UCO’s Haunted Legends

The Vista visited the University of Central Oklahoma Chambers Library archives to share 4 stories and legends across campus this Halloween season.

1. Edmond Cemetery 

Edmond was first established as a town in 1889, but its first legal cemetery, Gracelawn Cemetery, wasn’t built until 1895.

Since it was illegal to bury a corpse on public land, and Gracelawn had not been established, many townsfolk needed a place to rest over those six years and chose a plot of land on the schoolyard. This cemetery was located near Fink Park on Second Street and extended to Fifth Street. Because the cemetery was unofficial and had no tombstones to mark where loved ones were buried, people often opted to use trees as a marker of their loved ones’ location.

In 1895, according to Gracelawn History, it was decided by territorial officials that the “cemetery” could not be placed on school land. By the fall of 1895, the cemetery was plotted and most of the individuals buried on the school land were removed to Gracelawn.

Over time, people moved across towns or forgot where the graves were entirely. Community members started building houses and businesses, and eventually The University of Oklahoma was built on and around the grounds of the old cemetery.

Now, Ghosts have been rumored to haunt those who live and work there. One woman accounted that her two year old daughter had claimed she saw a little girl in the corner of her room that “wanted to play outside”. Maybe some forgotten souls have been waiting to be heard.

2. Murdaugh Hall Basement 

Built in 1937, Murdaugh Hall sits above a network of tunnels that run under UCO campus. Local legends say that while the hall was being built, a door to the underworld was opened.

In the most recent rumored accounts, students have gone to the basement to do their load of laundry and disappeared entirely. Other students reported strange sounds, weird symbols, and holes in the walls. 

3. Mitchell Hall Theatre 

The Mitchell Hall Theatre is best known for holding performers and speakers from around the world. Although it is rumored that one of the most prominent guests has never left; Thornton, the ghost that inhabits the hall.

His appearance was first recorded in the 1940s and is said to be the anguished spirit of a maintenance worker who fell from the balcony during a performance of a Thornton Wilder play, hence the nickname. Many accounts have mentioned him sitting in a theater seat along with moving objects, strange yells for help, flickering lights, and the dropping of small rocks onto students from the balcony. 

A past Vista article covering Thornton and Mitchell Hall can be found here.

4. Broncho Lake Monster 

First built in 1996, the Broncho Lake has been a staple for the UCO campus, and many events have been held around it. The lake is also said to hold the Broncho Lake Monster, otherwise known as “Bronchy”.

Some say Bronchy is a dinosaur left over from the Mesozoic era or that he is a distant relative of the Loch Ness Monster. With the lake only being 18 inches deep, there have been sightings of something “large and spiky” swimming back and forth supposedly waiting for its next meal.