On Sunday, April 19, 1953, at 8:30-ish in the evening, Ronald H. Tammen, Jr., disappeared from his second-floor room in Fisher Hall on Miami University’s campus in Oxford, Ohio. He left everything behind — his wallet, his string bass, his car, his clothing, even his toothbrush. No one could figure out what happened to Tammen. Miami University officials were mystified, the Oxford PD outwitted, the FBI flummoxed. Since the spring of 2010, I’ve been conducting my own search for Tammen and what his disappearance might tell us about this enigmatic 19-year-old who landed himself squarely in the middle of one of the most bedeviling mysteries ever to hit the state of Ohio.
New to this site? Welcome! Currently, a bunch of us are awaiting word from an interagency panel to determine if my theory on what happened to Ronald Tammen is upheld. Once that happens—either way—everyone who follows me (through the blog, Facebook, or Twitter) will be notified. In the meantime, this is the perfect time to bring yourself up to speed on the story as well as to start rummaging through the blog posts, which I’m still writing, when there’s something important to tell you. I’ve also written a summary that you can read in 10 minutes to help get you started. Finally, if you have a lead, comment, or question, you can use the contact form in the top menu to communicate with me, or email me at rontammenproject[at]gmail[dot]com. Thank you!
Can’t get enough of the Ronald Tammen story? Here are some things to watch or listen to
Bizarre Butler County — Ronald Tammen Jr.
October 31, 2024, episode
I joined Miami Student staff members Sarah Kennel and Taylor Powers to discuss the Ron Tammen case in nitty gritty detail. Do we broach topics that the FBI and CIA probably wish we wouldn’t? Why yes, yes we do! Be sure to listen to their other episodes as well–they’re all super fun and informative.
Missing in Ohio — Ronald Tammen
June 10, 2024, episode of the podcast Already Gone
What was it like to be the college roommate of a guy who infamously goes missing? In this episode of the true crime podcast Already Gone, Nina Innsted tells the story of Ron’s disappearance and interviews David Findlay, son of Ron Tammen’s roommate, Chuck Findlay. David shares some little-known stories about his father and how Ron’s disappearance shaped the trajectory of the rest of Chuck’s life. You really need to listen to this wonderful episode. (Seriously, you really do.)
What Happened to Ronald Tammen
WXIX two-part news story
In early spring 2020, right before Covid-19 upended all of our lives, Chris Riva, of WXIX (Fox) television in Cincinnati, began filming a news segment on the Ronald Tammen case. Chris was especially interested in interviewing Marcia Tammen (Ron’s sister) for the segment, so he drove to Marcia’s apartment in Wooster, OH, and spent the morning interviewing Marcia and me. Sadly, it was the last time Marcia would be interviewed on camera. She passed away in August. The two-part segment aired in November 2020 and, although it didn’t win, it had been nominated for a 2021 Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Award.
Debunking the Phantom of Oxford: What Happened to Ron Tammen
Budding filmmaker Astrid Key interviewed me in 2022 about my research into Ron Tammen’s disappearance. She asked some really great questions and in only 1/2 hour, she manages to get to the heart of the story. (Tiny correction: the date of Ron’s disappearance was April 19, 1953, not August.) Check out her mysterious YouTube channel.
The One That Got Away podcast — Season 2
Update: 9/19/2022: I have some bad news, everyone. At least for now, “The One That Got Away” is no longer available online. If it finds a new home, I’ll be sure to repost their second season, which was devoted to Ron Tammen.
I’d like to extend a very big thank you to Josh and Tyler for all they did to bring Ron’s story to a new audience. It was when I was preparing for one of their podcasts that I realized that Gilson Wright, a Miami journalism professor and stringer for area newspapers, had never (ever) mentioned that Ron’s open textbook was his psychology book, even though Hamilton Journal-News reporter Joe Cella had revealed that information in April 1954. If it weren’t for Josh and Tyler, I wouldn’t have seen with my own eyes how the university had covered up important details about Ron Tammen’s disappearance. Thank you, Josh and Tyler!
– MKULTRA –
Feel like searching the MKULTRA documents? Here’s how
If you’ve read my blog post on “the I&I guys,” you know that my theory is that MKULTRA (and Ron Tammen’s psychology professor) were behind Ron Tammen’s disappearance. Included below are some helpful tools if you’d like to search the collection of MKULTRA documents yourself.
NEW!
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Sortable, searchable MKULTRA index
The best way to peruse the MKULTRA collection is to first consult the index to find the documents you’d like to focus on before looking them up online. The index that the CIA provides isn’t listed in any particular order, nor is it searchable. Amazingly, AGMIHTF reader/contributer Julie Miles has transcribed the MKULTRA index so that it is now available as a spreadsheet through Google Sheets. Copy and paste it as-is to your hard drive or download it into another software platform, such as Excel. Then, you can sort the list chronologically, topically, or however you’d like.
or DOWNLOAD AS AN EXCEL SHEET
Once you know which documents you’d like to see, make a note of their ID numbers and then visit the Black Vault website’s MKULTRA Collection to look them up. They will be in one of four designated folders or in the list of additional documents that were released in October 2018. As an added bonus, the documents on the Black Vault website have been converted to searchable PDFs.
MKULTRA cheatsheet
After you’ve found the document(s) you’re interested in, you will likely notice a number of redactions in the form of black blotches or whited-out areas along with corresponding letters in the margins. These letters offer a small clue regarding the category of the redacted word or words. We’ve developed a cheatsheet of our best guesses of what many of the letters mean, based on a comparison between documents.
Were Major Louis Jolyon West and Lt. Colonel St. Clair Switzer discussed in the same paragraph of a CIA document dated January 14, 1953?
If you blow up Document 145888 really, really big, there’s no question that the first name of the redacted Major is Louis. See the L at the beginning and the o, the u, the dotted i, and the s? It’s him you guys. (On good days, I can even see the West.) As I mentioned in the “I&I guys” post, I’m also convinced that I see an S, a w, a dotted i, and a z in the Lt. Colonel’s redacted name below West’s name.
As for the MC in parentheses behind USAF, West always wrote his affiliation with the Air Force in that manner—so much so that if the redacted name was missing the MC, we could invariably rule out West. MC stands for Medical Corps.)
I’m including a July 1953 letter from Jolly West to a colleague in which he has signed his name Louis J. West, Major, USAF (MC). I enclose the entire letter because he is discussing his position at Lackland Air Force Base as well as its importance and visibility in the Air Force.
Speaking of the January 14, 1953 document…
What’s great about being able to sort the MKULTRA documents chronologically is that duplicate documents show up next to each other on the spreadsheet and can be more easily compared with one another. And as luck would have it, there are two versions of the document written on January 14, 1953. Whereas one redactor felt that the second paragraph needed to be scratched out entirely, another redactor only blackened someone’s name and identifying information. Here are the two excerpts for comparison:
I don’t know who they’re talking about, but I’m looking into it. Unfortunately, the redactor of Document 184424 didn’t wish to disclose more information in paragraph #3, which is where I believe Louis Jolyon West and St. Clair Switzer are mentioned for a “well-balanced interrogation research center.” Instead, they blacked out all identifying information regarding the two individuals, including their military ranks. That’s why I’m extremely grateful for the redactor of Document 145888, who didn’t see any harm in allowing that information to remain visible. Otherwise, I don’t think we’d have been able to link West and Switzer together this early in the program.
To access other original documents and resources pertaining to the Tammen story, scroll to the bottom of this page.