## I – The Asylum

Nestled in the heart of Southeastern Ohio, the looming facade of the Athens Lunatic Asylum seemed to drain color from its surroundings. Its imposing gothic towers speared the expansive Ohio skyline; a stark reminder of a brutal past drenched in tales of insanity, electroshock therapy and lobotomies. Over a century of madness had culled an array of ghostly tales that clung to the asylum more stubbornly than ivy to its stone walls. However, none were as enduring or terrifying as that of Margaret Schilling, a simple name which sent chills skidding down local spines like icy spiders.

## II – The Vanishing

In 1978, Margaret Schilling had been one of the countless souls swallowed up by the creeping maw of the asylum. She was seemingly just another face in the crowd of listless eyes. The fact that she was a patient wasn’t alarming. What was, however, was her uncanny ability to disappear. This knack for fading from existence would usually be seen as more a blessing than a curse for someone in her position. It would have been if she hadn’t reappeared some forty days after vanishing into the chilling winter air with the permanence of death wrapped around her like a shroud.

## III – The Haunting

Following her strange vanishing-reappearing act, the ghost of Margaret Schilling refused to find peace. Those who dare tread through the abandoned stone corridors hear the faint echo of footsteps trickling succulently into the whispering void of silence. They belong to no corporeal being, but seep into the cold tiles from.The insidious spectral steps that seemed to mock the living with the chilling certainty of their death, were Margaret’s immortal remnant. They followed anyone brave, or rather foolhardy enough to traipse through the haunted asylum once the sun had bled into the horizon.

## IV – The Mark

The ghastly footsteps weren’t the only testament to Margaret’s continued torment. An unassuming stain of human form existed at the spot where Margaret’s body was found, discoloured and defiant against all attempts at removal. It was as though Margaret’s tortured soul had seeped into the floor, her pain etched into the physical world as she was unwillingly wrenched from it. This grim imprint of her tortured end remains a grim spotlight for those brave souls who wish to pry into the asylum’s cursed past. It’s a ghostly graffiti tag proclaiming ‘Margaret was here’. And in a way, she still is.

## V – The Ridges

Now, as a part of Ohio University, any vestige of the once feared asylum has been scrubbed away, replaced with student accommodations and academic departments. The institution had even been given a polished new name: The Ridges. Yet the ghostly footsteps echo as loudly as ever. Like dutiful specters, the students continue in their quixotic quest for knowledge and understanding, perhaps sharing more in common with Margaret than they would care to admit. Nevertheless, as long as her faded mark lies immovably locked into the stone floor, Margaret Schilling will forever remain the heart and soul of Athens Lunatic Asylum. She is the memory that refuses to die because soon, another foolhardy soul will visit, their curiosity piqued. And when they do, Margaret will be waiting.