W E E K D AY E D I T I O N | O C T O B E R 3 0 - N O V E M B E R 1, 2 0 17 | T W I C E W E E K LY I N P R I N T | O U D A I LY. C O M
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HAUNTED HISTORY
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Jeff Provine, contractor worker for the Center of Public Management stands in the stacks of Bizzell Memorial Library with the book he wrote, “Campus Ghosts of Norman, Oklahoma.” The book tells the stories of haunted buildings around the OU campus.
Visit alleged paranormal hot zones on campus
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t dusk, OU’s campus is covered in a shadowy gloom. The wind is howling and the air is chilled. It’s the perfect time to go looking for ghosts. Jeff Provine, who leads ghost tours in downtown Norman and Oklahoma City, in addition to the ones on OU campus, provides people with spooky experiences. After extensively researching paranormal activities in Norman, Oklahoma City, Guthrie and around OU’s campus, and publishing books in the “Haunted America” series, Provine is an expert in the ghostly goings on around campus. Provine, a contractor worker for the OU’s Center of Public Management and professor i n t h e U n i v e r s i t y C o l l e g e’s Freshman Programs, became interested in the idea of a ghost tour after studying abroad in England as a student. He spent some time going on ghost tours of big and small communities around England and Scotland, but didn’t think there would be a large paranormal presence at OU until he began doing research. “For whatever reason, I like to think because it’s a high traffic area, lots of people come to OU and lots of people like it enough to stick around or come back,” Provine said. “That’s, I think, why universities and particularly OU have so many spooky stories going around.” Provine does believe in ghosts and says he has heard a ghostly voice in the basement of Cate Cafeteria say “I meant to catch her.” Provine said researching the stories involves archival research, interviews, and “going door to door” asking for ghost stories. He said while people don’t sit down to tell ghost stories much, ever yone’s got a “well, this is this weird thing that my grandma used to say” story. “There’s definitely something
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going on,” Provine said. “There’s so many people who have no reason to lie. I don’t think you could exactly pin it on a specific belief system of what happens to you after you die, but I hope it’s not nothing.” Provine’s tours attract a wide range of people from across Norman. Many people who go on the tours have experienced s o m e k i n d o f s u p e r n a t u ra l activity.
“For whatever reason, I like to think because it’s a high traffic area, lots of people come to OU and lots of people like it enough to stick around or come back. That’s, I think, why universities and particularly OU have so many spooky stories going around.” JEFF PROVINE, AUTHOR OF “CAMPUS GHOSTS OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA”
Meteorology freshmen, Kylie Ma y a n d Ta r a P e t t n e r, a n d chemical biosciences freshman Troy Broussard all attended one of Provine’s campus tours after Broussard became aware of the tour through involvement with OU’s Paranormal Society. The three, who live on floor 10 in McCasland Tower, said they think their hall has been the subject of some “weird stuff.” “You’ll hear the little beep from scanning the card and the door opens and closes and we’re like, ‘Who’s here?’ and no one is,” Pettner said. Not only that, the trio mentioned they’ve exper ienced door handles jiggling without someone on the other side and things around their rooms falling unexplainably. Rather than being scared by these events,
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the hallmates joke about having a hall ghost, whom they have named “Timothy.” “That’s been going on for this whole (academic) year almost, this whole semester,” May said. On the downtown Norman ghost tour, there was such a large group of attendees that the tour needed to be split in two sections. People wandered a rou n d t h e d ow ntow n a rea learning about such hauntings as a ghost in the barbershop on Main Street, in Sooner Theatre and Lake Thunderbird. There was a wider variety of people on this tour, with families, OU students and people trickling off the Second Friday event wandering around the downtown area. One such couple, Jackie and Gregg Grosshans, has gone on several paranormal experiences. “I have seen some paranormal stuff on the ghost investigations,” Jackie Grosshans said. “My husband hasn’t. It’s more like ‘Oh, interesting.’ Which means he doesn’t believe it.” Jackie Grosshans said she prefers the paranormal aspects of ghost investigations and tours, but her husband, Gregg, prefers the historical. Provine said his tours are for “people who want the history in the stories.” “We do have this rich collective folklore, which people hear different things and when it all comes together it creates a pretty interesting story, which otherwise you might never hear,” Provine said. He said to verify a ghost story he wants to hear the same thing from two independent sources. According to Provine, his favorite stories come from the skeptics — those who say they don’t believe in ghosts. “I’m just telling the stories,” Provine said. “If they don’t believe it, they can just say, ‘Well, it’s folklore,’ and at least enjoy a good story.” Allison Weintraub
allison.weintraub@ou.edu
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SPOOKY SPOTS
Visit oudaily.com to read more about these haunted campus locations. 1. Sarkeys Fitness Center
7. Bizzell Memorial Library
2. Walker Tower
8. Evans Hall
3. Cate Center
9. Oklahoma Memorial Union
4. Copeland Hall 5. Zarrow Hall 6. Ellison Hall
10. Chemistry Building 11. Reynolds Performing Arts Center Ghost icons provided by flaticon.com
When: 9:00 a.m. Oct 31 to 9:00 p.m. Nov. 1 Where: elections.ou.edu or polling stations across campus Who: All OU students can vote for president and vice president. Several Undergraduate Student Congress positions are also up for election, but students can only vote for candidates in their academic district.