Governor's Mansion Turned Sorority House, 1855
322 Fifth Street, Marietta, OH 45750
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewing free. Private sorority house — no public interior access.
Access
Limited Access
Paved sidewalk
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1855 · Ohio Governor's Residence · Greek Revival Architecture · Marietta College History
William P. Skinner built this Greek Revival home on Fifth Street in 1855. Skinner was a prominent early figure in Marietta's commercial and civic life — a successful merchant, Washington County's second sheriff, and a bank board member. The house reflected the prosperity of the early Ohio River town, which had been settled in 1788 as one of the first organized American settlements in the Northwest Territory.
In 1908, the property passed to George White, who had built a fortune in the Pennsylvania and Ohio oil fields. White was also deeply embedded in Democratic Party politics, serving as a congressman and later as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In 1930, he was elected the 55th governor of Ohio, making him the third Marietta native to hold that office. His two terms, from 1931 to 1935, coincided with some of the hardest years of the Great Depression.
The White family's ownership ended in 1955 when the property was sold to Marietta College, which has since operated it as the chapter house for the Beta Xi chapter of Alpha Xi Delta sorority. On November 9, 2021, a fire caused significant damage to the structure. After a two-and-a-half-year restoration, the chapter moved back in during August 2024.
Sources
The figure known as George has accumulated a specific and consistent set of behaviors over roughly seven decades of sorority occupancy. Residents report faucets activating when no one is in the bathroom. Doors that were latched open or closed. Objects displaced from shelves. Appliances cycling on in empty rooms. None of these incidents have been explained by building maintenance.
The ghost is widely believed to be Governor White himself. One detail that appears in multiple accounts: a figure in a gray suit occasionally observed at the second-floor windows. Whether this constitutes a full apparition or a peripheral impression, reports have come from residents who had no prior knowledge of the house's history.
The most distinctive piece of local lore involves the building's staircase. According to chapter tradition, if a resident brings a guest upstairs with questionable intentions, the guest will stumble on the front stairs. The detail is treated less as a warning and more as a form of institutional mythology — the kind of story that gets passed down at chapter meetings and shapes how new members relate to the building.
The 2021 fire and subsequent two-year displacement interrupted the continuous habitation of the house, though no accounts document whether the displacement changed the character of the reported phenomena after the 2024 return.
Notable Entities
View the 1855 Greek Revival facade from Fifth Street. The second floor, where the ghost of Governor George White is most frequently reported, faces the street. The house is a private sorority residence; do not approach the entrance.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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