The mystery of the death stain left after the strange death of Margaret Schilling (8 photos)

Death is an integral part of the world. All people are mortal, but only a few manage to leave such puzzles after their death that more and more generations are racking their brains to solve.





On the concrete floor of an abandoned mental hospital called The Ridges, there is a stain in the shape of a human body. It is located on the very spot where a patient, a woman named Margaret Schilling, died. The poor thing, whom everyone forgot about, lay there for several weeks. The spot appeared in 1979 and provoked an avalanche of speculation and speculation, as well as incredible public curiosity. Only relatively recently did criminologists examine the stain and it turned out that it was the result of human decomposition.



Administration building of the Athens Mental Health Center, winter 1981

The Ridges was originally known as the Athens Mental Health Center. Located in Athens, Ohio, it first opened in 1874. Large asylums like this were common in the States at that time, since treatment mainly consisted of isolating the mentally ill from society - medicine did not yet know any other ways to cope with mental illness. Therefore, huge buildings had to be built to accommodate all the patients. The Ridges could comfortably accommodate about 550 patients.





However, over the years, more and more people began to be placed in the shelter. By the 1950s, the hospital was quite overcrowded. There were about 2,000 patients in the shelter. But even with all these patients, several wings and even entire floors remained untouched and unrepaired for years.

Spot in the shape of a human body



One of these rooms on the top floor preserves the memory of Margaret Schilling. She was the patient found dead in this room in 1979. There was a large stain in the shape of a human body on the floor where she died and was found. There are many different myths surrounding this story: some believe that the woman was a deaf-mute who was locked upstairs after hiding from the staff. Supposedly, she was unable to call for help and died slowly in a locked room, all alone.

What Really Happened to Margaret Schilling?



Women's ward in a hospital

However, in reality she was a relatively ordinary woman with some mental problems. She was married and gave birth to three children. Strange things began when her mother Anna died. Apparently, the death of a loved one became a trigger, and the inconsolable daughter began to constantly see the deceased and even talk to her. The husband, tired of his wife’s antics, took his wife to a shelter when she was 53 years old.

Margaret managed to get lost, locked herself in an empty ward and was unable to get out. She disappeared on December 2, 1978 and was found only on January 12, 1979. The patient may have died from heart failure caused by exposure to extreme cold in an unheated part of the building. Interestingly, the unfortunate woman was found completely naked. Margaret must have taken off her clothes, folded them neatly and left them on the concrete floor next to her.

Stubborn Spot



Margaret Schilling

When her body was removed, they discovered that there was an indelible stain left on the concrete. It is believed that the stain was caused by the decomposition of the body, as well as sunlight falling on it in the process. It would seem that any biological fluids can be removed with the help of high-quality chemistry and a little effort.

But this spot demonstrated enviable persistence. Despite numerous attempts to clean and remove it, it remained in its place in memory of the patient who met a terrible death in the ward.



The same imprint

Naturally, lovers of mysticism did not fail to take advantage of the chance and made up a story that the imprint is not an imprint of the body, but of the soul of the poor thing, which was left wandering restless along the winding corridors and empty chambers. If you're lucky, you can even hear or see her in the form of a blurry figure with a meaningless gaze, which slowly melts into the air and dissolves like morning fog.



After the liquidation of the mournful monastery, the complex was transferred to Ohio State University. And after a good renovation at the beginning of this century, the last asylum for the mentally ill became a temple of science. In that same room, everything was also repaired, and the silhouette was covered with tiles.

And they equipped not an auditorium, but, out of harm’s way, an archive. But especially impressionable people swear that they definitely met there the ghost of a woman with folded hands, as if offering a prayer to someone invisible.