ENTER THE ATHENS MENTAL HEALTH CENTER AKA THE RIDGES…
A mental health center opening in 1874 and closing in 1993, the Ridges has seen its fair share of horror and tragedy. The Ridges still stands to this day in Athens, OH.
HISTORY
The Ridges has served multiple purposes throughout its operation, it served as a hospital for war veterans (including veterans of the civil war), it served as housing for violent criminals, it served as a care center for those with mental health issues, and it treated those with tuberculosis.
It is also known for the controversial practices carried out here, such as lobotomy and electroshock therapy.
So many deaths have occurred on the grounds of the Ridges. So many that a cemetery can be found on the grounds of the property.
HAUNTINGS
The most famous ghost of the Ridges is Margret Schilling, who left the marking above. Margret went missing one day and was found weeks later, nude, her clothes folded and placed next to her corpse. The official cause of death was heart failure brought on by freezing temperatures. Her body left the irremovable decomposition stain which can be seen above. Her ghost as well as other ghosts of patients have been seen wandering the halls of the building. It is also said that if you touch the stain, the ghost will attach itself to you, which may have resulted in the suicide of an Ohio University student.
Throughout the building, carving and drawings created by the patients can also be seen throughout the patients rooms.
CONCLUSION
The Ridges is well known by paranormal explorers in Ohio. I hope to go there one day, the building stands on the Ohio University campus, and can be seen from the highway.
This message was discovered on a chalkboard inside a school following Hurricane Katrina. It reads:
September 2, 2005 9:13 A.M. “We ARE sorry for the school, but the shelter was a blessing. We had to bring over 200 people here with no help rom any Coast Guard Boats, people died and are still in there [sic] house, we had to leave them We asked the C.G. for help and got NONE. thanks to Micky, McKinley, ERIC PHIL Tyrone, Karl B., Cory, & J-R Richard, Cedric, Jeff D., Jeff, Ben, Big Greg, Rick, Al, Lance + Dougie ANTHONY we saved the whole project. THEY LEFT US HERE TO DIE.”
if you’ve ever watched ground zero footage from 9/11 after the collapse of both towers, then you will probably remember hearing this noise. however, this sound is not from a fire alarm.
every firefighter has a PASS device (personal alert safety system) and is designed to emit a chirping sound if the firefighter remains stationary for more than 30 seconds - it’s a distress signal.
this sound loudly echoed throughout ground zero. each chirp belonged to a firefighter who was lost in the rubble.
Nicknamed Dead Children’s Playground, this eerie playground is situated right in the middle of Maple Hill Cemetery. Non-surprisingly, it’s claimed that this ghostly playground is haunted by the many children buried in the one-hundred-acre cemetery in which is it situated. People have often reported hearing disembodied laughs and chants of children as the swings randomly move; the playground is said to be most active with obscure occurrences between 10:00PM and 3:00AM. Legend says that a number of children were abducted in the 1960′s and their slain bodies were dumped in the area of Dead Children’s Playground.
This documentary tells the story of Joyce Carol Vincent, whose body was found in January 2006, decomposing in her bed in Wood Green, North London. She apparently died unnoticed in December 2003, surrounded by unopened Christmas presents with her TV still turned on. The film interviews various friends, acquaintances, and former partners to try to tell the story of Joyce.
2. The Cheshire Murders (2013)
This film studies the murder-robbery case that occurred on July 23, 2007. Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters were raped and murdered, while her husband, Dr. William Petit, was injured during a home invasion in Cheshire, Connecticut. This case was referred to as “possibly the most widely publicized crime in the state’s history.”
3. Child of Rage (1992)
The film is based on the true story of Beth Thomas, who suffered from severe behavioral problems as a result of being sexually abused as a child. Beth was adopted after it was found that she was being sexually abused by a family member. During her stay with the family, she tried to kill her brother several times and even attempted to sexually abuse him. The film was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia.
4. The Imposter (2012)
This documentary is about the 1997 case of the French confidence trickster Frédéric Bourdin, who impersonated Nicholas Barclay, a Texas boy who disappeared at the age of 13 in 1994. The film includes interviews with Bourdin and members of Barclay’s family, as well as actual television news footage
5. Cropsey (2009)
This film initially begins as an examination of “Cropsey”, a boogeyman-like figure from the New York urban legend, before segueing into the story of Andre Rand, a convicted child kidnapper from Staten Island.
6. The Bridge (2006)
This film covers the depressing truth about the Golden Gate Bridge, capturing a large number of suicides during the documentary.The film also features interviews with family and friends of some of the identified people who had thrown themselves from the bridge that year. The Golden Gate Bridge, which first opened in May 1937, was the most popular suicide site in the world during the documentary’s filming, with approximately 1,200 deaths by 2003
7. There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane (2011)
This documentary discusses the traffic collision that occurred on July 26, 2009, where eight people were killed when a minivan driven by 36-year-old Diane Schuler, after traveling 1.7 miles in the wrong direction on the parkway, collided head-on with an oncoming SUV. The deaths included Schuler, her daughter and three nieces, and the three passengers in the SUV. The crash was the worst fatal motor vehicle accident to occur in Westchester County, New York.
8. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
This film focuses on the 1980s investigation of Arnold Friedman and his son Jesse for child molestation of several of their students. They held computer classes in their home where many children attended. During police interviews, some of the children that the Friedman’s taught reported experiencing bizarre sex games during their computer classes. Arnold Friedman committed suicide in prison in 1995, leaving a $250,000 life insurance benefit to his son. Jesse Friedman was released from New York’s Clinton Correctional Facility in 2001 after serving 13 years of his sentence.
9. Night & Fog (1955)
This documentary depicts the cruel reality of the Nazi Concentration camps. The film features footage from the liberation of camps in 1945 where malnourished humans are seen emerging out of the camps, voicing the life left in their lungs on to the camera.
10. Brothers Keeper (1992)
This documentary follows the case of Delbert Ward, an illiterate 59-year-old dairy farmer who was accused of murdering his brother Bill, in the bed that they shared for 50 years. The Ward brothers were four bachelors ranging between 59-71 and living in extreme poverty. One theory suggests that the slain brother, Bill, suffered the consequence of a sexual act gone wrong. What’s more disturbing is the fact that he was later acquitted of the crime after it was found out that the New York State Police coerced a confession out of him as he was illiterate.
