"Campus Massacre predicted by Psychic"
Courtney Kaminski
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Focus
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"A seasonal urban legend that hits college campuses every few years - I understand it's going around at Kent State University at this very moment - is the one about a TV psychic predicting that there will be a string of dormitory murders on Halloween night," said David Emery, About.com's expert guide to Urban Legends and Folklore.
"It usually starts as a quiet little rumour, then gets bigger and bigger until it gets to the point where students are actually fleeing campus to avoid being there on Halloween. It has circulated off and on for at least 30 years and has been known to cause quite a panic. In the version going around right now at Kent State, it was supposedly the psychic Sylvia Browne appearing on Montel Williams' show who made the prediction. But she said no such thing."
Similar rumours circled at Kent State University (KSU) when a psychic appearing on Oprah had predicted a slew of murders at a midwestern university with buildings shaped like an H and an X. Several of Kent State's residence halls, Allyn, Clark, Fletcher and Manchester, form the letter H, and the H Terrace Hall was X-shaped, before it was torn down last year.
According to Snopes.com, "the story's first known appearance was in the Midwest in 1968, perhaps inspired by Richard Speck's murderous attack on nine nurses in a Chicago rooming house a few years earlier". The Web site notes that the legend has seen numerous comebacks throughout the years, appearing again in 1979, 1983, 1986, 1991 and having a huge comeback in 1998 with the release of the first of two films, called Urban Legend.
Whenever this legend appears there are a few common factors: The school that is said to be targeted is always identified by being part of a certain athletic conference or starting with a certain letter; there is usually a very specific number of expected victims (commonly nine, 10, 12 and 20); the weapon to be used is always sharp, like an axe or a knife rather than a gun; and the building being targeted can be identified by being in an unusual shape or being named after a certain person.
While the KSU police department identified the rumour as an urban legend, the school circulated an e-mail notifying students of the prank, and identified that, as always, they would be increasing police staffing over Halloween, due to the increase in the amount of on and off-campus student activities.
Still, this legend will undoubtedly cause some superstitious students to pack their bags and head home (or out of town) for the weekend, just in case …
"It usually starts as a quiet little rumour, then gets bigger and bigger until it gets to the point where students are actually fleeing campus to avoid being there on Halloween. It has circulated off and on for at least 30 years and has been known to cause quite a panic. In the version going around right now at Kent State, it was supposedly the psychic Sylvia Browne appearing on Montel Williams' show who made the prediction. But she said no such thing."
Similar rumours circled at Kent State University (KSU) when a psychic appearing on Oprah had predicted a slew of murders at a midwestern university with buildings shaped like an H and an X. Several of Kent State's residence halls, Allyn, Clark, Fletcher and Manchester, form the letter H, and the H Terrace Hall was X-shaped, before it was torn down last year.
According to Snopes.com, "the story's first known appearance was in the Midwest in 1968, perhaps inspired by Richard Speck's murderous attack on nine nurses in a Chicago rooming house a few years earlier". The Web site notes that the legend has seen numerous comebacks throughout the years, appearing again in 1979, 1983, 1986, 1991 and having a huge comeback in 1998 with the release of the first of two films, called Urban Legend.
Whenever this legend appears there are a few common factors: The school that is said to be targeted is always identified by being part of a certain athletic conference or starting with a certain letter; there is usually a very specific number of expected victims (commonly nine, 10, 12 and 20); the weapon to be used is always sharp, like an axe or a knife rather than a gun; and the building being targeted can be identified by being in an unusual shape or being named after a certain person.
While the KSU police department identified the rumour as an urban legend, the school circulated an e-mail notifying students of the prank, and identified that, as always, they would be increasing police staffing over Halloween, due to the increase in the amount of on and off-campus student activities.
Still, this legend will undoubtedly cause some superstitious students to pack their bags and head home (or out of town) for the weekend, just in case …
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