These are stories I've heard a little about, but am unable to definitively place or explain. If I need more details about a place before I add it to the hauntings list, or if I just want additional material to expand one, it will be posted here. Also appearing on this page are stories I'm not sure are actually being told in their respective parts of Ohio. If you have any information on any of these--or any new stuff to add--please e-mail me; it will be particularly appreciated here.


George Rogers Clark Park's Hertzler House and the Old State Asylum and Penal Cemetery
This is a mystery regarding the burial of Daniel Hertzler, a Clark County pioneer who was murdered in his home on October 16, 1867. His house on the grounds of George Rogers Clark State Park is supposed to be haunted by his ghost. The details of his death have turned out to be rooted in pretty well-established fact, including an 1881 history of the county.

Why, then, is he buried in a mental hospital/prison cemetery in Franklin County? While exploring the hidden mental hospital cemetery at Harper and McKinley Roads in west Columbus, I came across a stone with a name that sounded familiar: Daniel Hertzler. His death is given as October, 1867. With such a distinctive name matching the death date, I can only assume this is the same Hertzler who died more than 130 years ago near Springfield. But what is his body doing here, in a public cemetery for indigent patients at the State Hospital and prisoners at the State Penitentiary? I'd love to get some answers on this one, if anyone has them.

The James Ruppert House
The former residence of mass murderer James Ruppert in Hamilton, Ohio, seems to have been the site of some ghostly occurrences. A knowledgeable person once e-mailed me with stories from the house. I'd love to hear from anyone who knows anything else about the case, or the hauntings which followed.

The "Not Guilty" Gravestone
I found a mention of this in the Spring 1968 edition of the Journal of the Ohio Folklore Society. Apparently there is a gravestone in Evergreen Cemetery in Painesville which bears the name Joseph Linhart, the dates 1867-1922, and the epitaph "Not Guilty." Apparently, Linhart was arrested in the summer of 1921, after the battered body of his wife Anna was found at the bottom of the Linhart well in a place called Hell's Hollow. Joseph Linhart was arrested and indicted on a charge of first degree murder, but before he could stand trial he was found dead in his cell with his wrists slashed. Linhart's attorney, Homer Harper, paid for his tombstone and its odd inscription. Apparently some folklore has grown up around this tombstone, including the idea that there was money hidden on the farm, or that Linhart's son-in-law had actually committed the crime. Some also say that the attorney, Harper, had the inscription done because he'd "never lost a case and he was damned if he'd lose this one." At any rate, it's an interesting gravestone. If you know anything about it, please drop me a line. I'd especially like to know if the spirit of the man who was "not guilty" has been seen.

The Woods School
Supposedly located "north of Belmont" in Belmont County, the Woods School was impossible for me to locate when I tried to find it. I ended up driving around on rutted logging roads in the middle of the woods in a car completely inappropriate for such things, and finding nothing. Any idea where the Woods School is?

Beech Grove Cemetery
A supposedly-haunted cemetery in the Perry County town of Corning. I found a mention of this graveyard at the end of an October 23, 2005, Zanesville Times Recorder article. (You can read the entire article here.) After the authors get into detail about several haunted places near Zanesville, using my website and Beth Santore's Grave Addiction as guides, they briefly list five locations under the heading, "Some places believed to be haunted in Perry County." The only one I have not heard of is Beech Grove Cemetery in Corning. I cannot find mention of its ghostly side anywhere else online. Do you have any idea why Corning's Beech Grove Cemetery would be haunted? I'd love to get details to be able to flesh this one out.

Iceland USA
Located in Strongsville and only possibly haunted; employees, according to an e-mail I received, have heard banging on the lockers when no one is there and the sound of bouncing tennis balls, which makes sense because the ice rink was an indoor tennis court in its former life. Has anyone heard anything else about this?



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