1893 OSU geology building clad in forty Ohio stones in stratigraphic order, where first president Edward Orton Sr. is said to still read by lamplight in the bell tower.
155 S Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Orton Geological Museum is free and open to the public during weekday business hours.
Access
Limited Access
1893 academic building; ground floor accessible, bell tower not publicly accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1893 · Ohio State University Founding Era · Yost & Packard Architecture · 19th-Century Geological Education · Romanesque Revival
Orton Hall was completed in 1893 as the headquarters of Ohio State University's geology program — a discipline central to OSU's land-grant mission in coal- and ceramics-rich Ohio. The architects, Yost & Packard, designed it in a Romanesque idiom with a bell tower whose Westminster chimes ring every fifteen minutes.
The building's most distinctive feature is its exterior. The walls are constructed of forty different building stones quarried in Ohio, arranged stratigraphically — that is, in the order in which they were laid down geologically. The column capitals supporting the porch are carved with fossils representing Ohio's paleontological record. The building is, in effect, a teaching specimen.
It was named for Edward Orton Sr., OSU's first president and a Professor of Geology from 1873 to 1899. Orton served simultaneously as the Ohio State Geologist until his death in 1899. He is said to have spent late evenings reading by lamplight in the bell tower — a documented working habit that supplies the historical anchor for the building's principal ghost story.
Today Orton Hall houses faculty offices, laboratories, and the Orton Geological Museum, which displays paleontological and mineralogical specimens drawn from more than a century of collecting. It is one of the oldest extant buildings on the OSU campus.
Sources
Per The Lantern's 2014 'New encounters bring Ohio State hauntings to light' and Columbus Monthly's 2015 'Creepy Campus' compilation, the central Orton Hall ghost story is straightforward: Edward Orton Sr. would 'often be found reading in the bell tower by lamp light after dark,' the legend goes, and observers on the South Oval still report occasionally seeing the flicker of a light from the tower window late at night. Because the tower is not in public use, the recurring reports have no obvious mundane explanation.
A secondary, more whimsical story attaches to the museum specimens. Campus folklore describes a 'prehistoric man' presence reportedly roused by the museum's paleontological collection, said to slam doors and produce thumps on the upper floors after closing time. This figure is less anchored to a documented historical individual than the Orton tale and circulates primarily within OSU's student paranormal canon.
The building is an active academic facility; activity reports are typically informal, second-hand campus folklore rather than the products of formal investigation.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Orton Geological Museum on the first floor of Orton Hall is free and open to the public during weekday business hours. Exhibits cover Ohio paleontology, mineralogy, and the museum's specimen collections — the same specimens local lore attributes to rousing a 'prehistoric man' presence on the upper floors.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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