A Cult at the
Jaquay Quarry


An encounter with an actual cult in the Jaquay Quarry, which is southwest of Cleveland.

Another place that I've come accross and have had an actual experience with is the Jaquay Quarry in Lorain County (Columbia Station). The whole area, which butts up against the border with Cuyahoga south of Olmsted Falls, is riddled with old sandstone quarries, which were used up and cleared out at the beginning-to-mid 20th century. Many people have said that the Mafia, back in the day, used to do alot of its "dirty business" out there, and that many people have met their end in various quarries, clad in "cement shoes." Its still relatively rural out there, and very creepy. Sources have also told me that back in the early 70s, a team of divers-in-training picked one of the quarries to practice in. These quarries are pretty deep and the water is very murky, but upon diving, they discovered several vehicles at the bottom, several with skeletons still inside. Due to the complications and problems it would have caused to bring the bodies up to the surface, the quarries were declared a burial site and the order went out to leave them be in the face of future development.

The area, at least as long as I can remember, has been a very eerie place, especially at night. Some acquaintences of mine, back in high school, reported that people had seen lights out in the woods late at night around certain quarries, but as high school kids, I can't attest to the validity of that claim.

The one experience I did have with the quarry area was with a group of paganists who scared the hell out of us one night. There was an old man-made swimming place called Jaquay Lake which was attached to the quarries that was closed down in the early 90s due to the unsafe conditions and the foul stagnant quality of the water. The place had a picnic pavillion, which, abandoned, was regularly used by a small so-called area cult for rituals. An old friend lived about a half mile away, and as high schoolers do, we decided to venture over to the closed park one night in late September and walk around. This park was a relatively large place encircling the "lake" and we had made our way to the far end of the property furthest from the road when we began to hear series of windchimes ou in the woods. My friend became scared and said that those chimes were a call to "worship" of sorts to this cult, which everyone in the area just left alone without asking questions.

Sure enough, as we were trying to make our way back to the front of the park and the road, a small procession of white robed people came out of the woods and headed for the pavillion, cutting us off. We hid in the woods for at least an hour and a half, fearing that if we tried to make it around them we'd make noise and attract their attention. The "cult" lit a fire and did whatever it was they were doing. We didn't even try to see, but I can safely say that that night was one of the most intensely frightning nights I've ever dealt with. Not because of what these people were doing (though that had an effect) but out of fear for what would happen to us if they caught us watching them.

Finally they left and we were able to get back to the road. I don't know if this necessarily has any connection with the strange lights at the quarries or the related so-called hauntings, but it just adds to the fact that the quarry area is not a happy, bright place. Now though, the portion of the land that held the park has had a big, ramblong house built on it, next to the lake, so the "cult" may have had to pack up and go sacrifice animals somewhere else.

I used to think that the whole "satanic cult" thing was an urban legend, but after hearing this and a few other reliable stories, I'm not so sure.


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