Miami University - Recensio Yearbook (Oxford, OH)

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Left: Ron Tammon's Room - the boarded windows and vacant walls will forever hold the secret of his disappearance. Constructed in 1855, Fisher Hall has been a women's college a hospital, residence hall and an academic building. The building now risks being eradicated. Photographleinn Howell Left: The Northern wing of Fisher Hall has the least stable architec- ture, and its state of deterioration symbolizes the building's future. ?ON TAMMON-- MAW A student cannot live on Miami's campus for long with- out absorbing part of her ghost lore. The ritual of the late- night gathering in the kitchenette with a dim light glowing and muffled voices passing on the legends is part of the indoctrination to the Miami way of life. Miami's pet ghost is Ron Tammon, the student who in- explicably disappeared from Fisher Hall on April 19, 1953. He vanished only two days after a Visit from his parents and left, behind all his belongings and money. His brother, then a freshman at Miami, had no idea where he had gone. Several hundred people joined in an extensive search that lasted for weeks, only to admit defeat. Some say it was suicide, some murder, some a kidnapping, but no one knows for sure. Later that spring, many of Ron's Classmates unmistakably heard his voice singing in the nearby formal gardens, at the stroke of midnight. After col- lecting their wits, they ran toward the voice, but the in- stant they reached the gardens, it stopped. A search re- vealed nothing e no sound equipment, no trace of any- one. The second night, the voice returned, exactly at mid- night. A race to the gardens and a thorough search again were fruitless. The next day, in anticipation of another oc- curence, Ron's friends searched the gardens before dusk, then formed a ring around the gardens, and settled uneas- .20 ily for the night to see if the song would continue. As midnight approached, their bodies taut with forebod- ing, they again heard the eerie voice arise from the vacant garden. At a signal, the students rushed the garden, at which point the song abruptly ceased. As they vainly searched the garden for the third night, a tall, slender figure clothed all in white darted from behind the bushes and ran west, easily eluding all the young men. The fol- lowing night, no voice was heard. What happened to Ron Tammon? Is he dead by his own hand or others'? Does the fact that he went to Hamilton Kinstead'of the local infirmary for a routine blood test five months before his disappearance give us reason to believe he may still be alive somewhere else? Or, as many claim, is he still among us, as the ghost of Fisher Hall? Fisher Hall is closed to the students now, but in the days when it had been converted from a dormitory to a theater, Ron made his presence known. There are reports of mea- sured footsteps following a man from the third floor to the basement, although no one else was in the building at the time, and of lights dimming when the dimmer switches were off. On opening nights, the lights would go on in Ron's corridor on the second floor, despite the fact that there was no longer any electricity connected there.

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GIIIIEIIMMENT Benjamin Harrison graduated in 1852 and was inaugurated as president on March 4, 1889. When Old Main was rebuilt in 1959, it took the name of Harrison Hall. RECENSIO: Finally, Mr. Nis- wonger, is there any way that you could characterize the effect of Miami on its business graduates? NISWONGER: Yes, I think the whole campus has an influence on our graduates. Miami has a tradi- tional collegiate atmosphere that I think has inspired our graduates to be conscientious in their work and to take part in a variety of commu- nity affairs. , - Forrest Houlette For a school established to be separate from the government, Miami certainly contributed its share of governmental figures. Charles Anderson t1833i became governor of Ohio and Charles Har- din, who graduated from Miami is the 1840's, became the governor of Missouri in 1876. 1.1. McRae t18341 was governor of Mississippi from 1854-58, and served in both the Union House of Representatives. and the Confederate House of Rep- resentatives. Robert C. Schenck and Caleb Blood Smith were two of the first members of Miami's Union Literary Society in 1825. Each worked for the nomination of Lincoln at the Republican conven- tion of 1860. Schenck later became a Brigadier General for the North and Lincoln appointed Smith to his cabinet as Secretary of the Interior. Another alumnus, Benjamin Harri- son t1852i was elected President of the United States in 1888. Miami's record as a producer of major governmental figures has diminished since the school reopened in 1885. But Miami has maintained a long record for sup- porting the government in other ways. During the Civil War, Miami provided soldiers for both the Union and the Confederacy. At the outbreak of the war, Ozro Dodds, organized the University Rifle Company. The University Rifles be- came Company B of the 20th Regi- ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which saw action at Shiloh. While Company B was fighting, Professor Robert White McFarland trained a Home Guard back on the Oxford Campus. In May, 1862, this group became part of the 86th Ohio Reg- iment. From Miami also came Joseph R. Davis, nephew of Jeffer- son Davis, who became a general officer of the Confederate arrny. In the next century during the fall of 1917, troops again drilled on the Miami campus. This time they were the troops of the University Battalion. The year 1918 also found . several Miami alumni in various service positions. Henry Beckett t191D edited a service magazine at Camp Sheridan. In Paris, Guy Pot- ter Benton was in Charge of the Army Y.M.C.A. John R. Simpson t1899i was a colonel in the Army Ordinance Department. When World War II broke out, Miami took a more active role. Fisher Hall was converted into a .Navy Training School for radio operators. Several faculty members volunteered to teach war emergency courses on the Oxford Campus as well as in Dayton. As President Upham summarized the attitude on campus, College is not an escape from the responsibilities of patriotic citizens . . it is actu- ally a preparation for better ser- vice. Five thousand Miami men and women in service attested to the accuracy of his statement. Miami's most recent effect can best be summed up in the attitudes of the students graduated during 9 the 1960's. Of them, Mr. Having- hurst has said, Involvement was the aim of the most aware and con- cerned, an involvement in the troubled world as well as in the changing university . Their con- cern, whether it be over a lack of student voice in university policy or over the futility of the Vietnam War, demonstrated government. Miami, being an institution seeks the best possible world for them-. selves, helps foster this demand, and is providing graduates who can put their concerns to work in government jobs. - Forrest Houlette 19

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Above: Broken plaster and sup- orts is all that is left of the gold- eaf ballroom ceiling. Left: In- terested since Ron's disappear- ance, Joe Cella helps newsman David Hart coordinate the filming of Ron's mysterious exit. The documentary was shown April 19th, 1976. Far left: Ron Tammen leaning against his 48 Ford? No, it is WLWD's Doug Trostie in their documentary of Tammon's disap- pearance. GHOST IN PSEI DE NCE . Perhaps eeriest of all was the incident involving a portrait in Xa lounge! which was locked, the portrait was found to have been removed from the wall and set on the floor each time in a different place. When traced over a number of days, the pattern resembles the initials of Elias Fisher as inscribed in a diamond stick pin which he was known to have worn. The portrait was put away and the room closed for good. Though Ron Tammon's story is best known, Miami has other tales to tell. There is the case of the co-ed at Western College who often spent her evenings playing the organ in the chapel. Late one night as she played, she sensed some- one approaching her from behind. Hesitating and turning, she glimpsed a man with an empty stare moving heavily towards her. Overcoming her impulse to rush for the door, she returned quickly to her music. The madman seemed calmed by the organ, stopping in his advance to listen. The girl played on through the long night, fearing to stop, for each time she did, he came closer. The next morning, three students passing by the chapel on their way to class heard the organ and stopped to investigate. They found the girl, stillrplaying relentlessly, apparently insane, her hair turned snow-white. Later that day, a luna- tic who had escaped from the Oxford Retreat was returned to his cell; Another story tells of a student living in Oxford College in the early 1900's who was awakened late at night by a scratching at her door. Assuming it to be a prank, she went back to sleep. The next morning she opened the dOOr. to find her roommate with an ax buried in her skull e and scratch marks on the door. a Our most recent ghost is Roger Sayles, a student coun- selor shot to death in Reid Hall in 1959. Roger has since been known to show up at the SAE house, his old fraterni- ty, but has more recently appeared back at Reid. One resi- dent lately reported being surprised by a ghost-like figure standing in the lobby when she returned late one night. When questioned further, she described Roger perfectly. Many students and alumni dismiss these accounts as mere elaborations of frightened but Vivid imaginations. Admittedly, the existence of the specters would be all but impossible to prove to'cynics. Yet, how many of us can pass Fisher Hall on a solitary, moonlit walk, watch the play of the shadows on the windows, and hear the hushed voice of the wind in the trees without giving the possibil- ity a second thought? -- Ann Marshall 21