like nobody's a ghost hunter full time, right.
Marnie Vinge [00:17:18]:
Yeah. Like that's a dream, right? Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:17:22]:
So. But he got permission to stay overnight and they recorded some audio. But the thing is, like, I want to believe in these ghosts. I really want to. I want them to be there. But all these buildings are so old that even though they update the heating and air, like everything just always sounds like super rattly and.
Marnie Vinge [00:17:41]:
Right.
Marisa Mohi [00:17:41]:
I don't think you can hear it. But maybe that's just my lack of belief. I don't know.
Marnie Vinge [00:17:46]:
Yeah, yeah. Oh, I totally. I totally know what you mean though, because like, obviously, like I want to believe. I have this poster in here. Like I very much relate to Mulder in that he wants to believe so hardcore, but there's still that part of him that's like not entirely sure. And like I always want to believe these stories. Like whenever I went to see the guy talk about Bigfoot, I'm like, I want to believe that you really saw this thing. I want to believe that, but I almost can't.
Marisa Mohi [00:18:15]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:18:15]:
Like, because you're talking about Bigfoot, but so. And I kind of. It's kind of the same with ghosts, but. Yeah. Yeah, less hairy, less stinky, you know, but. Well, I don't know. Some ghosts are stinky. Yeah, I've heard that.
Marisa Mohi [00:18:28]:
I could. Yeah. Like part of being a poltergeist is also.
Marnie Vinge [00:18:31]:
Yeah. Like foul odors. Yeah, yeah, I've heard that.
Marisa Mohi [00:18:34]:
Oh, if you ever go to. I know like every ghost story in Oklahoma and I apologize for like how disjointed I'm.
Marnie Vinge [00:18:40]:
No, it's totally fine.
Marisa Mohi [00:18:41]:
They. What is it? Over Holster Mansion. So it's in Oklahoma City, just north of midtown, in Heritage Hills, the preservation district. There's the overholster mansion. And they have preserved it the way it used to look. And it's like a non profit and you can take tours. And one of the women who gives the tours has worked there for so long and she knows all the ghost stories. But I got to take a tour of it.
Marisa Mohi [00:19:07]:
And while we were there, like everybody started smelling this pipe tobacco. And it was a well known fact that he spoke pipes and you could smell it, you could hear things. It was. I don't know if it's Because I feel like it's easier to believe there because everything is, you know, basically the way it used to be. Like, they still have the stove from the 20s in there and all the furniture and everything's still set up. So I don't know if it, like, has better preserved ghosts or if, you know, you're just, like, ready to believe it that way, but.
Marnie Vinge [00:19:35]:
Right. Yeah, that makes sense. We. For my 30th birthday, my family surprised me by taking me to the Grisso Mansion out in. I'm not exactly sure where it's at because I didn't know where we were going at the time. I was just kind of like, why are we driving out to the middle of nowhere? Like, this is kind of weird.
Marisa Mohi [00:19:52]:
Weird hazing ritual for you. Yeah, exactly.
Marnie Vinge [00:19:54]:
Like, what are we doing? Like, is my family about to tell me that we're all witches and this is, like, the indoctrination on my 30th birthday? Like, yes, finally, like, we get out there and it was kind of like that. Like, everything was very much preserved in the way that it had been when the mansion was at its height of beauty or whatever. But there was one room. It was. I think it's called the Pink Room, and it was the woman's bedroom who lived there. And I've never had this feeling before in my life. I mean, I've had it because I recognized what it was, but I've never thought that there was a spirit present. And, I mean, something like this.
Marnie Vinge [00:20:34]:
There was, like, a shift in the energy in the room, and it was. I can't even explain it. Like, it was so odd. And I wasn't the only one who felt it. And the people who did feel it felt it over in this little alcove by the window, which is supposedly where she would stand and look out and at her land or whatever. And I mentioned something about it, and the lady is like, oh, yeah, that's her. And I'm like, okay. Yeah, exactly.
Marnie Vinge [00:20:59]:
I'm a little scared now. I hope I don't get left alone in this place.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:03]:
Yeah. But it was pretty.
Marnie Vinge [00:21:04]:
It was pretty cool.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:05]:
So which mansion was that?
Marnie Vinge [00:21:06]:
The Grisso Mansion.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:07]:
Okay.
Marnie Vinge [00:21:08]:
Yeah. You'll have to look it up because it's really cool. And you can take tours of it and stuff. And they do, like, a ghost tour kind of where they let you take pictures. And we did get a lot of orbs, which I have my feelings about orbs. Like, I'm always like, is it, like, it could be dust? It could be. Is It.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:25]:
A ghost.
Marnie Vinge [00:21:25]:
Like, you know, like, I'm very. I don't know. I want to believe.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:29]:
Right?
Marnie Vinge [00:21:29]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:30]:
There are some in some of my YouTube videos.
Marnie Vinge [00:21:32]:
Really?
Marisa Mohi [00:21:33]:
I lived in my old house. Like, really 90 year old house.
Marnie Vinge [00:21:36]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:36]:
And part of me is like, I should have really played this up and got more, like, YouTube subscribers. We're talking about the ghost. But another part of me is like, it's probably just dust because you don't clean your house, so.
Marnie Vinge [00:21:45]:
But you know what? I've never seen one in your videos of where you live now.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:49]:
That's very true.
Marnie Vinge [00:21:51]:
Yeah, I've never seen one. You're using the same equipment.
Marisa Mohi [00:21:53]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:21:54]:
So. And I don't imagine that your house cleaning is any different between the two places now. Okay. So there. There's potentially more dust now.
Marisa Mohi [00:22:03]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:22:04]:
So I'm saying this is what I'm. I'm just putting this out there. It's definitely a ghost.
Marisa Mohi [00:22:08]:
Yeah, definitely.
Marnie Vinge [00:22:08]:
Definitely ghost. Go through Marissa's YouTube, which she'll plug at the end of this episode, and just go through her old videos. And if you find a ghost in the videos, I want you to comment with a little ghost emoji.
Marisa Mohi [00:22:19]:
Yes.
Marnie Vinge [00:22:20]:
Yeah, just go through all of them.
Marisa Mohi [00:22:21]:
Yeah. And also just, like, watch all the videos anyway three or four times. Please get my numbers up.
Marnie Vinge [00:22:25]:
There you go. Yeah, like, if you got nothing to do on a Saturday, like, forget Netflix.
Marisa Mohi [00:22:30]:
Or, you know, if you have something to do, just leave it playing. Like, there's some playlists. You can just go.
Marnie Vinge [00:22:34]:
There you go. Yeah, yeah, just. Just listen to him. Like a. Like a video podcast, like, going in.
Marisa Mohi [00:22:38]:
The background all day for your pets. It's fine.
Marnie Vinge [00:22:40]:
Yeah, she has a very soothing voice for pets. See, Oscar is nice and soothed now after his little tantrum that he threw earlier.
Marisa Mohi [00:22:48]:
So, yeah, it's rough being a dog.
Marnie Vinge [00:22:49]:
It is rough. It's rough.
Marisa Mohi [00:22:51]:
Rough. Okay. Okay, let's talk about two accidental ghosts on campus. Ooh.
Marnie Vinge [00:22:58]:
Ooh. Accidental.
Marisa Mohi [00:23:00]:
So everybody always talks about the library ghost, and I've never heard this.
Marnie Vinge [00:23:04]:
Oh, this is. This is kind of good.
Marisa Mohi [00:23:06]:
So we definitely need to go through the library and take pictures, but when we do, we have to hide our cameras because you're technically not allowed to take pictures in the library. But if you don't get caught, it's not really a rule, so you can call me on that. Okay, so first of all, describe the.
Marnie Vinge [00:23:20]:
OU library for anybody who's not been in there, because it is probably one of the most beautiful buildings on campus.
Marisa Mohi [00:23:26]:
So it's an interesting building. In that. The library, I believe, was one of the first buildings built on campus, so in the early 1900s. And I can't, I don't know the real correct date. And then there was like a whole wing added, I want to say in the 60s or 70s, so the library itself was already pretty big, but then they added a whole bunch. And they've actually been weeding a lot of the collection. And they've had like three different deans of the library in the past 15 years. So like stuff is going on and everything's always shifting.
Marisa Mohi [00:23:57]:
So I feel like there's probably a lot of weird energy there. But in the older portion of the library, there's like these grand staircases. There's the great reading room with like big, almost cathedral style windows and really big, built in ornate bookcases. And it's everything that you want from a library but rarely get from a library. And then they have these sections called the decks. And so the decks are floors within the library that I want to say the ceiling's like 8ft high, maybe might be up to 10, but it feels closer to 8ft. And so it's really cramped and tight. The shelves are all like this wrought iron, really close together.
Marisa Mohi [00:24:40]:
Like getting through them is just always makes you feel claustrophobic, especially if you have like a backpack on. And it's weird because the floors are glass block. So. And I think that it was a design decision because there's not a whole lot of light there. So if you can get light coming in from like the ceiling and the floor, then it, it works a lot better.
Marnie Vinge [00:25:00]:
But because they are pretty dim.
Marisa Mohi [00:25:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's really interesting and weird. Nobody ever goes there. They store a lot of like the PhD dissertations there and. Because nobody wants to read those. Let's be real. Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:25:15]:
Nobody wants to write them. Nobody wants to read them.
Marisa Mohi [00:25:17]:
Exactly. So there's a lot of first editions there too. I actually checked out a book from the library the other day and it was over there and I was like, oh, this is exciting. I have a reason to be in here.
Marnie Vinge [00:25:26]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:25:27]:
But there is a story that. And I don't know the date on this and it kind of changes depending upon who you ask that either a guy or a girl was on. It's either the second or the sixth floor, you know, and then they fell through one of the glass blocks to their death. And I mean, if the ceiling's like 10ft high, it can't be the second floor. But also if they fell through the sixth floor. They would have to fall through, like, all the floor. So I don't really know.
Marnie Vinge [00:25:57]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:25:58]:
And they say you can find which glass block it is because it's been replaced and there's more caulking around it, so to hold it still. And if you look down at the floor, that's, like, the case for 80% of the blocks now because it's so old. And then some of them have been replaced with, like, little wood blocks instead. Okay. So it just. I don't know. It's an interesting story. I think really what it comes down to is there's an old radiator on, like, each one of those floors, and it just sounds creepy, and the building shifts, and you can hear the wind and all that.
Marnie Vinge [00:26:28]:
So I've been up there once when I was. When I was in junior high, we took a field trip there, and my teacher had gone to OU and she was insistent that we see the decks, and she was like, this is so cool. You're not gonna regret going up here. This is really a really good experience, especially if you don't end up going to OU and don't have any reason to be down here. And we went up there, and I was like. I remember thinking when I was there, this is, like, perfect, like, ghost story setting. Like, this is a perfect, creepy story setting.
Marisa Mohi [00:26:58]:
Yeah, it's.
Marnie Vinge [00:26:59]:
It is everything. Like you said, it is everything you want from our library but rarely get. Yeah, it's wonderful.
Marisa Mohi [00:27:05]:
It's, like, one of the reasons why I am writing the book I'm writing, you know?
Marnie Vinge [00:27:09]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:27:09]:
And there is a scene in there with, like, somebody being afraid of the idea of a ghost, but, like, no actual ghost coming out.
Marnie Vinge [00:27:15]:
Yeah. Oh, I cannot wait to read your book. I'm so excited.
Marisa Mohi [00:27:18]:
I need to finish it.
Marnie Vinge [00:27:19]:
I'm so excited. Like, yes. Yes, you do. You do. You do. You need to finish it. Yes, I'm giving you permission. Yes.
Marisa Mohi [00:27:26]:
That's all I needed.
Marnie Vinge [00:27:26]:
Okay.
Marisa Mohi [00:27:29]:
So. Yeah. So I think the library gets a lot of haunting recognition, but I don't think that. I mean, of all the buildings that are potentially haunted, I don't feel like it is.
Marnie Vinge [00:27:40]:
Okay.
Marisa Mohi [00:27:41]:
So. But then another accidental death that is on record that was in newspapers that people know about, and that some, like, university employees, like, say they've seen the ghosts. So in 86, there was a. I think it was like, a reading conference or something for, like, middle school kids.
Marnie Vinge [00:27:58]:
Okay.
Marisa Mohi [00:27:59]:
And they were staying in the dorms and then doing, like, bookie things during the day, and it was kind of like A summer camp sort of situation. And there was a boy who was there, and they were staying in the Kate center dorms or the Kate building. So if you are on campus, it's just south of Lindsay. And I think this building is actually being renovated right now and being used to house the freshman composition classes. So I don't know if it's still dorms or not, but if you. I think up until, like, 2015, it was a dorm and it was like the sad dorm that you didn't want to get.
Marnie Vinge [00:28:35]:
Oh, man.
Marisa Mohi [00:28:36]:
Yeah. Yeah. You had, like, that kind of linoleum, like, tile floor sort of grossness. And I mean, especially when there's, like, Harry Potter style dorms now.
Marnie Vinge [00:28:46]:
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:28:47]:
Nobody wants these. Exactly. So. But right underneath it is Kate center, which is kind of like a food court area. And they always sell, like, cheap sushi and taco mayo. So, like, great ways to get sick. And so the kids were eating there. And like, all buildings at OU have basements and creepy stuff.
Marisa Mohi [00:29:07]:
And he and some friends wandered down into the basement and there was an old dumbwaiter there. And it's still there. Like, you can see nobody can access it. You have to get permission. And you're not allowed to, like, get close and anything like that. But I mean, the people that work in the restaurant see it every day, so. Because that's where they load up and store stuff. So he got into the dumbwaiter and was playing in it and then lost control of it and was beheaded.
Marnie Vinge [00:29:32]:
Wow.
Marisa Mohi [00:29:32]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:29:32]:
So that. And that's documented.
Marisa Mohi [00:29:34]:
It is. So that happened in 1986, so not super long ago.
Marnie Vinge [00:29:38]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:29:39]:
So a lot of people that work there say they can hear, like, a kid running around and playing when they're opening up, like, the coffee shop in the morning or when they're closing down the pizza place at night. So.
Marnie Vinge [00:29:50]:
Yeah. Oh, wow.
Marisa Mohi [00:29:51]:
Which is creepy to me.
Marnie Vinge [00:29:52]:
Yeah. Super creepy. That would be. That would be spooky. The place that I actually, I mentioned this on the episode that Jay and I did about Roger Dale Stafford. I worked at the Starbucks that is built in the location where Sirloin Stockade was. And I did not know that at the time, but I wonder, had I known that at the time, if that would have, like, made me think that I felt something or. Because there were a lot of times I was there really early in the morning, in the wee hours and really late at night.
Marnie Vinge [00:30:24]:
And I mean, I can imagine if there's a ghost story surrounding or a tragedy of some kind. Like, it can influence the way you think about the place that you're.
Marisa Mohi [00:30:32]:
Right. Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:30:32]:
Yeah. So is there any. Anything spooky about the building that you work in?
Marisa Mohi [00:30:38]:
Not really. Not otherworldly spooky. It's more like layoffs and budget cuts. That's pretty spooky, right? Yeah. There are weird things about the building. So I'm in the newer side of the building, thank God, because the air conditioner is regulated and works 100% of the time.
Marnie Vinge [00:30:55]:
Oh, that's good.
Marisa Mohi [00:30:56]:
The old side of the building where we used to be, like, it was like, oh, it's either going to be 105 degrees in here or 52. You never know. But there are all sorts of, like, weird kind of alcoves that have been created because the building. The old building was built in the 30s, I think, and then the building we have now is built in, like, 2008, so they just kind of smashed them together. And depending upon where you are, like, you might take a wrong turn and you're, like, in this weird little corridor that leads to a bathroom that hasn't been renovated since, like, 1965. And that's, like, my favorite bathroom. It's got, like, this baby pink T tile and weird. Yeah, those are great, but they're.
Marisa Mohi [00:31:35]:
They're doing a lot more renovations to kind of bring it all up into the current century, which is good. But. Yeah, I don't think there are any ghosts. I think there's just, like, a lot of creepy windows and stuff like that.
Marnie Vinge [00:31:47]:
Yeah, I think OU is a very. It's. It's one of the most beautiful campuses. It's. It's definitely, I think, the most beautiful university in Oklahoma. It's. It's so pretty, and I think it's such a great setting for the story that you're telling. Like, it's just.
Marnie Vinge [00:32:04]:
It's just ripe for it. Like, it's all those old buildings, that Cherokee Gothic architecture. Like, it's very. It's just perfect.
Marisa Mohi [00:32:12]:
Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with it.
Marnie Vinge [00:32:14]:
Yeah, it's. I mean, it's. It's worth being obsessed over.
Marisa Mohi [00:32:17]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:32:17]:
Yeah. Because uco, like, where I went, it's all, like, built in. I don't know. My. I had a professor there who. He would talk about the fact that he went to UCO when it was still Central State, but he said that it was actually called Goat Herd University because it was so long ago. And he said he would say I had a professor named Bonk Bonk. That was one of the first people that could talk.
Marnie Vinge [00:32:38]:
And, like, he would Say stuff like that. He was so funny. But UCO's campus is not very. There are some buildings on campus that are really pretty, but there is not a whole lot of continuity in the architecture. And so it makes it look very disjointed and kind of, like, random. Yeah, sorry about that. That was my phone. Everybody knows that I'm a big Kid Moore fan now.
Marnie Vinge [00:33:18]:
And it doesn't even say that I have a missed call. That's really weird.
Marisa Mohi [00:33:20]:
Maybe it was Bonk Bonk.
Marnie Vinge [00:33:21]:
Maybe it was. Maybe it was a ghost. Yeah, it was the ghost of Bonk Bonk. By saying three times, yeah, we've summoned him. Oh, no. I need to go get my salt and make a circle and cleanse this area. Yeah, yeah. UCO does not have a whole lot of really cool buildings.
Marnie Vinge [00:33:40]:
And so I've always envied that about OU. And, like, I love going down to OU's campus, like, anytime I get the opportunity.
Marisa Mohi [00:33:48]:
Yeah, I like it even now. Like, I have been there in some capacity or another since 2004, which makes me feel really old, but I feel that. Yeah, but there are so many, like, weird things. Like, there are really pretty buildings, and then there's, like, super ugly buildings built in the 70s. So, like the Physical Sciences center, which is sometimes called the Blender, because when they built it in the early 70s, there was a picture of it on the student newspaper and they superimposed buttons on it, and it looked like a blender because of the shape of the building. Oh, my gosh. And it's an interesting building because when they built was right after all the student riots in the 60s, and so they were afraid that that was gonna happen. So the Physical Sciences center actually has a riot floor.
Marisa Mohi [00:34:31]:
I don't think it ever gets used, and I don't know who has keys to it, but you can't. There's only one staircase you can get to it from, and you can't get it to it from any elevators or anything like that. Not that those elevators ever work. So if you've ever been in that building and you've been waiting, like, 15 minutes for an elevator, like, no, it's not coming. So it's just really weird. And you can see it when you're going through the big staircases, because there's, like, this interior staircase inside the building, no window, so you're, like, right in the center of the tower, and you just go up, like, two or three flights, and there's no doors to get anywhere. So you know that that's, like, where it is, but I don't know.
Marnie Vinge [00:35:12]:
So is it kind of like a panic room?
Marisa Mohi [00:35:13]:
Like, basically, it's like a whole entire floor worth of panic room for, you know, professors and administrators to hide in for when the students rise up.
Marnie Vinge [00:35:23]:
Oh, my God. I mean, it's funny, but, like. I mean, it would come in useful in a situation like a shooting or something like that, like, you know, which is sad that you have to think about that kind of thing. But that's. That's a funny image. The students rising up and their professors hiding in the. You know, if they're coming to kidnap you with masks on, it's somewhere to go.
Marisa Mohi [00:35:43]:
If they've put their phones down long enough and figured out how to get to.
Marnie Vinge [00:35:47]:
Yeah. If they're communicating with each other well enough in groups to, like, organize something.
Marisa Mohi [00:35:52]:
Yeah, right. It's just sending a bunch of Snapchats with emojis, and that's how they've created the plan.
Marnie Vinge [00:35:56]:
Yeah, exactly.
Marisa Mohi [00:35:57]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:36:00]:
Oh, my gosh.
Marisa Mohi [00:36:01]:
But, yeah, so there's all sorts of weird stuff, and I think. I think we should end with talking about Holmberg Hall. Okay. Because it's probably, like, the best, you know, like, traditional ghost story. So Holmberg hall is the fine arts building, or like, the old school fine Arts building. And it doesn't have any musical instruments inside it anymore. And I don't think it's used for any classes anymore. I think it's more like administrative.
Marisa Mohi [00:36:30]:
And, like, if you take a tour, you know, there might be, like, one fancy reading room or whatever, but people say that they can see Professor Mildred Boggess hanging out around her portrait, and sometimes they can hear her playing the organ, even though there's no organ in there anymore. Or sometimes Dean Holmberg, who died in 36, is, like, standing by his portrait, you know, like they say, holding his lapel and kind of, like, looking. I have never seen it, but. Yeah, that's like one of the big.
Marnie Vinge [00:36:57]:
Oh, that's a good one. That's. It's very. That is very traditional. Yeah, I like that.
Marisa Mohi [00:37:02]:
I like it. But it also terrifies me because I don't ever want. I. When I die, I don't want to be, like, hanging around, you know?
Marnie Vinge [00:37:08]:
Right.
Marisa Mohi [00:37:08]:
Like.
Marnie Vinge [00:37:08]:
Right. Yeah. It's kind of sad, like, when you think about. And usually when you read or hear or watch a movie, that's a ghost story, like, that goes. Their story is kind of sad. The reason that they're still hanging around, kind of. It's never because, like, I just had such a great time here that I. I just don't.
Marnie Vinge [00:37:25]:
I'm not. I'm not moving on. Like, I'm staying here.
Marisa Mohi [00:37:28]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:37:28]:
Yeah. You don't ever find a ghost that's, like, haunting a. I don't know, like, a Fuzzy's restaurant, that they're just like, these are the best nachos I've ever had. Never going anywhere. Like, it's always something sad.
Marisa Mohi [00:37:41]:
Yeah.
Marnie Vinge [00:37:41]:
But those are some great ghost stories. I like those urban legends and all that stuff about Norman.
Marisa Mohi [00:37:47]:
Yeah. Thank you for letting me share them.
Marnie Vinge [00:37:48]:
Yes, absolutely. Well, you'll definitely have to come back on and discuss something else with me at some point.
Marisa Mohi [00:37:53]:
Yes, absolutely.
Marnie Vinge [00:37:54]:
Yes. So if you want to plug your Instagram, your YouTube, anything like that, go right ahead and, like.
Marisa Mohi [00:38:00]:
Yeah. So I am Marissa Mohi. There's a lot of confusion on how to spell that, but it's M A R I S A M O H I. And so you can find me on social media, on Twitter and Instagram, I'm Themarissa Mohi. Because a deactivated porn bot has Marissa Mohi, which, oh, my God, you know, the worst thing. But whatever.
Marnie Vinge [00:38:17]:
Yeah.
Marisa Mohi [00:38:18]:
And then on YouTube, it's just YouTube.com Marissa Mohi. Or you can check out my blog, which is just Marissa Mohy dot com.
Marnie Vinge [00:38:25]:
Yep.
Marisa Mohi [00:38:25]:
So just Google my name and like, a bunch of stuff should find.
Marnie Vinge [00:38:27]:
And she is a prolific YouTuber. Like, last year was her first year on YouTube. And how many videos did you do?
Marisa Mohi [00:38:33]:
I did 148.
Marnie Vinge [00:38:34]:
That's crazy.
Marisa Mohi [00:38:35]:
That's down a lot now.
Marnie Vinge [00:38:37]:
That's almost like a video every other day. Almost.
Marisa Mohi [00:38:40]:
Yeah, it got. There was like three months where I did a video every day and I was like, I gotta.
Marnie Vinge [00:38:45]:
Wow. Oh, my gosh. That's crazy. But, yeah, she's got some good stuff on her on her YouTube. Especially if you're an aspiring writer or anything like that, and you want to know about the ins and outs of writing or work, life balance, anything like that, Marissa's got you covered.
Marisa Mohi [00:38:58]:
Yeah. Well, thank you.
Marnie Vinge [00:38:59]:
You are welcome. Thank you for coming on. And if you guys have any urban legends that you would like to share with us, I would be happy to pass those on to Marissa. Or if you have information on the. Which case was it that you were wanting to keep the story alive?
Marisa Mohi [00:39:14]:
So the professor that was kidnapped, if you know anything about that, if you.
Marnie Vinge [00:39:17]:
Know anything about that, feel free to email us@spooklahomamail.com or send me a direct message. Spooklahoma on Instagram. So thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and we'll talk to you later. Bye, Sa Sam.