Ohio State Archives Shares University Ghost Stories
The archives department is highlighting campus history through a new social media series titled Terrifying Tuesday.
Updated on Oct. 30, 2026 in College Life
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The Ohio State University archives department has launched a social media series titled Terrifying Tuesday that explores chilling chapters of local history. The project translates university ghost subject files into accessible content for followers and students.
Why it matters
Archivists aim to educate the public with documented history lessons while strengthening connections within the campus community. The series features individuals and sites integral to the founding of Ohio State University.
The series features historical figures like physics professor Thomas C. Mendenhall, who was hired in 1873. It also documents Hayes Hall usage as a military barracks during World War I.
The players
Thomas C. Mendenhall
He was a physics professor at the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College who became notable for his attempts at reanimating a deceased prisoner.
John Carclay
He was a prisoner at the Ohio Penitentiary who was executed by hanging before becoming the subject of a reanimation experiment.
The details
The stories shared in the series, which were adapted from in-person ghost tours held on the campus Oval, detail accounts such as a man's ashes kept in Bricker Hall. One entry chronicles an attempt by Thomas C. Mendenhall at Starling Medical College in Columbus to reanimate the corpse of a hanged Ohio Penitentiary prisoner using electric shocks.
Timeline
Thomas C. Mendenhall was hired as a physics professor in 1873.
Hayes Hall served as a military barracks during World War I.
The Terrifying Tuesday series was published throughout October 2026.
Culture Shift
This series follows a pattern set by established in-person ghost tours on the campus Oval by digitizing and condensing the same narrative content for a wider audience. It reflects a growing institutional trend toward using social media to make historical archives more accessible to the public.
Students and alumni can engage with the university's history through digital storytelling rather than attending scheduled in-person tours on the Oval. The content provides a narrative lens to view familiar campus locations like Bricker Hall and Hayes Hall.
The takeaway
Archival projects like this demonstrate how historical institutions can maintain relevance by adapting traditional records for digital engagement. Readers interested in their own local history may find that university archives often provide accessible and surprising insights into regional legends.
Further reading
Explore more local history and university culture in the College Life section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Lantern.
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Do you find that sharing ghost stories and local legends makes you more interested in history?
