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About Sky Sloderbeck.
Love and Honor...And Ghosts
SKY SLODERBECK is often described as intense or even spastic, and that's exactly how she likes it. "Normal is boring" is one of her favorite phrases, which is followed closely by "Stay calm and eat bacon." She loves to write and debate about feminism and any other highly emotional topic, but specifically loves to say, "Let me play Devil's advocate here" when debating religion - it makes her giggle on the inside. "Love and Honor ... and Ghosts" is a horror story in an experimental style that mixes elements of journalism, found footage printing and transcription, and the reader's imagination. It's a piece that requires a certain reader, because at its core, it's an objective tale where it's your mind creating the horror as it fills in the blanks.
“[A] campus can be a very mysterious place, particularly if it’s very old, if it’s comparativelyisolated, if it’s on top of a hill overlooking a valley, and if part of it at one time was an insaneasylum. On all of these counts, Miami qualifies.” – Dr. Phillip Shriver, 31 January 1996
On the evening of April 19, 1953, Miami University sophomore Ronald Tammen Jr. walked out of his room and left behind his wallet, his keys, and his coat. He left his dorm room door open and his psychology book was lying open at the page on habits. It looked as if he had just stepped out to talk to another student, or get a snack, but Ronald Tammen never returned. Now, nearly 60 years later, this cold case is no closer to being solved, with no clues – old or new– available to help officers figure out what happened to Tammen on that fateful April night.
59 years after Tammen’s disappearance, Miami University senior David Draper went missing while researching an article on Ronald Tammen. It has been nearly a year since the Miami Student reporter disappeared, however a parcel arrived last month at the Miami Student office that has added another layer to Draper’s case. The parcel contained a digital voice recorder and a notebook, both belonging to Draper and both that had gone missing at the same time as Draper.
The Miami University Police Department, in conjunction with the Butler County Sheriff have returned copies of the notes and transcripts of the digital audio that comprised the contents of the package to The Student. What follows are Draper’s observations and are unaltered asreceived from the police department. We at The Student have taken the liberty to organize the notes and transcripts into a chronological format.
Notebook Entry 1: April 3, 2012
Sixteen days and counting until the 59th anniversary of Tammen’s disappearance. I loved the idea when I pitched the article yesterday, but not so much now. I didn’t realize that the Fisher Hall dude lived in was not the same one we have on campus now. Not going to be a veryinteresting story since I can’t go hunting for ghosts. Hi, I’m with The Student, can I come poke around the conference center looking for ghosts? Thanks! Yeah. That will go over real well. I wonder if I can change my feature story?
Notebook Entry 2: April 4, 2012
Wonderful. Editor said no. She likes the anniversary aspect and the whole ghost/mystery vibe. I guess it’s time to start research then.
Notebook Entry 3: April 11, 2012
Deadline in a week. Procrastinating. What can I say? Nice weather=great frat parties. Time to buckle down.
Digital Audio Transcript 1: April 15, 2012
Fifthteenth April, 1:52 AM. If someone made a procrastinate-no-more pill, they’d be rich. Sorry. I joke when I’m nervous. Anyhow, I’m here in the woods behind Collins and I’m whispering because there’s someone up on the trail ahead of me and I don’t want to scare him off. It looks like he’s heading down towards the creek, and now that I’m saying this out loud, it sounds kind of creepy that I’m stalking someone in the woods at night.
Let’s try this again...
[A thud. Unintelligible words. Shuffling.]
Shit, tree branch. That hurt. Anyhow, I was in my room, 210 Collins, and something hit my window. It wasn’t anything big; I thought it was a bug. Then it happened again and my fucking window cracked. I looked outside and saw this guy staring up at me, and when I openedmy window, he turned around and walked off.
Hold on.
[Approximately 20 seconds of silence, aside from ambient evening noises and Draper’s breath sounds.]
He did it again! He just fucking disappeared! But he’s back and almost at the creek. I’m just watching him right now, not taking my eyes off of him.
Where was I? Oh, yeah. My room’s pretty close to the stairs – just around the corner –and I’d just gotten back from a date, so I was still dressed. I thought I could catch him, no problem. I took off, nearly broke my neck heading down the stairs, and came out the side door ofthe building. Just as I came around the corner to the back, I caught sight of him, and then he disappeared. Just flat disappeared. He was there, then he wasn’t. I thought maybe he just stepped behind some tree, so I ran down to the path to find him and nothing.
While I was looking for him where I last saw him, he showed up again not ten feet away from me. Scared the shit out of me. I’m still shaking. He had these eyes, dead eyes, you know?
Like he wasn’t all there. And something about him was just off. It could’ve been his clothes – they looked pretty weird, something my dad might wear, and Dad was a yuppie back in the day –but I don’t know. I just felt kind of, this is going to sound weird, but I felt kind of hollow whenhe looked at me.
He’s at the creek now and … holy fuck, that’s not possible!
[Heavy breathing. Sounds of running. A great deal of static. Lasts about 10 seconds and then the digital voice entry ends.]
Notebook Entry 4: April 15, 2012
I didn’t sleep well last night, but unless I just saw Jesus, then how in the hell did that dude walk on water? It’s been raining a lot and the creek is really high. Plus, there was a full moon last night, so plenty of light to see that trick by. I really really want to ascribe it to alcohol,but I didn’t drink last night – Jen’s not much for it and I like her, so…
Anyhow, scared the piss out of me, but you know what’s really messed up? I don’t have classes today, so I thought I’d work on that Tammen article and the Tammen dude? Looks just like the guy I saw last night, right down to the sweater vest. My hand’s shaking, but I’m tornbetween thinking this is freaking awesome, or being scared. Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t like to admit weakness, but I get scared, just like anyone else. Spiders. Moonless autumn nights. Unexplainable sounds in my folks’ house. Oh yeah, I get scared. I can’t let this freak me out though. My editor=Jen, and I like Jen a lot. I can’t let my editor down, see?
So this Tammen guy. I have a bunch of research on him. I’ve printed it out and highlighted interesting info to use in my article, but something’s bugging me. The building I live in – Collins – was finished three months before Tammen disappeared. Thing is, that’s the middleof a school year and would students really move in halfway through the year? I need to look into that in the campus archives.
Here’s my question: If this place, brand new and huge and empty, was about 100 yardsfrom the old Fisher Hall, did anyone bother to look in this building for Tammen? Even if it wasn’t empty, I doubt it was full. Plenty of places someone could have brought the guy to do something messed up to him, like a hazing gone wrong, or simply purposeful foul play. I wonder who I could talk to about that?
Notebook Entry 5: April 16, 2012 – Final Entry
Jen’s giving me until tomorrow at 8:00 PM to get the article to her. I have most of the backstory written and it’s pretty good. I’m going to add in the part about the dude in the woods, plus I was thinking I’d do some amateur ghost-hunting tonight in Collins – try to play off my hunch about Collins. We’ll see. Talked to someone at archives and then a detective in the Cold Case department at the Butler County Sheriff’s office and no one checked out Collins as far as their records show.
Digital Audio Transcript 2: April 17, 2012
It’s 1:30 AM and it’s officially April 17th. I’m in my room in Collins and am getting ready for my night of ghost hunting. I figured I’d go to the basement and hang out in one of the rooms there to do this. Close to the exit on the back, by the woods, and it feels more real than just sitting in my room talking to myself on a voice recorder. Oh hey, look what I’m doing. [laughter] Anyhow, I’m going to try some EVP sessions and see what happens.
Digital Audio Transcript 3: April 17, 2012 – Final Transcript
It’s 1:50 AM and I got lucky – there’s nobody around down here. I’ve set up where I can see out a window to the woods. Maybe when I’m done in here, I’ll go try out there where I saw that guy the other day. Okay, time for the official entry:
This is David Draper. The time is 1:51 AM and I’m in the basement of Collins Hall on East Quad at Miami University. The date is April 17, 2012 and it’s only two days until the 59th anniversary of the disappearance of Ronald Tammen Jr.
I’m going to start off with a general question: Is there anyone here? Anyone at all?
[10 seconds of silence, aside from breathing and slight movement sounds]
If there’s someone here. I’m David. I’m a senior here at Miami – a journalism major. What’s your name? Were you a Miami student?
[7 seconds of silence aside from breathing and slight movement sounds. Unintelligible whispering. Another 5 seconds of silence.]
I’m trying to find out about a missing student. I think I might have seen him last night. Ronald Tammen, are you here? If you’re here, can you give me a sign?
[2 seconds of silence. Unintelligible whispering. A loud crash.]
Shit! Okay. Okay. It was just a broom. The broom in the corner fell over. My heart’s racing.
[Loud whisper: “David.”]
What was that? Hello?
[Loud breathing. Sounds of movement.]
I saw something out the window, but it was a couple of students walking by. Why’s this getting to me? I should have let Jen come with me. Yeah, I’m fucking scared. I admit it.
[Deep breathing. 6 seconds of silence.]
Hello?
[Sound of a door opening. Breathing.]
Hello? Can you go away? I’m doing an EVP thing for an article.
[Door slamming. Heavy breathing. Sound of recorder clattering to the floor.]
What was that! Hello!
[Sound of something heavy and metallic being moved. Shuffling feet.]
Oh my god. Oh my god. You can’t be fucking serious. Where did that come from?
[Sound of running. Pounding of fists on a metal door.]
Help! Someone. Open the door. Please!
[A snarling sound. A scream. Sound of something being dragged. 23 seconds of silence.]
[Sound of paper, perhaps pages being turned. Sound like the recorder being picked up. Heavy breathing. Shuffling sound. Sound of something being moved. Metallic. 137 seconds of silence. Loud scream that echoes, like at the opposite end of a very large room. Unintelligible sounds. Recording ends.]
The recorder and notebook were delivered in a manila envelope to the Miami Student offices by hand. There was no postmark nor a return address. If anyone has any knowledge of who delivered these to us, we ask you to contact the Miami University Police Department.