Category Archives: ohio haunted

Lefevre Road Added To Crybaby Bridge Project

0
Posted on by

It is with great fanfare that I present to you the Lefevre Road Crybaby Bridge: Officially, the 20th Crybaby Bridge on the list!

Although, to be honest, Lefevre Road pales in comparison to most of the other bridges on the list. There’s really not much in the way of backstory or first-person accounts to really make this particular legend shine. But hey, it ended up being #20 when I put all the bridges in alphabetical order, so there you go! Anyway, the extreme lack of specifics means that it’s up to you guys to help fill in the details. So if you know anything about this bridge, let me know!

Continue reading →

Advertisements

Hyde Road Added To Ohio Crybaby Bridge Project

0
Posted on by

OK, so this particular bridge is fascinating to me. Not so much the story surrounding it because, to be honest, there’s not much to go on. But there’s clearly more to this story than meets the eye…and the universe clearly wants the story told.

You see, as fate would have it, just before I was getting ready to publish the Hyde Road story, a blog reader, Lori Lotts, left a comment on the Ohio Crybaby Bridge Project home page. She asked about an alleged Crybaby Bridge on Jacoby Road, which I didn’t currently have listed. Long story short, through a series of messages between Lori and myself, it would appear that the Jacoby Road bridge was the original location of the Crybaby Bridge story. And when that bridge was demolished, the story migrated a few streets over to the Hyde Road bridge, where the current legend resides.

Continue reading →

Ohio’s Historic Haunts: Location #5 Revealed!

0
Posted on by

Screen Shot 2015-08-26 at 1.23.03 PM

Welcome to location #5 from Ohio’s Historic Haunts: The Lima Adult Learning Center/Literacy Council Building on West Spring Street in Lima, Ohio.

This one stumped most of you, which is one of the things that attracted me to the building in the first place. You see, to be honest, the house doesn’t look like anything that spectacular from the outside. The inside, however, is an entirely different story.

Originally, the house on Spring Street served as the opulent home to two of Lima’s movers and shakers, Clair and Lulu Tolan. Clair was a successful businessman who would eventually become the owner of the Tolan Block of buildings near Spring and Main Streets in downtown Lima. Their home on Spring Street reflected that success and it was often home to elaborate parties.

Gorgeous stained glass along the main staircase

Upon Lulu’s death in the 1950s, the building began to be used as a commercial building and several different businesses would take up residence inside the home. And with each new tenant came new changes to the building’s interior. The last business to call the building home was Fred and Doty Accountants, who stayed until approximately 2005. After that, the building was boarded up and abandoned.

Several years later, the Northwest Ohio Literacy Council took control of the building and began attempting to restore the home to its original glory. After having sat abandoned for a few years, perhaps this restoration is what brought the ghosts back around: They wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Upstairs Hallway at Literacy Council, showing position of multiple sensors we used during our night in the house

It’s hard to say with any certainly who the ghosts are at the house on Spring Street. One thing is for sure, though: They have made their presence known on multiple people on more than a few occasions. Having said that, I’m sure you’re all asking the same question: Did anything happen the night you spent inside the house for Ohio’s Historic Haunts. The short answer is “yes”, something did indeed happen. Several things, in fact. But you’ll just have to wait for the book to come out for more details from me!

Well, that’s not entirely true. I will be in Lima on Saturday, October 3rd for the Lima Lantern Tours. Rumor has it I’ll be giving away all sorts of secrets about what happened inside the house on Spring Street while I was conducting research for my book. So stay tuned!

Chimes that are said to ring on their own, even when there’s no one around them

Can’t wait to find out what happened inside the Literacy Council building? Grab yourself a copy of Ohio’s Historic Haunts right here.

Just want to catch up on all the other locations that I’ve revealed so far? click here!

Ohio’s Historic Haunts: Location #4 Revealed!

0
Posted on by

Well, this one didn’t fool many people: It’s the Haunted Hydro in Fremont, Ohio!

Screen Shot 2015-07-31 at 3.00.51 PM

Let me just say that from the get-go, I was fascinated by the Haunted Hydro. Not only because it was unique in that it was a “haunted” haunted house, but also because of the rich history surrounding the building.

You see, the building was originally known as the Hydro Electric Power Plant. Created in 1911, the plant helped provide electricity to nearby Fremont, Ohio, with a little help from the nearby Sandusky River, of course.

That same Sandusky River would overflow its banks in March of 1913, bringing about one of the worst floods the area has ever seen. While there were no reported deaths at the plant that were a result of the flood, there are some who believe there were unreported drownings that led to the building being haunted. Some will also tell you that the hauntings predate the flood and even the building itself. In fact, there are whispers that the very ground the Haunted Hydro sits on is cursed.

Writing on basement beam showing how high the water rose during the flood of 1913

Regardless, step inside the Haunted Hydro and you might find yourselves face-to-face with the ghost of a little girl or any number of shadowy spectres, none of which are actual flesh-and-blood actors dressed up for the haunt. Although, to be fair, many guests and patrons have mistaken the ghosts for actors and actresses in costume. What’s more, one of the ghosts said to haunt the Hydro is believed to be that of a former employee.

I’m not going to tell you everything that happened when I spent the night inside the Haunted Hydro (at least not yet). What I will tell you is that it was a rather daunting task. For starters, the many twists and turns of the Hydro made it very hard to try and run all the cables for the video cameras and studio microphones.

Original placement of IR cameras inside the Haunted Hydro

Then there was the idea that even though I visited the Haunted Hydro off-season, many of the props were still on display. So let’s just say that no matter how many times I tried to make a mental note of where all the “monsters” were lurking inside the building, come the wee hours of the morning, I’d forget. The result was I would round a random corner, shine my flashlight upon a ghoul crouching in the corner, and promptly freak myself out!

Hydro Cemetery

Want to know more about what happened inside the Haunted Hydro? Grab yourself a copy of Ohio’s Historic Haunts right here.

Just want to catch up on all the other locations that I’ve revealed so far? click here!

Ohio’s Historic Haunts: Location #3 Revealed!

0
Posted on by

OK, one last peek before I tell you there this picture was taken:

Page 229

It’s the Loveland Castle!

Those of you not familiar with the Loveland Castle, click here right now because it is one of the most amazing structures you’ll ever set your eyes upon! Go ahead, click away…just come back!

Exterior of Loveland Castle

Not sure what else I can say about Loveland Castle that hasn’t been said already, except the fact that as soon as I started kicking around ideas for Ohio’s Historic Haunts, I knew I wanted Loveland Castle to be part of the book.

Simply put, the idea that one man, Harry Andrews, spent close to 50 years building a multi-storied castle by hand was something that needed to be shared with the world. That’s right; Loveland Castle was essentially created by one man. Oh yeah, and he would pull all the rocks for his castle out of the river himself!

Of course, rumors that the place is haunted didn’t hurt, either. Since he spent decades working on (and living in) the Castle, most just assume Harry Andrews would be one of the ghosts hanging around. And some believe he is. But what I found fascinating was the discovery that Harry himself claimed to have encountered a ghost on numerous occasions inside the Castle. There are also reports of a ghostly woman in white who floats above the portion of the Little Miami River that runs in front of the Castle. You heard me right; she floats above the water!

So did anything happen to me while I was at Loveland Castle during the writing of Ohio’s Historic Haunts? Yes! Here’s the weird part: It happened even before my investigation began. In fact, it was during the initial interviews. Oh yeah, and we got it on audio, too!

What was it? Well, you’ll just have a grab a copy of Ohio’s Historic Haunts to find out! And if you really want the inside scoop, have a look at my Schedule of Appearances because I just might be playing the Loveland Castle audio at some of my presentations!

Closeup of Loveland Castle

———————-

If you need to catch up on all the other locations I’ve revealed so far, click here.

Want to see Loveland Castle for yourself? It’s open to the public, so check our their hours of operation (and other cool stuff) here.

Preorder (or order, depending on when you’re reading this) your copy of Ohio’s Historic Haunts right here.