Stetson House

 Built in 1810, the second oldest house in Waynesville, Ohio was originally a wagon maker's house.  By the 1860s, the house was owned by Louisa Stetson Larrick, older sister to John Stetson, creator of the famed Stetson Hat.

The Stetson House
Photo Credit: Trendy Bindi's Boutique

John came to stay with his sister Louisa in the 1860s. He had been cut off from the family hat-making business and was in poor health, suffering from tuberculosis and asthma. Louisa cared for him while his health recovered, and he developed a new style of hat made from the animal hides he'd accumulated traveling out west - the first American Cowboy Hat. Louisa loaned him the money to get his new company off the ground when he left.

When John recovered, he moved on to Philadelphia, started his Stetson Hat company, and was hugely successful. What did Louisa get for her trouble? He paid her back the exact amount of her original investment (not even any interest payment, dude, really??) and left her with tuberculosis.  Louisa passed away in 1879.

Louisa's ghost is said to linger in the house, although there are claims that the spirit could also be that of a schoolteacher who lived in the house in the early 1900s. 

The spirit is said to be full body apparition of a small, dark-haired woman, wearing an old-fashioned high-collared dress and gloves. She has been spotted in the doorway of the home and trying to enter the neighboring shops.

Visitors have reported seeing the apparition, as well as felt her presence. One visitor reported being touched by fingers on the back of her neck. A visitor caught a snapshot that appears to show the manifestation, you can check out his story and photos here. It's also said that mirrors in the house refused to stay hung and would crash to the ground.

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Angel of the Garden Tea Room

 In case I haven't mentioned it before, Waynesville, Ohio has often been called "the most haunted village in Ohio." Growing up south of Waynesville in Cincinnati, I got to enjoy lots of the haunted events there every fall. 

Angel of the Garden Tea Room, located on Main Street, has been the source of reports of a male spirit looking out of the upstairs window. Human bones were discovered in the upstairs of the property in the 1950s, and it's believed that the bones are those of the spirit who haunts the property.

Unfortunately, I can't really find much information about this location, nor can I find any photos, so I can't say how reliable the sources are regarding this particular manifestation. If you have some more information or some pictures you'd like to share, send them my way! And I'll include them here.

Do you have any information or personal experiences to share about this entry? Let us know in the comments, and your contribution could be included in a future update to this entry!

Spook Hollow Bridge

Found in the very small town of Oregonia, Ohio, the Spook Hollow Bridge sits on one side of a very dangerous 90 degree turn. I didn't know of any hauntings surrounding this bridge until recently, though I've driven over it a few times and can attest to how dangerous that turn can be for someone not heeding the warnings.

Spook Hollow Bridge, Oregonia Ohio
Photo Credit: Hippie Refugee Blog

This truss bridge in rural Ohio is deadly. Not much information is available about the bridge, but the legend goes like this:

Some teens were driving late one night and missed the 90 degree turn to make the bridge. They ended up crashing into the Little Miami River instead, with one of girls in the car ending up decapitated in the crash. Supposedly her head was never found. (Trust me, rural Ohio has stories like this everywhere.) It's said that if you stop on the bridge at midnight you can hear her missing head drop on your car. People have also said that they've seen her headless ghost roaming around the area.

I haven't located any documentation of the accident to say whether it really happened or not, or any more details about the legend than what's included here. If you have any more details, let me know! I'll update this entry in the future if any more information becomes available.

Do you have any information or personal experiences to share about this entry? Let us know in the comments, and your contribution could be included in a future update to this entry!

The Loveland Castle (Chateau Laroche)

Built by and reputed to be haunted by Harry Delos Andrews, Chateau Laroche, or as it's better known to locals, the Loveland Castle, is modeled after a 16th century castle, with updates to include what were considered "modern" conveniences for the time it was built.

Chateau Laroche
Photo Credit: Rich Gabe

Harry Delos Andrews was born in New York in 1890. He developed an obsession over the course of his life with medieval history and knighthood. He joined the WWI efforts as a medic, as he was a conscientious objector. Most stories about him make the point that his objection specifically was to modern methods of warfare, so I found it important to mention that here as well.

At one of his duty stations he contracted meningitis, as did a large number of the others stationed there. He didn't fare well, was presumed dead, and sent to the morgue. A doctor in the morgue injected him with an experimental drug - adrenaline - and he woke. That doctor saved his life.

However, as a result of that situation, he had been declared dead. Six months later he had to be declared alive once again, but by then his fiance had married someone else. Andrews ended up a lifelong bachelor with no children.

Harry Andrews and Chateau Laroche
Photo Credit: The Loveland Castle

After he recovered and was found to be very much alive, Andrews was sent to Chateau de la Roche in France as a hospital administrator. It was there that he began his plan to build a castle when he returned to America.

When he left the army in the 1920s, Andrews moved to Ohio. Active in his church and the community, he organized a group for boys called the Knights of the Golden Trail. Similar to the boy scouts and an outgrowth of the Sunday School group he taught, they pledged to follow the Ten Commandments, and Andrews provided lots of solid advice about clean outdoor living - and camping trips.

At the time, the Cincinnati Business Courier, a local paper, was offering parcels of land in Loveland along the Little Miami River as a  gift to accompany a 6 month subscription. Several parents of the Knights had taken advantage of this offer, and they donated this land to the use of the Knights for their many camping trips. 

Over time, Andrews found that he and the Knights were camping enough that gear was being left behind in the woods, and he built two stone structures for them to use which would end up being the beginning of his castle.

Arial View, Loveland Castle
Photo Credit: WKRC Television

Construction began on the castle itself in 1929, when Andrews bought the land from the parents. He used rocks from the nearby Little Miami riverbed, bricks he formed himself using concrete he poured into milk cartons, and stones that were given to him as gifts by friends and visitors.

Andrews devoted his life to building the castle, carrying buckets of stones from the river to the construction site himself. He worked every weekend until he retired in 1955 and began working on the castle full time. 

As it was his home, he lived there as he built the castle, and until his death in 1981, when he was severely burned in a trash fire on the grounds and passed on as a result of his extensive injuries. When he died, he willed the castle to the Knights of the Golden Trail, who continue to maintain it. The Knights have extensively renovated and upgraded since Andrews' death.

Loveland Castle Arches
Photo Credit: r/OhioTraveler

MANIFESTATIONS

Obviously the majority of the incidents reported are attributed to the ghost of Harry Andrews himself. Objects go missing or get moved. A voice may be heard, or a figure seen wandering the garden or looking out from the battlements.

A female entity has been reported as walking across the river and sitting in the seats above the garage. She is believed to be the ghost of a moonshiner's wife who died nearby on the river when an explosion of their still caused a whiskey barrel to slam into her.

A Viking entity is also believed to haunt the castle, potentially attached to one of the swords on display. This entity has been seen by the north round part of the castle wearing a long dark cloak, a spiked helmet, and carrying a short, wide sword across his chest. He is thought to be the entity who rings the doorbell and knocks on the door.

Do you have any information or personal experiences to share about this entry? Let us know in the comments, and your contribution could be included in a future update to this entry!

Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum

Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati is the largest cemetery in the state of Ohio and the third largest in the United States. Chartered in 1845, its founders, the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, drew influence for its design from Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France, and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Photo Credit: Gardens of Greater Cincinnati

Named for the springs and groves found within the rolling hills of the cemetery and, notable graves include Civil War General Joseph Hooker, feminist/abolitionist writer Frances Wright, Kroger founder Bernard Kroger, and both the father and son of President William H. Taft.

Landscape architect Adolph Strauch detailed intricate plans for ornate tone fountains, peaceful lakes, carvings of angels, and beautiful greenery and flowers. The results of his initial design have made the cemetery widely regarded as one of the most beautiful in the nation. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Dexter Family Mausoleum
Photo Credit: J. Miles Wolf

REPORTED MANIFESTATIONS

The Dexter Family Mausoleum, shown here, sits off on a more secluded cliffside location. Two teens claimed to have seen ghostly white dogs with blue flaming eyes growling and howling from the mouth of the crypt. It's been said that seeing the dogs is a bad omen.

Workers in the cemetery have also occasionally reported white wolves patrolling the area surrounding the crypt. (For reference, there are absolutely no wild wolves in the Cincinnati area).

There have also been many reports by workers that something or someone grabbed their legs.

I haven't been able to locate any video, photographic, or audio evidence of any of these manifestations to say they happened or to prove they were faked.

I can, however, speak with some authority regarding the bust of Charles Breuer, which sits at the center of a large obelisk above his grave. It is said that the eyes of the bust follow visitors as they walk around, and one visitor reported that one of the eyes came free from the bust, still watching him as it rolled on the ground. It was even rumored by some that the eyes in the bust were actually the real human eyes of Breuer himself.

Grave of Charles Breuer
Photo Credit: A Grave Interest

In actuality, Charles Breuer was a optometrist. He chose to have glass eyes installed in the bust, which is why they look so realistic and seem to follow you as you walk back and forth before the grave stone. There is nothing supernatural about the grave of Charles Breuer.

My overall assessment is that Spring Grove Cemetery likely contains nothing more than the average supernatural energy of any cemetery: it is a peaceful resting place for souls who have crossed over and may occasionally enter our plane to give reassurance to cemetery visitors that they have reached the afterlife.

The stories of hauntings are few, and most likely the result of overactive imagination, such as with the story of the teens seeing dogs guarding the mausoleum doorway. Teens in a cemetery at night? It's easy to see where this story came from.

As always, however, I cannot say with certainty that I believe a place is haunted or not without an investigation or some kind of documentation of the haunting, but the information here can give some background for anyone looking to plan a ghost hunting trip of their own.

Do you have any information or personal experiences to share about this entry? Let us know in the comments, and your contribution could be included in a future update to this entry!

Ghosts of Kings Island

For those of you who didn't grow up in the Cincinnati area like me, Kings Island is a local amusement park in our area. Locals to the area all know the ghost stories of the park, but may not know where those stories originate. Let's get into some background:

Kings Island International Street Fountain
Photo Credit: Spectrum News 1/Casey Weldon

DOG STREET CEMETERY AND MISSOURI JANE

The area around King Island is known as Kings Mills, after the King family who founded the Kings Mills Powder Company. The King family settled the area and built schools, stores, and homes for their employees and families. The Peters Cartridge Factory was then built in the area and the settlement expanded. When the Taft Company bought the land in 1969, ownership of an old family cemetery that dates back to 1891 transferred to them along with the rest of the land. The old cemetery still sits on the property near the entrance gates.

Dog Street Cemetery, Kings Island Entrance
Photo Credit: Unknown

Legend holds that a grave was accidentally paved over to create the parking lot, disrupting the rest of the spirit of a little girl named "Missouri Jane." Cemetery records suggest that the accident was a possibility, a approximately 17 grave stones have gone missing since 1980. In addition, at some point, Missouri Jane's headstone was lying on the ground in the cemetery, then propped up against another stone, so there is no guarantee that its current placement back in the ground is accurate. I have no knowledge of any photos or drawings from 1846 showing the original location of the gravestones. I

n addition, in the 1970s, the cemetery was wildly overgrown and difficult to locate when the workers were ready to begin excavating for the parking lot. In the end, once the cemetery was located, it was cleaned up and the decision was made to build the parking lot around it. 

Jane is also known as "the girl in the blue dress," and sightings have been reported in the International Restaurant, near Whitewater Canyon, and most famously, running around the parking lot chasing cars and running in front of drivers.

Missouri Jane's Grave
Photo Credit: Unknown

I've also heard the girl in the blue dress be called "Sarah," but I can't find any evidence as to where that name originated. Missouri Jane is most likely accurate, as her headstone indicates she certainly lived and died in the area.

Ghost Hunters did an episode dedicated to the ghosts of Kings Island (Season 8, Episode 1 if you're interested), and got EVP of a child, and they believe they have communicated with Missouri Jane.

Most of the stories of sightings come from park staff, as she is most frequently seen after the park is closed.

TOWER JOHNNY

The stories about what happened to Tower Johnny vary depending on who's telling them. The basics? John Wesley Harter of Delaware, Ohio was a senior in high school when he attended Grad Night at Kings Island with his friends on May 13, 1983. By all accounts he was a good young man with a bright future and plans to attend college in the fall. 

Where Johnny is Believed to Have Fallen From
Photo Credit: Warren County Sherriff's Office 05-14-1983

That evening Johnny was intoxicated and arguing with his girlfriend, and according to his friends, not having a very good time. Friends reported that after they all rode the Racer together, Johnny disappeared from the group and wasn't seen again.

Official reports claim that after he left his friends, they believe he entered a restricted area, climbed up the Eiffel Tower, was stuck by the elevator's counterweight, and fell about 200 feet, where he landed on top of the north elevator car and died instantly from the impact. Click here for an excellent story with all the details and facts about the accident.

Personally, I do still have questions about what happened the night John Harter died. While yes, he was definitely intoxicated, and yes, people do make out-of-character choices when they have been drinking, the investigation left some unanswered questions. 

First, how did his wallet end up in the lost and found? His social security card and one of his graduation photos, which were most certainly in his wallet, were both found at the site of the accident. Second, people he lived with and his own brother stated to officials investigating the incident very clearly that John was not the type of person to do something like climbing the tower without an audience. 

This leads to my theory about the death: I believe that there could have been a witness to what happened to John Harter that night, and though it could very well have been an accident, it could also have been something more. However that person came into possession of the wallet, they didn't want to be implicated in what happened and turned the wallet in to lost and found before John's identity was discovered. Maybe at some point I'll delve into true crime and see if there's anything to this other than just the overactive imagination of a paranormal investigator.

Since John's death, he's become known around the park as "Tower Johnny." He's been reported to make moaning sounds as the elevator goes up and down the tower, randomly opens and closes the doors of the elevator cars, and has been known to mess around with the elevators after hours. He's also been said to have been spotted along the track and in the tunnel of The Beast, as well as messing with sensors and tipping over trash cans.

Why the Beast? Because the elevator cables that were in the Eiffel Tower at the time were stored in the woods back there. Why is Johnny sticking around? Maybe because the official story of his death is wrong, and he wants his true story to be told.

RACER BOY

The Racer
Photo Credit: Kings Island Website

Usually appearing just before sunset or after dark as the figure of a little boy walking along the Racer tracks dressed in white, Racer Boy is believed to be attached to some of the Racer cars that originally belonged to the Shooting Star at Coney Island. The story says that the little boy was found dead under the tracks after falling from the ride.

There is definitely record that a William Bomkamp died in 1966 on the Shooting Star ride. He left the ride station in the last car of the train, and when it returned he was not there and the lap bar was still closed. He was found under the tracks of the Shooting Star. 

The problem? William Bomkamp was an 18 year old student at the University of Cincinnati, not a small boy. The likeliest possibility is that this story is simply folklore.

The Eiffel Tower During Halloween Haunt
Photo Credit: Limitless Park

So...is the park haunted? I've been there on many occasions over the years. I've personally never witnessed anything paranormal or unexplainable at the park. 

The majority of the stories come from people who work at the park and often there is no one else around who witnessed what happened or can corroborate the story. I've never seen any photo documentation claiming to be showing anything supernatural happening at Kings Island. 

However... I can't say anything about the experiences of others when I wasn't a witness either. I've never seen unexplained things at the park, but I have seen unexplained things. 

Whether the park is haunted or not remains to be discovered for certain, but it's one of the more fun places to go looking for ghosts!

Do you have any information or personal experiences to share about this entry? Let us know in the comments, and your contribution could be included in a future update to this entry!