1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,440 The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. 2 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:18,000 All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 3 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,420 Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages and is intended for a mature 4 00:00:22,420 --> 00:00:23,600 audience. 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:34,800 Listener discretion is advised. 6 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:35,800 It's going. 7 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:36,800 It's going. 8 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:41,800 Oh, I'm sleepy. 9 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:43,800 Okay. 10 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:47,480 Wake up. 11 00:00:47,480 --> 00:00:54,000 That was for all of our 90s kids out there, if you watched Full House, which I know me 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:00,440 and my co-host Alexandra McLaughlin Sulkowski did. 13 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:01,440 And I did. 14 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:02,440 I'm back. 15 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:03,440 I made a film. 16 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:09,640 He made a film and he's back, everybody. 17 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,880 We've really missed each other. 18 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:20,040 While Ali was recording, her phone was off because she's a professional and I was texting 19 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:21,880 her, I just miss you. 20 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,760 It doesn't feel the same here without you. 21 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:29,280 It was a deep puppy love yearning and missing. 22 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,200 Completely. 23 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:36,520 We work together on a lot of things, so it felt weird to not be doing something together. 24 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:37,520 Yeah. 25 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:41,120 And if you listened last week, you heard me talk about how weird it felt to do this without 26 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:42,120 Eli. 27 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:45,040 I'm so excited to be doing the same project again. 28 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:46,040 Love it. 29 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:47,040 Yeah. 30 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:53,120 And I'll be more present in making the podcast with you, which is really exciting to me. 31 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:54,120 Yeah. 32 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:59,760 Because 95% of your brain will not be occupied with the film that you were making. 33 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:01,000 It will still stay the same. 34 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:07,240 I will still never know what Ali is going to tell me. 35 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:11,600 So that part will still always be a surprise. 36 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaking of surprise. 37 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:13,600 Let's get to it. 38 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,240 What do you got for us? 39 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:26,400 I have, in honor of upcoming Halloween, I have a missing person case from 1953 and his 40 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,200 name is Ronald Tammann. 41 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:29,200 Ronald. 42 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:30,200 Ronald. 43 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,480 Shout out to Ronalds everywhere. 44 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:39,960 But Ronald is also sometimes known as the Phantom of Oxford or the Phantom of Fisher 45 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:40,960 Hall. 46 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:41,960 A Phantom? 47 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:42,960 A Phantom. 48 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,960 So this is a little bit of a ghost story, but it's very much- 49 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:47,960 Yes! 50 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:49,960 Woo woo woo woo woo. 51 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:50,960 Yeah! 52 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,560 Eli really wanted a ghost story. 53 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:54,560 Yes. 54 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:55,560 Spooky. 55 00:02:55,560 --> 00:03:03,080 Well, I'm assuming, like myself, I'm assuming most of our listeners have a heightened interest 56 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:04,640 in spooky season. 57 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:06,960 I would imagine, yes. 58 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:13,960 And especially now, I think even if maybe Halloween isn't your personality, I think 59 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,400 a lot of people like a scary ghost story around Halloween. 60 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:22,920 Just a good red blooded American just loves it anyway. 61 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:30,560 And this takes place April 19th, 1953 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. 62 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,240 So Miami of Ohio. 63 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:38,840 Ron Tammann is a 19 year old sophomore, originally from Maple Heights, Ohio, which is a suburb 64 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:40,400 of Cleveland. 65 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:43,800 He is the second oldest of five siblings. 66 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:48,680 And his younger brother is actually a freshman at Miami as well. 67 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,240 So his younger brother is there. 68 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:58,000 He worked as a freshman counselor, which is essentially an RA or a residential assistant 69 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,160 in today's college terms. 70 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,560 And his roommate was also a freshman counselor. 71 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:12,920 Ron is described as popular, smart, stable, someone of outstanding character. 72 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:18,960 He was part of the wrestling team and played bass in the Campus Owls, which is a dance 73 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,280 music organization. 74 00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:27,520 Because he was part of this, they had gigs all over the area of around the college. 75 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:32,760 So he had special permission to have his car on campus because typically students at this 76 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:36,200 time were not allowed to have cars, but he had permission to have a car. 77 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:40,680 So that way he could go to his Campus Owl gigs. 78 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,800 And he was in the School of Business Management. 79 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,920 And at the time he went missing, he was five foot nine. 80 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,880 He had dark hair and weighed 175 pounds. 81 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,280 So Sunday, April 19th, 1953. 82 00:04:56,280 --> 00:05:03,120 It is a strangely cold day for April and it is near freezing. 83 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,560 Throughout the day, snow flurries had been falling all day. 84 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,100 So it was a really cold day in April. 85 00:05:09,100 --> 00:05:16,480 So that evening, it's reported that Ron is seen in Fisher Hall, which is his dorm room, 86 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,040 between 7 and 9 PM. 87 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,240 So that is when he's last reported being seen. 88 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:29,880 And Fisher Hall, just as a little offshoot, this place is prime location for a ghost story 89 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:31,560 already. 90 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:32,600 It's a really old building. 91 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,920 It was built in 1856 and was originally a women's college. 92 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,440 It was the Oxford Female College. 93 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:49,720 But then it was purchased by Oxford Retreat Co. and turned into a sanitarium for the mentally 94 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:51,280 disturbed. 95 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:58,280 And this lasted from the late 1890s to 1926. 96 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:07,000 So then in 1927, Miami University, they purchased this sanitarium and turned it into a dorm. 97 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:12,840 And it's reported that students would find straight jackets and quote other mementos 98 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:15,780 from the days of the sanitarium. 99 00:06:15,780 --> 00:06:21,320 And during World War II, the Navy occupies the building for training purposes. 100 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,080 And the building is actually christened as a ship. 101 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,760 It's the USS Fisher Hall, which I just thought was kind of interesting that this was technically 102 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:32,640 a ship for a little bit, I guess. 103 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:39,720 Yeah, I have this like image of them, like breaking champagne on the side of the building, 104 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,320 like they do with ships, you know, I just, I don't know if they did that. 105 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,720 But that's all I can think about whenever I read that. 106 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:50,400 So then after the war, it was turned back into a dorm in 1944. 107 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,280 And this is where we find ourselves in 1953. 108 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:54,720 It's a men's dorm. 109 00:06:54,720 --> 00:07:01,040 So around 8pm, Ron comes downstairs, his room is on the second floor. 110 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:07,580 And he asked the hall manager for two sheets, a pillowcase and a mattress cover because 111 00:07:07,580 --> 00:07:10,280 someone had put a dead fish in his bed. 112 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:12,740 So he needed to change the sheets. 113 00:07:12,740 --> 00:07:18,440 Around 830, it said that he went into his room, which is room 225. 114 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,240 And it was in the northwest corner of the building. 115 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:25,500 He shut the door and sat down at his desk to study. 116 00:07:25,500 --> 00:07:31,800 And this is the last time that anybody truly sees Ron is in this moment. 117 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:37,360 Around midnight, Ron's roommate Charles Finley returns from visiting his family in Dayton, 118 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:38,460 Ohio. 119 00:07:38,460 --> 00:07:44,800 And when he gets to Fisher, he finds that their dorm room, the door is open. 120 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,320 The radio is left playing. 121 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:52,760 Ron's textbook was left open on the table. 122 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,140 And it was a psychology notebook. 123 00:07:55,140 --> 00:08:00,760 And this is an interesting fact because Ron had actually dropped psychology earlier that 124 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:01,760 semester. 125 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,720 So it wasn't a class that he was actively taking at the time. 126 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:10,120 But that's the book that was open and presumed he was studying out of. 127 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:11,520 Did you take psychology? 128 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,680 Yeah, it was considered a science. 129 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:20,160 So it was in my mind, one of the easier sciences that I could take. 130 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:21,160 Did you like it? 131 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,040 I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. 132 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:25,920 Does that make sense? 133 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:27,080 Yeah, it's surprising. 134 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:35,240 You would probably have liked, I made the mistake and I took sociology instead of psychology. 135 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,600 I think you would have liked sociology more. 136 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:40,760 Sociology is more statistics. 137 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,080 I did take sociology actually. 138 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:48,200 That was considered an arts and humanities class, but psychology was considered a science. 139 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:50,680 And we had labs and stuff that we had to do. 140 00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:52,560 So it was pretty clinical. 141 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:53,560 Labs? 142 00:08:53,560 --> 00:08:59,040 Yeah, we would have to go, we had to be part of the seniors' experiments that they were 143 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:02,280 doing, or the tests they were running, whatever they were. 144 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:03,680 What did they do? 145 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:20,760 I just remember the one that I sat in on was like, they made me sort bird seed. 146 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,080 But then after, so after they made me sort bird seed. 147 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,320 First of all, that's extra funny. 148 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:27,640 One, because of the sentence alone. 149 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,760 And what, you just said that that was a real thing. 150 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:32,920 That's real. 151 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,840 But after they made me sort the bird seed, then they like- 152 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:37,800 Wait, no, that's funny. 153 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:43,760 Because, because you, well I'm sure some of our listeners don't know what you look like, 154 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:47,280 but we constantly talk about how you are a bird person. 155 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:48,280 Yes. 156 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:52,960 Because like- And I'm cold and fragile like a bird. 157 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:57,560 But after they made me sort bird seed, like the whole point of the experiment was, then 158 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:01,040 they like brought me and like I guess other people that were like doing the same thing, 159 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:05,640 sorting bird seed in other rooms, they like brought us in and they like asked us if we 160 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:10,160 thought the task was interesting or if we like enjoyed doing it or something. 161 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,600 And so one person that spoke first was like, yeah, I really enjoyed it. 162 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:14,600 It was a lot of fun. 163 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:15,960 I thought it was cool. 164 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:22,920 And so then the experiment was to see if like we would be suggested to like say, oh yeah, 165 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:28,240 it was cool because this person that spoke first like set that bar. 166 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,000 But I remember when they got to me, I was like, I don't really understand why I had 167 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:32,000 to sort bird seed. 168 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,680 I was like, it wasn't terrible, but I don't think I'd do it again. 169 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:42,480 You were the Will Smith candidate in like Men in Black. 170 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:43,480 Yes. 171 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:44,480 Yeah. 172 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,720 That was just like, I will not be suggested. 173 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:49,560 You cannot suggest an idea to me. 174 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:51,680 You have to vary differently from all the other cadets. 175 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:52,680 Yeah. 176 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:56,880 The hypothesis was that I'd be like, yes, it was so fun. 177 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:57,880 Okay. 178 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:00,400 So we're back in 1953. 179 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,800 Ron's psychology book is left open, but he's not taking that class. 180 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:10,440 So Charles doesn't really think much of it because by all accounts, the lights are on, 181 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,120 the radio's on, the book is open. 182 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:20,080 It just seems like Ron has stepped out for a minute and will return at any moment. 183 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:22,120 Charles is up for about another hour. 184 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,000 You know, he just got back from out of town. 185 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:25,480 He's putting his things away. 186 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:31,040 And when Ron doesn't show up, Charles assumes that he must have went to his frat house, 187 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:33,200 which is Delta Tau Delta. 188 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:38,000 And so Charles goes to sleep, but he leaves the light on for Ron in case he comes back, 189 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,500 which I thought was really nice. 190 00:11:39,500 --> 00:11:43,200 So some things to note about Ron's room. 191 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:48,000 So besides the things that I've mentioned of like what was left on, the book being left 192 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,760 out, none of Ron's clothes or luggage were missing. 193 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:54,420 All of that was there and accounted for. 194 00:11:54,420 --> 00:11:58,380 The only clothes that did seem to be missing were the clothes that he was seen wearing 195 00:11:58,380 --> 00:12:00,360 that evening. 196 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:05,400 His wallet and his IDs were there, but the cash was taken out of it. 197 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:11,620 But by all accounts, it was only $10 or $11 that he possibly could have had on him or 198 00:12:11,620 --> 00:12:14,640 that was missing from his wallet. 199 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:18,000 But people kind of assume that he has the $10 or $11 on him. 200 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,640 Did you do the, what's it called, inflation? 201 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,280 How much that would be in today's money? 202 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:29,200 I did it for this, but he also has a bank account that has $100 in it. 203 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:30,960 And so I did do the inflation for that. 204 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:33,800 So in today's dollars, that'd be like right around a thousand dollars. 205 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:34,800 Hell yeah. 206 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:36,600 But this is never touched. 207 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:42,720 So after he goes missing, nothing ever happens with this bank account until his family has 208 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:44,600 it legally closed. 209 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:47,440 But that money is never touched. 210 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:56,480 And on his desk is a receipt for his car's insurance policy that he had paid a year for. 211 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:58,680 So he had paid his year policy. 212 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:02,520 He was up to date on his insurance and that receipt was sitting on the desk as well. 213 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:08,880 So the next day, Monday, April 20th, 1953, Charles wakes up and the lights are still 214 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:14,280 on and there's no sign that Ron had come back or had been there at all. 215 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:21,440 So Charles begins to worry a little bit, but he goes about his day and he swings by Ron's 216 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:26,520 frat house, Delta Tau Delta, to ask if anybody had seen him. 217 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:30,520 And they said that they hadn't and that he hadn't been there the night before. 218 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:37,260 So in the evening, Charles is nervous and he alerts the dorm staff who alert the Dean 219 00:13:37,260 --> 00:13:40,340 of Men whose name is Karl Knox. 220 00:13:40,340 --> 00:13:45,320 And so a thorough search is done of Fisher Hall and they don't find anything. 221 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:50,920 They do find Ron's car, which is a 1949 Chevy, and it's undisturbed, still sitting in the 222 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:55,240 parking lot where Ron had last parked it by all accounts. 223 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,440 And his bass is in the back seat and this is his instrument that he played with the 224 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:01,060 campus owls. 225 00:14:01,060 --> 00:14:05,920 So that's all they are unaccounted for, but there's no sign of Ron anywhere. 226 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:08,600 So Tuesday, nothing really happens. 227 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:15,360 The university is kind of expecting him to show up and have a story for why he's gone. 228 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:20,880 On Wednesday, it's unclear if it's on Tuesday or Wednesday, but sometime during these days, 229 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:25,840 the university is getting a hold of his family and ask is Ron with you? 230 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:27,520 Do you know where he is? 231 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:29,300 He's not here and they're baffled. 232 00:14:29,300 --> 00:14:31,560 They have no idea where he would be. 233 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:36,200 They ask his younger brother who's on campus, a freshman on campus, and he has no idea where 234 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:37,280 his brother went. 235 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,120 Nobody has any idea where Ron is. 236 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:45,280 On Thursday, April 23rd, so he's been missing since Sunday, there's no word from Ron. 237 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:51,800 So that evening, the university contacts the police to report that he's missing. 238 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:57,800 That Friday, April 24th, the police getting this missing person report, they searched 239 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:03,200 nearby creeks and his room and there's no sign of violence. 240 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:06,160 There's no sign of Ron anywhere. 241 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:12,920 So police immediately begin to report that it's likely that he's suffering from amnesia. 242 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:13,920 Okay. 243 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:14,920 Yeah. 244 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:17,440 And his parents think this unlikely. 245 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,960 The professors at the school are like, he had really good grades. 246 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:22,960 Yeah, what do you think of that? 247 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,520 I don't know how often this happens, to be honest with you. 248 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:29,380 Like this, I don't know. 249 00:15:29,380 --> 00:15:34,600 It seems for the police to get called Thursday night and for Friday, them to be reporting 250 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:37,360 in the newspaper that they think it's amnesia. 251 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,560 I think it's a little fast to jump to amnesia. 252 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,520 They think he has just forgotten who he is, where he is and has wandered off and there's 253 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:46,760 been no sign of him. 254 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,680 Like nobody, like no hospitals have said like, hey, this young man walked in not knowing 255 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:52,520 who he is, you know, like nothing. 256 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:53,520 Yeah, that's odd. 257 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:54,520 Yeah. 258 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,880 It's just, it seems very quick to jump to amnesia with no other evidence. 259 00:15:57,880 --> 00:15:59,700 He has no history of it. 260 00:15:59,700 --> 00:16:01,760 His parents write this off. 261 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,600 His professors are like, he's a really smart guy. 262 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:06,280 Like he had good grades. 263 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:11,120 Like it doesn't seem like he was like so stressed to a point he got amnesia. 264 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:15,720 Like none of, all of that is kind of written out by others. 265 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:25,040 On Saturday, April 25th, more than 400 students search the countryside for Ron or for clues 266 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,220 about his whereabouts. 267 00:16:27,220 --> 00:16:34,320 These frats and the ROTC, they make up a sizable portion of the search and the students cover 268 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:38,040 a three mile radius from Fisher Hall going in each direction. 269 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:39,520 So north, south, east, west. 270 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:42,600 They all fan out and look for Ron. 271 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:44,520 No trace of Ron anywhere. 272 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:45,960 No clues picked up. 273 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:46,960 That's reported. 274 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:49,080 Wednesday, April 29th. 275 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:52,460 So Ron has been missing for 10 days at this point. 276 00:16:52,460 --> 00:16:58,480 The Oxford police chief is quoted as saying, quote, we have done everything we can at this 277 00:16:58,480 --> 00:16:59,480 end. 278 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:00,480 We are just stimmied. 279 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,160 The trail simply vanishes in his room in Fisher Hall. 280 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:06,320 And that's the police chief, Oscar Decker. 281 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:09,520 And you'll hear me quote Decker quite a bit moving forward. 282 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,880 So police do not suspect that foul play is the case. 283 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:19,060 And they point to the facts that there doesn't seem to be any struggle or sign of violence 284 00:17:19,060 --> 00:17:20,900 in his room. 285 00:17:20,900 --> 00:17:26,160 They also mention, you know, Ron was part of the varsity wrestling team at Miami. 286 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,640 So he's a strong guy. 287 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:33,800 They think it unlikely that somebody could have overpowered him without there being signs 288 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:36,620 of a struggle or violence or something like that. 289 00:17:36,620 --> 00:17:44,240 And because the only valuables that had been missing from Ron's room were the $10 or $11 290 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:48,960 from his wallet and they couldn't find his watch, but there's a good chance that he was 291 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:50,380 wearing that at the time. 292 00:17:50,380 --> 00:17:56,680 So those were the only items missing besides his clothes and Ron himself from the room. 293 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:59,240 Oxford police will request help from the FBI. 294 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:04,800 But since no crimes have been committed at this point, they have no jurisdiction. 295 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:09,160 And then this is Decker again, quote, since everything points to the fact that the boy 296 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:14,320 left the room in Fisher Hall on his own accord, no crime has been committed. 297 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:16,300 All we can do now is wait. 298 00:18:16,300 --> 00:18:17,300 And that's Decker. 299 00:18:17,300 --> 00:18:20,920 And again, this is 10 days after Ron goes missing, which just seems like really quick 300 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,440 to be like, well, we've done everything. 301 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:24,800 All we can do is wait now. 302 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,240 Like we did all we could. 303 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:28,240 Yeah. 304 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:36,720 Over the weekend of May 2nd, 1953, frat members from Ron's fraternity will investigate a tip 305 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,840 that he was seen in Cincinnati, but this turns up nothing. 306 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,320 Also, I don't know why police are not investigating this. 307 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:46,480 I don't know why frat boys are Scooby doing around Cincinnati. 308 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,240 Haha, Scooby doing. 309 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,120 Sunday, May 17th. 310 00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:55,640 So we're coming up on a month that Ron has been missing here. 311 00:18:55,640 --> 00:19:00,700 There's a headline in the Dayton Daily that Tammond case might never be solved. 312 00:19:00,700 --> 00:19:06,280 So this is just shy of a month that the newspaper is reporting that this will never be solved. 313 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:11,280 Police are still reporting and driving this belief that he is suffering from amnesia. 314 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,480 And now they're saying he probably hitched hike out of town. 315 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:15,480 There's no evidence of this. 316 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:19,960 Police are just kind of like, well, if he has amnesia and he's not in town, then he 317 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:20,960 must be somewhere else. 318 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:21,960 He hitched hike. 319 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,600 They just like keep adding to this story with no evidence. 320 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:25,960 I don't know. 321 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:27,440 Silly bellies. 322 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:33,960 On Monday, May 18th, Ron's family is informed that the FBI has joined the search for Ron. 323 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:40,160 So the FBI joins the case and they only join the case because the draft board tries to 324 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,300 get a hold of Ron, but they can't locate him. 325 00:19:43,300 --> 00:19:47,400 So now he's like a draft dodger and the FBI is involved. 326 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:48,400 Okay. 327 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:53,980 The FBI is like, you are property of us, so we will find you. 328 00:19:53,980 --> 00:19:55,680 This is it. 329 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:03,160 Friday, June 12th, 1953, the FBI reports that they can find no trace of Ron, so they're 330 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,000 unable to locate him. 331 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:11,200 And on June 21st, Decker is reported in the paper as saying, quote, he's a victim of 332 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:15,840 amnesia and he's probably alive and quite healthy, but hasn't the slightest idea who 333 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:16,920 he is. 334 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:21,520 He may be hundreds of miles away somewhere where no one has recognized him. 335 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:23,560 End quote. 336 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,720 Also, Decker- He has amnesia. 337 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:28,720 Yeah. 338 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:33,040 He also became police chief one month before Ron went missing. 339 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:38,240 So this was like his first big case and he's like, well, it's amnesia folks. 340 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:42,080 And they rerun Ron's picture in the paper. 341 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:49,520 And then that following week after rerunning his picture in the paper, Mrs. Carl Spivey, 342 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,280 and I am so, I apologize to our listeners. 343 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,620 I could not find a first name for her. 344 00:20:55,620 --> 00:20:59,720 It's only reported as a Mrs. Her husband's name. 345 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:06,680 So Mrs. Carl Spivey, she comes forward and says that she saw Ron the night he disappeared. 346 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:12,480 She claims that Ron knocked on her door around 11 PM at her home in Seven Mile. 347 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:18,480 Seven Mile is around 10 or 11 miles from Miami University. 348 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:23,240 And when I plugged this into just Google Maps quickly, it says that this would be a little 349 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,660 over three hours to walk it. 350 00:21:25,660 --> 00:21:31,680 He asked what town he was in and where he could be if he went, quote, that direction. 351 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,200 And he points towards Middleton, Ohio. 352 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:40,120 She told him he could catch a bus to Middleton and gave directions to a bus stop. 353 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:46,720 She learned the next day that the bus stopped operating that particular route that Sunday, 354 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:47,800 April 19th. 355 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:53,840 So she gave this young man directions to a bus stop that didn't exist anymore. 356 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:59,240 Mrs. Spivey thought that he could have been having car trouble because it looked like 357 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,480 he had grease or dirt on his face. 358 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:06,640 Mrs. Spivey continues to say that she must have missed the first reports of him going 359 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:11,020 missing but recognized him when his picture was re-ran in the paper. 360 00:22:11,020 --> 00:22:16,040 And she described the clothing that Ron was wearing the night he disappeared. 361 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:21,200 But it's never confirmed if this encounter is Ron or not. 362 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:22,880 Oh, okay. 363 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:28,640 Police love this account because it helps support the amnesia theory. 364 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:36,800 Since Decker, again, thinks it makes sense that since the weather was bad, thus traffic 365 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:41,000 was light that night, there weren't a lot of cars in the road, Decker believed it was 366 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:49,400 possible that Ron could have walked the 10 or 11 miles in two and a half hours. 367 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:56,760 So I think that's a bit of a stretch because Ron also isn't dressed for the weather. 368 00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:01,560 It's freezing and he doesn't have his coat on him at all. 369 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:06,880 But whatever, Decker loves to just write it off and chalk everything up to amnesia. 370 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,120 Okay, so summer of 1953. 371 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:15,400 The assistant dean of men, Howard Stevenson and his wife Kay are vacationing in upstate 372 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:16,400 New York. 373 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:22,280 They stop by a roadside diner and they're sitting down looking at the menu. 374 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:26,980 Howard looks around the restaurant and he sees a young man who looks like Ron sitting 375 00:23:26,980 --> 00:23:28,400 alone in a booth. 376 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:35,320 So he turns to his wife to tell her and when he points to the booth, the man is gone. 377 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:37,560 Howard gets up and walks over to the... 378 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:39,160 The Phantom. 379 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,840 Howard gets up and walks over to the booth, but he isn't there. 380 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:44,940 There's no evidence that the young man was there. 381 00:23:44,940 --> 00:23:46,560 And so then he goes to the parking lot. 382 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:48,900 I forgot about the Phantom. 383 00:23:48,900 --> 00:23:53,200 So then he goes to the parking lot, but he doesn't see anybody leave. 384 00:23:53,200 --> 00:24:00,440 So this young man just disappeared. 385 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,960 So yeah, the first kind of phantom-y Ron story. 386 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:09,880 April 19th, 1954, one year since he's been missing. 387 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,840 Ron's family fully believes that he's still alive. 388 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:18,400 His mother's quoted as saying, quote, almost nothing has turned up, but we feel sure he 389 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:19,920 is still alive somewhere. 390 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,280 He just wasn't the type to cause us worry, end quote. 391 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:28,320 And she also says that the last time she saw Ron was the weekend before he disappeared, 392 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,780 when he had visited home and he was in really high spirits. 393 00:24:31,780 --> 00:24:35,280 He didn't seem depressed at all. 394 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,320 And he seemed excited a week before he disappeared. 395 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:43,960 So this doesn't seem like somebody who wants to run away or is stressed and needs to flee. 396 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:51,440 So fall of 1954, residents of Fisher Hall, this is the dorm he disappeared from, they 397 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:57,020 began to hear whispers in the formal garden just beyond Fisher Hall. 398 00:24:57,020 --> 00:25:02,120 So they start to hear whispers, but loud enough to hear it from the hall. 399 00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:04,720 So very loud whispers. 400 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:11,600 In late October, around midnight, a high falsetto voice is heard singing from the gardens by 401 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,320 several residents in Fisher Hall. 402 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,340 It happens again at the same time the next night. 403 00:25:17,340 --> 00:25:21,960 So two nights in a row, this high falsetto singing is heard from the gardens. 404 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,560 One resident decides, you know what, second night, I'm going to be down there tomorrow 405 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,200 night so if it happens again, I'm going to see what happens. 406 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,160 I'm going to see this whole thing for myself. 407 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,600 So him and just a couple of his buddies, they go out there. 408 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:36,920 This is the third night. 409 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:44,640 So they hear the singing as they're out in the gardens and they see an all white figure 410 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,640 and they begin to walk towards it. 411 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:53,720 The figure sees them and takes off running. 412 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:55,800 And according to these boys... 413 00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:00,240 Running like with, you could hear like... 414 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:08,200 That's not reported, but they say that it takes off running at a superhuman speed and 415 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:09,640 that they could not catch up. 416 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,680 So it takes off... 417 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:12,680 Superhuman. 418 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:13,680 Superhuman. 419 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,080 And it disappears towards the golf course that was on campus at the time. 420 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,560 The boys had chased after it, but they couldn't catch up. 421 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:26,580 But they're far away from the gardens and as this figure disappears, they hear singing 422 00:26:26,580 --> 00:26:29,040 coming from the gardens again. 423 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:34,640 Only this time, instead of just the high falsetto, it goes from a deep bass to a high falsetto 424 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:35,640 now. 425 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,240 So it's got full range now. 426 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:43,340 The next night, after the boys have told their encounter, a group of RAs decide they're going 427 00:26:43,340 --> 00:26:45,680 to go out and figure out what's going on. 428 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,680 And so they go out to the gardens and again, they hear the singing. 429 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:55,560 This time though, they see a black cloud figure with long hair and long legs. 430 00:26:55,560 --> 00:27:02,760 As they approach it, again, this black figure sees the group of RAs and takes off running 431 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,720 in the same direction as the white figure. 432 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,520 The RAs chase it, but they only do it half-heartedly. 433 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,400 None of them really want to get close to it. 434 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,040 So then the next night... 435 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:18,400 So this is about five or six nights now that the singing has been heard and two nights 436 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:23,840 in a row that a phantom-like figure has been seen out here. 437 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:29,080 So then the next night, a pack of freshmen, about 25 of them, they all get together and 438 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:30,080 they all go out there. 439 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,520 They're like, we're going to catch this person. 440 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,080 We're going to catch this thing. 441 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:35,080 We're going to figure it out. 442 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:36,080 All 25 of us. 443 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:38,360 So a big group of them go down there. 444 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:39,880 And the same thing happens. 445 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:41,260 They hear the singing. 446 00:27:41,260 --> 00:27:45,160 They see a black figure with long hair and long legs. 447 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,220 And as soon as the figure sees them, takes off running. 448 00:27:48,220 --> 00:27:53,460 The fastest runner of the group, so the person who got closest to this black figure, said 449 00:27:53,460 --> 00:27:58,680 that the closer he got to it, the less interested he was in catching it. 450 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:03,760 So that's really icky to me and makes me feel creepy-crawly because it's like the closer 451 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,200 he got to it, the more he was like, you know what? 452 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:07,200 Fuck it. 453 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,240 I don't want a part of any of this. 454 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:10,800 Fuck it. 455 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,140 He's like, I don't know. 456 00:28:13,140 --> 00:28:17,920 This time the figure doesn't run towards the golf course, but it runs towards a creek 457 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:19,640 and disappears. 458 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,200 And this becomes the phantom of Fisher Hall. 459 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,280 And it happens about one year after Ron goes missing. 460 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:33,080 So for Ron's case, nothing really happens at the two or three year mark. 461 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:34,440 There's no signs of him. 462 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,220 His bank account stays inactive. 463 00:28:37,220 --> 00:28:43,400 In 1958, the first floor of Fisher Hall is turned into a theater. 464 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,560 And the theater department is housed there. 465 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:49,240 And the second and third floor are condemned. 466 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:53,040 And they are barricaded and blocked off from access. 467 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:58,960 In 1958, about five and a half years, there'll be like a resurgent of Ron's story in the 468 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:06,320 media because human remains will be unearthed at a gravel pit and they'll generally match 469 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,120 the size of Ron and the shape of him. 470 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,360 But this turns out not to be Ron. 471 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:17,920 It's actually a well-preserved 3000 year old indigenous skeleton. 472 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,080 So way before Ron. 473 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:25,760 In the seven year anniversary, this is April 20th, 1960. 474 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:28,680 So it's been seven years since he went missing. 475 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:34,000 Police will now believe that he walked away on his own will, his own accord. 476 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,680 They kind of ditch the amnesia theory at this point. 477 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,920 And they say he walked away on his own accord. 478 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:44,640 But again, people disagree because nothing was taken out of the room, not even his coat 479 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:46,800 on such a cold night. 480 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:54,120 His bank account again remains inactive and he only had maybe 10 or $11 on him potentially. 481 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:59,080 And a paper will interview Charles, his roommate. 482 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:04,800 And his roommate was deeply affected by Ron going missing because they were quote, very, 483 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:06,840 very close. 484 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:12,560 And he'll actually go under doctor's care for a nervousness disorder, which is reported 485 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,520 in the paper, which is crazy back in the day. 486 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,360 When nervousness disorder, I'm like, oh my, that's me every day. 487 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,640 I need to go under doctor's care for my anxiety. 488 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:21,640 Right. 489 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:22,640 Wow. 490 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,640 Shout out to Lexabrow. 491 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,040 Shout out to SSRIs. 492 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:29,200 Yeah, truly. 493 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:30,200 Wow. 494 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:35,120 If you are one who takes meds for that, good for you. 495 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,280 They've really helped me out. 496 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,640 So now we're in the sixties. 497 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:46,120 The theater guild will occupy Fisher hall and theater professors will have their offices 498 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:47,120 there. 499 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:52,400 And so these next stories, I couldn't find specific dates for them, but I know they happened 500 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:53,400 in the sixties. 501 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:59,560 So one Halloween, the theater guild, they hold a seance and nothing major happens at 502 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:00,560 the seance. 503 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:07,040 But the next day, someone who was at the seance is alone in the auditorium there and he's 504 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:11,360 listening to a speech and he'll hear footsteps up on the second floor. 505 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:16,560 Again, the second floor is supposed to be barricaded and no one should be up there, 506 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,960 but he hears footsteps up there. 507 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:20,960 Okay. 508 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:27,040 Another Halloween, the theater guild brought in a medium this time for the seance and the 509 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:28,800 medium has a vision. 510 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:33,240 The vision is of a young man coming down from the second floor alone. 511 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:40,080 He goes into the basement, opens the door and finds two men engaged in quote wrongdoing. 512 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,320 She's unable to see what the wrongdoing is. 513 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:45,920 So we engage in wrongdoing. 514 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:51,960 That's my first thought, but maybe like drugs or robbery, like a lot of things, whatever. 515 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:53,920 I don't think this is a real vision she's having. 516 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:58,160 I do believe mediums can have visions, but everything she says had been reported in the 517 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,320 newspaper except for the story she's making up, maybe making up. 518 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:02,320 I don't know. 519 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,440 The second could not tell what the wrongdoing was. 520 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:06,440 Had no idea. 521 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:13,600 So the two men in the room turn and beat up the young man that's alone and they end up 522 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:14,600 killing him. 523 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:16,480 He falls dead to the floor. 524 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:21,920 The next thing the medium sees is two men dragging the body up out of the basement, 525 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:27,440 down a deserted corridor and out into the darkness, then digging a hole on a hillside 526 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:29,200 and putting the body in. 527 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,900 Where the hole was, the medium had no clue. 528 00:32:31,900 --> 00:32:38,680 So no real specifics, but this is a story that the medium tells the theater guild on 529 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:40,040 a Halloween. 530 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,240 And then the theater department professors who obviously spent a lot of time there, a 531 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:49,720 lot of time late at night, they reported hearing footsteps all the time coming from the second 532 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:57,880 floor of chandeliers moving really slightly and slowly, lights going dim and then returning 533 00:32:57,880 --> 00:32:59,640 to full brightness. 534 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,400 October 31st, 1967. 535 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,400 This is 15 years since Ron has been missing. 536 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:10,760 A newspaper actually runs a story about the ghost of Fisher Hall and folks claim the haunting 537 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:13,000 is recent and they all tie it back to Ron. 538 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:18,080 They say that the haunting only started after Ron went missing. 539 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:24,980 On November 3rd, the same newspaper had received a letter from an alumni of Miami. 540 00:33:24,980 --> 00:33:30,160 Her name is Virginia Ronald and she wrote in to tell the paper that the ghost had been 541 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:31,480 there before Ronald. 542 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,400 So she claims the phantom was well known beforehand. 543 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:39,980 And she's quoted as saying, quote, the ghost was supposed to have been left over when Fisher 544 00:33:39,980 --> 00:33:42,680 Hall was transferred to the university. 545 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:47,800 It had served as a private mental home before being appropriated by the university, but 546 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:53,840 Tammans disappearance seemed to make the Fisher ghost more active, end quote. 547 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:58,920 And she went to Miami at the same time as Ron and she said that her husband actually 548 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,800 lived in the same dorm as Ron. 549 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,420 I don't know if that's Fisher Hall or maybe his freshman dorm, but that's what she says 550 00:34:06,420 --> 00:34:11,840 that this ghost was there beforehand, but a lot of people tie the phantom to Ron. 551 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:18,700 So in the late sixties, the university discovered that fraternities mostly had been using the 552 00:34:18,700 --> 00:34:23,680 second and third floor to break into to do ghost hunting. 553 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:27,600 They had been creating newspaper torches since there was no electricity. 554 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,000 So this is like a huge fire hazard. 555 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,260 The second and third floors were already condemned. 556 00:34:33,260 --> 00:34:36,560 So the university closes the building in 1968. 557 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:37,560 Okay. 558 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:38,560 Okay. 559 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,740 So now we're into the seventies, April 23rd, 1973. 560 00:34:41,740 --> 00:34:44,200 This is 20 years Ron has been missing. 561 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:45,320 A doctor comes forward. 562 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:50,200 His name is Dr. Boone and he's the Butler County physician. 563 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:54,080 And he also serves as the coroner for Butler County. 564 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:59,380 And he says that Ron visited him November 15th, 1952. 565 00:34:59,380 --> 00:35:02,240 So this would have been five months before he went missing. 566 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:07,920 And Ron visited him because he wanted to know his blood type because he might have to give 567 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,840 blood someday was the reason Ron gave. 568 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,080 And this has always stuck out to Dr. Boone. 569 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:19,040 He says it was very strange because this is the only time in his career that someone asked 570 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:24,720 for a blood typing test and also found it strange that Ron didn't have it done at the 571 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:29,760 university who had a hospital there where he could have gotten this test done or even 572 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:33,900 in Oxford that he went out of his small college town. 573 00:35:33,900 --> 00:35:41,740 So Dr. Boone was very suspicious of this request from Ron and Dr. Boone says he tried to bring 574 00:35:41,740 --> 00:35:47,280 this to the police and the university when Ron went missing, but nobody was interested 575 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:49,400 in this information. 576 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,040 And there's a part of me that kind of gets it. 577 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:57,320 I'm like, I can see myself being a plucky 19 year old and just wanting to know my... 578 00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:58,320 Plucky. 579 00:35:58,320 --> 00:35:59,320 Good word. 580 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:00,320 Really great, really great word. 581 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:01,320 Thank you. 582 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:02,320 Wow. 583 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:06,000 But yeah, I can see myself a plucky 19 year old being like, what's my blood type? 584 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,360 I'm going to go figure that out. 585 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,660 But I do find it strange that he didn't have it done closer. 586 00:36:11,660 --> 00:36:17,640 So this is the newest clue to come out for Ron since the day he disappeared. 587 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:24,640 In May of 1973, so that same year, 20 years missing, there was a push to save Fisher Hall 588 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,800 because a lot of people... 589 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:32,160 The university was going to demolish it, but because it was such an old building and had 590 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:35,640 these historical ties, a lot of people wanted to save that. 591 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:41,480 So like kind of in an effort, they hosted an open house for Fisher Hall and it was actually 592 00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:42,640 super popular. 593 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,900 They had like over a thousand people turn up to it that they had to turn people away. 594 00:36:46,900 --> 00:36:51,160 So they decided they're going to do another open house the next week to accommodate everyone 595 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:52,960 who couldn't get in the first time. 596 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:58,800 So at the second open house, a man came by and he had been at the first open house and 597 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:03,400 he had recorded the tour on tape. 598 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:07,840 And I assume for the time that it's a cassette player that he recorded it on and not a video 599 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:08,840 camera. 600 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:14,600 So he comes back at the second tour and asks if there were any radios or record players 601 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:17,360 that had been playing during the first tour. 602 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:19,520 And they said, no, there's no electricity in this building. 603 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,020 There were no radios or record players during the first tour. 604 00:37:23,020 --> 00:37:27,920 The paper says, quote, he remarked that it was strange since in the background of the 605 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:34,920 tape, he could distinctly hear someone playing a flute and the tape was new, end quote. 606 00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:41,080 So we have a mysterious flute player at Fisher hall as well. 607 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,160 And Ron was a musician. 608 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:48,700 He played bass and I also found a report that he played clarinet as well. 609 00:37:48,700 --> 00:37:52,760 So I don't think it's that far of a jump if you play a woodwind to like play a flute 610 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,060 or a piccolo or you know, something else. 611 00:37:55,060 --> 00:38:01,400 So maybe Ron, maybe not, but I could not find any reports of Ron being a flute player, a 612 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:02,400 flautist. 613 00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:08,400 So summer of 1978, 25 years, Ron has been missing. 614 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:10,280 Fisher hall is demolished. 615 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:16,000 However, when it's being demolished, the crew is instructed to take it apart piece by piece 616 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,240 and to look for skeletal remains. 617 00:38:18,240 --> 00:38:21,300 So they are like, he's got to be in here. 618 00:38:21,300 --> 00:38:23,980 Like he has to be in this building somewhere. 619 00:38:23,980 --> 00:38:25,240 So they do that. 620 00:38:25,240 --> 00:38:31,360 They take the building apart piece by piece and no sign of Ron anywhere. 621 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:32,360 Nothing. 622 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:41,440 They did, however, save 5,000 bricks from Fisher hall and incorporated them into the 623 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:45,060 Markham hotel, which now sits where Fisher stood. 624 00:38:45,060 --> 00:38:51,920 And then that's, that's really the story of the Phantom of Oxford or the Phantom of Fisher 625 00:38:51,920 --> 00:39:00,120 hall and Ron Tam and he, he hasn't been seen since he would be 89 years old today if he 626 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:01,880 were still alive. 627 00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:09,120 I do just want to mention briefly that in my research, I came across the work of Jennifer 628 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:13,000 Wenger, I believe is how you say her last name. 629 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:19,960 Wenger maybe, but she is a Miami alumni and she began researching this case in 2010 and 630 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:24,160 she has done a crazy amount of research on this case. 631 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,880 And she has her own theory about what happened to Ron, which I just want to mention briefly 632 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:36,720 here, but she believes that Ron died around 1995 and she points to the FBI. 633 00:39:36,720 --> 00:39:41,320 They had a set of Ron's fingerprints cause he was part of the draft. 634 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:46,240 And I also saw a report that his family, when he was in the second grade, he was fingerprinted. 635 00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:52,200 So there were records of his fingerprint on file before he went missing, but the FBI discarded 636 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:57,920 Ron's fingerprints and regulations allow them to destroy fingerprints seven years after 637 00:39:57,920 --> 00:39:59,180 a person's death. 638 00:39:59,180 --> 00:40:06,800 She also believes that Ron's psych professor was involved in the CIA and that Ron may have 639 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:08,920 been recruited for the CIA. 640 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,560 And so that's why he disappeared. 641 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:16,920 And the psych notebook was like, kind of like a, a wink to where he was going. 642 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:23,160 If you want to read more about her research and there's a lot of it, like it would be 643 00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:27,200 its own podcast to like go over all the things that she has found. 644 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,880 I hope she does make a podcast someday if she hasn't already. 645 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:32,820 And I saw her having updates from like October 13th. 646 00:40:32,820 --> 00:40:36,800 So she's been researching this since for 12 years. 647 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,640 So she is, I would say she is like the end all be all. 648 00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:45,240 I should say that she does not believe that the phantom of Fisher hall or the phantom 649 00:40:45,240 --> 00:40:47,040 of Oxford is Ron. 650 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:52,200 I don't know if it's Ron or not because a lot of reports say that it got really active 651 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:53,480 after Ron was gone. 652 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:58,440 So I don't know, but Ron is still missing. 653 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:04,920 If you have any information about Ron, if you, maybe your grandpa, if he did have amnesia, 654 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:08,400 your grandpa has no memories before he was 19. 655 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:09,400 Maybe he's Ron. 656 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:14,080 If you know anything about Ron's disappearance, you are encouraged to call the Oxford police 657 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:19,760 at 513-524-5240. 658 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:20,760 But that's it. 659 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:26,200 That's the story of Ron Tammann and the ghost of, or the phantom of Oxford, Ohio. 660 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:32,800 I really love that it's phantom and not ghost. 661 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,160 Like I don't know what the distinction is. 662 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:39,600 Yeah, no, this is, this is the phantom. 663 00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:43,760 Sources for today's podcast come from the Sydney daily news. 664 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:49,520 The Dayton daily times, the Tribune, the Akron beacon journal, Chillicothe Gazette, Marysville 665 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:55,840 journal tribunes, Springfield new sun, the journal Harold, the Cincinnati inquirer, the 666 00:41:55,840 --> 00:42:00,800 Wilmington news journal, the daily times, the daily reporter, Dayton daily news, the 667 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:11,000 journal news, the Miami websites, the October 27th, 1982 lecture by Dr. Schriever and Ronald 668 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:12,000 Tammann.com. 669 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:13,680 Yeah, but that's it. 670 00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:19,840 Um, if you enjoyed listening to this, please like and subscribe. 671 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:20,840 Yeah. 672 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:26,600 Leave a like, whatever platform you listen on, whatever that metric is, like favorite, 673 00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:27,680 whatever it is. 674 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:29,760 We greatly appreciate it. 675 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:34,120 If you're on Apple podcasts, if you could leave a little review, we appreciate them 676 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:35,660 so much. 677 00:42:35,660 --> 00:42:39,760 You can follow us at cold and missing on Instagram. 678 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:41,640 And from there you can get our email. 679 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:45,080 If you want to email us, um, you can follow all the cases. 680 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,280 We post lots of pictures of the case that we cover each week. 681 00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:49,880 But yeah, that's it. 682 00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:53,720 Um, thank you so much and have a good week. 683 00:42:53,720 --> 00:43:12,120 Thank you.