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OLD CHILDREN'S DANCE THEATRE (MENTOR) 10/07/03: Cold spots, odors, footsteps and toilets that flushed on their own accord...some of the few things Dawn recalls experiencing at a dance school in Mentor. Creepy stuff, and a good case study on real estate disclosure for all you realtors out there! My mom owns the Dance Theatre of Ohio in Mentor. When I was 10 years old she opened her school officially on Mentor Avenue where Ladies & Gentlemen / The Brown Institute is now. We were at that location as The Children's Theatre for awhile until we moved. Anyways, why did we leave our first location? Because it was haunted. For real! We had the whole building of what is now the Brown Institute. We loved having such a big building for just a dance school. My sister and I had birthday parties and slumber parties and had the run of the each room including the upstairs to play hide & seek. One part of the front of the building was always ice cold. We used to hold drama lessons and theatre rehearsals in there, but no matter how high we turned up the heat you were always soo cold that the hair stood up on the back of your neck. Also, there was a bathroom in this section. The whole section of the building just had a bad "feeling" to it. We singularly would try to hide in the bathroom when playing hide & seek, but would get spooked and run out. So we then decided to start hiding in 2's. No one would ever look for us in that bathroom because they were too afraid to go in that part of the building. So me and my cousin would be hiding in the bathroom. It would just get instantly colder than it already was, the hair on the back of your neck would raise and I remember feeling like someone was standing right behind me. We were soo chicken--we were hiding with the bathroom light on and the door closed so I could see it was only my cousin and I in there. I remember feeling really freaked, but did not want to look like a woos till my cousin said, "I don't like it back here. I don't want to play anymore." There was another room upstairs where a group of us were sitting on the floor playing a board game. All of us present the light in the room turned on and off repeatedly. All of us just looked at each other, grabbed the game and flew downstairs. My mom asked what was wrong and we told her and she thought we were just being silly. Then....the more weird stuff. My mom came in to work that day and smelled coffee brewing. She was miffed at her partner for having left the coffee pot on. She unplugged it, washed out the pot and prepared for the first class to arrive. About a half and hour later she again smelled fresh brewed coffee. She went into the hall which led into the front scary room and there she found the pot had been plugged in and coffee made. There was no one else in the building. This happened on and off through out our time there. Another time, my mom and her partner were having a meeting in her partners office after classes had ended for the evening. They were the only ones in the building. They heard someone walk down the stairs, close the front bathroom door, urinate, flush, and go back up the stairs. They ran into the bathroom and indeed the water was re-filling in the toilet. They searched the building and found no one. Things continued to happen more and more. Mostly in the evening. Closet doors would open and close and it got to the point where my mom asked parents if they could wait to leave until she left too or my dad would have to come and meet her there before the last class ended so she wouldn't have to close by herself. My dad thought things had gotten ridiculous to stay their any longer. They contacted Sequoia (sp?) Realty and asked if there had been any strange occupancies with the house. They said that it had been built on Indian burial ground and that the first house on that side street also was haunted. Thanks for mentioning that when you sold it to us! A couple years ago I went to L&G for a pedicure. I told my male pedicurist the story and he looked at me in shock. I said, "I know it sounds unbelievable." He said, "No." That before he decided to be in the profession he is in there now he was a painter and had painted all the rooms of the Brown Institute. He painted alone and he would hear weird sounds, doors shut by themselves. It was the summer time, but he was always freezing in there no matter how warm he dressed. He said it got to the point that he had to get drunk in order to go to work and paint there in the evening. He thought he was crazy, so was very relieved when he heard my story. I just thought I would share this story because I was surprised not to have
heard more about it over the years or about the house on the same street
either.
10/29/03: Daisy shares her first-hand encounters with the ghost of a former slave. A fascinating story. I have seen quite a few ghosts in my life time. I want to tell you about the one that I saw when I was ten years old. My family moved to Ashtabula in 1948. Since we were farmers in Mississippi, my dad was interested in a farm, but my mother did not want to live in the rural area. My dad found a farm and house in Cherry Valley,Ohio, that he wanted us to see. My mother went along to please my dad. As we pulled into the driveway, I saw an African-American man sitting on the porch in a straight back pine chair. (We are African_Americans,too). I said, "Is that the owner of the house sitting on the porch?" Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. "What man?" they said in chorus. "The man sitting on the porch. Don't you see him?" I asked. "No, there is no one on the porch!" We got out of the car and walked toward the house. The man was still there. When I got to the porch, the man disappeared. No one believed me. My dad even said that I plotted with my mother and made up the story to keep us from moving to Cherry Valley. That was totally wrong. I was too young and unsophisticated to be involved in a plot. I can still see him in my mind's eye. Then in the 1980's, I got involved with the Underground Railroad and took a trip to Joshua Giddings Museum in Jefferson. I saw a picture of Charlie Garlick. I said that's the man I saw sitting on that porch when I was ten years old! Only thing is, he died in 1912. Later in my research I found out that Mr. Garlick was a runaway slave who escaped to Ashtabula County in 1843 and lived in Andover, Dorset, Cherry Valley, and Jefferson. I have no idea now where that house was in Cherry Valley.
11/3/03: Ghosties at the Flat Iron Cafe? Woz shares some remarkable information--as well as her own encounters and great photographs--regarding possible hauntings at this historic Cleveland Flats establishment.
I hope someone can help
explain what is in these photos. I am not the owner of this establishment,
so I'm not
All of the pictures are
posted on my Web site at
http://www.wozofcleveland.com (an educational
demonstration site for my classes)
We'd really like to know what
is in those photos.
These are
just a small sampling of her photographs, so we strongly encourage you to
visit her
Flat Iron Cafe Ghosts
page for more photos and info. The photos are really quite
fascinating.
1/27/04: A haunted warehouse and former mortuary in Canal Fulton has opened its doors for ghost hunters like Sherri, who shares the building's spooky legends, as well as some photographs from a ghost tour of the place. Canal Fulton Ohio - Warehouse on the Canal - 239 N. Canal St. This is a 3-story brick building that was built in 1906 and was the home of Finnefrock Furniture for many years. There have been reports of apparitions in period clothing, disembodied footsteps, lights turning on and off, radio stations changing and unexplained noises. This was also home to a mortuary in the lower basement from 1916-1936. There have been high EMF readings and temp drops noted at the same time. Spirit energy has produced orbs in photographs and caused someone with physic abilities to feel "bombarded" on a recent visit. Two reports have been given from 2 separate visitors who "saw" a dead child at the bottom of the stairs to the attic. I have dowsed this building several times for spirit energy and found many spirits present and moving. This building now houses an antique mall and shops, along with a wonderful teahouse called "Let's Mango" . The building is open to the public, but the 3rd floor and basement mortuary can only be accessed during the ghost tours that they are now giving there. Reservations for tours 1-330-854-1111. Canal Fulton is a very historic town located on the Ohio Erie Canal and was a boom town for miners and canalers back in the mid 19th century. Not everything is so quaint in this town, though, after experiencing this building energies! Haunted Rogues Hollow, Cry Baby Bridge and Lock 4 are not far away. The home across the road was a stop on the Underground Railroad and has tunnels leading to the canal at one time. First photo- "basement orbs" taken in the basement mortuary
2nd photo- Dowsing for spirit energy in the basement mortuary-an orb is behind him.
3rd photo- 2nd floor moving orb
9/11/05: The coolest (or most evil) stepmother in the world takes Dumbchica and her friend on a terror ride through Rogue's Hollow. Just last night, I had a friend spend the night at my house. Around 11:30, my stepmom and stepsister, who had been staying with me that night, started telling my friend and I stories about Rogue's Hollow. The more they told us about it, the more I wanted to go. I had never heard of this place before. I have heard of crybaby bridge, but I had no idea it was so close to where I live. After all the story telling, I was convinced that I had to go. So all four of us jumped into the car and made our way to Rogue's Hollow. My friend and I were in the back seat. Once we arrived, you could just feel the difference in the mood.
They took us to crybaby bridge
first. We turned off our car and listened. I was a little freaked out.
So my friend and I were in the back seat huddled together with my head in
her lap. All I could hear were animals until, at once, I heard a very loud
screech come from under the bridge. It sounded like something metal
was coming up the side of the bridge. As my stepmom yells, "TURN ON
THE CAR, LETS GO!", it stopped. So, so we turned off the car again
(this time with my window up) and once again we heard it. We hurried
and drove away. 7/19/04: Bobby shares an interesting version of the crybaby bridge legend: I grew up in Norton, Ohio, and as a teen, spent lots of time in Rogue's Hollow. The story I learned was different from your two versions. I heard the family house was caught on fire in the middle of the winter. The mother grabbed the baby, whose clothing was on fire, and took it to the river to douse the flames. In her panic, she drowned her baby. Her wails can be heard, along with the crying baby, when you shut off your parked car on the bridge. It is said your car won't restart. I was always too afraid to try it! 4/7/04: Strange white lights and the image of a woman holding a baby...these are just a few of the sights witnessed by BoccGirl at Rogue's Hollow: I just wanted to share an experience we had last summer. It was really late and our neighbors are really into the paranormal as am I. My husband Jim just tags along to make me happy. Anyway, as with most people who grew up around here, we used to frequent Rogue's Hallow as kids. We were really bored and decided to pile into their van and go down there for old time's sake. As always, we stopped down at the bridge by the Historical Society. In all the years that we went there, nothing other than the locals getting pissed has happened. Disappointed, we drove around, deciding to explore it some more.
We decided since all the
bridges run over the same water, we would explore the other bridges.
Now, as soon as we drove over this one, our blood ran cold. My daughter woke
up out of a sound sleep and cried, saying she wanted to go home. Because we
passed over it, we had to turn around. Amanda turned the van around and we
parked on the bridge, rolling down all the windows to see if we could hear
anything. She left the lights on, but they kept dimming in and out, and I
felt really strange. I asked if anyone else was feeling anything, when
to the right of the van...there was an ear piercing, hideous scream
that sounded neither like a man or any animal I have ever heard in my life.
We all screamed, even the two men who are both close to thirty. Needless to
say, we left. Twice we passed over the bridge and every time my daughter
would wake up and cry. That did nothing to calm our fears about the place. The last time we went, I was feeling quite brave. The light was clearly visible down river and to the right. I walked over to the left side of the bridge and stared, seeing if I could see anything. This is where it gets interesting, if you want to believe local legend. This was in the summer, but, looking at the reflection in the water to the left of the river bank, the trees and everything make quite an eerie shadow. If you look, you will see what looks like a woman with her hair in a bun and a high necked dress holding out a swaddled baby in front of her. That is an intense image and you have to wonder.... We drove around for a while, trying to forget about the odd reflection and before we left, we stopped at the bridge one more time. This time, we got out and looked for the light. It had moved to the left side of the bridge and I swear on everything I own, that as we stood there looking at it, it began moving back towards the bridge where we stood. Needless to say, we all ran back to the van and got the hell out of there. I'm sure with summer coming and since I got a digital camera, I will be going back. I want to get to the bottom of whatever is out there on that bridge. We suspect we have located the real haunted bridge in Rogue's Hollow. I will take pictures both during the day and at night and send them in. If anyone else is nterested in seeing this place for themselves and seeing if they agree...I will be more than happy to send in directions.
Happy haunting! 3/31/04: Janelle shares some creepy stories and her own experiences at the infamous hollow: Back in high school, there used to be a spot that we all would frequent. Rogue’s Hollow specifically. We used to go driving around out there. As with many other urban legends it’s hard to tell what is truth and what is actual historic fact. There are stories of a “devil ghost” that would haunt this one tree that overhung the road. The stories were that he’d jump down onto your car and try and cause an accident. That limb has since been removed and the stories about the devil have ceased. There is also a ghost train. It is said that if you drove over the tracks at exactly midnight on a specific night, your car would die. You wouldn’t be able to get out or start it and you’d see the train coming. The train would then disappear right before it would hit you. That actually happened to a group of my friends one night. I am inclined to believe them because of who was there. I know he wasn’t accustomed to making up stuff and not one word of the story differed between the 4 people that were in the car. There are also stories of a witch that used to live in the hollow. There’s a barn that was said to be where she lived, or at least where she used to perform her “rituals”. The barn is actually still there. There’s another story of the witch that says she’d sacrificed some children as part of her rituals. There’s also a story that the house next to Cry Baby Bridge was home to some satanic worshippers at one point in time. We were actually chased out there once by some people who came out of that house which I believe now is home to the Rogue’s Hollow Historical Society. My story is a little weird – not really a “ghost” story exactly, as I didn’t see any. However, it was very freaky! My sisters and I were taking some friends home to Doylestown one night after being at the local Rollercade all evening. I decided to take the long way and go over Cry Baby Bridge, not an unusual thing to do. I was driving a 1981 Pontiac Catalina – basically a boat on wheels! Immediately after crossing the bridge, my headlights started to act weird. They went from normal to bright, to normal, to parking lights and then off, then back up to parking lights, normal, then bright and back down again and continued to do this for several days. I took my car to a mechanic who could find nothing wrong with the electrical wiring. I then decided to drive back over the bridge – after doing that – the lights died completely. My dad replaced the bulbs and they were fine. One night not too long after that, my cousin’s friend, who lived about 2 miles from the bridge, had a sleepover. My cousin, the friend, and I snuck out of her parents' house and went to meet some boys down at the bridge. That was the creepiest walk EVER. We agreed to meet them at 12am. We got to the bridge shortly after that, only to find that they ditched us. We didn’t hear a baby cry or anything remotely close to that, but we all felt a presence. A very heavy, sad feeling was felt by all of us. It was very strange and hard to describe. Really freaked us out! Needless to say we left rather quickly. Nothing else happened on the way back to her house.
It’s been a while since I’ve
been there, even though I still live less than 10 miles away. I’ve taken up
“ghost hunting” recently and will be returning to Rogue’ s Hollow to take
some picture and go to the various spots and see what I can feel/see/sense
and hopefully capture something in some pictures. If I find anything, I will
share it with you. We’re going to go out there soon. We’d like to go on
Friday the 13th or a full moon. I wish I could find something that would
shed some light on an actual date that the woman drowned her baby – but from
friends who claimed to hear the baby cry – it was a full moon or a Friday
the 13th that they heard it. I would LOVE to get an EVP of that!
4/6/04: A neighbor of the castle shares his thoughts and experiences: I live about 10 to 15 minutes away from Squires Castle. My dad used to take my sister and I up there to play and hike up in the woods behind the castle. I have never heard of Squires Castle being haunted until I checked out this great website. The only thing eerie or strange around the Castle is the Castle itself. It is a little out of place and unfinished. It's a nice attraction to see, and the park is beautiful. Even as a young kid, going there to play was great and I never felt anything strange in the castle or in the woods. The biggest news around here that you hear about Squires Castle is that people go up there to get 'high' or drunk or just a place for the high schoolers to schedule a fight. I even had my homecoming pictures taken there in ninth grade.
However, there was one scary
incident that happened in the woods behind the castle. My dad, sister, and I
were hiking along the trails and we got lost. For some reason, we kept
circling the same paths. It was getting dark and the park closes at
sundown, so we were worried. We seemed to keep passing the same tree with
some Indian markings on it. Obviously, we eventually made it out.
10/13/05: Orbs at Mansfield Prison? *gasp* Michelle captured some of those pesky little critters during a hunt last year: Last October, my boyfriend and I went to the reformatory for the annual haunted hunt, and being fascinated by old architecture I started to take pics of the outside building. When I looked at these pics later, I was startled to see so many orbs in the pics, especially the one where the orb is really bright. Kinda sad to think that so many souls are still attatched to that place. Here are the pics.
10/12/05: From Andy Harley:
My name is Andy Harley. As my
tiny tribute to the paranormal, and also a small dedication to your awesome
site, I would like to share with you a poem that I’ve written entitled,
“Here Comes the Chill” – which is based on taking a Ghost Hunt in the old
Ohio State Reformatory. This particular poem of mine is now actually
framed and hanging on a wall in the old Ohio State Reformatory. In the past
3 years I’ve become pretty good friends with the head tour administrator of
OSR – Jan Urban; I sent Jan the poem about a year ago, and she then
displayed it for me!
10/6/05: Melissa, a former corrections officer for the reformatory, recalls some weird experiences: I just wanted to say that I worked in Mansfield OHIO for the Reformatory as a Correctional Officer, I worked for the State of OHIO for 11 years. I have a partial retirement from the State and now I am a Police Officer. I can tell you, there was some strange things that from time to time did go on at the Reformatory, however they could of been explained as a coincidence. There was a Lieutenant, Lieutenant Johnson, who used to purposely place items in the old Furniture Factory which was located (no longer there, they tore it down when they tore down the walls) on the North East end of the yard. Now I worked the North East tower several times and I saw a person standing in the window of the Furniture Factory on the top floor (around 2 am EST) but it could have been an employee. Who was in there at that time of night without using a flashlight, who knows??? It was strange because all the lights stayed off at night, you always would know when and employee was there because of seeing flashlight. I never saw a light but a person... so that was a weird incident, still could of been an employee. The factory was full of very old heavy, large furniture. Lt. Johnson would move the furniture to see if you had found an item he had placed in there and report it to him. A lot of guards were afraid of going in there at night, or just plain lazy to do a round. I was a lazy one, and chilled at the same time. Half the time I was afraid of the very large cats, real "Garfields" with heads the size of dogs. But some of these items would come up missing, and no one would know what happened to them. A lot of stabbings took place in the Funiture factory, so that could explain the ghosts if it was really true. If you go up to the top of the range all the way to chapel, they used to keep a coffin in there. There was writing from the 1860's on the wall from inmates, and I know that a lot of them died in earlier years due to stabbings. So, all of this probably could explain a ghost or two. I heard a lot of strange unexplained noises at night, but they could of been bats, rats, or very large cats. 4/1/2004: Janelle shares this strange photo she captured at the infamous Mansfield Reformatory. She writes: This picture contains a face in some mist by the pond there. I emailed that one to a friend and he found 10 other faces in the same picture. I actually did look at it again and can see a few others, but I didn't see all that he found.
10/23/05: Jordy offers up even more creepy legends that would give any sane person pause before exploring Egypt Road Bridge: Egypt swamps at the bottom of Painter Hill in Salem are said to be haunted by a lady known as "The Lady of the Blue Mist." When the fog is out on some nights she apparently rises from the swamps. There is also a bridge called Cry Baby Bridge. There are many stories on this one. The first story tells of a lady who throws her baby over the bridge. On some nights you can hear the baby crying. I've also heard one where the lady loses the baby and finds it at the end of the bridge. As she is running over, the baby falls over the bridge. And once again, on some nights you can hear the baby crying. Eygpt road is known to the locals as the haunted road. There is also a story of the Three Pyramids. Supposedly, when the fog and the light is just right, it looks like there are three pyramids on the swamps. 8/13/05: Nikki shares her creepy experiences and some information about this cursed bridge. I live about 20 mins from the bridge itself and I went there last night for the first time. I did go at night...around midnight with 4 of my friends. We stayed on the bridge for a while then we walked the path that went further out. In your article you talk about where that path ends at a field. That field is a strip mine from years ago. And if you keep going, there is a big hill out there. That is the reason they had to close that road and bridge, because it was washing away too easily with the rain and snow. I was looking at your pictures I'm not sure if you have been back here more recently, but it has changed some. Everything is more grown over and rusted. And there is still yet more graffiti. Also, the rope is still there, it has been there for many years. In addition, there was a cult down there about 18-20 years ago. They did sacrifice many of the animals that they stole from neighboring farms. I was really young when that happened, but I do vaguely remember my babysitter taking me out there to see all of it.
I just thought I would
share some of this information. And also to tell you that it is 100
times creepier at night. I did hear the sound of babies crying. The
further you walk along that path beyond the bridge, the more you
feel like you're walking away from sanity. It is something I truly
do not think I will ever forget as long as I live.
2/23/05: Josh and his friend encounter ghostly headlights while exploring this infamous bridge: My friend Alex and I decided to visit Egypt Road after reading about it online. We wanted to see if the rumors about hearing a baby cry were true, because supposedly you are supposed to be able to hear a baby crying at night at certain times. We went in the dark, carrying a flashlight for use if needed. The old road that comes off of Egypt Road is sort of hard to find, but finally we found the location and parked the car.
In order to block any
traffic from coming onto the road, which has been closed for over 20
years, there are two gates. The first has a metal pin that goes
through two holes in the gate, holding it shut. Once we stepped over
the gate, we went down this asphalt path into the woods towards the
bridge. The bridge itself is pretty close to the main road, but
hidden enough that you won't see it at first at night. 5/2/04: Freda shares her tale of evil, morphing shadow "people" at the Egypt Road bridge. One day, I went to Egypt Road with my friend and her family. Well, my friend and I were too chicken to go in the woods, so we stayed in the car with her mom. Her dad and brother came running out of the woods screaming "there's something back there". I said "what?" They said they saw a huge white fog with something black in the middle that keeps changing form. I got really scared. Then, we all heard a moaning sound. We took off as fast as we could. Then out of the blue, there was a truck coming out of the woods. The guy was speeding up closer to us like he was trying to ram us. I got a good look at the driver. He was a shadowy person and his face looked like it was "melted." It scared us bad and before we knew it, we were safe and out.
4/13/04: Holy Shit! Fast-Freight literally crawled through the dark, claustrophobic depths of Haydenville Tunnel to give us this report and photographs of the haunted tunnel and nearby cemetery. We're not worthy. On Monday, April 12th, 2004, I went with my wife up to Haydenville to try and find that haunted RR tunnel that is mentioned on the Ohio Exploration Society's website. The sun was shining and I thought, looks like a good day for a road trip. Well, I guess I should have watched Dick Goddard the night before, because by the time we got to Mansfield it was clouding up, and by the time we hit Lancaster, it was raining. Damn, you can't win. It was after 6:00 pm, and we drove around for 45 mins looking for it. The place is so close, but so hard to find unless you know what you're looking for. It is right next to a cemetery, but there are 2 of them in town on top of the hill. One has a sign called Wolfe cemetary, the other is West of it and has a winding gravel road to the top. Next to that cemetery, I spotted an old RR abutment. We drove up near the cemetery. By then, it was a very light drizzle and the rain stopped briefly. I got out, hiked all over, and found the North tunnel entrance over the hill in the underbrush. It had slimy moss covered ties leading up to a caved-in entrance. I thought shit, no way in this way. The railroad line was a narrow gauge line of 3ft. I presume this was the gauge line because the RR ties are only about 6 footers instead of the standard 8 ft. ties. The line must have gone North into the hills a few miles to bring clay and tile products into town to deliver to the standard gauge railroad. I then climbed up over the hill in line with the North entrance to find the South entrance. I walked down right into the cemetery. This was bizarre. It looked like the tunnel was going under the cemetery. I then looked for the South entrance, which I shortly found less than 100 ft. from the west end of the cemetery. The tunnel must curve slightly to miss going directly under the cemetery. I got to the opening and took some pictures, then walked back to get my flashlight to do some exploring. My wife insisted on staying in the van and did not partake in my adventurous exploration of a tunnel by a cemetery. I got back to the tunnel with my lousy 2 battery D cell flashlight, which was not very bright, and walked into the tunnel opening. The ground outside of the tunnel entrance is really 4 inches of muck that you have to walk in to get to the entrance. Then, about 20 ft. in the opening, there is a cave-in with about a 5 ft. opening to crawl over. The tunnel is lined with a brick tile. I crawled thru the first opening, went about 50 ft., and came to another cave-in with a similar opening to crawl thru. After that, the tunnel is open for a long way in. I only went in about a hundred feet. Inside, there are still ties on the tunnel floor. The place is very creepy. There was water dripping from the ceiling and walls, and there was a thick cloudy mist. It is darker than hell in there. Also, knowing that the tunnel runs in the hill right next to a cemetery makes it more creepy! By then, my heart was pounding enough with the heebie jeebies, and I thought, "I'm getting the hell out of here!" I rate the Haydenville tunnel a 4 star rating on a whistle stop tour of creepy places to visit, but it is also an unsafe place to go crawling into and I do not recommend crawling around inside unless you have others with you and someone to stay on the outside in case of an emergency. It is definitely not OSHA approved! Below are Fast Freight's photographs of his insane exploration of the tunnel and cemetery.
6/9/04: Here's a real chiller, complete with the urban-legend trimmings of the classic homicidal killer, courtesy of Justin: I'm from a little Ohio town in Hardin County. Right off of State Route 235 heading west is a road we like to call Devil's Pitchfork. The road is occupied by two houses and is almost two miles long. The first house is set back off the road deep in the woods. Out in front of this house is a fence with a plant on it. The plant does not touch the ground and seems to be growing without any roots planted in the ground. The odd thing about the plant is that it has grown into the shape of a pitchfork. Older people from the the 60's and 70's used to call this road Lover's Lane until a couple was brutally murdered by an escaped prisoner from the Lima Correctional Institute. Its believed that the girl's boyfriend was able to wound the convict while trying to fight him off and it's said that his body was found where the pitchfork is located. In the house behind the pitchfork is where the ex-convict's son lives by himself with absolutely no power of access to his home other than walking. One Halloween me and some friends went out the for a dare, the dare was to walk from one end of devil's pitchfork to the other with no lights, we'll just say it didn't happen, we were chased off by a whitehaired man carrying an axe. I haven't been to the Pitchfork since.
7/26/04: If you ever had the feeling that there was something *not right* about Cedar Point's Frontier Trail, former employee Nicole explains why: Legend has it that the ghost of a young woman walks up and down frontier trail looking for her boyfriend / husband. She is often seen walking past CJ's Provisions in the Frontier Trail. Anyone working in that stand has reportedly felt someone there or has apparently seen someone walking by the doors when they are closed before the season begins. Strange things have happened in CJ's. If you leave a sponge on the sink in the fudge area and leave to go and do something, like take your break or go outside to get something and you come back and your sponge is gone. No one else has taken it or even seen where it went to. Then when you go back, sometimes the sponge reappears in the same place that you last left and there are only 2 of you in the stand. (I have first hand experience with this since I've worked there this past 2003 season.)
7/26/04: Unexplained noises, the ghost of a young woman, and faceless apparitions await visitors to this historic Sandusky hotel, as told by Nicole: The whole park is rumored to be haunted, and also rumored to have been built on a native burial ground.There are two known reoccurring instances of hauntings in Hotel Breakers. To get the story straight on Hotel Breakers (it was probably a seasonal employee making something up about Fridays): Hotel Breakers now has four sections, all of which were built at different places in time. The oldest and still central being of the hotel is "The Rotunda", which is named so for its circular five floored circular structure of which live it's majority of rooms. "The Lobby" is a two story structure in which contain offices and old meeting rooms on the first floor of such, the second floor has rooms that were once guest rooms, now employee dwellings. This is that which we are most interested in, for in one of the two-second floor hallways is room #169. Room #169 is the very room in which during the early 1900s, when the park was still just a beach resort, a guest by the name of Mary hung herself in her room in dismay (supposedly over a lover). Since then, employees and guests alike have had odd occurrences, disturbances, violent unseen actions, noises, and problems with electronics. The third oldest portion of the hotel is "Breakers East." This section wasn't built until the mid 90's, and is portioned into three and four floors. The occurrences in this section include sightings of "faceless apparitions" in a small combination of number. All other sightings and instances are not known as reoccurring and random.
11/12/04: Even a most level-headed local resident discovers the unexpected--and unexplained--at Panther's Hollow: We live down here in Holmes County, just outside of Berlin. We have the largest settlement of Amish in the states. But even in a small, religious community like ours, we still have our legends. Probably the best known legend in our community is "The Angel". It an actual tombstone of an angel, with large wings and eyes that follow you as you pass by. Back in high school in the 80's, that was the place to go to get creeped out. No one knows about the lady that is laid to rest there, but here is what supposedly will happen: if you go at midnight, and leave a tape recorder there, leave & come back, you will hear her heartbeat. We did this on numerous occasions, and truth be told we did hear a heartbeat. About a year after I graduated, someone broke her head off and stole it. She looks forlorn standing there without her head. The cemetary is closed at dusk, and now there is a huge spotlight that shines all night long. There are also people on lookout for trespassers at night. She can still produce shivers as you drive by at night on that lonely, little road. The second place that we always went to, (and I think the scariest!) is Panther Hollow. Located not far from the angel cemetery, it is a tiny country road that drops off another country road. As you turn onto it, you immediately start heading down, down into this deep, dark hollow. The trees are thick, towering and huge, and the darkness at night is total. It got its name from panther sightings in the 50's. It also has a crybaby bridge. No longer really a bridge, they fixed it a couple of years ago. The legend was as most crybaby bridge stories go: a lady drowned her baby there, and at night you can hear the baby cry if you park on the bridge. There was also a creepy house that used to be at the bottom of the hollow, but it burned down about 30 years ago. Also, there are huge rocks that are scattered around the hollow with things carved into them. What happened recently is what prompted me to send in this e-mail. My daughter, who is 14, and her friends love for me to drive them down to Panther Hollow and then on to the angel. It really makes one big circle. Last august 2004, on a hot, full moon night, she had some friends over and they decided they wanted to go on a ride. So the four girls and I hopped in the truck and took off. I was such a hot night there was even heat lightning. We drove through Panther Hollow, which was particularly dark that night even with the full moon. We made our way through, then on to the angel cemetery. The girls decided they wanted to go back through Panther Hollow, so we backtracked and came in from the other end of the hollow. There are no houses there either, save one Amish farm at the end of the hollow. We were driving through and came to the first of the sharp curves at the bottom of the hollow. These curves cut through the huge rocks and come out at crybaby bridge. As we rounded the first curve, I saw two figures run across the road. As much as I like doing scary stuff, I don't really have a tendency to imagine things. I decided that I wasn't going to tell the girls, especially if they hadn't seen it. But my daughter said, "MOM", and I said, "yes, I saw them too." One girl in the backseat saw them, too. The other two girls were looking out the side of the truck. When we described them to each other, they were eerily the same. Two distinct figures that were white and transparent, running (flying?) across the road where the old house used to be and crybaby bridge is located. They disappeared instantly. Now, in all the years I've gone to Panther Hollow, I've never seen anything, ever... but I know I didn't imagine it---it was there. We took off for home like a shot. We've been back since, in October, when she had her birthday party. We had a carload of 13 girls, but saw nothing. I was very scared driving down there that night...but I'm glad I went. It shows me that things only show up when they feel like it, like when you're not expecting it. I'd rank Panther Hollow as one of the scariest places in Ohio. Nothing like a deep, dark hollow to scare you silly!
10/4/04: An anonymous reader tells of a frightening experience at a Crybaby Bridge in Panther's Hollow: In Millersburg, Ohio, there is a crybaby's bridge, located down Panther's Hollow. I was with 4 of my friends and we stopped on crybaby bridge. I didn't hear any baby crying, but I did hear and saw someone walking with something in it's arms. Then, we got scared and left. As we were leaving, I heard someone scream. Also, at the end of the lane, there are two different roads. If you take the one on the left, and keep going, there is another split-off. Take the left road. After driving a while, there is a cemetery on the right. At this cemetery, there's supposed to be a witch's grave and a headless angel. It's freaky there. 7/18/04: Never Again shares this ghostly tale in the heart of Amish country: I live in Millersburg Ohio. It's a small community and is somewhat of a tourist attraction because we have a lot of Amish and Amish shops of home made furniture and things. I've never seen anything though about Millersburg on the haunted Ohio sites. We have several places in millersburg that are good places to go and see ghosts. We have a place called Panthers Hollow. I know of two people who have died in Panthers Hollow: one man had cancer and went there to blow his head off, and a woman was murdered there just in the last five years. I have lived here all my life and when I was younger, I used to go to Panthers Hollow with my friends and we would see and hear different sounds and sights. I am a mother and a grandmother now, but I will never go back as long as I live.
8/20/04: Julie and Dave share some strange, eerie photographs that they captured at the River Styx Cemetery. Yup, that's a big friggin' orb, alright:
Came across your website and
noticed River Styx Cemetery listed in your cemetery pages. We have picked up
quite a few encounters from this cemetery. We thought we'd send you a couple
of photos. The Orb was taken at night (of course). It was taken on a
clear evening last fall. As for the photo of the face, it was taken in the
underground cavern and that was taken around 4 p.m. and that was from this
summer. We thought you might find these as interesting as we did.
Webmistress note:
The "cavern" is
actually an underground crypt. It is said that an apparition
of a woman in white will appear in this area. She is a
benevolent entity, which is more than what we can say about those
surly cows!
10/3/04: John shares his creepy experiences while exploring the Wisner Road crybaby bridge in Kirtland, and comes up with an interesting theory about the haunting: A friend and I had found out about this bridge and went to check it out. Here is how the bridge works: You need to park your car half on and half off. Tonight, at midnight, we did this. First, we heard the sounds of the water rushing and the crickets. Suddenly, it faded out. Then, we started to hear this *whooshing* sound. At first, it started really low, but quickly got louder. It sounded like someone breathing deeply. While this sound was going on, we could hear a very faint cry... an unmistakable cry, I might add. Then, I felt the around around us getting colder. At this point, we left. It was just too creepy. All the hairs on my body stood on end. I might add that during this trip to the bridge, neither of us were under the influence of anything. No beer. No pot. Before tonight, I have gone to the bridge twice, but experienced nothing. This was mainly because we were all the way on the bridge. This time, though, we got quite a difference experience. My friend thinks that maybe that is where a body is buried, and that this person died while being half on and half off the bridge, crushed under the weight of a car. 9/18/04: Just incredible. Joe shares this fascinating, extraordinary account of playing with mysterious children in Franklin Castle while he was a child. I have a very true story concerning the Franklin Castle that happened many years ago. First of all let me assure you that I am no quack, no matter how strange all of this may sound. I am a retired US Navy Chief and now am an Independent Investor. I am not attempting to write a book or anything else like that. I simply need to tell someone this who may understand even a little. Today, I was going through a scrap book my Mother put together for me as I was growing up. She did this for all of her Children. Anyway, I came across this newspaper article from about 1980 with a picture of the Franklin Castle with a picture of a self-proclaimed psychic Eleanora Bernstein standing in front. This aroused my curiosity and I typed in Franklin Castle into Yahoo and thus found your website. Now to why this all makes sense to me: I used to live on Dexter Ave, just down the street from the Franklin Castle. I had two older Sisters. One summer day in 1962, my older Sister decided to take me and my other Sister to meet some new friends she had found. Unknowingly to my Mother, the three of us left the back yard and walked up the street to the Franklin Castle. My Sister told us we had to go through "this door and go to the 3rd floor. " So we did. I remember climbing the stair case, and my Sister knocked on the door. A little girl opened it and invited us in. I remember us going into the room and playing with these three kids. We must not have stayed very long because my Sister said "Let's go, I just wanted you to meet them" and we left and returned to our back yard. At that time, Mom did not even know we were gone. A day or two later we did the same thing again--we walked to the castle, went up to the 3rd floor, and knocked on the door. However, this time, a man opened the door. He was slender, dark hair, nicely dressed, I would say thinking back on it now that he was in his 40's. He looked at the three of us and said "The Children Cannot Play Today." We said OK and left the castle. When we returned home Mother was standing out front of the house on the sidewalk watching us walking home. She was mad as a hornet; "Where have you kid's been?", she shouted. My Sister told her that we had gone to the Franklin Castle to play with the new kids. "What new kids?" Mother said. "The kid's on the 3rd floor," my younger Sister replied. When our Father got home from work, Mother told him of what we had done. When she told him of the kids on the third floor, he said, "That proves they are fibbing to you, you can't get to the third floor. The owner has it closed off, and no one lives up there." "Yes you can!" we all shouted. "We played up there with the kids." The next day, our parents took us to the Castle. We meet (I assume) the owner. He allowed us in and we walked through the door we had entered before. However, this time, there was a closed, locked door at the bottom of the stair case. He unlocked it and opened it to show us. The steps looked very old, as if they were not used in many years. The owner informed us that no one uses or even goes up there much any more. I was just four years old when all of this happened. My Sisters and I sometimes will talk about it. We know what we saw and did at the Franklin Castle, and now today I finally read about the other strange things that happened there in the past. 10/23/04: The spirits of insane Civil War soldiers, suicidal children, and even dogs wander the lonely, dark trails....and they're not happy. Allie shares more: Only a few people know about the hauntings of Euclid Forest. It is located right behind the I-90 overpass. There is sort of a trail off of Euclid Avenue, but it is no secret to the librarians of Euclid Library. In the middle of the woods near the overpass and very close to a local teen party spot, there are remains of a civil war insane asylum and children'shospital (which is pretty big). As the story goes, sometime in the 1800's the old hospital broke out in flames, taking the lives of many children and soldiers and two great danes. I have seen them myself, and they are not very friendly. The woods around this fire pit is the creepiest place to stay at night. Most say it's haunted. I think it is possessed. On fine, muggy nights, the woods come alive and seem to watch you. I cannot remember how many times I have been chased out of the forest. One night, four of my friends and I went into the woods, set up a tent and built a fire. While we were there, we felt that we were not alone. We heard loud cracking sounds coming from the tree branches above, as if they were breaking under the weight of something large. Then, two very large, pale white great danes appeared and began circling us, creating a a large white mist. Then, they vanished. As soon as they were gone, we booked it out of there as fast as we could. As we were leaving, we could hear laughter from both sides of the trail. The voices sounded like they were coming from right in front of us. Also in the forest, there is a very large brick bridge, dating back to the early 1800's. It is said that after the fire at the hospital, the children who escaped got lost in the woods and had no food or water. Believing that they were miles away from civilization, they entered into a suicide pact. One by one, they hung themselves off the side of the bridge. If you should ever wander to that bridge at night, walk the trail of the dead and over the bridge toward the ruins of the hospital, and sit and listen, you will hear some strange things. However, try not to get caught. Many people, especially around Halloween, will try and party up there. The police will patrol the area and may arrest you. Also, respect the area--don't vandalize it or destroy it. If you do, a great dane might get ya. 10/28/04: Eskimo Tailor writes of mysterious underground tunnels hidden near Towner's Woods. Note: Please heed the warning at the end of this submission. Assuming the tunnels are still in existence, they are likely to be very dangerous: I went to school in Kent and lived at Brady Lake for a year and often poached the trails at Towners Woods at night on my mountain bike. I never experienced anything strange there. However, if you follow those tracks in towards Kent, you can find some really freaky stuff. There is an old turnstile maybe a mile Northeast of Kent. In that area while riding one day, a friend of mine and I found an opening in the ground to an underground tunnel. Supposedly these tunnels run all the way into Kent and I don't have any reason to doubt it. I actually got into a similar tunnel under one of the buildings on campus one night. Anyway, there was strong evidence of cult activity at this particular opening. First, there was a crude noose hanging from a tree near the opening. Then, my friend and I, like a couple of idiots decided to go into the tunnel. We found some plastic to burn as a torch and went inside. We headed up the tunnel, which is probably only about 3.5 feet high, in a Northeast direction, back towards Towners Woods. We went maybe 30 to 40 feet and the tunnel opened up into a room full of milk crates and wooden spools for tables and chairs. There were candle remnants and plastic vampire teeth everywhere. I warn
everybody that these are very old tunnels and there is most likely a very
good chance of collapse, so be careful, and don't go alone. 11/6/04: What? You mean some of the stories about Helltown and Jaite may have been based upon *gasp* pranks? Say it isn't so! Dirt Lawyer makes a little confession: The Ghost Train In the mid 1970's we used to play a fun trick at the train crossing in Jaite just east of those yellow buildings that now serve as park offices but then were company housing for men who worked at the Jaite Mill. Back then, the crossing was a treacherous mess. The tracks were on different levels. Much of the ground between them was washed away by flood waters so the bed was more than a foot below the ties. You had to cross those tracks very slowly and carefully to avoid ripping the crap out of the bottom of your car. OK, so now the scene is set. Most nights that valley filled with pea soup fog and this crossing was at the exact spot where the visibility was almost nil. We'd stand on the tracks about 10 feet in from the side of the road giggling ourselves into near hysterics waiting for a car to reach the crossing. Our supplies were simple: one 8 inch wide hi-beam flashlight and one aerosol-powered air horn. Can you see where I'm going with this? As soon as a car would get one front wheel over the outside rail and we heard it clunkd down hard onto the bed, we'd hit that spotlight and blast the airhorn. My God, but it was funny! The poor drivers would naturally gun the engine to clear the tracks before the train hit them and off would come all sorts of stuff from their cars' undercarriages. Mufflers, exhaust pipes, even a few bumpers. Sometimes the puzzled drivers would stop a few feet up the road and wonder what happened to the train that a second earlier had been bearing down upon them. It's time I fessed up. We pulled lots of other pranks in that valley. Maybe we're the reason Jaite and Helltown are considered haunted.
11/30/04: Darcy shares information, as well as some photographs, on the headless warlock's grave in Tuscarawas County: In Tuscarawas county, just outside of New Philadelphia, there is a crazy creepy little cemetery on a hill, at the intersection of Ridge Road and University Drive (University Drive passes the Kent State Tusc campus and Buckeye Career Center, the local vocational school). I have no clue what the actual name of the cemetery is, but everyone calls it the Warlock's Grave. There is a strange formation of black rectangular stones in a rectangle shape, with one larger stone at one end. The legend is that the warlock (who as far as I know is nameless) is buried beneath the rectangle, and his head is encased within the largest stone. Supposedly if the head and body are reunited, he will come back to life. A cheesy, vague story, but everyone gets scared up there at night nonetheless. One night back when I was 16 or so, I went up there with a couple friends. We brought a camera and were taking pictures in the car. As soon as we entered the fence, the camera wouldn't work. At the time it seemed like the warlock was warning us something, although now I tend to think that my friend just panicked and couldn't find the right buttons. Besides the Warlock's Grave, there are quite a few old tombstones. Here are the photos taken by Darcy of the cemetery and warlock's grave:
5/2/05: Dim the lights real low to get the full horrific effect of Kari's Top Ten List of All Things Evil at Woolyburger cemetery. Yowza.
Hello, I have also
visited the cemetery, which is also known as the "Little
Pennsylvania Cemetery". Wooly Burger is a name it gained over time
due to the rumors of a large Big Foot-like creature living back
there. I have never experienced a "Big Foot" encounter but I have
definitely experienced many different things back there such as... 1/22/05: Big hairy monsters, strange lights, and blood-curdling sounds are just some of the things Nicky experienced while exploring the haunted Woolyburger Cemetery in Darbydale: I heard of this place called Woolyburger. It's a cemetery off route 665 in Darbydale, Ohio. This is a scary cemetery, and the scariest place I have ever been too. The story is that there is a monster that is hairy called the Woolyburger. I haven't seen it. I doubt it too, but there are ghosts. There are a lot of woods and trails here. Myself and others heard screams and all kinds of weird noises while walking along the trails and in the cemetery. We also saw red lights. Once, we were even chased by something. The locals say that a family named Woolyburger once lived out in the woods a long time ago. A lot of teens hang out there and cults, too. I have seen fires with people chanting wearing black robes. When they left, I checked the area out and there were containers with animal parts in it. Something is out there and it always watches.
1/12/05: Roger Ganley (host of the excellent WRUW 91.1 radio show Children of the Metal Movement) shares these creepy cemetery photos he captured while touring the Haunted South. The first one, I took in a very old graveyard in Mississippi in September 2004. The second one is from a cemetery I visited on October 31st in New Orleans. Tell me what you think.
1/1/05: Paper Hanger shares his take on the tragic, haunted legend of Leroy's Bridge, as well as his own creepy experiences with "The Walking Dude": While I was living in West Salem, I heard of a local legend called Leroy's Bridge. I lived about 2 miles away from the bridge, but it's not the story or the bridge itself that still send a chill up my spine.. but it may or may not be something worth checking out... As the story goes, Leroy was a black man who was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan back in the 20's for making eyes with a white woman. He was hung on one of the oak trees that shade the bridge and left to rot. Iit was considered a warning to others, Leroy was an "example." Well, SOMEONE took the body down and it has yet to be found. However, the rope with the noose hole was still hanging--it was as if the body vanished. I dont know if this story holds any water, because its something the old timers who were around at the time in the towns of West Salem and Congress don't talk about, they just shrug it off. With small towns like this, nobody talks about past events like THAT. Also, I don't think it is something that would show up in the newspapers, even during Jim Crowe times. The bridge itself is pretty unremarkable. It's about 15 feet long over a shallow creek, and vandalized all to hell. But, I have seen a mysterious specter, called "the walking dude" (I still get goose bumps thinking about it) by the people who lived on the road my house was on (Ruff Road, which turns into Overton Road after you cross 604). Others say "the walking dude" is Leroy and his pursuers. But it is either the top half of a man running, or the bottom half of SOMEONE walking at a fast paced stride. I have seen the bottom half numerous times, mostly outside walking in the direction towards the bridge, and the top half only once, RUNNING in the direction of the bridge. In my house, it always felt like there was something watching, and it was always cold, even in the summer, but we did not have air conditioning. According to the legend, the leader of the lynch mob used to own the property I lived on. I have family names of people who were involved in the lynching, but I wouldn't know where to begin to look to get to the bottom of it. I think the story may have some merit, but is more of human reasoning for the ghosts that haunt the area I have looked at other sites, and all they say about Leroy's Bridge is that he fell off and died, which is amazing considering that the creek bed is about 6 feet below the bridge itself. Also, there is talk about a satanic cult, which was the first I ever heard of THAT. I don't know if you have already looked this legend up and figured it isn't worth mentioning, or even cared to look at it, or heard of it. But I thought I would send you guys a line and tell you what I know of the story. Leroy's Bridge is just a corner stone. Drive down some of the back roads at night, especially Franchester Road leading into Congress. Those roads are haunted.
5/12/05: Don't go messin' around with Old Man Tinker's turf or suffer the consequences, as Michelle K. had learned the hard way: O.k. It was December 17th, 2001. My sister, my best friend, a buddy, and I decided to go out on a little spook hunt. Now there isn't that much in Ashtabula county, so you know we had to find something to do. We ran out to the truck stop out on State Route 193 and grabbed something to eat. My best friend mentioned that we weren't that far from Tinker's Hollow, and asked us if we wanted to go. We thought, "why not? Nothing better to do." So, we went out there. Now the stories I always heard about the place involved a young guy and girl who drove down to the bridge to hang out. The car stalled on the bridge. The boy looked at the girl and said he was going to get help and left the girl in the car. Hours go by and the guy doesn't return. Then, the girl heard something dripping on the roof and a slight brushing, too. She got out of the car and found her boyfriend hanging from the bridge, with his feet are scraping the top of the car. It was said that Tinker did it to protect his gold... Anyway, my friends and I go down there and drive onto the bridge. It was raining cold and everyone at this point was scared to get out of the car. So, we turned it into a dare. I jumped out like I was all big and bad, looked down at the river and got back in the jeep. We sat there for like 20 minutes on the bridge. We flashed the lights 3x, turned off the engine, all that great stuff. Nothing happened at first. So, so we decided to leave. As we backed off the bridge, it seemed like something had picked up my friend's Wagoneer. Then, it threw us down the side of the embankment of the river. The whole cab of the Jeep lit up like someone turned on a light switch. It was very odd. After we all climbed out, we checked out the tire marks thinking we did something wrong in backing up. But, to our discovery, the tire tracks stopped on the bridge (mind you this is a dirt road), then started back again 10 ft away and half way down the side of the slope. To this day, I still have a scar from where I got cut on my arm. Only I don't have a clue how I got the cut.
CHESTNUT GROVE CEMETERY (WITCHES' HILL) 4/23/05: Bonnie provides another reason why this old cemetery has a freaky reputation (and why you should never go drinking at a haunted cemetery at night): When I was a teen, we went to Chestnut Cemetery a few days before Halloween, about 1978. We found the [witch's] grave, because the fence was still up. But there was a phallic gravestone, with odd writing on it unlike anything I've ever seen. When we got there, the gate on the fence was open. According to the legend, this meant that the witch was out. We all thought, "what a bunch of crap", and we had a few beers. Then, the gate began to close. My friends took off, but I watched it close itself and clank shut. I thought I'd take this experience to my grave before I found this site. I went there a few years later and saw that the stone was gone, God help the poor bastard that stole that!
4/14/05: Leon shares his very brutal experience at Gore Orphanage. Coincidence? Or was there something more sinister at play? Read on and decide for yourself:
On our way home we stopped on a bridge with all sorts of spray painted words and symbols on it right outside of where we had just came from. I got out of the car and was being arrogant and yelling and raising hell . . . being the typical juvenile high school student. After a little bit of this, I got back in the car and we started to drive. Everybody was quiet and said that they felt some kind of eerie feeling, it felt like something just wasn't right. On our way
home the two vehicles that we drove up went different ways. The one I was in
was driving and an animal ran into the road. So, my friend who was driving
swerved. We ended up hitting the ditch backwards and flipping the car four
times. I Always wear my seat-belt, but this one time for as long as
I've been in cars I was not. I got thrown around in the car and ended up
with a concussion, glass in my pants, and scrapes all over my face. My
back is still messed up from this accident though I've been going to the
chiropractor for almost a year now. When I got out of the car the
first thing I saw was a mailbox with house address 6662.
8/12/05: Katie shares some tales and asks for info on this apparently evil little place. There's a street in the Indian Hills area around Cincinnati that is called Spooky Hollow (not to be confused with Spooky Ridge which is nearby). According to hordes of teenagers, it is haunted to all hell and back. Supposedly, you come to a driveway where you cross a wooden bridge and end up at a "devil worship church". Also, there's a version where you come to a dead end street that has a sign reading: "Welcome to Sleepy Hollow". My boyfriend and I have spent several hours and a lot of gas over three different nights trying to find these places. I've done some research over several haunted Ohio sites and found nothing in regards to this place. I was wondering if you've ever heard of it, or maybe have even been there?? Webmistress Note: We have not heard of these particular legends associated with the Sleepy Hollow/Indian Hills area. One would think that with a town that has an actual road named "Spooky Hollow," there would be. The closest thing we have heard has to do with "Satan's Hollow," but the legends are not similar to this one. Hopefully, you folks out there might know of these legends and share some info.
8/11/05: A wicked, red-eyed farmer's ghost is said to still guard the site of some alleged grisly killings. This anonymous reader tells more: There's a
spooky house on Jerry City Road by Wayne. The home is said to be haunted by
a crazed father, his two children, wife, and dog. One night the man came
home no one knows what set him off, but he killed his two children, wife,
and his Dog. After the job was finished he went out to an old barn and hung
himself.
9/18/05: While looking for cheap thrills at Hatchet Man Cemetery, Jeremy and his friends witness a phantom truck and are stalked by a ghost light. Creepy. One night around 9:30 me, my friend Jim, April, and her boyfriend Brad were all out in Jim's car wanting to have the living crap scared out of us. So we decided to go to a place known as Hatchet Man Cemetery. We were all just relaxing and having fun on the way. We were just being regular kids, acting goofy. As we pulled up, the weirdest thing and creepiest thing happened. A truck drove straight at the cemetery gates. Jim slammed on the brakes, and we all stared as the truck literally DISAPPEARED as it hit the gate. He pulled into the little gravel lot in front of the gates that the truck had come from. We all hopped out for a minute and he turned the car off. We all stared at the gates, not quite sure what had happened. We all figured it was a figment of our imaginations, and hopped back in the car. Jim put the key in the ignition and tried to start the car, but it wouldn't start. He tried again, nothing. It took 6 attempts for the car to start, and as we began to pull out we saw a flash of light. We were already freaked out and Jim stepped on the gas. We flew down the roads, seeing the flash of light the whole time behind us, as if it was following us. You can believe what you want, but this is a true story. It happened in March of '05.
ABBEYVILLE: CRYBABY BRIDGE AND SATANIC CHURCH
10/23/05: Todd encounters things infinitely more frightening than a crying baby in Abbeyville: I have always been intrigued by the supernatural and by ghost stories in general. I have one in particular that has haunted me for some time. I was out with two of my friends one October night back in 1996 when I experienced a very strange and eerie encounter with "the unexplained".
We had always heard of
the legend of Cry Baby Bridge in Abbeyville (Valley City, Ohio) so
we checked it out one Friday night (around 12:30am). As we
approached the bridge, we saw a mysterious figure dressed in a white
sheet on the side of the road just standing there. As we came closer
to it, it looked almost transparent. The night was very windy and we
thought that maybe it was just some debris that had fallen upon the
trees, but it became clear to us that it was a figure of a human.
The figure was pointing out into the distance. We looked to see
exactly where it was pointing at. There was a church on the top of
the hill (a very sinister-looking church) with a fire burning in the
back. We turned to quickly look back at the figure, but it had
disappeared. It made no sense. My friends decided to drive up the
top of the hill, where the church was located. Inside the church, we
could see a red glow coming out of the windows. There was a
graveyard in the back to where we walked to and what we saw creeped
us out. The fire that we saw from the bridge was actually a cross
that was on fire. The cross was burning upside-down. 9/14/05: Amy and her friends get more than they bargained for while exploring the Abbeyville crybaby bridge area. What part of "satanic" did they not understand? I have a very creepy story about both places named here. My friends and I were at the bridge, parking in the church parking lot behind a wall so we couldn't be easily seen. As we got out of the car, we heard really low, animalistic growls. There were inhuman noises coming from inside the satanic church. There were no lights, and we headed quickly through the graveyard to the bridge. The first night (out of 3) was a full moon. I fully admit, going through a graveyard on a full moon was a stupid idea, since I am extremely sensitive to certain "things." We had a video camera with audio during the first 2 nights. As we walked through the graveyard, we heard footsteps--not the light animal footsteps, but really heavy ones--all around us. We got on top of the bridge & there was a light mist. As I looked towards my friend, a face appeared between my fiance and my best friend. I got freaked out and wanted to leave. As we walked back to the car, the sanctuary was lit from the inside, including candlelight. But by the time we reached the car, it was pitch black again. (It was around 2 or 3 in the morning every time we left, so who could possibly be in the church?) Every night we returned, the same light incident would happen, pitch black & growls, lights as we walked back, pitch black when we reached our car. On the third night, our last visit, we took pictures. It was a clear night, no fog, no mist, no clouds. In these photos, there are quite a few unexplained images.
9/11/05: Ted shares some strange photos taken around the Lock Tender's cabin at Lock Four. Very, very interesting. Is it the apparition of a man or a mind trick caused by the foliage in the background? You decide. Recently my girlfriend and I visited Lock 4 after reading about it on your website. We took some photos around the canal. One of the photos taken behind the cabin turned up a very odd discovery. It appears to be a apparition. The face is pretty clear with a body semi-visible. I've enclosed the picture with it circled,and also a cropped copy of just the apparition.
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9/2/05: The watchful
spirit of Chief Logan saves
Jim's bratty Boy Scout hide.
Many years ago, while I was in the Boy Scouts, we traveled to Yellow Creek, which was said to be the area in which Chief Logan was settled. Our scoutmaster at the time said the grounds we camped on were haunted by Chief Logan's ghost. Being the little brats that we were, we just shrugged it off and at about 10 p.m., hit the sack for some shut eye. This is when my friend and I began to hear odd sounds from the outskirts of the camp. Well, we being in the same tent "snuck out" and wandered out in the woods about 30 to 60 feet from our tent. Being quiet so no one would hear us, WE BOTH saw a figure that looked like an Indian, and it waved us away from the area. As we ran our little butts off screaming and hollering, our scoutmaster began to scold us for being out. It was then we told him of what we saw. He chuckled and said we were seeing things, and made sure we were in our tents every hour by checking on us.
That Sunday evening, a horrible storm hit our area. We found out at our Scout meeting later that week that a large tree had fallen on the exact spot where we were camping. I guess old Chief Logan's ghost warned us of our fate, and we were lucky.....
8/15/05: Tim shares some creepy photos taken at the old orphanage:
These are some pictures that
are much more convincing than anything I've seen on your site. I'm not
bragging, but I have almost undeniable proof of spirits: 99 % plus good,
and 1% evil. I will submit 2 photos: One good and one evil. One is from
the attic of the infirmary, and one is just outside the tunnel leading
from the infirmary inside the surgery/shock treatment building. You can clearly see the orbs in the attic. I've made friends with the children by leaving a Dr. Suess' Green Eggs and Ham book and a pile of pennies, both of which were not there on my second visit the night I took these photos. The first night I took pictures in the same areas rendered no orbs (same camera). I was, however, able to find one image in the basement of two shadowy figures holding each other in a comforting manner. That was the only photographic anomaly my first night. Now I feel the children want me there. I feel drawn to them. But in the building after the tunnel, there is a presence that is dark and ominous. You will see this "entity" in the top left of photo. It was so horrible to me that I couldn't look at that photo for two days after I reviewed the photos on my camera. Enjoy!
Webmistress Note: The image on the bottom right was enhanced by me to bring out the image in question. It is difficult to say whether this is an apparition, or a pattern on the back wall. Nonetheless, it has a neat, Michael Myers charm to it.
10/22/05: One student shares the legends and his exploration of this Portage County haunt: A few years ago, a girl hung herself in a small chapel below my dorm room. A while later, another student slit his throat there. I don't know all the specifics about the suicides, but the chapel was shut down with no explanation given. Since then, people have heard movement and noises down there at night, and lights will appear on in the chapel for no reason at times. When we try to open the door, it is always locked up. Finally, we broke into the chapel one night. Everything is still down there, but you can tell there has been no one down there since it was locked up. We didn't go in the whole way because we were too scared, but I hope to go back down soon for pictures. This is definitely one of the scarier places I have been to even though it is pretty small.
10/23/05: Aisha's experience at this cemetery just goes to show that you never know what you might take home with you.
Ridgelawn Cemetery is an OLD cemetery located in Lorain County - bordered by
Gulf Road (east) and Cleveland Street (south). I have spent many days (and
nights!) walking through the area looking at some of the old and unique
grave markers. I went
looking for this marker one day and found it - with very little effort. Kind
of creepy - see photo!
10/1/05: Josh's chilling exploration of one of the barns would make even a skeptic wet his pants: I was
looking around you website and came across your Seven Barns legend. Not sure
if you are interested in investing any further into that, considering there
are probably tons of 'Seven Barns' cases, but I thought I would share with
you a Seven Barns legend we have here in a suburb of Akron.
10/26/05: Ashley offers up this, um, interesting variation of the legend: The more well-known legend surrounding the witches grave is that if, on Halloween, you pee on it, the pee will quickly rise off the grave. Not particularly astounding, as its often cold up here on Halloween, but it's a fun trip to make. However, when peeing on this mysterious stone, I recommend being very careful. The roads are windy, and the Kirtland Police seem to come out of nowhere sometimes. They won't appreciate you peeing on the grave, but they'll just chase you away if you say you came only for a look. |
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