Miami University - Recensio Yearbook (Oxford, OH)

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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

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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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1909 l959 19763 The Miami Centennial marked a century of progress for the school and found the campus undergoing an important change. A Miami alumnus, John Shaw Billings t1857l, convinced Andrew Carnegie to start his program of library building. Carnegie offered his libraries to any English-speaking community in the world that would contribute ten per cent of the building's cost for its up- keep. The year 1906 brought an offer of $40,000; from Carnegie to build a Miami University library, on the condition that the university match the amount. Now without some dif- ficulty, Miami raised its portion of the necessary funds, and by 1909, the library was completed. Chris- tened the Alumni Library, the build- ing came into use in time to help celebrate the Centennial. The Centennial celebration itself incorporated several events which m-arked the difference between the Miami of 1809 and the Miami of 1909. Students 'Night , which began the celebration, included a parade of historical and humorous floats. The series of receptions, reunions, and exercises which fol- lowed brought old and new graduates together with current stu- dents. On Centennial Day, the Pro- gram of twenty speakers included five past presidents of Miami, in addition to Ohio's Governor Har- mon and other dignitaries. Profes- sor Brandon Mathews of Columbia and Reverend Lyman Abbot, editor of THE OUTLOOK, addressed a graduating class of 55, the largest to that date, on Commencement Day, the high point of the celebration. Along with the rCentennial cele- bration'came a group of publications dealing with the history and de- velopment of Miami. Bert S. Barlow t1893l collected information on all of Miami's alumni and produced the 'ALUMNI CATALOGUE, which gave a biographical sketch of every student who had attended Miami during its first century. Professor Upham published OLD MIAMI, a nostalgic look at the school's past. THE REAL COLLEGE, a book dis- cussing the responsibilities of the small college in the twentieth centu- ry, was. written by President Benton. . In addition, in 1907, two years ear- lier, the university printed a fac- simile reproduction of the first catalog, originally published in 1826. What better way to show the difference between old Miami and new Miami? ' The Sesquicentennial year tl959l found the campus in the midst of even greater change. Old Main was torn down and rebuilt as Harrison Hall. Laws, Culler, Dennison, Bran- don, and McFarland Halls were under construction. The Radio-TV building was rising to where the new women's gymnasium would be. A new wing was being added to Gaskill Hall to house the Audio- Visual Service. The Alumni Associa- tion sponsored the construction of the Sesquicentennial Chapel to commemorate the event. Miami now had 7,000 students enrolled at Ox- ford. But the school had also grown in another way. Three thousand more students were enrolled at off- campus centers in Norwood, Hamil- ton, Middletown, Dayton, and Pigua. Miami had thus expanded its geographical area of service several fold. A Charter Day luncheon started the Sesquicentennial celebration, and featured a seventy pound birth- day cake. A series of, lectures and discussions dealt with such topics as The Artist is American Society To- day and New Directions in the Management of Business Enter- prise . There were four lecturers on famous men born in the same year as Miami: Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Edgar Allan Poe, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. During the summer, an art exhibit dis- played The American Scene in 150 Years of American Art . The origi- nal edition of Havinghurst's THE MIAMI YEARS was published in time for the celebration. Well-wishers from outside the university also participated in the celebration. President Eisenhower and Ohio Governor DiSalle sent greetings. Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton and Postmaster- General Arthur E. Summerfield Vis- ited the campus. Representative Paul F. Schenck of the Third Ohio District presented Miami with a Congressional resolution of con- gratulations, and Senator John F. Kennedy Visited the campus. A 12- cent Benjamin Harrison 'stamp printed in Miami red was issued in Oxford. Ohio automobile license plates were painted with the school colors. ' One event, however, sums up the spirit of the Centennial and the Ses- quicentennial. On June 19, 1959, the remains of President Robert Hamil-