HGB Ep. 654 - Thurber House

Moment in Oddity - Standard Wing Nightjar

Most of our listeners know that Diane and I are animal nuts, and birding is one of our favorite things to do when we are camping. The Standard Winged Nightjar is a nocturnal bird that transforms into something otherworldly during the breeding season. Found in the savannas of Africa, the male of this species sprouts two absurdly elongated feathers from the middle of its wings. These feathers grow up to twice the bird's actual body length, ending in large fantastical, flat flags that trail behind it like flying kites. During courtship displays, the male flits through the sky at dusk, making these detached-looking paddles flutter above him to mesmerize nearby female Nightjars. When it lands, the bizarre appendages fold back awkwardly, blending in with its perfectly camouflaged, bark-like plumage. There are many bizarre courtship rituals in the avian world. But a bird that flies with its own trailing banners to find a mate like a cessna pulling an advertisement banner looking for love, certainly is odd. 

Thurber House

The Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio is a charming home that is now a museum and meeting place for those with literary interests. There is a tragic and haunted history to the abode. The house sits on the outer border of the former Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum, which burned down in 1868, killing seven women in the fire. Jeweler Thomas Tracy Tress accidentally shot and killed himself in the house when he lived here. Writer, humorist and cartoonist James Thurber lived in the house for a time and he had a ghostly experience that he wrote about. Spirits do seem to knock about the place. Join us for the history and hauntings of the Thurber House. 

Columbus is the capitol of Ohio.  The city is nearly smack dab in the center of the state and so it made sense to make this the center of the state government. It was planned in 1812 and named for Christopher Columbus and quickly absorbed the nearby settlement of Franklinton that had been founded in 1797. When a branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal opened in 1831, the city grew and this growth skyrocketed with the arrival of the railroad in 1850. Columbus would become one of the country's major manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles and the story of Columbus would continue to be one of transportation and industrial growth. The town took on the difficult task of caring for the mentally ill by building the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum. The original hospital building was completed in 1838. In 1868, a fire burned the asylum to the ground. Seven patients were killed and over 300 patients had to be moved elsewhere. A new building was built in the Kirkbride style and opened in 1877. It was the largest building in the US until the Pentagon was built in 1943. The hospital would remain open for over a hundred years, closing in the late 1980s. It was eventually demolished. The Thurber House was built on the outer edge of the hospital's property in 1873.

So clearly, the land beneath the Thurber House already had its memories long before the first brick of the house was set. There were the asylum patients who had died. But more tragedy would be added to that after the house was constructed.

Thomas Tracy Tress was born in 1865 and he worked hard in jewelry, becoming the owner of Tress Diamonds. He opened a jewelry shop in downtown Columbus. He and his wife were prominent members of the community. Tress was a member of the Mt. Vernon Commandery, the Columbus Club, the Board of Trade and the Aladdin Temple. He was also the President of a dancing club. We don't know when he and his wife moved into the house at 77 Jefferson Avenue, but they were living there on April 27, 1904.It was a few minutes before 8pm when he had returned home and was in an upstairs room having a conversation with his wife and a woman named Tine Ackerman. Dinner had just been announced and Tress told his wife that he wanted to change his collar and then he would be down for dinner. Before the women left the room, Tress walked over to the dresser and picked up an .38 caliber Iver Johnson revolver that was sitting on it. He whipped around with thew gun in his hand and scared his wife. He laughed and said that the gun wasn't loaded, but she insisted that he put the gun down. He said, "Why, it's not dangerous. Look at me." He put the gun muzzle to his left chest and pulled the trigger. The gun, unfortunately, was loaded. Tress managed to walk himself across the room to a couch and he laid down. He said that he had been foolish and then passed out. Medical help was called, but it wouldn't help. Tress died at the age of 39.

The house was named for its most famous resident. James Thurber was one of the foremost American humorists of the 20th century. He was born in Columbus, Ohio on December 8, 1894 to Mary Agnes "Mame" Fisher and Charles Leander Thurber. 

Thurber's father was a civil clerk and he used to change jobs a lot. Every time he would change a job, he would change the home they lived in. So they moved from house to house to house through most of his childhood. Much of Thurber's humorous writing was inspired by his mother because she was considered a brilliant humorist. Her jokes and theatrics were immortalized by Thurber in a lot of his own writing. Thurber had two brothers, an older one named William and a younger one named Robert. And it would be William who would shoot James' eye out. Apparently the guys were playing a childhood game of William Tell and as part of the game seven-year-old James turned around and waited for his brother William to shoot at him with what was apparently a blunt arrow. His brother was taking a long time so Thurber turned back around just as his brother let the arrow go and he was accidentally shot in his left eye which irreversibly blinded him and he had to have a prosthetic put in that eye. Later on in life Thurber would lose the vision that he had in his remaining eye due to a medical condition but he always continued to write and draw.

From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended Ohio State University and he wrote for the college paper, The Lantern. He also became editor in chief of the Sun Dial which was a humor and literary magazine. It was during this time when he was going to OSU that the Thurbers rented the house at 77 Jefferson Avenue. 

We'll come back to this time at the house as it entails the most famous ghost story about the house. Throughout the years Thurber worked for the federal government first in Washington D.C. then at the American Embassy in Paris. He eventually came back to Columbus in 1920 and worked for the Columbia Dispatch as a reporter. James got married and move to New York and in 1926 he began his career as a freelance writer. There he became friends with E.B. White who was the author of Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web and it would be E.B. White who would introduce him to the editor of the New Yorker, Harold Ross, and Ross hired Thurber. E.B. White and Thurber shared an office at the New Yorker and Thurber had been working on some drawings, which he ended up throwing into a trash can. White looked at them and thought they were pretty good, so he submitted them to the New Yorker for publication and they did publish them and this began Thurber's decades-long career of contributing drawings and writings to the New Yorker. The two men also worked on their first book together which was called "Is Sex Necessary" and it featured a number of Thurber's cartoons. Thurber collaborated in 1940 on a comedy play that  was called The Male Animal. This made its way to Broadway, became a hit, and then was turned into a 1942 movie starring Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland. In 1947, Thurber probably published one his most popular works, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and this was adapted into a feature film that starred Danny Kaye and Boris Karloff. 

Thurber was prolific and he wrote other plays and dozens of books. In his later years, he struggled with a thyroid condition and then he was stricken with a blood clot in his brain in October of 1961. While a surgery to deal with the clot was successful, James ended up dying on November 2nd of that year due to complications from pneumonia. He was 66 years old at the time. 

Now looking back at the Thurber House, when the Thurbers moved out of 77 Jefferson Avenue, the home changed hands many times. It became a music school, a beauty shop, and a boarding house. Eventually, it fell into disrepair and it was set to be demolished in the 1970s. But before the house could be torn down, attorney Arthur Worreys purchased all of the properties on the Jefferson Avenue ellipse and his intention was to restore all those homes and turn the block into a community of non-profit organizations. There were several historic Victorian homes. 77 Jefferson was going to take a lot of work because it had extensive deterioration. The woodwork had been painted over, the floorboards were rotted out and the fireplaces had been covered up. They have managed to restore it and Robert Thurber, who was the younger brother of James, helped with some of the restoration and actually donated some items from the family. So some of the items that are in the house today, did belong to them. It now looks the way it did when the Thurber family lived here from 1913 to 1917, with the same kind of wallpaper, antique furnishings, and the woodwork has been preserved. Today, the Thurber house is a non-profit literary arts center that offers creative programming for adults and children and has the James Thurber Museum that's available for public tours. Rooms on view include the former parlor, the living room and its alcove, the dining room, five bedrooms, and the bathroom that Thurber hid in to avoid the ghost running up the back stairs. Wait, did we just say "to avoid a ghost?"

Not only did James Thurber claim to have heard a ghost in the house on November 17, 1915 and believed to his dying day that the home was haunted, but other people who have visited and worked in the house have had experiences themselves. People believe there are several spirits, including the asylum patients, the jeweler Tress and some believe that Thurber returned to this home, perhaps because of his ghostly experience or because it is a museum dedicated to him and his writing. 

The museum embraces the fact that they have a haunted history here and talk about it on their website. People have experienced unusual phenomenon over the years which included a clock chiming despite not being operational, the glass in a picture frame inexplicably shattered all over the floor, there's been sightings of glowing orbs, a full-bodied apparition of a man in a collared shirt has been seen, disembodied footsteps have been heard, people have had the sensation of being touched or poked, and witnesses have report books flying from their shelves and disembodied footsteps on the back staircase, which is also where James Thurber had heard some ghostly footsteps as well. James Thurber wrote a short story about his experience and it was entitled, "The Night the Ghost Got In." Here's how the story went: 

"The ghost that got into our house on the night of November 17, 1915 raised such a hullabaloo of misunderstandings that I'm sorry I didn't just let it keep on walking and go to bed. Its advent caused my mother to throw a window of the house next door and ended up with my grandfather shooting a patrolman. I'm sorry therefore, as I've said, that I ever paid any attention to the footsteps. They began about a quarter past one o'clock in the morning, a rhythmic quick cadence walking around the dining room table. My mother was asleep in one room upstairs, my brother Herman in another. Grandfather was in the attic in an old walnut bed which, as you will remember, once fell on my father. I had just stepped out of the bathtub and was busily rubbing myself with a towel when I heard the steps. They were the steps of a man walking rapidly around the dining room table downstairs. The light from the bathroom shone down the back steps, which dropped directly into the dining room. I could see the faint shine of plates on the plate rail. I couldn't see the table. The steps kept going round and round the table. At regular intervals, a board creaked when it was trod upon. I supposed at first that it was my father or my brother Roy, who had gone to Indianapolis, but were expected home at any time. I suspected next that it was a burglar. It did not enter my mind until later that it was a ghost. After the walking had gone on for perhaps three minutes, I tiptoed to Herman's room. Psst! I hissed in the dark, shaking him. Ah, he said in the low, hopeless tone of a despondent beagle. He always half suspected that something would get him in the night. I told him who I was. There's something downstairs, I said. He got up and followed me to the head of the back staircase. We listened together. There was no sound. The steps had ceased. Herman looked at me in some alarm. I had only the bath towel around my waist. He wanted to go back to bed, but I gripped his arm. There's something down there, I said. Instantly the steps began again, circled the dining room table like a man running, and started up the stairs towards us, heavily, two at a time. The light still shone palely down the stairs. We saw nothing coming. We only heard the steps. Herman rushed to his room and slammed the door. I slammed shut the door at the stairs' top and held my knee against it. After a long minute I slowly opened it again. There was nothing there. There was no sound. None of us ever heard the ghost again. The slamming of the doors had roused Mother. She peered out of her room. What on earth are you boys doing, she demanded. Herman ventured out of his room. Nothing, he said gruffly, but he was, in color, a light green. What was all that running around downstairs, said Mother. So she had heard the steps, too. We just looked at her. Burglars, she shouted intuitively. I tried to quiet her by starting lightly downstairs. Come on, Herman, I said. I'll stay with Mother, he said. She's all excited. I stepped back onto the landing. Don't either of you go a step, said Mother. We'll call the police. Since the phone was downstairs, I didn't see how we were going to call the police, nor did I want the police, but Mother made one of her quick, incomparable decisions. She flung up a window of her bedroom, which faced the bedroom windows of the house of a neighbor, picked up a shoe, and whammed it through a pane of glass across the narrow space that separated the two houses. Glass tinkled into the bedroom occupied by a retired engraver named Bodwell and his wife. Bodwell had been for some years in rather a bad way and was subject to mild attacks. Most everybody we knew or lived near had some kind of attacks. It was now about two o'clock of a moonless night. Clouds hung black and low. Bodwell was at the window in a minute, shouting, frothing a little, shaking his fist. We'll sell the house and go back to Peoria, we could hear Mrs. Bodwell saying. It was some time before Mother got through to Bodwell. Burglars, she shouted, burglars in the house. Herman and I hadn't dared to tell her that it was not burglars but ghosts, but she was even more afraid of ghosts than of burglars. Bodwell at first thought that she meant there were burglars in his house, but finally he quieted down and called the police for us over an extension phone by his bed. After he'd disappeared from the window, Mother suddenly made as if to throw another shoe, not because there was further need of it but, as she later explained, because the thrill of heaving a shoe through a window glass had enormously taken her fancy. I prevented her. I think I love his mother. The police were on hand in commendably short time, a Ford sedan full of them, two on motorcycles, and a patrol wagon with about eight in it, and a few reporters. They sent out the cavalry, it sounds like. They began banging on our front door. Flashlights shot streaks of gleam up and down the walls, across the yard, down the walk between our house and Bodwell's. Open up, cried a hoarse voice. We're men from headquarters. I wanted to go down and let them in since there they were, but Mother wouldn't hear of it. You haven't a stitch on, she pointed out. You'd catch your death. I wound the towel around me again. Finally the cops put their shoulders to our big heavy front door with its thick beveled glass and broke it in. I could hear a rending of wood and a splash of glass on the floor of the hall. Their lights played all over the living room and crisscrossed nervously in the dining room, stabbed into hallways, shot up the front stairs, and finally up the back. They caught me standing in my towel at the top. A heavy policeman bounded up the steps. Who are you, he demanded. I live here, I said. Well, what's the matter, you hot, he asked. It was, as a matter of fact, cold. I went to my room and pulled on some trousers. On my way out, a cop stuck a gun into my ribs. What you doing here, he demanded. I live here, I said. The officer in charge reported to Mother, no sign of nobody, lady, he said. Must have got away. What'd he look like? There were two or three of them, Mother said, whooping and carrying on and slamming doors. Funny, said the cop. All your windows and doors was locked on the inside tight as a tick. Downstairs we could hear the tromping of the other police. Police were all over the place. Doors were yanked open, drawers were yanked open, windows were shot up and pulled down. Furniture fell with dull thumps. A half dozen policemen emerged out of the darkness of the front hallway upstairs. They began to ransack the floor, pulled beds away from walls, tore clothes off hooks in the closets, pulled suitcases and boxes off shelves. One of them found an old zither that Roy had won in a pool tournament. Looky here, Joe, he said, strumming it with a big paw. The cop named Joe took it and turned it over. What is it, he asked me. It's an old zither our guinea pig used to sleep on, I said. It was true that a pet guinea pig we once had would never sleep anywhere except on the zither, but I should never have said so. Joe and the other cop looked at me a long time. They put the zither back on a shelf. No sign of nothing, said the cop who had first spoken to mother. This guy, he explained to the others, jerking a thumb at me, was naked. The lady seems historical. They all nodded but said nothing, just looked at me. In the small silence we all heard a creaking in the attic. Grandfather was turning over in bed. What's that, snapped Joe. Five or six cops sprang for the attic door before I could intervene or explain. I realized that it would be bad if they burst in on Grandfather unannounced or even announced. He was going through a phase in which he believed that General Meade's men, under steady hammering by Stonewall Jackson, were beginning to retreat and even desert. When I got to the attic, things were pretty confused. Grandfather had evidently jumped to the conclusion that the police were deserters from Meade's army trying to hide away in his attic. He bounded out of bed wearing a long flannel nightgown over long woolen underwear, a nightcap, and a leather jacket around his chest. The cops must have realized at once that the indignant white-haired old man belonged in the house, but they had no chance to say so. Back, you cowardly dogs, roared Grandfather. Back to the lines, you goddamn lily-livered cattle. With that, he fetched the officer who found the zither, a flat-handed smack alongside his head that sent him sprawling. The others beat a retreat, but not fast enough. Grandfather grabbed Zither's gun from its holster and let fly. The report seemed to crack the rafter, smoke filled the attic. A cop cursed and shot his hand to his shoulder. Somehow, we all finally got downstairs again and locked the door against the old gentleman. He fired once or twice more in the darkness and then went back to bed. That was Grandfather, I explained to Joe out of breath. He thinks you're deserters. I'll say he does, said Joe. The cops were reluctant to leave without getting their hands on somebody besides Grandfather. The night had been distinctly a defeat for them. Furthermore, they obviously didn't like the layout. Something looked, and I can see their viewpoint, phony. They began to poke into things again. A reporter, a thin-faced wispy man, came up to me. I'd put on one of Mother's blouses, not being able to find anything else. The reporter looked at me with mingled suspicion and interest. Just what the hell is the real low down here, bud, he asked. I decided to be frank with him. We had ghosts, I said. He gazed at me a long time as if I were a slot machine into which he had, without results, dropped a nickel. Then he walked away. The cops followed him. The one Grandfather shot, holding his now-bandaged arm, cursing and blaspheming. I'm gonna get my gun back from that old bird, said the zither cop. Yeah, said Joe. You and who else? I told them I would bring it to the station house the next day. What was the matter with that one policeman, Mother asked after they had gone? Grandfather shot him, I said. What for, she demanded. I told her he was a deserter. Of all things, said Mother. He was such a nice-looking young man. Grandfather was fresh as a daisy and full of jokes at breakfast next morning. We thought at first he'd forgotten all about what had happened, but he hadn't. Over his third cup of coffee, he glared at Herman and me. What was the idea of all them cops, tarry-hooting around the house last night, he demanded. He had us there." 

Thurber always maintained this happened and he changed the address of the house so that it wouldn't bring too much attention to the original house. We have to wonder what was all that running around the table about? And boy, what a commotion it started there. We find it interesting that it never seems to have happened again while they were there.

Anne Touvell, who was the Thurber House Deputy Director, told the Columbus Monthly in 2015, "... a ghost group came in here once, and the electronic voice phenomenon they recorded was clear as day. They asked the air, 'Did you accidentally shoot yourself in this house?' And, I swear, the voice came back on the recorder saying, 'Ask her.' A volunteer named Jan Williams stated in the same article, "Our cleaning people, who also clean the other buildings on the block, they say they've had stuff happen. They won't clean at night anymore. One of our writers had a dog, and it kept barking and barking at the corner in the front room; it wouldn't let her near that corner." Amy Drake shared in a Medium article about a short film that she shot in the Thurber House called Showdown in Amherst. She wrote, "I silently asked for Mr. Tress’s blessing for our filming. As it turns out he had quite a sense of humor. We used authentic late 19th century clothes from my personal collection as costumes for the film. The man’s coat, worn by actor Douglas Fries, had secure buttons when it left my house. During the shoot, one of the buttons fell off. The back of the button was engraved with the name Tress(e), as, I discovered, were all the buttons. After the shoot, I was notified via email that a bookseller had a silk advertising ribbon from Tress Diamonds for sale on Ebay. I purchased and framed the ribbon. In the film credits, I thanked Mr. Tress for his cooperation. I believe he just wanted to be remembered and involved." 

Tom Moore wrote in a News and Sentinel article about visiting the museum and the docent "began telling us a few things that have happened there including the clock that opened on its own, along with people claiming to have seen a gentleman standing behind them with a white collar when they look in the mirror above the fireplace in the parlor."

Did James Thurber really have this ghostly experience? Have other people experienced unexplained stuff here? Is the Thurber House haunted? That is for you to decide.

HGB Ep. 650 - Brownella Cottage

Moment in Oddity - Parachuting Tylenol Mice

Shortly after WWII, invasive brown tree snakes arrived on Guam. The snakes hitched rides in shipping cargo and military planes moving through post-war Pacific locations. This species of snake originates from eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and northern Australia. The island of Guam has no native predators to check the population growth of the brown tree snakes, leaving the populations of native forest birds and lizards in jeopardy. The snakes quickly multiplied into millions across the island with all the ample native food supply. In 1995, research and development began using acetaminophen as a toxicant to reduce the brown tree snake population. By September of 2010, early field trials and small-scale airdrops of Tylenol mouse baits took place on Guam. Each neonatal pre-killed mouse was laced with 80 mg of acetaminophen. Brown tree snakes are scavengers, making the method of administration feasible, with little impact on the native wildlife. The mice were dropped by helicopters using a parachute system to snag the released mice in the forest canopy. The jungle canopy is where the snakes naturally hunt. The mouse parachutes were constructed of biodegradable streamers and cardboard. During the first test in 2010, a mere 250-280 mice were dropped. In 2013, a major operation dropped 2,000 mice into Guam's jungle canopy. Additional targeted drops occurred in both 2016 and 2018. The unusual method of invasive snake control has proven to be a highly effective, targeted tactical tool for reducing brown tree snake populations in specific, hard-to-reach forest canopy areas on Guam. Although they have not completely eradicated the massive island-wide population, the control method certainly is odd.

Brownella Cottage (Suggested by: Josh and Sarah Kitchen)

Brownella Cottage in Galion is said to be one of the most haunted locations in Ohio and has stood for nearly 140 years. While this is not a small house, it definitely has the appearance of a cottage and it has the distinction of having only the couple that built it, live in it. Bishop Brown was a controversial figure and he and his wife Ella are believed to haunt their former home. Join us for the history and hauntings of Brownella Cottage. 

Benjamin Leveridge and his two sons came to the future Galion in 1817. They would have found Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking groups like the Wyandot and Delaware who used this as a hunting ground. They would have a strong presence here through the 18th century. William Hosford and his sons Asa and Horace would arrive on the outskirts in 1820 and they would move more into the town center after Colonel James Kilbourne laid it out. A post office was opened in 1824 with the name of Goshen. This was changed to Galion after it was discovered that Ohio already had a city named Goshen, No one is sure how the name Galion came to be. Early settler Asa Hosford became a state legislator and he was integral in getting a rail line to come through. People call him the "Father of Galion." He built a home here in 1892 and it still stands. A dark mark in the town's history was the lynching of a black man in 1882 after he was accused of raping a white woman. Lustron homes are a rarity, but Galion has four of them. Lustron homes were prefabricated, all-metal homes that were produced after World War II. They were low-maintenance and durable, fashioned from enameled steel panels. Production ended in 1950. President Hardings wife came from Galion, which remains a fairly small town today. It was here that Bishop Brown would marry his wife and pastor Grace Church.

William Montgomery Brown was born on September 4, 1855 in Ohio, the son of a tenant farmer. The family moved to Michigan in 1858. When the Civil War started, William's father enlisted in the Union Army and served in Tennessee before becoming ill. He went back home and died on August 1, 1862 and William's mother decided to take the family back to Ohio. The family needed money and so William went to work for a farmer who was unkind.

Things would change for William when he turned 15 and the county placed him at another farm owned by a man named Jacob Gardner. Gardner was very religious and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, so he influenced William to follow this way of life. That was put to the test when William became ill with typhoid and close to death. He begged God to spare his life and in return he would devote his life to the ministry. Apparently, the bargain worked and William recovered. The farmer he had been with had given him money for his work and he used that to leave Ohio when he turned 21-years-old. He ended up in Omaha, Nebraska in 1876. His main job there was driving a carriage for a judge who was alarmed that William had no real education. The judge got William into school and he did well, graduating a couple years later. He moved back to Ohio after that and got a job in a tannery. William had a desire to go to seminary, but he didn't have the money for it. A Cleveland philanthropist named Mary Scranton Bradford agreed to underwrite his education at the Episcopal Seminary, Bexley Hall, at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, but first he had to do preparatory course work. This took him several years. He attended Seabury Divinity in Minnesota from 1879 to 1880 and then attended Bexley Hall, but never finished all his course work. He never received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Bexley, but despite that, he became vicar of Grace Church in Galion, Ohio in 1883.

Shortly before that, in December 1882, William Brown married Ella Scranton Bradford, who was the adopted niece of Mary Scranton Bradford. So, the listeners can see why Mrs. Bradford was willing to foot the bill on William's education. She would pay to have Brownella Cottage built as a wedding present for the couple. 

The cottage was situated across the street from Grace Church. There was another brick structure on the property that had once been St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church. It was built back in 1866 and William would use this as his study. The cottage was built from 1885 to 1887 and was designed by Cleveland architect Clarence O. Arey in a mix of Queen Anne Victorian, Stick and Shingle and Gothic Revival. No expense was spared and reflected Mrs. Bradford's love of high style. There were 15 rooms and the most unique feature was added in the 1920s, a glass-enclosed hallway that connected the study to the main house. In 1891, William became the archdeacon for missionary work in the Diocese of Ohio and set about writing a book. This book would be named "The Church for Americans," which explained the beliefs of the Episcopal Church. The book proved to be very popular and gave him a bit of good renown. This spotlight on him later wouldn't be a good thing. Although he was vicar of Grace Church, the church consecrated him as assistant bishop of the state of Arkansas in 1898. He and Ella would live in Arkansas, but but they still spent several months of the year at Brownella Cottage. In the same year that he became assistant bishop, William received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Kenyon College. Shortly thereafter, the Bishop of Arkansas, Henry Niles Pierce, died and William became Bishop Brown over Arkansas. 

It was at this time that Bishop Brown started getting more vocal about more controversial views. He had some racist beliefs that supported segregation within the church. The Bishop didn't believe that blacks should be able to elevate in the church hierarchy of mostly white churches. He wrote in his 1907 book "The Crucial Race Question," that the only way for Black church members to go up in the ranks was to have their own church. This angered Northerners who had supported his church in Arkansas financially. And it seems so strange since he started his religious life in Ohio. 

Bishop Brown denounced these views later in life. There would be other stances that he would take though, that would get his own denomination to excommunicate him. The Bishop had written another book called "The Level Plan of Church Union" and this book rejected many practices of the Episcopal Church. Not surprising, this angered church membership and supporters. A conflict started brewing between Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock with the Bishop. The dean there refused to support this new book and didn't like the control the Bishop was wielding over the cathedral. Voices rose up against him and he was asked to leave, so he returned to Galion, Ohio in 1911. In 1912, he resigned as the bishop of Arkansas, citing poor health, but asking that he still be a member of the House of Bishops. This meant he could still vote in the House, but he never attended the House again. People started referring to him as the "Wandering Bishop" because he was a bishop without a diocese. He would make it even harder to get a diocese with more contentious views. With the free time on his hands, he started reading books written by Charles Darwin and Karl Marx and he started to watch what was happening in Russia. His mind started to be swayed and he would soon be on his way to the moniker he would be most famously known as, "Bad Bishop Brown."

By July 1913, the Bishop was announcing that he had converted to science.  He wrote to several Episcopal bishops, letting them know that he was changing his mind on several core tenets of not only the Episcopal denomination, but of the Christian faith. The key one being that he didn't believe that Jesus was the Christ and even more, he wasn't sure the man ever existed. He maintained that he still believed in God, but Christ was a myth to him. He wrote, "I no longer believed in a personal God, nor in a six-day creation, nor in a literal heaven and hell." The bishops reacted with strong hostility to his views, but they left him to be until he started promoting these ideas. 

In 1920, he published the book "Communism and Christianism: Banish Gods from the Skies and Capitalists from the Earth." And that did it. The House of Bishops charged him with heresy and then decided not to try him. They hoped he would just go away, but he remained a thorn in their side and in 1924, the Bishop of Vermont, the Bishop of Indianapolis and the Bishop of West Virginia brought heresy charges and a trial was conducted under Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Alexander Charles Garrett. Bishop Brown tried to prove to his fellow bishops that they believed like he did because they did not believe in a strict interpretation of the Bible. The Bishops had to make an example of him as 125,000 copies of his book had sold. And the book did, indeed, repudiate much of the tenets of the Christian faith. The Presentment cited twenty-three quotations from the book. An example from Pg. 90, "The one God of the Jews and the triune god of the Christians; if taken seriously, are superstitions." The bishop finally asked, "Is it my theology or my economics that is being attacked?" A 1924 article in Time Magazine ended a story about the event with "And thus, for differing reasons, every normal American objects to the aged and mentally warped Brown of Galion, Ohio." And that is what most of the bishops believed. That Bishop Brown was deranged. The trial found him guilty of heresy and he was deposed and excommunicated.

There were attempts to get him reinstated, but that never happened. The Russian Orthodox Church was connected to the Soviet authorities in Russia and they were open to the Bishop becoming part of them. The Old Catholic Church was also open to him. He chose the Catholic Church and they consecrated him as an Old Catholic bishop. Thus, many Old Catholic churches count Bishop Brown in the line of succession of their bishops.

Ella had inherited her mother's entire estate, so the couple were extremely well off with lots of real estate holdings in Cleveland. The land that the Terminal Tower was built upon was owned by Mrs. Bradford, so Ella and Bishop Brown got a large windfall from that. They would use some of the money to travel, but Ella was careful with the money. The Bishop had a real heart for the working class and when the Great Depression hit, the Browns bought truckloads of food for the poor. The Bishop was known for passing out nickels to the children. Ella passed away in 1935 and now that she wasn't around holding onto the purse strings, the Bishop started living extravagantly. When he traveled into Cleveland, he would stay in the most expensive hotels. And he would get there in his brand new Packard automobile. He also bought a plane eventually. The Bishop also kept up his writing on Communism and he hosted the head of the communist party in America, Earl Browder, on several occasions. His latter years were spent ill as the Bishop suffered from diabetes that took his eyesight. He died in 1937, on Halloween, at the age of 82 in Brownella Cottage. Both he and Ella are buried in Galion's Fairview Cemetery. The cottage sat empty for the next 50 years with a caretaker watching over it. 

The Galion History Center started in 1955 with six individuals and they bought the property and opened it as a museum. The property includes Brownella Cottage, the Historic Grace Church and the Galion History Museum that is housed in the carriage house. The house contains many of the Browns belongings and furnishings. 

The Center offers tours, ghost tours and public and private paranormal investigations. They are not shy about their ghosts. Staff, volunteers and visitors have all claimed to have experiences ranging from hearing disembodied footsteps and voices to doors opening and closing on their own to images caught on camera to full-bodied apparitions. The ghosts of both Ella and William Brown are purported to haunt Brownella Cottage. Stories claim that every Halloween night, the ghost of the bishop is seen walking the glass causeway between the house and the study. People on tours have reported the scent of pipe smoke even though there is no smoking allowed. Psychics have claimed that there is a young ghost named Patrick here, even though the Browns never had any children. Barry Moneysmith and his wife Cathy were members of the Galion Historical Society and they helped to host the paranormal investigations. They told the Heart of Ohio Magazine in 2014, "We have recorded some amazing EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena) that are direct answers to questions. K-2 meters measure EMF, or electro-magnetic fields, and we have communicated with spirits for long periods of time using the flashlight as a means of asking and answering questions. The dowsing rods are another way to make a connection. I’ve heard my name on EVPs, and I personally saw a full body apparition in the hallway just a week ago. Our communication has been constant and positive with the spirits. We find contact is divided into two parts, upstairs and downstairs. Upstairs we find the spirits who had the right to be upstairs in life — Ella, Mary and the family members. In the servants quarters we find the spirits of the servants are willing to talk to us. Downstairs we often make contact with family, friends and certain servants as well. EVPs recorded in the dining room often have the sound of dishes and silverware clinking in the background, and we’ve recorded what we believe is the Bishop whistling. The activity moves from place to place in the house, but it ends rather early. Generally by midnight or one o’clock, the house is still. I’ve spent the night at the house alone, and by 2 a.m. the house is as quiet as any house I’ve ever been in. We think the Browns were quiet, early-to-bed type people.” 

Season 2 Episode 10 of My Ghost Story on A & E featured the property. Parapsychologist Dr. John Douglas Gruber was interviewed on this episode and he snapped an interesting daylight image with a white shadowy figure that had a shape that looked like it was wearing something a bishop might wear. Upon seeing a picture of the Bishop in his coat and hat, we can say that the figure definitely looks to be wearing the same kind of hat. 

Doulgas captured an EVP of a man saying, "I'm fine, son." Douglas also asked, "Were you ever aware of spirits while you were alive?" The response was, "I believed in souls." He also asked the Bishop about his work and if he still had the same opinions and the response was, "My work is everything." A deacon named Greg Kirk was also on the episode and he was a caretaker who stayed at the cottage. The minute he moved in, he had an overwhelming feeling that he wasn't alone in the house. On his fifth night, he heard the sound of an old-fashioned bell. Kirk followed the sound down through the reception area and to a closed door. He opened the door and found an antique phone hanging on the wall inside of this closet. The phone wasn't hooked up. 

Skulls and Kittens investigated in 2021 and they used a Spirit Box. They asked, "Did you used to live here?" And a female voice came across the box and said, "Yes I did." They heard some knocking and the box said the name "Nick" twice and one of the investigators is named Nick. They also got a Max to come through and seemed to indicate he was nine-years-old. There was also a clear "Hi" from a child-like voice. They had a lot of equipment issues too.

Also located in Galion is the Gill House. Boomer Gill was born in 1859. He married Nellie Stewart in 1883 and they had four children. Gill became an automotive mogul and he became very wealthy. He built the Gill House in 1903 with architect Louis Kamper designing it in the neoclassical style. The house had a unique oval dining room and an intricate main staircase. They filled the home with the finer things, like a piano and a Victrola, and they hosted the likes of Thomas and Mina Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone. The Talbot family were the next owners and they had it from 1924 to 1956. The mother of Mr. Talbot came to live with them at the house and she died there. Preserving Galion, Inc. owns the house and paid off the debt on it in 2025. The city helped raise funds to put a new roof on the house. The house is said to be haunted and several groups have come though to investigate.  People believe the basement has the spirit of a Native American who is usually seen as a shadow figure. The spirit of a young girl is in the house and an older gentleman hangs out in the attic. There have been disembodied footsteps, phantom voices doors open and close on their own and people have been touched or had their clothes tugged. Travel With Austin was using a spirit box in the basement and they got the word "suffering" to come through. Later, he got his name to come across the box. There was mostly a female voice coming through the box. Paranormal Quest investigated the house 11 years ago. A caretaker of the house told them, "We have this recurring, and I don't know how to describe it other than to say this swirling mist kind of thing and it's about this far off the ground. It darts from room to room, that kind of thing." While investigating, two of the guys felt something fly in between them.

Galion is a cute small town with lots of historic treasures. There is a historic local train depot that hosted whistle-stop campaign speeches from U.S. Presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Richard Nixon. And we have these two historic homes that could be haunted. Are they haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 623 - Haunted Hanoverton, Ohio

This Month in History - Fold-Out Piano  (Suggested by: Michael Rogers)

In the month of February, on the 18th, in 1935, the fold-out piano for invalids was debuted. The compact instrument was designed for bedridden patients. The piano extended towards the patient's hands, with the keyboard often slanted at an angle. One of the first models made an appearance at the British Industry Fair in 1935. These pianos were created to allow long term patients with limited mobility to play the instruments while lying down. Many of the patients that initially played the fold-out pianos were convalescing from polio. The design of the instruments was very unique. They looked like a traditional upright piano, but the keyboard portion would fold out and extend.  The base was situated at the foot of a patient's bed with the keyboard stretching all the way up to the players hands as they reclined on their pillow. Music can have a very soothing and therapeutic effect. We are certain that for many bed-bound patients, having access to a fold-out piano was cherished. Today we have much smaller piano options for patients to enjoy, but for the 1830s, the fold-away piano certainly was a wonderful invention. 

Haunted Hanoverton, Ohio (Suggested by: Anthony Wallace)

Hanoverton is a village in Ohio that is over 200 years old and has a deep connection to the canal systems. The village was a safe haven for runaway slaves and a thriving port. The most historic street in the town is Plymouth Street, which features many century homes and twenty-two buildings that date back to the very early years of the village. There are legends about a witch, haunted houses and a haunted tavern. Join us for the history and hauntings of Hanoverton, Ohio!

James Craig was a Quaker abolitionist when he arrived in the future Hanoverton, Ohio. Craig founded the village of Hanover in 1813 and named it for the city of the same name in East Pennsylvania. Incorporation would come in 1836. Major D.B. Douglas came through the area in 1828 to survey a new canal route and the Sandy and Beaver Canal was chartered that same year. This canal would wind its way from the Ohio River near Pittsburgh west through Hanoverton, to the Ohio and Erie Canal, which connected to Cleveland for seventy-three miles. The canal had a lock system with ninety locks and was completed in 1848. Construction took longer than expected due to the Panic of 1837 causing financial difficulties. The mid-section of it had lots of issues and fell into disrepair and eventually operations completely ceased in 1852. A lot of work for very little reward. The main downfall for the canal came when a dam outside of the nearby city of Lisbon failed and a big section of canal was ruined. But while the canal was running, commerce thrived for Hanoverton. Population in the village reached its peak in the late 1830's of 2,000 inhabitants. Not only did the village lose its canal system, but in 1854, the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad opened up, which bypassed Hanoverton. That was a death knell for the industry here and the boom was gone and people left. Even today, the village has a population below 400. There are several locations in town with legends and ghost stories.

Dr. Robertson's Home 

Dr. James Robertson's home is located at 10181 Plymouth Street and is the oldest home in Hanoverton. The original half-house was built in 1817 and today is three "Western Reserve Half Houses" with a total of six bedrooms and six baths. It has been taken down to its bare bones and rebuilt and found a new owner in 2020. Dr Robertson had come over from Scotland and he was the only doctor in the county, having settled in Hanoverton in 1823. James married Anna Eliza in 1827 and they had eight children. 

He had studied medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, but some of his medical training came at his own hands and he, uh, well you know, got into that grave robbing thing apparently, so he could practice. He would dig up bodies from the nearby cemetery and bring them up to the upper room of his home in the middle of the night. People say they see him in the window of that room and they have captured some weird images in the window. The house has a secret room that was discovered during renovations that is believed to have been part of the Underground Railroad because Dr. Robertson was an abolitionist. There are remnants of a tunnel passageway that connected the doctor's house to his brother-in-law George Sloan's "Brick Row" that was across the street. A canal boat would be used to whisk the runaway slave to safety in Canada. Visiting clergy would stay here and the house got the nickname "Presbyterian Minister's Hotel." It made sense that the home was inviting to clergy because the doctor's father had been a minister. The doctor died in 1868 at the age of 68 and was buried in the Grove Hill Cemetery. Everything we read about him revealed that he was a highly respected man who had a warm heart and sacrificed to bring the poor medical care. So even though he might have done a little grave robbing, he was a good man.

The Witch of Hanoverton 

And speaking of Grove Hill Cemetery, there is a legend of a witch buried here. Even though this is a small town, there are at least four cemeteries here. We couldn't find much information on its founding, but it is fairly large and very well kept. There are several legends connected to this woman who is named Christina Sloan. She is buried in the family plot at the cemetery and there used to be chains and medallions all around the family plot, supposedly as protection, and the last of these fell away in 2019. People claimed she would rattle the chains if you got too close. 

Christina's headstone reveals that she died at the age of 22. The stories about her claim that there were actually two Christinas in the family, a legitimate one and an illegitimate one. Obviously, the illegitimate Christina is supposed to be the witch. So, George Sloan was a man from Ireland and he settled in Hanoverton and worked in the local mercantile. He married Jessie Robertson in 1825 and they had five children, one of whom was Christina. Christina was beautiful and had many admirers. One of these men was the town's pastor who became quite taken with her and obsessed. When he confessed his feelings to her, she didn't reciprocate. He approached her a second time with the same results and this time he got very angry and told the townspeople that Christina was a witch and she was bewitching the men of Hanoverton. The townspeople formed a mob and they apprehended Christina so they could hang her and she threatened that she would return from the grave to get vengeance. They killed her, buried her in Grove Hill and put the chains and medallions up. Some people equate the towns boom turning to a bust and becoming a ghost town to Christina. But there is another story told about her. Her father George was said to be a man who had trouble with infidelity. He got a mistress pregnant who named the child Christina also. George never took responsibility for this illegitimate daughter and Christina grew up poor. She knew George was her father and she approached him one day looking for money. George didn't want to lose his good reputation and he hired a couple of Irish friends to threaten her and one thing lead to another and Christina ended up dead. George felt guilty and had her buried in the family plot without a marker. Are either of these stories true? Probably not. Some people believe that Christina died during the cholera epidemic that came through. It's hard to know because Christina's headstone has very little information on it. Ground penetrating radar has indicated that there is indeed an unmarked grave in the plot as well. So who knows, maybe the stories are true. Did these women possibly curse the town? 

Spread Eagle Tavern 

The Spread Eagle Tavern is located at 10150 Plymouth Street and is an inn and restaurant that has stood for over 180 years. Now, we aren't sure what the name meant back in the early 1800s, but it is a tad, um, unique in our modern day vernacular. LOL! 

A man named Will Rhodes built the tavern in 1837. I tried to find out more about this person and I hit a major wall. The only Will Rhodes I could find connected to this city was William P. Rhodes, the oldest son of Capt. John and Mary Jane Rhodes, but he was born on Sept. 6 1850. Capt. John's family was from Hanover County in Ohio and said to be early settlers there, but I couldn't find his father's name and he had no siblings named William. So I believe this Will Rhodes was connected to this very successful family in Savanna, Illinois and the strange thing is that William P. Rhodes does end up in Hanoverton where he marries Hattie Pearce on Sept. 7, 1887, who had been born in Hanoverton in 1863. I don't know if they lived in the town at all or just married there. The Rhodes mostly had their business in Illinois and Will eventually ends up in California where he dies. Anyway, whoever this Will Rhodes is, he has the tavern built by canal artisans who lost their jobs in the Bank Panic of 1837. Basically, they needed something to do and so they were put to work building the tavern. 

The architecture is Federal style, so its a large rectangle and was built from brick. Basically, it is architecturally boring. It has three stories, eleven rooms and twelve fireplaces. There was a really well known 18th century architect named Asher Benjamin and much of the design of the tavern was inspired from his pattern books, particularly interiors like the windows, raised paneling, intricately carved mantles, door casings, fluted column frames and raised linters above the front door and windows. 

There is a wood-framed saltbox that is next to the tavern and was built before the tavern. This was home to Hanover's Justice of the Peace. The next owners of the tavern were Oliver Perry Nicholas and his wife Susannah Zepernick. The couple had married in 1839 and had five children. Unfortunately, a disease epidemic hit in 1854 and killed Oliver and two of the couple's sons. The tavern started serving as a meeting place for the Sandy Valley Order of Free and Accepted Masons in 1863. They would gather on the third floor. By the late 1800s, the tavern had become a private home and it changed ownership through the years until Peter Johnson bought it at auction in 1988. At the time, Johnson had no idea of the history behind the building and he planned to use it as a guest house. He had regular visitors to his brick and tile manufacturing firm, Summitville Tiles, and he figured the tavern would be great for housing them since this was a remote area without lodgings. Peter researched the history and as he pieced it together, he decided to restore the building and mapped out a two-year plan. Peter's son David shares about the work his dad did, "The rooms were stripped down to the stud walls so we could rewire and replaster. Every piece of woodwork was removed, numbered, restored, and then replaced...My dad salvaged weathered beams, siding, hand blown window glass, and foundation stones from demolished area barns and incorporated them into the reconstruction of [the] outbuildings." those outbuildings included a smokehouse, livery, and country kitchen with walk-in fireplace hearth. The fireplaces have these neat tiles all around them that feature local historic scenes and these tiles were made by Summitville Tiles. The basement is absolutely amazing. Remember that rathskeller from the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville? Peter added a rathskeller to the basement with 12-foot vaulted ceilings made from bricks. These bricks came from a 190-year-old house. The dining space was expanded by taking down a wall between the tavern and an 1820s house that was next door. 

Peter put his wife Jean in charge of decorating the interiors and Jean wanted to wind back the clock and complement the history and architecture of the building. Jean asked for help from J. B. Ayers III and Paul Dolrea of Antiques & Interiors of Willoughby, Ohio. These antiques included old candlesticks, pewter ware, old photographs, historic documents, mirrors, reproductions and actual antiques and an original Revolutionary War flag.

The Johnsons decided to name the rooms and dining areas and bars for local or national historic figures. They wanted to honor the man who inspired the architecture so the parlor is named for Asher Benjamin. The bedrooms are named for Abraham Lincoln, George and Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Dolley Madison. Marcus Hanna was a local industrialist who funded the presidential campaign of William McKinley and a room is named for him. Two dining rooms are named for Presidents McKinley and Taft because they were Ohio natives. Barbara Bush was the First Lady when the tavern reopened in October of 1990, so a dining room is named for her too. There is also the Patrick Henry Tavern Room. When Peter retired, David took on the business and the running of the inn. Today, the inn offers five rooms for rent and meals are served in the seven dining rooms. President Lincoln gave a speech in Hanoverton and he dined or stayed at the tavern. A bill for the event was uncovered about 20 years ago. President McKinley had also stayed here. 

The tavern is said to be quite haunted. David Johnson said, "It’s just incredible history. This is remarkable; every neighbor on this street has a ghost story." He pointed out that the village was a place that runaway slaves ran to and it is believed that the ghost of an escaped slave is here. There was also an 8-year-old girl who died in a fire back in the 1800s that is here. The General Manager of the inn, Mike Ellis said of the little girl's spirit, "She’s happy-go-lucky, running through here playing like she doesn’t even know she’s dead." He didn't believe in ghosts until he started working at the tavern. This child spirit likes to hang out mostly on the stairs. Her full-bodied apparition has been seen multiple times and visitors say that she had blonde hair. Guests also have heard the sound of a piano playing in the Rathskeller (basement) area. 

The most haunted room at the inn is the Jefferson room. Olevia Nichols was the daughter of Oliver and Susannah and so she lived at the tavern as they ran it and it is believed that this was here room. The story claims that she left for a time to New York City to try to become an actress. All stories claim that she failed at that, but some say that she met a man in NYC and they became engaged and then he left her, so she came back home to Ohio. Other versions claim that she came back to Ohio and then met a young man who became her fiance and then broke her heart. She went into a depression and lock herself into the Jefferson Room and hanged herself in there. But we're not sure about the veracity of that story since there is no proof about the suicide. She died in 1907 at either the age of 59 or 60 - there are only years on her very simple stone. She never did marry, so that part is true. But remember, her father and a couple siblings died in 1854, so we aren't sure she was still living at the tavern in 1907 when she died. People do think she has returned to the tavern to haunt it. Guests who stay in the Jefferson Room say that it feels very depressing and heavy in there. The water faucets turn on by themselves. People who are staying in the room below will hear noises above them when no one is in the room. These noises sound like some kind of party or gathering. A sad looking female apparition has been seen looking out of the window. Olevia likes to pull the covers off of people. She doesn't like men in her room and when they shower she will turn the water ice cold. A maid reported that she was cleaning the toilet when the shower came on full blast all by itself. Now, as a cleaning lady, that would piss me off if I had already cleaned the shower. 

Michaela wrote on her blog Madame Whip, "My best friends parents actually stayed on the third floor once and said that they were awoken around 3 a.m. to the sounds of furniture being dragged across the floor like someone was rearranging. They also had their covers pulled off of them and saw their doorknob turn multiple times with no one on the other side. They said that they did not believe in ghosts before that, but now they definitely do." She continued, "Around 3 a.m., the four of us descended into the dark tunnels for another whack at hearing something creepy. We sat in a circle, knee to knee, lights off, no phones and not saying a word.  My friend Ashley and I both closed our eyes so that we could intensify the concentration.  Next thing I know, I heard a mans voice that sounded like it was underwater. It was just one quick muffled sentence, but it was enough to freak me all the way out. The weirdest part? Ashley heard it too. At the same exact time. The other two in our group did not hear it, but our dramatic response to hearing this was enough to make us all go back upstairs.  We could not believe that we just heard this crazy noise at the same time.  It was just unreal to have the reassurance that I wasn't losing my marbles or hallucinating...We ran into the current manager of the inn and he wanted to know if we experienced anything. We told him about the creepy muffled voice that sounded like it was underwater. He looked a little shocked. He told us that where we were in the tunnels by the restrooms is where the most paranormal activity happens. These tunnels are not there for no reason, they were used for the underground railroad as well. He also mentioned that the canal actually ran through there at one point and flooded the place and apparently a slave had perished in the water. Oh my word. Coincidence or paranormal experience? I can never be 100% sure, but I know what I heard."  

A man who had stayed at the inn told YouTube's Curious History that he was lying in bed when he heard a knock on the closet door. He thought it was weird, but he knocked on the bedside table to see what would happen and sure enough, there were two knocks on the closet door in response. He knocked on the table again and got two more knocks. So he decided to stop. Curious History also shared a story from a former general manager who was in the building alone one night and he was in the basement and he felt this very strong and ominous presence near him, probably about five feet away. He was so scared to his core that he ran through the building and out to his car. He got in and called the owner to tell him that he couldn't go back into the building. This dark presence tends to hang out in the basement and people say its a former runaway slave. This was a beloved manager who had worked there for some time, but this was it for him. A server went downstairs one day and saw a tall man sitting at the bar all dressed in black with a tall hat on his head. She went back up and asked why someone was seated downstairs because no one was supposed to be down there yet. She was told that no one had been seated downstairs. Her reply was, "Yes, there is." A couple other employees joined her in going downstairs and no one was there. There was no way anyone could have come up without them seeing the person. The host himself has heard the piano in the basement play by itself.

There is a long history to this little village, especially in regards to the Spread Eagle Tavern. Are these locations in Hanoverton haunted and is the legend of a witch true? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 596 - Haunted Massillon, Ohio

Moment in Oddity - Hoss the Hairball

The original Mr. Potato Head included body parts, hats and the like that could be added to an actual potato or other vegetable. But what if those parts were added to a giant ball of hair? Let us introduce you to Hoss the Hairball, a Guiness Book record holding, ball of hair. Hoss was created in Ohio by hair stylist, Steve Warden. Warden's children had asked him for years to create a giant hairball. So in 2013, he began collecting his client's hair with that goal in mind. Warden even installed a chute in the floor of his salon to gather the hair. Little by little the hairstylist assembled what would come to be known as Hoss using liquid glue, spray adhesive and hairspray to keep its shape. The name Hoss was derived from the TV show Bonanza. In December of 2021, Hoss was weighed in by Guiness Book of World Records at a whopping 225.13 lbs. Hoss now travels with Ripley's Believe It or Not and has helped Ripley's raise more than $40,000 for charity organization Give Kids The World in Central Florida. Hoss sports big blue eyes, a large cowboy hat, toothy grin, a big nose and cow-print pants. People have donated to Hoss from around the world to create his rotund body and he continues to grow. Art can take numerous different forms, but creating a hairball that weighs more than the average man, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Women's Rights Convention

In the month of July, on the 19th and 20th, in 1848, one of the first Woman's Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. The event was organized by Elizabeth Stanton, Martha Wright, Jane Hunt, Lucretian Mott and Mary Ann McClintock, and was a crucial development in the fight for women's rights. Approximately 300 people were in attendance. Suffragists would later state that this convention was what truly launched the suffrage movement. It resulted in the drafting of the Declaration of Sentiments which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. It laid out the fundamental equalities that women were demanding regarding political, social and economic rights declaring them as the same inalienable rights that men were given. One of the key elements of the Declaration of Sentiments called for women's right to vote. Although that endowment was not solidified until 1920 with the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Sentiments set into motion future activism and legal reforms for women. 

Haunted Massillon, (Mass uh lawn) Ohio (Suggested by: Alexis Balch)

Massillon, Ohio is located in Stark County along the Tuscarawas (tuh skr aa wuhz) River. This was a Quaker town and a canal town that grew and evolved as transportation changed throughout the country. Today, it has a thriving arts and culture scene that embraces its history. Several of the historic buildings in town have ghost stories connected to them. Join us for the history and hauntings of Massillon, Ohio. 

Massillon is referred to as a canal town and that is because the Ohio and Erie Canal played a crucial role in the city's growth. The city was founded on the banks of the Tuscarawas River as Kendal in 1812 by Thomas Rotch. Seafarering New Englanders joined him and many of them were Quakers, so the city was built with those values. A seaman named James Duncan came to the area in 1826 and established another city called Massillon, after French Catholic bishop Jean-Baptiste Massillon. The Ohio and Erie Canal was built through his land to connect Massillon to Cleveland and that was completed in 1832. Hiram and Marshall Wellman were merchants who came to Massillon and they built a warehouse along the canal. They sent out the word that they would pay cash for wheat and this brought farmers from everywhere and before long, Massillon was nicknamed "The Wheat City." *Fun Fact: Marshall Wellman was Jack London's grandfather.* The Port of Massillon thrived until the railroad arrived in 1852. Kendal and Massillon unified and incorporated in 1853. The Flood of 1913 inundated the city with water with floodwaters reaching the upper stories of buildings in the downtown area. The railroad tracks were destroyed and trains were washed away. The Ohio and Erie Canal was pretty much done after this flood. The building of viaducts helped with future flooding threats and saved the city from becoming a Rust Belt shell. The economy diversified and the city has remained resilient. 

So yeah, that's it for the history, nothing else major. Okay, okay, so Alexis, who suggested this city to us mentioned that apparently football is kinda big here. Massillon is renowned for its fervent high school football culture and that is because they have a community history deeply rooted in football. They love there Massillon Tigers team. There is apparently a strong rivalry with the Canton McKinley Bulldogs and it is said this is one of the oldest and most storied rivalries in high school football. Massillon leads the series 76-53-5. The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team that was founded in 1903 and played in the Ohio League winning five championship titles in a row. The NFL began as the APFA in 1920 and the Tigers opted not to join. They stayed independent until they folded in 1923. The Massillon Washington High School assumed the Tiger as their school mascot. Paul Brown graduated from the school in 1925 and he returned to coach the football team in 1932 and he stayed on as coach for nine years with an unbelievable 80-8-2 record. There was a 35-game winning streak in there. Brown would go on to be the first head coach of the Cleveland Browns and he did that for 17 seasons. Interestingly, the Browns have no logo and yes, they are named for Coach Brown, which I only just learned while researching this. The stadium the football team plays in is named for Paul Brown. Massillon finished in the top 4 of ESPN's Titletown USA in 2008.

Before we get into true hauntings, we wanted to touch on the Woman in Black Panic that hit Massillon in 1895. Author Chris Woodyard brought this to our attention on his blog "Haunted Ohio." The Independent wrote in September of 1895, "Some little time ago Peter Ertle stood on the corner of Prospect and Plum Streets conversing in low but impassioned tones with a young woman who listened with an eagerness that did not prevent her from taking mental note of a woman in black, who appeared with mincing steps and hovered near as though to listen. The first impulse of the couple thus rudely approached was one of indignation, but a second glance evoked curiosity, as it showed that the creature wore garments belonging to quite another generation and its head seemed ridiculously small, no larger than Peter Ertle’s manly fist. When the interest shifted and the young people began to scrutinize the strange apparition, the latter gathered up its skirts and floated rather than walked in the direction of Cedar Street. Mr. Ertle and his companion followed, somewhat gingerly, it must be confessed, and after following it through the labyrinths of Kendal town returned again to their corner and resumed the thread of their purely personal discussion. And then something strange occurred. 

Although they so stood that every avenue of approach was under their eyes, they became conscious all at once of a presence close at hand, and turning, discovered to their amazement this same woman, man or spirit, grinning and listening as before. Again it fled and again it strangely disappeared. Mr. Ertle submits the opinion that this woman in black is a sure-enough woman, afflicted with some malady of the head, which causes her to roam the streets at night. But Peter Ertle and that particular young woman no longer carry on conversations in low and impassioned tones at the corner of Prospect Street and Plum." The article continues with saying that Peter Ertle saw this Woman in Black for over three years. There was a belief that this wasn't a real spirit and the article continued, "While it is unwise in these piping times of peace, for real or imitation ghosts to go stalking forth, they undoubtedly have the right to parade the streets, if they so desire, as long as they refrain from committing deeds of a disorderly character or of violence. It does not appear that the “woman in black” has misbehaved herself very seriously, and there is therefore no urgent necessity on the part of anybody to shoot promiscuously at objects which may or may not be mysterious. Young persons whose enthusiasm and courage are of a soda water variety should not be entrusted with fire arms for the purpose of exterminating ghosts or any other animate objects. Revolvers are made for policemen and Wild West cowboys. Other people have no earthly excuse for carrying them, and their possession entails more trouble than it does good. Parents are warned that many of their young sons are inclined to disagree with these doctrines, and it is their duty to assist in bringing about a complete disarmament. Under conditions that give assurance of personal security, let the ghost hunting proceed." Seven days later, the Woman in Black was revealed and The Independent reported, " Canton, Sept. 14. The mysterious “woman in black” proves to be Mrs. Libold, of Canton, who lives opposite the Yohe House. Frequently during the summer Mrs. Libold has visited friends in Massillon, and not being aware that she presented a frightful appearance to the superstitious she has crossed Prospect and Plum Streets on her way to see them. On one occasion, no doubt the night that Peter Ertle and the young lady with whom he was talking first reported the ghostly spectre in black, Mrs. Libold says she was followed quite a distance by a young couple after she had crossed Prospect Street. 'I remember the instance well,' said Mrs. Libold, 'for I was rather frightened myself. I had called on friends in Plum Street and remained there later than I should, for I wished to spend a few moments with acquaintances in Center Street. I started for the latter place and walked rather fast. When I reached Prospect Street, instead of turning up to North I walked straight up Plum Street and then through the alley in the rear of the Steese residence to North. I then noticed that I was being followed by the young man and lady and walked faster. When I reached Hamel’s they had retired and I returned on North Street. The two walked past me and stared at me so closely that I thought they must have taken me for someone else. I then took the 10:30 car for Canton.' When informed that she had been taken for the ghost and had badly frightened several persons she was astonished but greatly amused." 

Massillon Public Library 

The Massillon Public Library is located at 208 Lincoln Way East. The Massillon library started as the McClymonds Public Library in 1899. The first library was housed in the donated home of Nahum and Esther Russell, which was located on Fourth Street. The library was named for J.W. McClymond who had provided a $20,000 endowment. Founder James Duncan built his home in the 1830s and the house was later owned by Dr. J.P. and Clara Barrick. Clara died in the home in 1909 and the house passed to Clara's son Frank Lee Baldwin and his wife Annie. Annie died in the house in 1931 and she had bequeathed the home to the city to be used as a museum or library. This opened as the Baldwin Museum with many artifacts and some artwork in 1933. In 1934, snakes  and other creatures were added as was a reproduction of a coal mine in the basement. In 1935, a battle ensued about closing the museum and moving the library to the house. The library was moved to the house and a new building was built for the museum. The library is a really beautiful red brick building that was designed by architect Albrecht. There is a large rotunda with two wings, with one of those wings being the Duncan house. The interior features tall ceilings and terrazzo marble floors. 

The library is said to be haunted and staff and visitors have all reported experiences. A security camera caught an interesting develop at the witching hour. Right at 3am, the elevator took itself up to the third floor and opened. A bright light was seen coming from inside the elevator. And then a security camera caught the same thing again and again. It has happened many times. Director Sherie Brown has worked at the library since 1979 and she shared with The Independent an experience she had in 2011. She said she was working in her office that was located in the wing that had been Duncan's house after the library had closed for the day. Someone walked past her office door and she was startled because she thought she was the only employee in the building. She called out and got no response, so she went to see where this person had gone and she found no else in the library. A custodian was cleaning one night and heard what he described as the tapping of a cane in the attic. A patron claimed that someone unseen pushed her. And staff members have been hit by books flying off the shelves. There are also claims of hearing disembodied footsteps and the nose picture of a distinctive perfume. 

Brian Fain is the co-founder of Massillon Paranormal Research Association and they have investigated at the library. The Massillon Independent reported in 2018 the group, "During a six-year period, the group conducted nine investigations at the library. The paranormal investigators have captured a few pieces of evidence to support the claim. Fain's sister-in-law was conducting an EVP session when she asked if the ghost helped the staff out at night when no one was there. When they played back the recording, a woman is heard answering the question with a 'no.' On another occasion, Fain and team members were in the reference area of the library near the fireplace. The two were joking that the chairs were very comfortable. Fain said he couldn't read siting there or he would likely fall asleep. When they played the recording back, a voice could be heard faintly saying 'they sleep here sometimes.' 

The Lions Lincoln Theater

The Lion's Lincoln Theater is located at 156 Lincoln Way E. and was built in 1915 by grocer John McLain. The architect was Guy Tilden and the facade has a beautiful lighted marquee. The interior isn't real fancy and this was originally a motion picture theater that now hosts performing arts. The building is preparing to undergo many interior and exterior upgrades, which was announced just here in July 2025. The theater started with 979 seats and had a Hillgreen-Lane straight pipe organ. The Schine Circuit Inc. took over the theater in 1927 and they installed a Wurlitzer 2 manual, 7 ranks style EX-opus 1560 theatre organ. That organ would be removed in 1938 by Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp. who had acquired the theater in 1931. The Lincoln Theatre was sold in the 1980s to the Massillon Lions Club and they still operate it today with Eric Myers serving as the theater's Executive Director.

The theater is said to be haunted and starting in 2014, it has hosted an event called Haunted: Locked in at the Lincoln. Jim Fravel was the Director of Performing Arts at the theater at that time and he told The Canton Repository, "We've had other ghost hunter groups come and spend the night in the theater and they have recorded amazing results. The Massillon Ghost Hunters Society and the North Canton Paranormal Society have both verified the existence of paranormal activity in the theater. Some of the members have recorded voices and EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon). It's never been anything scary and they've never found any mean spirits." The stories here claim that one of the spirits here goes by the name Red and this entity appears as a shadow, causes cold spots and likes to move things around. Disembodied voices are heard in the stairwells. 

Five Oaks Mansion

The Five Oaks Mansion is located at 210 Fourth Street NE and was the home of the man whom we mentioned in regards to the beginnings of the library, J. Walter McClymonds. Five Oaks was named for the five oaks on the property and built in 1892 as designed by architect, Charles F. Schweinfurth in the Gothic and Romenesque styles.  The street it was built on was known at the turn-of-the-century  as "The Showplace of America." It was said to be the architect's best work. The exterior featured towering chimneys, an arched portico and a corner turret tower. The interior featured Tiffany glass, chandeliers, exotic woods that were beautifully carved and there was also gold and silver leaf embossing. The house was filled with Victorian furniture as well. In September of 1919, the house became the meeting place for the Massillon Women’s Club, which had been formed to support the WWI effort. The house was registered on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Haunting activity included hearing a woman singing, a statue that moves on its own, the smell of a cigar and full-bodied apparitions. The North Ohio Paranormal Scientific Society investigated in 2010 and reported feeling "spider webs" across their faces and arms, hair touched, touches on the neck and cold air on the neck, heart racing and dizziness.

Kozmo's Grill

Kozmo's Grill is located at 37 First Street SW. Kozmo's was opened by three guys, an ex-beer salesman, an ex-medical swab manufacturer and an ex-CPA in 2005 in a building that has been here for 150 years. The name comes from Kramer of Seinfeld. His first name was Cosmo with a "C." The restaurant has a K instead. The men renovated the space, embracing its history by highlighting the tin ceilings, exposed brick and refinishing the original wood floors. A wood stone hearth is the heart of the restaurant and is used to make pizza, cookies, fruit cobbler and dips. Before Kozmo's was here, this was Coppers Bar & Cafe. Sherri Brake had investigated here when it was Coppers and she writes in her book "Haunted Stark County," (pg. 86)

Kendal and Massillon City Cemeteries

When the city of Kendal was founded, the Kendal Cemetery was the first burial ground established in the city of Massillon. The Kendal Cemetery was founded in 1811. When the Black Plague came through the city, a mass burial pit was dug and people who died from the plague were thrown into it. There are legends that claim some of them were still alive. Some of these mass graves had up to 40 bodies. In 1848, it fell into disuse and then disrepair. Some bodies were moved to a new cemetery opened as the Massillon City Cemetery in 1846 at 1827 Erie Street South. We read that the former Kendal Cemetery is now just a grassy field at Ninth Street NE and Andrew Avenue NE and that a white urn with a few flowers planted inside is all that remains as a marker for the cemetery. There is no sign. No headstones. But bones still remain below the soil. Homes near the former cemetery are said to be haunted and its no wonder. Local historian Bob Bratton had grown up in a house on the 200 block of Ninth Street. "The Alliance Review" talked to Bratton in 2017 and reported, "As a young boy, Bratton remembers waking up one night to see a square-headed silhouette sitting at the end of his bed. He never told anyone of this occurrence. Twenty years later, his younger brother occupied Bratton's old bedroom and also awoke one night to see the same figure with the perfectly square head sitting at the foot of his bed." Ohhh, the square headed ghost! That's a first for us.

The Massillon City Cemetery has 24,000 burials. One of the people moved here from the Kendal Cemetery was Captain Mayhew Folger. Folger had been the Captain of the Topaz and on one of his voyages in 1808, they rediscovered Pitcairn Island. For those unfamiliar with Pitcairn Island, this is where the mutineers from the Bounty - you know, Mutiny on the Bounty - settled. That happened in 1789. So Folger ends up here in 1808 and only one of the mutineers was still alive, Alexander Smith, whose real name was John Adams. Adams gave Captain Folger the Bounty's azimuth compass and Larcum Kendall K2 marine chronometer. The group had burned the Bounty to escape detection. Captain Folger moved to Kendal, Ohio with his family in 1813. He became the first postmaster of Massillon in 1828 and died later that year. He is said to haunt the Massillon Cemetery with balls of light frequently showing up in photos taken with his headstone. Tour guide, author and investigator Sherri Brake shares that when the Captain was dug up from Kendal, his coffin was empty and that his body had been grave robbed. Not sure if that is true and they buried an empty coffin in Massillon City Cemetery or just put up a cenotaph. Maybe that is why he is haunting the place.

Massillon Psychiatric Center

The founder of the city, James Duncan, had owned the land where the Massillon State Hospital for the Insane was built in 1898. The cottage that Duncan built here when he was grazing sheep was used as a dwelling by the hospital until 1956. Ohio Governor William McKinley, whom would later become president, is the one who suggested that the 240 acres of this plot be given to the state to build the hospital. The cottage design for mental hospitals had taken hold in the country at this time as a better way to treat the mentally ill. The Kirkbride Plan was losing favor. In honor of McKinley, the first hall built here was named for him and covered 52,000 square feet. Three hundred patients were moved in after the hospital opened and Dr. A.B. Richardson was the superintendent. 

Ironically, the best superintendent at the hospital was named Arthur Hyde. He took over in 1918 and would remain in that position until 1954. He knew each patient by name and treated them with respect. It is said he did more for the mentally ill than anyone else in Ohio. A trolley was built between the city of Massillon and the hospital. The hospital continued to expand adding forty buildings that included a laundry, power house, boiler house, kitchen and bakery, dining hall, infirmiry building, stroehouse and residences for patients and employees. By 1950, there were 365 employees and 3,100 patients. As the 1970s brought other theories on treatment, patients were slowly transferred out of the hospital to other facilities. The hospital changed its name to the Massillon Psychiatric Center after that and today is known as the Heartland Behavioral Health Center. In October of 2024, federal grants were used to begin a clean-up at the hospital. 

McKinley Hall closed and has sat empty. People have claimed that this is the most haunted location on the property. Lights flicker inside when no one is inside. There have been sightings of a ghostly boy inside. He was seen by nurses through the years and they claimed he darted through the halls at night. Sherri Brake says that in 2005, she was taking a tour group into the hall and this group included a local reporter and photographer. The photographer caught an image that looked like a blurry little boy and there were no children on the tour. 

Doctors Hospital

Doctors Hospital in Massillon was located at 400 Austin Avenue NW before it was demolished. This hospital was built in the early 1960s and ran until 2008. Five doctors and a businessman are the team that formed to build the hospital. The building was shaped like and airplane with a main corridor and two wings that included 48 beds. The hospital was expanded several times over the years and ended up being 300,000 square feet. The hospital offered all services from regular doctors visits to emergency care and surgery. There was intensive care units and a maternity ward. The hospital went into decline after merging with Massillon Community Hospital in 2006 to become Affinity Medical Center and all serves were eventually moved to the Massillon facility. The Stark County morgue remained until 2009 and the building sat vacant until it was demolished in 2019. 

Doctors Hospital was said to be haunted. One of the spirits here was said to be a nurse's aid who died from a heart attack in the hospital. He liked to hum and so disembodied humming was heard. A misty apparition has been seen. Water faucets would turn on and off by themselves, even as staff watched it happen. Nurses claimed to hear their names being called when no one was around. There was one room that was said to be the most haunted. The legend behind it was that an elderly woman had cursed the room before she died. Patients staying in the room would complain that an elderly woman would enter their room and pull their covers off of them and tell them to leave her room. Coldness would often fill the room - but then, you have to wonder if these people had ever been in a hospital. The freaking place is always freezing! A hospital administrator wanted to prove the stories wrong, so he stayed the night in the room, but he fled it around 2am. He then had the room sealed off and no patients were ever assigned the room again. 

A story shared with 12 News goes, "Another tale takes place in labor and delivery. According to Miller, an expectant mother was in distress. Her young nurse went in search of a doctor for help. She encountered an older physician in the hallway who barked orders and walked away. Not long after, a superior berated the young staffer for administering drugs without doctor's orders. The young RN offered up a description of the mysterious doctor. Her description eerily matched that of a hospital doctor who had died years earlier." 

Massillon, Ohio is a historic town oozing with small town charm and football. There is plenty of interesting architecture and it would seem that there are plenty of ghosts too. Are these location in Massillon haunted? That is for you to decide! 

HGB Ep. 581 - Haunted Akron

Moment in Oddity - African Jacana

Diane and I are avid bird enthusiasts. We spend a good bit of money feeding the wild birds that frequent our backyard because we enjoy observing them. Recently we came upon a very unique bird called the African Jacana. This species of bird is found in the sub-Saharan African freshwater wetlands. Swamps, marshes and sometimes slow moving rivers are their homes. Their species distribution spans from Senegal to Sudan and south to South Africa. Jacanas are also known as 'Jesus birds' due to their long toes and slender legs which allow them to walk on floating vegetation, giving the illusion that they are walking on water. The Jacanas are polyandry which means that the female mates with multiple males and the male alone incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks once they have hatched. What is so striking about the species however comes into play when there is a threat to the chicks by a predator. The male Jacana will squat low and open his wings. The chicks will then run underneath the wings of the male and press against his body. The male will then close his wings and carry the chicks to a safer location. This remarkable bird looks more like something born of a nuclear waste disaster. That or possibly one of Dr. Frankenstein's creations because while the male is carrying the chicks, the chick's legs sprawl out every which way from under the male's wings. The photographs that one can find online of male African Jacanas carrying their babies are bizarre, heartwarming and above all, certainly are odd.

This Month in History - The Gray Ghost Captures Union General E.H. Stoughton

In the month of March, on the 8th, in 1863, Confederate Colonel John Mosby and his Rangers captured Union General E.H. Stoughton. John Singleton Mosby's Rangers were well known for their guerilla style approach and raids behind Union lines in Northern Virginia during the Civil War. The Rangers were composed of 1,900 men between January 1863 and April of 1865. They were not a traditional army unit but were still able to enjoy the plunders of war. They also were not tasked with camp duties and the Rangers lived dispersed amongst civilian populations. Mosby's Rangers were quite successful, often being called on to strike specific targets. These were known as lightning raids in the countryside of Virginia. To this day, Mosby's 43rd Cavalry is still known in parts of Virginia's Piedmont region as "Mosby's Confederacy". The night of Stoughton's capture, a light rain was falling. A raid was ordered for Fairfax Virginia which was known as Fairfax Courthouse at the time. Stoughton was sleeping amongst several thousand Federal soldiers only a short 15 mile distance from the White House. Mosby was also known as the "Gray Ghost" due to his unit's ability to appear and quickly disappear, ostensibly without a trace. That night, the Gray Ghost entered the Union General's quarters after Mosby's rangers quickly overpowered a few drowsy guards. Next, the Rangers snuck into the stables to gather horses. What took place after that is somewhat amusing. The Gray Ghost stealthily lifted the General's nightshirt and slapped Stoughton's bare bum with a sword, shocking the General awake. The following conversation is said to have gone like this. The General asked, "What is the meaning of this?" Mosby, "General, did you ever hear of Mosby?" Stoughton replied, "Yes, have you caught him?" to which the Gray Ghost stated, "I AM Mosby and I have caught YOU. Stuart's cavalry has possession of the Courthouse; be quick and dress". Many Union soldiers escaped into the forest after realizing that Mosby's forces were of a small number. The total list of captured were as follows: a Union General, 2 Captains, 30 enlisted men and 58 horses, all without firing a shot. When President Lincoln was advised of the news, he bemoaned, "I can make another Brigadier in 5 minutes, but I can't replace those horses."

Haunted Akron

Akron is an industrial city with roots as a canal town that grew out of a swamp. It is the fifth largest city in Ohio and has a rich history connected to some of the most well known manufacturers in the world. There is a dark side with a history of violent riots and crimes committed by the Black Hand Gang. Like all historic cities, Akron has its legends and haunted locations. Join us for the history and hauntings of Akron, Ohio!

Akron, Ohio started as an inhospitable swamp that settlers to the area quickly abandoned. This was the Cuyahoga Valley that was referred to as the Western Reserve. The Ohio and Erie Canal was built between the 1820s and early 1830s and connected Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Workers drained the swampland of Akron. A man named Simon Perkins founded Akron in 1825 and since it was the highest point in the county, it was named Akron, which means "high" in Greek. The first canal boat would launch from Akron in 1827 and the town exploded with growth. Mills and factories would be attracted to Akron because of the canal and companies like Quaker Oats and General Mills would start here as would many tire companies like B.F. Goodrich Tire, Firestone Tire, General Tire, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The rubber industry was so big that Akron was nicknamed the "Rubber Capitol of the World." The city would also be the center of airship development. So from canal town to industrial powerhouse. The city has many strange legends connected to it and haunted locations due to murders, riots, violence and tragic stories. Here are some of those haunted locations.

River Styx Bridge

River Styx is a pretty ominous name and it was inspired by the River Styx of Greek mythology. It's the name of an unincorporated community and nearby river. Over the River Styx is a seventy-five-foot-tall steel railroad trestle. On March 22, 1899, the Erie Limited No. 5 was heading west toward Chicago with Erie Railroad engineer Alexander Wallace Logan at the helm. Logan had worked for 30 years on the rails. A bolt snapped on the bridge and it cause the train to derail and plunge down an embankment. The train consisted of a baggage car, a day car, two sleeping cars and a dining car with 79 passengers on board. The fireman on board, Byron Ward, survived and said, "I kept my eyes on Logan after he had put on the emergency, thinking I would jump if he did. But he didn’t. He kept his hand on the throttle and the last I saw of him he was leaning out of the window, his teeth set with that grim determination so peculiar to him, his hand on the throttle, calm and determined to do all in his power to save the lives of those on the train." His efforts were not in vain. Logan was killed instantly, but the passenger cars remained upright and no one else died. 

One of the first witnesses to the ghost train when the Wayne County coroner, Dr. William Faber, told people in October of 1899 that he saw a train that "The train was enveloped in great clouds of dust and smoke and huge flames of fire shot up in every direction, and immense volumes of steam making a terrific noise shot up from the engine, and the noise of creaking timbers and breaking iron bars was plainly heard, but above all came the shrieks of those pinioned beneath the wreckage." He had a buddy in the car and they ran toward where they saw the wreckage go, but when they reached the bridge, they found nothing. It was eerily quiet. The following year, three men heard a train whistle and heard the sound of a train wreck and watched it plunge into the river. They ran over, but again, no train was found. For the past century, people have reported seeing the lights of a train and billowing smoke and hearing the screams of passengers as a ghost train plummets towards the river. The bridge runs parallel to East Ohio Avenue, just north of Morton Salt in Rittman.

Cry-Baby Bridge

There is another bridge with legends connected to it and it carries the familiar moniker of Cry-Baby Bridge. The story that goes with this one dates back to the 19th century. A couple were riding in a horse-drawn carriage with their baby near Silver Creek. They were making their way down a steep hill and lost control of the carriage and the baby was lost in the creek. Another story claims the mother committed infanticide, like in most Cry-Baby Bridge stories. It is said that when people stand on the bridge at midnight under a full moon, they will hear the wailing of a baby. The bridge is near the Chippewa-Rogues Hollow Historical Society at 17500 Galehouse Road. 

Hale Farm & Village

Spending time at the Hale Farm and Village is like stepping back into the 19th century. The village is located at 2686 Oak Hill Road, about 7 miles north of Akron. The farm is named for Jonathan Hale who homesteaded the property and built the house in 1825. He had come here from Connecticut in 1810 without his family, so that he could prepare a place for them. When he got to the land he purchased, he found a squatter had moved onto the land and built a log cabin. Now, one might think he would be angry about this development, but when he saw the work the man had done at clearing the fields, he told the man he was welcome to stay as long as he continued to care for the land. Hale's wife and three children arrived a few months later. The permanent house, that still stands today, was begun in 1824 and was fashioned from clay bricks formed from clay near the Cuyahoga River. The house was designed in the Federal style and stands three stories. The rear of the house is built into a slope, so the first floor has no windows in the rear. That first floor has an open concept like our modern homes with a great room that has a dining room, living room and kitchen. The second floor had another dining room that was more formal and a parlor. Eventually the dining room became a bedroom. The third floor had six small bedrooms with no fireplaces. Yikes, talk about freezing in the winter! Later years found those rooms being redesigned as larger bedrooms. The Hale family called their home "Old Brick."

The Hale's son Andrew stayed on the property after he married and he built a small house across from Old Brick. This home eventually was moved to become the South Wing of Old Brick. A North Wing was built later for storage. We're not sure when the wings were added, but probably after 1854 when Jonathan died and Andrew moved his family into Old Brick. Andrew ran the Hale Farm until his death in 1884. Andrew's son, Charles Oviatt, decided to turn the house into an inn for city dwellers to enjoy on the weekends and for summer tourists. Charles died in 1938 and his niece, Clara, inherited the house. When she died in 1953, she donated the property to the Western Reserve Historical Society, so they could open Old Brick as a museum. That house is the central focus of a property that now contains 34 historic structures, 8 of them built by three generations of the Hale family, and runs as an outdoor living history museum. In 2008, Sandvick Architects restored Old Brick. Visitors can learn about spinning and weaving and see demonstrations of glass blowing, pottery making and blacksmithing.

There is a one-room cabin in the village that had been built by Jonathan Fritch in 1805. When the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company moved onto the property that Fritch had owned, they used the cabin as a fishing and hunting cabin for clients. In 1995, they donated the cabin to the village and it is used as a representation of the cabin that the Hales lived in for their first 17 years on their farm.

Another house on the property is the 1832 Goldsmith House that was designed by architect Jonathan Goldsmith in the Greek Revival style for the William Peck Robinson family. The family of six arrived from New Haven, Connecticut to Willoughby, Ohio in 1820. They were a wealthy family as William had owned several mills. The house is the most luxurious one on the property and was donated and moved here from Willoughby in eight sections in 1973 and reopened in 1985. This is the most haunted building on the property. Staff claim to have seen a female apparition on the second floor whom they believe is Caroline Robinson, the wife of William Robinson. William, unfortunately, had died before the house was finished. A volunteer at the house claimed to see an impression on a bed as though someone unseen was lying on the bed. The indentation went away as they approached the bed. 

The Herrick House was brought over to the Hale Farm, stone by stone and reconstructed. The house is named for Jonathan E. Herrick who had it built in 1845 in Twinsburg. Herrick was an early settler to the town and he came to the Western Reserve after his brothers had success there. He married Phila Clark and they had five children. The house was designed in the Greek revival style and has a unique square cut stone structure. Phila died in 1889 and Jonathan died in 1898 and at that time, the house was willed to Anna Simmonds, who had been an employee of the family. The house passed down through the Simmonds family. It was decided to build an industrial park where the house sat and so it was slated for demolition in 1981. A grant and donation made it possible for the Hale Farm to acquire the house. It took 20 truckloads to move the stones. It took years before rebuilding, but the house was finished and opened in 1989. Since Jonathan Herrick had been a dairy farmer, the new site of the house has been interpreted as a working dairy farm with a barn, fenced animal paddocks and land for gardens and barnyard animals added to the house. Cheese was a big deal in the Western Reserve and it got the nickname "Cheesedom." Employees claim that objects move around the house when it is closed. People have seen a male apparition walking around inside the house and this is thought to be Jonathan.

The Jagger House was built in 1845 by Clement Jagger, who was a prosperous carriage-maker in Bath, Ohio. The house was designed in the Greek Revival style and the interior features hand carved paneling and stenciling. The house was relocated in 1962 and is presented as a part of the farm village that is named Wheatfield Township. The house is set up as the home and office of Dr. William Tibbals and his family. A former volunteer at the house reported this experience, "The most frightening house at Hale by far is the Jagger House. This house itself hates. You walk in and it feels like the house would just drop down on you if it could. I hated to work in that house, even during the day. And whoever worked there would become hateful the entire day. You just could not help it. If you stayed in the house for just a few minutes, you just hated everything and everyone. People that worked that house together would be arguing constantly."  

Stan Hywet Hall

One of the finest examples of Tudor Revival architecture in America is Stan Hywet Hall and it is one of the largest homes in America. This is a huge 65-room stone mansion that was built for Goodyear Tire & Rubber magnate F.A. Sieberling between 1911 and 1915. The property is on 70 acres with sprawling gardens designed by Warren H. Manning. The house cost $150,000 to build and architect Charles S. Schneider was tasked with designing it. A spur had to be added to the railroad to bring all the supplies out. The interior decorator was Hugo F. Huber of New York and he brought much of the furnishings from New York. Other pieces came from England. The inside of the mansion featured 23 fireplaces, hand-carved oak, sandalwood and black walnut paneling, Gothic Revival Conservatory and 21,455 panes of glass. The formal dining room could seat 40 people and there was an indoor pool. The Seiberlings named their home Stan Hywet, which means stone quarry in Old English, because of old quarries on the property. For 40 years, the Seiberlings lived in Stan Hywet Hall and many of their things remain, like the Aeolian Organ in the Music Room. This room featured entertainment from the likes of Will Rogers and Shirley Temple. The Sieberling children eventually donated the house to the Stan Hywet Hall Foundation and it is run as a museum today. One that occasionally hosts ghost tours. 

The ghost here is referred to as the "Lady in Grey." This could be either Gertrude Sieberling, F.A.'s wife, or possibly an attachment to some of the furnishings brought over from an English mansion. This spirit usually hangs out in the Master Bedroom or the Great Hall. A staff member claims that after a Christmas tour, he was locking down the mansion when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. When he looked, he saw the Grey Lady crossing the balcony overlooking the Great Hall. She was heading towards Gertrude's bedroom.

Wolf Creek Tavern

Wolf Creek Tavern serves up food, libations and live music. And there is a speakeasy here that is open on the weekends as a throwback to an era when the building had a speakeasy in the basement during Prohibition. The original carved chestnut 1840s bar is still here. This tavern is located 10 miles southwest of Akron in Norton at 3044 Wadsworth Road. Irishman Shane Moore and his wife Amy opened Wolf Creek in 2013. Amy had visited a previous tavern here when she was a child. The original building was built in 1840 and ran as possibly a blacksmith shop and then a tavern. In 1858, it became H. Bechtel's Cabinet Shop. By 1874, it was the Loyal Oak House that ran as a hotel with a bar. Jack Lozier and his mother bought the building in 1911 and continued to run the hotel. The name changed in the 1930s to Adam's Place in honor of the new owner, Adam Pinter. Other uses of the building were as a sheriff's office, jail and children's infirmary. Staff and patrons at the restaurant claim to see shadow figures and to have been touched by something they can't see. A female apparition in a long black dress has been seen. There is a male apparition as well that people believe belongs to a bartender from the late 1800s named Ray Wilhelm. Martini glasses go flying down in the speakeasy, all by themselves.

Perkins Stone Mansion

The Perkins Stone Mansion was built by Simon Perkins in 1835. His father, General Simon Perkins, was the founder of Akron. The house sat on 115 acres that has been whittled down to 2.5 acres today. The hill it sat upon was nicknamed "Mutton Hill" because it was used for sheep grazing. The house was designed by Isaac Ladd in the Greek Revival and Federal styles and features a two-story portico. Hand cut yellow sandstone was quarried from nearby as the building material, hence the word "stone" in the name. The house remained in the family until 1945 and is owned and operated by The Summit County Historical Society of Akron today. The site not only has the family home, but the original Wash House where linens and clothing were washed and dried and also the original well. The woodshed behind the house is the historical society's office. A reconstructed outhouse, gazebo and carriage house complete the property that runs as an historic house museum. People claim to have seen, felt and heard the spirits of cats and dogs. Ghost cats rub up against ankles. Full-bodied apparitions are seen in period clothing and these include both adults and children. The children are often seen running around the table. Floorboards are heard creaking under disembodied footsteps and chiming bells are heard. Mysterious lights have been seen and indentations are seen on beds and pillows. One woman claimed she felt something unseen touch her hair and another woman claimed to have something unseen breathe on her neck. 

Akron Civic Theatre

The Akron Civic Theater is located at 182 South Main Street and started out as the Loews Theatre, being a part of the Loews chain of theaters run by founder Marcus Loew. This was one of eleven and is the only one that still remains. It also is one of only five atmospheric theaters that were designed by John Eberson that still exists. Our listeners are more than familiar at this point with what atmospheric theaters were. They were meant to give patrons the feeling that they were outside with night sky murals painted on the ceilings and twinkling lights to symbolize stars. The theater is also one of a very few that have a rotating ceiling. The original plan for the theater though started with dance hall owner Oscar Beck. He planned a 3,000 seat theater that would anchor what he called "The Hippodrome." There would be thirty stores and restaurants along the arcade. Construction began in 1919, but the project went bankrupt in 1921 with only the lobby completed. 

Marcus Loew came through Akron in 1925 and decided to bring one of his theaters to the abandoned project. He hired John Eberson to design it and construction was completed in 1929. The exterior had a terra cotta facade and the interior was made to resemble a Moorish castle with Mediterranean decor made up of Italian alabaster sculptures and medieval carvings. The theater is home to a full-sized Wurlitzer Theater organ. The Kelly Operating Company leased the theater in 1964 and were later bought out by the Akron Jaycees in 1965 when it was proposed to turn the theater into a parking lot. Live theater came back to the theater at this time because The Women's Guild got involved with the operations of the theater and they not only ushers, but they invested in the building of a concession stand and brought in famous celebrities to act in the plays. A man named Clarence Randall satisfied a tax lien in 1985. The theater was renovated for $19 million from 2001 to 2002 and reopened with a performance by Tim Conway.

There are said to be three spirits at the theater. The first is the spirit of a girl who allegedly committed suicide by jumping into the canal behind the theater. People have heard her weeping uncontrollably and seen her ghost walking along the canal. There is also the ghost of Fred the janitor. He had worked at the theater for a very long time and is seen in all different places inside the theater. His spirit is very protective and has run off vandals in the past. According to Weird U.S., "Fred also apparently has no tolerance for people who disrespect his beloved theater, especially the bathrooms. In fact, Fred’s ghost is said to get so angry over people messing up his bathrooms that he will sometimes chase or attack you if he catches you doing anything other than answering the call of nature in the restrooms." The balcony has the spirit of an unknown man who is seen wearing a black tuxedo complete with coattails.

Hower House

The Hower House Museum is a glorious Victorian mansion that was built in 1871 by John Henry Hower. He had made his fortune in the milling, reaping and cereal industries. Hower was so involved in the economy of Akron that he was called the "Father of Akron Industry." He and his wife, Susan, had come to Akron from Doylestown in 1865 and started design and construction on their three-story Second Empire Italianate style mansion, almost immediately. The architect was Jacob Snyder and the finished product featured a tower topped by a distinctive mansard roof and 28-rooms. The first floor had two parlors, a library, Music Room, office, dining room and kitchen. The second floor had four bedrooms and two sitting rooms. The third floor had storage, a drawing room, picture gallery and large ballroom. The Howers collected furnishings and art from around the world and these are a part of the museum today.

In 1901, John moved to a smaller home near the mansion with his second wife and his son Milton moved into the mansion with his wife Blanche. Father and son both died in May of 1916 and Blanche remained in the mansion. Her daughter Grace came to live with her and she remained in the house until it was deeded to the University of Akron in 1970. In the mid-1980s, the mansion was opened as a museum. It is thought that the spirit here is John's first wife Susan and that she is angry. Apparently, as Susan was lying on her deathbed, she made John promise her that he wouldn't remarry. He held on for four years, but then he did remarry and Susan ain't having it. It is said that she glares out from a portrait on the wall. Heavy doors open and slam shut. A security guard once heard an audible voice yell out, "Get out of my house." Many people feel very uncomfortable in the house.

John Tedrow's Ghost

There is a legend about a grisly slaying that is connected to the Botzum Cemetery. Botzum Cemetery is located at the corner of Yellow Creek and W. Bath Roads. This is five miles north of Akron. A man named John A. Botzum is connected to this legend. Botzum was born in Germany in 1835 to a family that owned woolen mills along the Rhine River in Germany. His father decided to flee Germany with his five sons to prevent them from being drafted into the German Army during the Napoleonic Wars. The boat they took to America was boarded by pirates who robbed the passengers of everything, so when the Botzum family landed in New York City, they had nothing. Then a dishonest agent tried to sell the family into slavery in South America. A new friend made John aware of the danger and helped him to get his family to Ohio, where they arrived in 1836. The family took in boarders and John worked construction. In 1876, his son John A. bought a farmstead that he later transferred to his brother Conrad and this is today the Conrad Botzum Farmstead that is run by the National Park Service. A town named Botzum sprang up around the family and featured a store, blacksmith shop, warehouse, post office and hotel. The Botzum Depot opened in 1880. There was a large ballroom in the upper floor of the hotel that hosted dances and talent shows. In 1882, there was a dance being hosted at the hotel and a drunk farmhand from the Botzum farmstead named John Tedrow was being belligerent to guests. One of these guests was a man named John Brook and when the men tustled, Brook's jacket was torn. His way of handling the issue was to grab an axe and hit Tedrow in the head. This killed him instantly. Tedrow was buried at Botzum Cemetery, but he didn't stay there for long. Medical students grave robbed the body and this left his spirit at unrest. The legend claims that his lurching disembodied footsteps are heard after dark and people claim to see the full-bodied apparition of a man with a bleeding head, wandering about the woods. 

Wingfoot Lake Hangar

We love our airships and Akron is home to an airship hangar and more importantly, to the famous Goodyear Blimp. Suffield is 13 miles east of Akron and has The Wingfoot Lake Airship Hangar at 841 Wingfoot Lake Road. The hangar was built in 1917 and used by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. to construct and maintain their fleet of advertising blimps. The company also built blimps for the US Navy during World War I and II. The first class of Navy airship pilots were trained at the site. Today, the hangar is still the center of operations for the Goodyear Blimp. Lt. Ernest D. Cody and Ensign Charles E. Adams were piloting a Navy airship off the coast of San Francisco in 1942, when the men disappeared. The blimp drifted to shore where it was found without pilots. Police and military personnel investigated the crash site and found the gondola doors hanging open. The pilots would have walked away unscathed, but a search of the area didn't find them. A search was made on land, air and sea and was abandoned after a few days. Authorities at first surmised that the men had bailed out of the airship, but all three parachutes and a rubber life raft were found aboard the gondola and those most certainly would have been employed. No distress call had been made either. There was no damage that would have come from an attack like bullet holes or signs of fire. The theory that eventually landed for good was that the two men had discovered an oil slick on the water and stopped to investigate it and send up a smoke marker. To do that, the hatch had to be opened and then it was believed one of the men fell out and the other attempted a rescue and fell out as well. Some people believed the men had been captured by the Japanese and then, of course, there's always, aliens. Cody and Adams were declared legally dead in 1943. The gondola was stored for decades at Wingfoot Lake before being donated in 2003 to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Where did the phantom crew go? The blimp was called The Ghost Blimp.

Oriana House

Oriana House is a residential correction center at 222 Power St. in Akron. From 1930 until 1960, it was run as the Summit County Detention Center. During that time a crime took place here that has led to paranormal activity. It was the weekend after Thanksgiving and the facility was understaffed with three adult attendants. Eula was a firm disciplinarian with a good heart and she brought ice cream for the girls in her dormitory on the second floor. She left and returned before bedtime to see if anyone needed anything. Five of the girls ranging in age from 14 to 17, jumped Eula, stole her keys, tied her with belts and stuffed an ammonia-soaked cloth in her mouth. They smashed a window with a shovel and crawled out into a snowstorm. The girls were clad in thin dresses and tried to hot wire a car, which didn't work. Eula was found suffocated and the girls were all caught later. They were charged with first degree murder, but the Grand Jury changed it to manslaughter and the girls plead guilty and were given from one to 20 years. All were out by 1960. For decades after the crime, staff in the building reported strange phenomena that included windows opening and closing on their own and televisions turning themselves on and off. Disembodied footsteps would follow people in the hallways and the sound of furniture scraping as it was being moved would be heard coming from empty rooms. One deputy in 1989 remarked that they weren't worried about the ghost because "she’s a good ghost. I feel good she’s here. She watches over us."

Akron has a long and successful industrial history. Much of the landscape here was built by members of industry and many of their spirits remain. And there are clearly some interesting legends connected to the Ohio city as well. Are these places in Akron, Ohio haunted? That is for you to decide!