Creepy Cleveland

Black Eyed Beings

2012-01-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

Ok. This is a new one for this area, and quite different from all stories of similar nature that I've been able to find. Has anyone ever encountered a black eyed man in Cleveland? I mean all black. Whites of eyes and all. The man usually wears sunglasses, and hangs out at local West side bars. I met him at the bar I worked at, about a dozen of times, only the last time I seen him was when he finally showed me his eyes!!!! Like all the stories I've read on the Internet, every girl that worked there was completely creeped out by him, and uncomfortable. But I wasn't. It was the opposite. I was drawn to him. He was a very strange man, and we had some out of this world conversations. He wasn't good looking at all either. Walked hunched and funny, with a cane. But anyway, even still to this day I think about him a lot, and regret not hanging out with him. Wish I could find him. He had this strangeness to him, like he knew something we didn't. Something big. When I seen his eyes, I have to admit I was in shock. It was very scary. But things we talked about were weird, and it's like when you figure out the meaning of life, like everything makes sense, for only a moment, then it's gone! That was how everything was that we talked about. I'm sorry this is long and probably all over the place! But there's so much I have to this story, and bits and pieces come back as I write this! But please reply if you know of this man! All I seem to find is of black eyed kids, and overwhelming sense of dread when they are around.

Sincerely,

Ana C. From Cleveland.

Cleveland Top 10 Creepiest Legends?

2011-10-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

I was interviewed by John and the gang at Type 3 TV last night. In honor of Halloween, I hosted a poll on the site and presented the results of the top 10 creepiest legends in northern Ohio.

While there was initially some technical difficulties, the interview lasted about 90 minutes and covered the following legends:

Gray's Armory
South Bay Bessie
Squire's Castle
Rider's Inn
Witch's Ball
Helltown
Gore Orphanage
Mansfield State Reformatory
Franklin Castle
Melonheads

You can stream the entire show at the Type 3 TV website (it's in two parts, owing to the aformentioned technical difficulties), or you can grab my mp3 copy from here (Note: it's a 20.3M file)I want to thank John and the guys from Type 3 TV for having me on (again) and look forward to working with them in the future on some (possible) on-location haunts.Stay tuned, kids.

The House of Wills

2011-10-12T14:28:00.000-04:00

Contributed by Ben

In Cleveland, Ohio a large three story manor stands as testament to a bygone era . This former funeral home was once a meeting place for grieving families. Some claim that the dearly departed still roam the labyrinthine halls searching for a way to break their mortal coils. Others believe the edifice to be the location of a portal to the other side. Do the souls of the dead inhabit this location? Do phantoms remain, searching for eternal salvation?

During its run as a hospital the mansion was the site of quite a few deaths and suicides. The last death to occur on the property was recorded in 2006 when a man was shot and bled to death on the front doorstep. Visitors to this location have reported seeing shadow people as well as hearing disembodied footsteps. Walking the halls of the building, one may hear someone call out their name only to find that there is no other person around. A former owner of the home passed away on the premises. There have been several sightings of a figure wearing a suit, with some speculating that it is this same soul. We have come across one account from a witness who claims to have seen some sort of vortex. While in the ballroom/casket display room the witness claims to have seen a swirling vortex appear for several moments.

Monsters near Ashtabula

2011-10-10T12:14:00.000-04:00

Contributed by Tim

Hi

I heard a unique story from a woman living in the Northeastern Ohio area. She insists that animals resembling Yeti or Bigfoot have invaded the back of her property at dusk.

The area where she lives is in Ashtabula county, its enclosed with woods and remote compared to most towns. According to her, the creatures show up on a dark nights from the woods right next to her yard. There’s a short clearing between the end of the house and the woods, probably not too much more than 50 feet. The few times that it’s happened, they remain close by the edge of the woods, but one time they came through the tree line and into the yard.

She said that they usually make a kind of yelling noise. When she tried describe it, she said they yell in short bursts, breaking out suddenly and then stopping. It’s only happened a handful of times, and they don’t stay long, probably for less than an hour.The reason she knows what they look like is that one time they actually came up onto the porch.

One time in the fall, she was working in the kitchen at night with the screen door open in the dining room. As she was working, she heard a whispering noise out on the porch, and she stopped and listened for a bit to figure out what it was. She realized the sound was coming from the porch, so she moved to the screen door to unlatch it and look outside, but when she got to the door, she realized the source of the noise was very close to house, and she didn’t want to open the screen in case it was a wild animal.

Instead, she went to the kitchen window alongside the dining room to get a better view, and when she looked out, there were two figures standing on the porch right next to the screen door. They had been standing next to her, right outside the screen door in the dark making the whispering noise! She got pretty freaked out at this point, but was able to make out that they had fur and were the very tall Bigfoot animals she had seen before.

She stayed there by the window, watching them in the dark for a bit, but they eventually moved off the porch and went back into the treeline. They haven’t come back since then, but the experience creeped her out, and she wants to move to a more populated area if she can sell the house. The fact that they actually were right outside the screen door watching her was a lot more frightening than having them stay in the woods outside the yard line. She feels like they were whispering to her for some reason, since it’s the only time she’s heard them make that noise instead of their usual yells.

Other people have mentioned seeing bigfoot type figures in Northeastern Ohio so I thought that I should contribute this.

Rehabilitation Center in Chardon

2011-09-30T09:37:00.000-04:00

Contributed by Anonymous

I've heard a lot of stories about a rehabilitation center in Chardon OH. According to a few nurses I know who worked there, a ghost of what appears to be a small child haunts the place. People say that there may have been an orphanage that burnt down around there, and this ghost is someone who died in the fire.

I've heard three stories about manifestations of the ghost. First, some staff members have seen a small child standing outside the doors at night. The person who told me this story had not heard of the ghost before, so she didn't think much of it when she first saw the apparition standing outside. But when she asked a more senior staff member there about it, the person became very uncomfortable and didn't want to go into too much detail. When she went back to see if the thing was still there, it had left.

The second story comes through a few different people who passed it along, so it's hard to be sure on accuracy. Basic gist of it is that a janitor or cleaning person was working alone one night when she heard a small child's voice in the hallway. She had a garbage setup on wheels with her, and when she walked down the hall away from the cleaning cart, she heard the noise behind her again. The story I heard was that she turned around, and saw a small child's head peaking around cleaning cart, watching her. The person I heard the story from didn't have many details on what she did at this point, but anybody who knows more should comment.

Third story is just generally that older residents will complain to the staff about a small child interrupting their sleep at night. The way the story was told to me, the elderly residents live on a floor where no children have access. I'm not familiar with the setup of the center or how accurate this is. There's a few other stories about hearing the ghost calling out late at night outside. If anybody has similar stories please comment!

Experiences in the Kirtland Chardon Area

2011-09-30T09:17:00.001-04:00

Contributed by Anonymous

Hi,

I found your site when I searching the internet for paranormal stories about the Kirtland/Chardon area. I wanted to relate this story that I heard from a friend about strange stuff that's happened in that area.

A friend of a friend lives in a house where the backyard borders the tract of land between Kirtland Chardon and Mitchell Mills Road. From what he told me, a group of people were having a bonfire one night, when they were interrupted by a strange noise coming from the backwoods. They didn't break up the party right away, but as the night went on and people left and things died down, a small group of remaining people decided to investigate.

From my friend's description, it sounded like very large drums playing an off time kind of rhythm. They put out the bonfire and headed out into the woods to try and find the source of the noises, and they took a few guns with them just in case there were trespassers on the property. The noise sounded kind of far away, but his family owns a great deal of land behind the house, which was why they were concerned about someone being on their property.

Once they got a mile back into the treeline, the drumming stopped for a maybe thirty seconds or so, and then started again. After this point, the sounds would continue for a minute or two, fall off, and then start up again. My friend admitted that everybody was a little unsettled at this point, which is a given when you're out in the woods late at night. Eventually they came through a clearing and into a small ravine area where the trees thinned out a bit. I guess at this point, everybody really started to get the shakes, although my friend's description of what happened is kind of hard to understand. He said that everybody became real unsettled and the noise became more sporadic. At one point, it sounded like they were in front of the source of the sound, but after brief silence, it stopped and started from behind them. This threw everyone off a bit, so they decided to turn around and head back to figure out if their ears were playing tricks on them.

Once they headed back, it almost seemed like the sound shifted to the right of where they were standing. But when they started to move right to chase it, the noise cut off and didn't start up again. They stayed out there for a few minutes to see if it would resume, but everybody in the group began to get really frightened. They all said that the quiet in the woods at that point seemed threatening and the dark open spaces in that clearing was messing with their heads. They went back pretty quickly and the sound didn't come back that night.

My one friend has only heard the noise a few times since then, but he hasn't gone to check it out. People have all kinds of vague stories about indian burial grounds and witches and whatnot in that area, but it seems pretty ridiculous. Still some people have had real experiences, and this one seemed pretty credible to me. Most of the other ones I've heard are about lights over the woods in the area.

Please comment if you or anyone else has had similar experiences!

The Palace Theater (Canton) Ghost

2011-09-16T16:39:00.001-04:00

Hi! I would like to submit a haunted place for your website. Here's the info:

Palace Theatre
Canton, Ohio

On the opening night in 1926, patrons of the Palace Theatre were treated to the sounds of the Kilgen Wonder Organ at the hands of the famous Banks Kennedy. In the 1930's, he was shot and killed in the basement of the theatre by the order of a mob boss. Banks had been dating the mob boss's daughter against his wishes. There have also been reports of a little girl seen in the balcony.

Thanks,

Ben

From writer Charles Cassady

2011-09-15T15:15:00.000-04:00

Although it is not a Cleveland subject matter, I have written another book containing many a creepy thing, PARANORMAL MISSISSIPPI RIVER. My longest work yet, more than 300 pages. So if one is buying ghost stories by weight, this makes the best deal yet.

You might want to at least feature the book trailer online because I feel it's quite amusing. And made entirely in a camera tower at Northfield Park harness track in between laps!

Fox 8 Ghost Video. Indisputable proof?

2010-11-16T07:59:00.000-05:00

Have you seen the video?

Fox 8 has disabled embedding, so you'll have to go there to watch it.

Well.

What do you think?

Franklin Castle TV Show Trailer

2010-10-16T20:52:00.000-04:00

P.S. This is not me. (I am *not* CharlesAtTheCastle) This is the current owner/caretaker...

What is that?

2010-10-06T21:39:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine allowed me to post these two photos of her son's kindergarten graduation party this past spring. She wants to know what you think that white, tornado-looking thing is near the door.

She attests that there was nothing like that in the room at the time and she has seen similar phenomena is other photos. I'm trying to convince her to send me the other photos, too...

Her explanation:

It was in like 5 other pics [...] at different angles...He's had them in tons of pics since he was a baby. His aunt and I think it's his paternal grandma who passed a month before I met his dad...

Well, what do you think?

*Obviously, I masked the identities of the other kids.

The most wonderful time of the year

2010-09-13T04:04:00.000-04:00

Yes, Cleveland - it's that time of year again! The weather's getting chilly, the Halloween displays are in full bloom at Marc's and Walmart and the Browns are making me cry. I wanted to take the time to put up a post encouraging everyone to follow Creepy Cleveland on Facebook and Twitter. I use the Facebook account to post links and tidbits and other things that might not be strictly Cleveland related - but interesting nonetheless. I'd also love to get some fan submissions. Got a cool Halloween costume planned? Do you decorate your yard? Which haunted houses are you going to? Let me know!

The Twitter account is less interactive, but it does send out a tweet for every post I make here or on the Facebook page. So if you just want a short reminder when it's time to check out new stuff - follow CreepyCleveland.

I'm also collecting old (and new) newspaper articles (as seen in the sidebar) that have to do with Cleveland haunts and legends. I hope I'm not stepping on any toes - I ALWAYS give credit to the original author and link back to the source, if available, but if I posted something of yours and you hate that - let me know - I'll pull it down. On the other hand - if you have any articles you'd like to share - forward them along with the authors name and contact info. Cool?

Happy Haunting Season, Cleveland. I hope to hear from you soon.

Prospect Place Pics

2010-06-14T12:29:00.000-04:00

On May 16th 2010, The Shadowseekers had the opportunity to do an investigation at Prospect Place in Trinway Ohio. This place was awesome, the architecture and the history alone are reasons enough to visit this place, the fact that it is haunted is just a lil added adventure. During our time there we had several personal experiences. We also had some intelligent activity as well, me and one of my investigators Chris Sustersic was doing an evp session in one of the rooms and we were asking yes and no questions and asking 1 knock for no and 2 knocks for yes. We were getting very distinct knocks in response to our questions. We also got some lighting movement in the ballroom and about 20 secs later you heard a man sigh as if he were bored, we do have this on video which we are working on getting posted. We had alot of movement in the barn where a bounty hunter was hung. In the basement another one of my investigators Richard Mccourt had an experience where the table in the center of the room moved a good foot, another investigator Jeff Downing heard the table move but he was in another room in the basement. When they tried to move the table on their own it was very heavy. Richard is a huge skeptic if it doesn't hit him in the face he doesn't believe it but that night he became a believer. During the course of the night we had camera problems and audio problems and even car problems when we went to leave the next morning, my car battery was completely dead. All in all this was an awesome location, and i would recommend to all paranormal groups if you get the chance to investigate Prospect Place, Do It!! It's a lot of pics I know I wouldn't think you would use them all.

Thank You
Tammie Mccourt - Founder of The Shadowseekers

Franklin Castle Interviews

2010-04-29T01:26:00.000-04:00

Charles Milsaps, owner of the Franklin Castle, founder of the Ohio City Preservation and Restoration Society, and proprietor of The Franklin Castle Club is now available for radio interviews. Contact Charles directly at the email below to get the latest news about the Franklin Castle restoration, the Network TV show about the Castle, and how the paranormal community will soon have the opportunity to do the first ever investigations of the Franklin Castle.

Press release to paranormal radio shows
The Castle has been off limits to most people for over 30 years. Find out the real story and the future of one of America’s Most Haunted Homes, first hand, as Charles Milsaps answers all your questions about the infamous Franklin Castle.
Charles will be available for phone interviews as well as on site, live remote interviews over the next 2 weeks. His time is limited and the interviews will be scheduled first call, first schedule. Contact Charles today. He will return calls in the order the are received.
Charles@FranklinCastleClub.com
Charles Milsaps
The Franklin Castle Club
Ohio City Preservation and Restoration Society
4308 Franklin Blvd.
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
216/631.2582

Twin City Opera House - McConnelsville, Ohio

2010-01-31T07:13:00.000-05:00

On Saturday Jan 23rd 2010 we did our investigation at The Twin City Opera House and let me tell you it was an awesome experience. We would like to thank COGS for hosting it for us, they are a great bunch of guys very friendly and well informed on the history of the Opera House. We had access to the entire place. Some of the ghost we encountered were a 10 yr old lil girl named Elizabeth and a gentleman named Robert who enjoyed red wine. After we got set up we started out on the catwalk with and ghost meter and our new piece of equipment the k2. We also set up some trigger objects a bottle of red wine and some candy for Elizabeth. All setting on some baby powder. So we began asking questions and almost immediately we got some activity the EMF started to go off and the k2 was going nuts. We asked questions like if you are here plz light up all the lights on the k2 and within a few seconds they lit up, and we do have this on video. So we left for a little bit to explore other areas and we returned about an hour later to find a lil finger print in the powder now during this time we were gone no one else was on the catwalk, we have this on a picture, unfortunately it didn't show up on video. Out in the auditorium we got some hits on the ghost meter which COGS said they never had before. In the basement we got a pic of the black mist which we are very happy about, We got a ton of EVPs and pictures that we will be posting soon, Later in the evening me and my lil sister were in the catwalk alone and we got some serious activity from red wine Robert which we do have on video. Come to find out Robert likes the ladies, lol. With two ladies up there he was very active we got some responses on the k2 when questions were asked and on the ghost meter, we even got touched a few times. I have a part on video where someone was tugging on my pants and you can see on the video my pants moving. This place was awesome and we had a great time meeting new friends and catching awesome activity, I would have to say The Shadowseekers will return to The Twin City Opera House again to do another investigation. My husband who is a skeptic actually got touched and was amazed and now he believes. In the basement we did have some technical difficulties but it was all good in the end. Once again a huge Thanks goes out to COGS for hosting the hunt.
Thank You
Tammie Mccourt Founder Of The Shadowseekers

Hi, these are the pics of the black mass that lurks in the basement of The Twin City Opera House, if you look close it looks like it is moving out of view of the camera.They are in correct order that they were taken.

Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland

2009-11-08T14:01:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pics we caught while doing our investigation at Woodland Cemetery, now while on our investigations I absolutely do not allow anyone to smoke so what you see is actual mist that we can not explain and if you look closely at the one pic it almost looks like a woman standing there and in the very next pic it looks like she is swooping away.Also our website is up and running it still needs a lil work but it can be checked out... www.shadowseekers.moogo.com let us know what you think.

Thank You
Tammie Mccourt - Founder of The Shadowseekers

Franklin Castle Real Ghost Video

2009-11-05T00:39:00.000-05:00

Contributed by CastleSeeker

SO.. I know it was not right, but I snuck into the Franklin Castle a few years back and shot some video for a few minutes in each room and then got the Hell out of there. It was crazy scary and I thought for sure I was going to get caught. I think someone pulled in the driveway while I was crawling out a window. I didn't see the ghost until I looked at the video the next day and I held on to it until now. Let me know what you think, but I can not explain it except to say it looks like the only thing I've ever seen that is real. I figured it was time to share it with the world. Happy Halloween !!!

Old Hospital in Broadview Hts

2009-10-19T08:16:00.000-04:00

I don't normally create a new post just to post a link to somebody else's content, but I wanted to point out that Erin O'Brien's Owners Manual for Human Beings has posted a nice photo-essay on the old VA hospital in Broadview Hts. Rumored to be haunted for most of the years after it's closing and subsequent abandonment, Erin shows us some great photos of the inside of the hospital before it was torn down. She also includes some informative links to other sites with more info.

Check it out: Old Hospital

Pics of Fir Ave Cemetery

2009-10-13T04:38:00.000-04:00

On Sept 13, 2009 Our group did an investigation at The Fir Ave cemetery, these are pics from there. We grew up in front of this cemetery on Wakefield I am the one that submitted that story I finally got the chance to investigate it I was so excited we caught some very creepy EVPs as well.

Well enjoy the pics.

Tammie McCourt - founder
The Shadowseekers

Cleveland Haunted Home gets national exposure

2009-10-08T01:50:00.000-04:00

Canal Visitors Center in Valley View Ohio

2009-09-22T13:42:00.000-04:00

A month or so ago, we had my stepson for a few weeks. He is 15, so we tried to find some cool things to keep him entertained and decided to go to a few things that were rumored to be haunted. One of the places we went was the Canal Visitors Center or Hell's Half Acre in Valley View. We went there around 12:30 or so on a Friday night and just took a bunch of random pictures. Well, one of the pictures, we were trying to get pictures of the inside of the building. The picture that was taken, was taken just out front of the house while standing on the front porch on the outside looking in. Me, being the complete retard that I am, didn't realize what the flash would do. So basically, you see the camera's reflection and my lovely finger nails. Then, when you look closer, on the camera lenses, on the lower left part of the lens you see a face. I see a man with a cowboy hat and a bandanna on his face. What do you think? I have zoomed up on it, so you can see the image. I also got a few more pictures with "things" on it, however, no where nearly as obvious as this. The next day, we went into the building, looking for pictures, anything that may have explained this...a possible reflection of something? We weren't able to find anything. Hmmm.....

Have a good one!

Michael-Anne Cox

Introducing the Shadow Seekers

2009-08-24T12:41:00.000-04:00

Hi my name is Tammie Mccourt and i am the founder of The Shadow Seekers, we are a small paranormal group based in Brunswick Ohio. We are just wanting to let people know that we exist. We are a small group of friends and family who have at one time in our lives had a paranormal experience that has peeked our curiosity. Me and my sister Me-Lang Clark used to live in a haunted house in Cleveland. It was located on west 58th and Wakefield right behind the Fir Avenue cemetery. I have posted a story on Creepy Cleveland before, and the story behind Fir Avenue cemetery is mine as well. We have experienced some very scary stuff growing up that we did not understand. Today we do local investigations around Ohio, so we can try to find some understanding and some answers.On August 7th we did an investigations at the infamous Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville Ky, yes i know it isnt in Cleveland but let me be the first to tell you this place was well worth the trip. I do have pics of places we investigated on some of our pages, we are relatively a new group so we do not yet have a website but our pics can be viewed on our personal pages.We just wanted to introduce ourselves, and we will be sending in stories of future investigations and submitting some pics. Thank You very much.

Tammie Mccourt - Founder
Me-lang Clark - Co-Founder
www.myspace.com/shadowseekers
www.myspace.com/angelvoice6006
Facebook Group...shadowseekers.
Seeking the secrets in the shadows.

O.P.U.S.

2009-08-12T14:00:00.000-04:00

Hey, this is Jen from O.P.U.S. We are going to do an investigation at
Gore Orphanage/Swift Mansion next week. We are also going to check
out that cemetery by Kmart in West Park tonight. Also, we have been
told our home is haunted and we will do a mini-investigation here. We
don't have much on our myspace or blog, but hopefully this will give
us a start. Let us know if you're interested in our findings.

Thanks for your time,

Jen Clark, Case Mgr.

http:www.myspace.com/opusonmyspace

http://www.opus-ohioparanormalundergroundsociety.blogspot.com

Haunted Movie Theater (Parmatown Mall)

2009-08-09T16:58:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archive
---

Contributed by Russ

Webmasters Note: Russ sent me this interesting tidbit on July, 22, 2001. Check this one out - verrry creeepy!!

I worked at a five-screen movie theatre located in Parmatown Mall for four years until is was permanently closed on May 28, 2001. The theatre opened its doors 1967 as the first two-screen movie theatre in the Cleveland area. It has since been renovated into a 5-screen plex. Throughout the duration of my employment, I have witnessed, along with many other coworkers, an extraordinary amount of paranormal activity at the theatre. Most activity took place at night, after close between 10pm-midnight. There were usually two staff members present during this time, a manager and a staff lead. The manager stayed upstairs completing closing issues, while the staff lead, myself, cleaned and stocked the concession stand. These are just a few of the hauntings that come to mind:

Various nights after close, I witnessed blurred images of a person or a mist heading towards cinema 5’s hallway and a figure of a teenage boy wearing a baseball hat near the photobooth.

I twice felt a negative presence approach me at the concession stand while cleaning. It felt like something was about to strike me, so I recall jumping back instantly while my heart pounded profusely.

On at least two occasions, I heard my named called by some unknown voice -- once at the stands after close, and a second time while I was taking pictures of an upstairs’ room on the last day the cinema was open.

It was quite common for the staff to observe the doors in cinema 5 frequently opening and closing by themselves and the faucet at the concession stand sink turning on when no one was around.

While popping corn years ago, I remember hearing the sound of footsteps going up and down the stairs and the hall door opening and closing. I would look and nobody was there.

One night after lock-up I discovered a knife in the men’s restroom. I walked away to inform the manager, but when I returned it was gone. Nobody was in the theater.

We had a Disney Store promotional tie-in for the movie, "Dinosaur." We displayed Disney merchandise above our concession stand for about two months without any strange occurrences, except for one instance where the merchandise started to rock back and forth and before we knew it, it came tumbling down near some patrons.

We have reasons to believe that cinema 5 is the most haunted. Despite numerous attempts to adjust/fix the heat/ac, cinema 5 always remained cold. When the theatre was empty, we would often hear loud noises coming from that auditorium. Generally some nights when business was slow, auditoriums would sometimes remain empty for the entire evening. On one of those occurrences, one of my coworkers perceived a child around the age of ten wearing blue Adidas pants and a white t shirt in cinema 5. When she turned around, the child was gone. On a separate occasion, during her first summer working there, this same coworker was cleaning cinema 5 after a movie emptied and noticed a big man by the left exit doors in the theatre. The man had an older, yet scary appearance. He disappeared when my friend looked away. Also, one night after lock-up when my manager was exiting the theatre by herself, she felt and presence and heard breathing directly over her shoulder. My manager thought it was one of us playing a joke on her, but soon discovered that there was nobody in the auditorium. She ran out.
I have no doubt that my manager is inclined to this sort of paranormal activity. She frequented the ghost more than anyone, witnessing the office radio turning on by itself and a projector turntable rotating at an unordinary rate while the machine was turned OFF. She also heard the sound of footsteps, doors opening and closing, and somebody calling her name upstairs. Whenever I would visit her after I completed my staff lead duties, she always jumped when I knocked on the door. She was never comfortable upstairs in the office. Also, while sitting in the office one evening, my manager and another employee heard a woman’s scream originating from cinema 2. When they investigated, there was nobody in the theatre and the movie was off.

One time about a year before we closed, a mysterious bare footprint appeared in the floor dirt outside the office door. We tried duplicating the print with our own feet and some water and cleaning solution, but we had no success. My manager said the print disappeared soon after and then reappeared the next morning. The following day we mopped and scrubbed the print and it never returned.

We took a few pictures of cinema 5 on the last day of business. The prints could not be developed.

After 30 years of business, the cinema was closed on May 28, 2001 because the mall wanted to bring in another company that was willing to pay a higher lease. It currently lays abandoned and untouched since our departure. Three weeks after we closed, myself and a friend re-entered the cinema with a spare key. The power breakers were all turned off with the exception of cinema’s 2 and 5. I never told my friend about the hauntings at the cinema, but after we walked around cinema 5, my friend told me that she felt a great negative presence in that auditorium. She felt like somebody was watching us and she could not believe that I didn’t feel the same energy as her. I told her that I must have grown used to it after four years of paranormal activity. I have no doubt that if the new theatre opens at Parmatown the hauntings will prevail -- specifically in cinema 5.

Sincerely,
Russ from Parma, Ohio

Webmasters Note: I emailed Russ and thanked him for the great submission...and I got this response on July 23, 2001

Actually, it's interesting that you asked me if I had any more stories. Yesterday, I was at the mall and was inspired, by my recent submission to your site, to re-enter the cinema with my spare key. I took a walk upstairs after turning on some of the electrical breakers. While walking through the long hallway upstairs near the projection booths and manager's office, I heard a noise in the wall as I walked. It seemed like it was following me down the hall. It sounded like a scratching and like somebody was hitting metal with a screw-driver. Like i said, I worked there for four years and I've never heard anything like that before inside the wall. I never heard anything about anybody dying at the cinema, but I wouldn't doubt it. It's been open for over 30 years and it had its share of renovations and expansions. If anything, it could just be an old person who had a heart-attack while watching a movie. But like i said, I'm not certain if anybody has ever died at the cinema -- at least not in the last 15 years (that's when my manager first started working there and she would have told me if somebody was killed/died).

Tombstones in the Woods?

2009-08-04T17:32:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Berea, Ohio - Contributed by Patrick

Hello, I stumbled upon your webpage 'Creepy Cleveland', and think it's pretty cool. I've read through most of the stories. I currently reside in Austin, Texas, but grew up in Brookpark, Ohio. I know a place in Middleburg Hts/Berea, that you may find interesting. Friends and I used to hang out in woods surrounded by trucking warehouses and a marshy lake. If you look at the map below, you can see the area. Basically the borders were Eastland Rd, Sheldon Rd, Engle Rd, Bagley Rd. I hung out here in the late 80s/early 90s, but people had partied there since at least the 70s. There's a big clearing where people used to ride dirt bikes and stuff.
Anyway, there was always a rumor of tombstones hidden in the woods. We spent a lot of time searching for them, but I always figured someone had seen the 'St. Adalbert's cemetary'(see map) from the woods, and mistaken this as the hidden graveyard. One of the tombstones was also rumored to be the grave of Daniel Boone. I didn't really think it was a true story. Especially since a few friends and I had been to virtually every nook and corner of these woods, and knew them well. Most of the woods along Bagley and southern Eastland Rd eventually would meet with private property(usually fenced), as there are houses along these streets. I believed if the tombstones did exist, they were someone's private plots or something. Anyway, over the years the land has been developed. Lots of crappy businesses popped up. I came home for the holidays a few years back. My friend Bob told me that "They found the tombstones". They as in the developers. Weird part is that the graves were very close to a section we'd hang out in often. We probably walk within 50 feet of them many times. These tombstones are from the 1800s, and were found as the land was leveled for a strip mall/movie theater. I've included a map.

The star is '17840 Bagley Rd', the nearest landmark (Kmart). If you get off of I-71 and drive west on Bagley you will pass the Kmart and St Adalbert cemetery. Soon after that look for a movie theater on your right (north) side. Drive into the lot, and you'll see the graves enclosed in a fenced off area. Pretty weird to see these century old graves surrounded by strip mall hell. Sadly, almost all Abrahm's Lake woods has been developed. It was a pretty creepy place in itself. Even in daylight. I'm not sure what part of town you live in. Maybe you've been there already? Anyway, I thought it might be worth seeing, if you're ever in that neck of the woods.
Take care
Patrick

Somewhere in Parma Hts

2009-08-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by DmxNautica@xxxxxx.com

I've been to about all them haunted places u talk about on ur website, but so far the most haunted place I have seen is this one house in Parma Hts., its near Holy Name and the Metroparks.... I guess about 30 years ago some guy murdered his whole family there, and now its abandoned... I think there have been a few families that have tried to move in, but they all moved out within months b/c they claimed it was haunted. its a really weird old looking house... the yard is overgrown, there's an empty pool in the back, and a lot of the windows are boarded up. the house just looks haunted. there have been a lot of strange things that have happened there when I went... the one time there was a light on upstairs in one of the bedrooms... and another night every light in the upstairs was on... but no cars were in the driveway and nobody was walking around upstairs... u could tell that nobody was in there.. and on the wall of the one bedroom there was writing on the wall that said "sex bell" and I also heard that on the one wall downstairs there's writing that says "murder". one night I decided to take some pictures, and my camera wasn't working so I was trying to figure out what was wrong with it, so I kept pressing the button but it wouldn't go off, then while I was pressing the button as I was walking off the property onto the sidewalk to flash went off, so I figured it was working and I went back towards the house but it wasn't working again, so I was doing the same thing pressing the button over and over and it didn't work... until I stepped on the same exact spot on the sidewalk and the flash went off......
my friend also said that one time he was there he went up to the door and he heard some weird noises coming from inside the house... it sounded like some man screaming, and he said he thought he saw blood on the door handle. my other friend was doing a report on the house for school, and she was video taping it, and in the tape u can faintly make out a ghostly figure looking out one of the windows upstairs. and tonight I was there with a few friends and we were looking at the house and I went up to it and all of a sudden these lights came on from upstairs...... but like I said nobody lives in the house and the city/police weren't there cuz there were no cars in the driveway... and if u think about it, if its abounded who pays the electric bill? I think u should post this house on ur website, cuz I think without a doubt its haunted

Webmasters Note: Got another note from Russ, I think he may be talking about the same place. What do you think?...

By the way, have you heard anything about the back woods by Holy Name High School being haunted? A good friend of mine was back there years ago with her now husband on a date. They were driving around Big Creek Parkway one night when her boyfriend had to goto the bathroom. He didn't want to go inside the woods so they drove down the street to their alma mater Holy Name. When they arrived, they parked near the statue of Mary in the back and her boy friend left her to go to the bathroom. The entire time my friend felt very uncomfortable and experienced a lot of negative energy in the air. She was afraid that he would disappear. When her boyfriend returned they began to talk in the car. While they were talking, a black cat emerged from the left side of the woods and headed towards the front of their car. The cat walked in a straight line and did a perfect 90 degree turn to face, sit, and watch the couple in the car. After a few moments my friend asked her boyfriend if he thought that the cat appeared strange. He agreed and so they decided to drive away. As they were departing from the lot, my friend watched the cat begin to walk behind the statue of Mary and then disappear.
-- Russ from Parma

Woodland Cemetery

2009-08-04T17:23:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Mic

Have you ever walked past a cemetery and thought you were being watched?
Do you whistle when you stroll through or by a cemetery?
Ever wonder why the used wrought iron fencing around cemeteries? Iron being know for being a cold metal that has power over some ghost and creatures...
Well I found out one night in the summer of 1989 that cemeteries are a place to get a lot of exercise and a place where you could find the answers to some questions that are best left unanswered!
I was on my way home in the hot august night of 1989, it was a full moon that night and I was walking home from shaker heights the only way I knew. I was walking down Woodland Ave towards E79th street when I decided to take and cut through part of the cemetery in order to get home quicker.
I quickly climbed over a part of the cemetery and started to walk diagonally through to E 79th, well, as I first set foot on the ground I felt a chill run up my spine, I also thought I heard a grunt off in the distance. Well I was tired and wanted to get home, I had three beers that night and I being a Big boy even then wasn't feeling it any more. Well as I got half way through I heard a scraping sound then a splinter sound of wood. The wind was blowing towards me and I could spell the rotting smell of Death. Thinking my imagination was getting the best of me I continued to walk.
I got near a tall monument when I saw it. Near a grave stone I saw a out line of a person digging at a grave, I first thought it was a homeless guy trying to get some sleep, well I crept around but as soon as I got close to it it stopped....
Its' head snapped around and I say the reddest eyes I have ever seen, the skin looked like leather that was really dry, its mouth was full of jagged nasty teeth...
It sniffed twice and started to get up! All I could think was "Mic ( not my real name but my nickname) this is it, Boy you are about to enter the twilight zone!" When my legs and feet kicked into motion!
I took off running out of a sense of self preservation, the whole time I could hear the creature behind me, I Never ran as fast as that night and I doubt I can to this day! Well as I snatched glimpses over my shoulder to make sure I was a head of it I could see it was man shaped, About 5'7 or so and ragged thin, it kept snatching at me with nasty claw like hands, when the wind blew from it's direction I could smell the decay and filth!
Well it almost caught up to me when I made it to the fence! I started to climb up and over and thought it was going to grab my leg...But when I got to the top I noticed that it wouldn't get with in 3 foot of the wroght iron fence.
When I hit the sidewalk I ran as fast as I could away, and it was pacing me on the other side! when I last saw it I could see another set of red glowing eyes from the cemetery watching me...
I got home and locked my house up tight, My Dad, who was woken up by me coming in in a rush yelled at me! When I tried to tell him he yelled at me that I should have know better to tempt fate and dance with the devil like I did!
To this day I will not get near the Woodland cemetery, and I find it really scary that the old wrought iron fence has been replaced in certain spots with chain link fencing!
What was it? I believe it was a ghoul or possibly a demon, but it was on so called consecrated holy land!
Tales of Ghouls have been around for centuries and what if they are real? For me they are!

Mic

Alger cemetery - Westpark, Ohio

2009-07-28T15:02:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Iamlegend18@xxxxxx.com

This is really less a story and more a fascination with one graveyard in particular: Alger cemetery in Westpark, Ohio. I know there's always juiced up stories about every cemetery, but this one is a little different. Throughout the years I've been told numerous stories from many people about their encounters with strange occurrences in this graveyard, ranging from statues changing their position (a statue of Adam was said to be pointing up, then another time said to be pointing east or west...doesn't matter, I guess), an infant's cry heard protruding from the crypt, shadows appearing on the wall, to a hooved, hooded figure on a floating horse (the last, told to me by someone who must have tripped 57% of his wit away, i tell merely to illustrate a point). As bizarre (and mostly just bullshit) these stories may be, I have run across several people who have had encounters in there and did not want to talk about it (such as the landscapers there, all big guys who were very evasive on the topic). I've also heard about an alleged cult that once went in there to practice, well, satanic worship, and that not too long ago some bones were dug up, some mumbo jumbo necronimicon rites were enforced and blah blah blah...GATES WERE OPENED. Indeed. Nonetheless, I have visited this place myself in the wee hours of the morning (it's gated off now, thanks to the rat bastards who have desecrated this holy place by spray painting such ingenious things as "deez nuts" and "Ricky wuz here" on the crypt) and, after having been in several cemeteries, felt quite unnerved by what should otherwise be a small and peaceful cemetery. My question is this (take long enough to get to the point?): Do you or anyone else know of this cemetery's history, or of any reported ghost sightings (or anything for that matter?). That place (and I don't let the gossip get to me) scares the shit out of me. Thanks for your time.

Ghost Story in Lakewood

2009-07-28T14:58:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Amanda

When I was about 5, my family moved into a house on Lauderdale in Lakewood. At the top of the stairs on the second floor is a large bedroom that was first mine, the my brother's. As a small child, when I slept there, I would hear voices calling my name, usually very clearly in the room with me, and whispering. It sounded like my mother's friend, Heather. This scared me when I was young, but after I got to be about 6, the voices were more distant. Instead of being afraid, I just thought my mother was calling me, constantly. My brother eventually moved into that room, and while I still thought my mom was calling me in my new room, the attic, my brother was now afraid to sleep, because he thought he heard Heather whispering to him. We had a dog who would absolutely not go into that room.
We eventually moved out, and the family that moved in has a little girl who goes to school with my cousin. They sold the house this summer, and the girl told my cousin it was because they heard voices in the room at the top of the stairs. Along those lines, I also believe my fiance's house is haunted. Until recently he slept in a small corner bedroom, where he had trouble sleeping, and sometimes had to sleep with the lights on. He believes this entity to be female, because although he never saw her, she would touch him in what he could only describe as a (ahem) seductive manner. He discovered this only when he forced himself to lie still, after jumping up the first few times he was touched. I thought this was a bunch of hooey until a few weeks ago. We were sitting in his living room at about midnight when we suddenly heard heavy footsteps pacing the second floor. There was no one up there. It stopped, and I started to calm down when it started again, directly above us, then moved down the hall towards the corner bedroom. It was not regular winter-in-Cleveland boards creaking we heard. It was footsteps.

Finally, my question is this. Does anyone, including the webmaster, know how to locate websites where I can research the history of a particular house? I know they exist, but I'm having trouble finding any. If anyone has info to that effect, please [let me know]. I'll be back to post whatever I find. Thanks!

~Amanda~

Ghosts of Cresthaven Beach

2009-07-28T14:55:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Douglas Manry

Dear Folks of Creepy Cleveland,
Being a life long Clevelander, I remember a lot of the stories on your site, especially the melonheads and old Doc Crow. Many a night my friends and I would go searching the woods for melon heads back in the late 60s, but never managed to see one.
Anyway, I came across the following story in a small paperback I found while waiting in a doctors office. Ive never been able to find out anything more about it, and I was wondering if you had ever heard of it.
It was back in the late 1800s, I believe, when a boatful of German immigrants was sailing on Lake Erie. The boat was a few miles from the coast of Cresthaven Beach in Willowick, (my original hometown) when it ran aground. After several unsuccessful attempts to free her, she then caught on fire. Horrified onlookers watched helplessly as passengers perished from the flames, or dived overboard and were swallowed up by the lakes currents. Over the next few weeks, bodies continued to wash up on Cresthaven beach and were eventually buried in a mass grave there. Rumors then began to circulate that many of the immigrants were wearing money belts, whereupon groups of ghoulish treasure seekers dug up the grave in search of riches. Legend has that ghosts reside in the area where this tragedy took place,wandering up and down the little park at Cresthaven Beach.
In case you havent heard this one, just thought I'd share it with you.
Please don't hesitate to write if there's anything else I can do for you.
Thank you for the great stories,
Doug Manry

Ghost Boy in Ohio City

2009-07-27T05:41:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Suzanne

Hi,
A friend of my sister wanted me to take pictures in her house. Strange things happening and her son was always talking to "somebody". She thought it was a little boy named Jacob, a friend of her older son who had died in a fire down the road from them. My son and two daughters and I went on the night they were moving. We stayed quite a while snapping pictures, mostly of orbs. Then I went upstairs alone (in the dark) and sat in a bedroom and talked to "Jacob". I felt so sorry for him, he was terribly abused by his parents. My son came up, I handed him my camera, and went back down. He also talked to "Jacob". He came running down the stairs later, yelling that they were following him. I told him to turn around and take pictures.
Lots of orbs, but the picture I am sending you, is the one he took in the bedroom that I had been in. Forget my son's hand on the left side of the picture. Look in the red doorway of the bedroom. There is a little boy, wearing a white shirt, with his hands in his denim pants pockets. Sometimes it's easier to see if you stand back from the computer.
My sister's friend came to my house to look at it, and started crying. She said it was Rodney, her daughter's step brother. They were very close, and it was his bedroom. He accidently hung himself while they were playing. He stood on a toy truck and laughing, said, "Look, I'm hanging myself." The truck slid out from under him.
Sue

The Truth behind Crybaby's Bridge - Rogue's Hollow

2009-07-27T05:33:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Nookiecub69@xxxxxx.com

here is the"TRUE" story behind the whole crybaby bridge "myth" other than it being"fake" i myself believe it anyway here is the story

it was the winter of 1891 a woman by the name of Mellissa Anne LeBose had a child. a baby girl whose name was Amanda Lynn, born a bastard child to a married man.The man's name was Thomas Allan Moore.Everyone in the town of Barberton believed the Mellissa was a witch and we all know what problems that can cause.Anyway, Thomas tried to keep the fact of the child a secret, but his wife found out because the doctor that had delivered Amanda was the same doctor for their children and let it slip that Thomas had fathered the child. In a fit of rage the wife started a rumor that " the witch" had seduced her husband and was making all the towns children sick with an incurable disease ( possibly TB) . There was a lynch mob and a "bounty" set upon her head. The towns people found her walking one night, and decided to have a witchhunt. They chased her through the town and into the woods. She ran for miles and miles, child in hand. The baby was cold and starving and crying loudly. Thomas' wife had already gone to the bridge and was there when Mellissa came upon her . She told Mellissa to kill the child and she would call off the hunt. This horrified her to no end and she would be killed if she was caught. Amanda was screaming her little head off from being so hungry and cold. Mellissa took one last look at the child and tossed it over the side of the bridge. Thomas" wife was turning to leave when Mellissa placed a curse upon the her and the bridge" when the moon glows and the snow falls , my childs tears shall ring in your ears till your death, and her voice shall echo here for a thousand years to remind them of the pain you caused an innocent child" and with that she jumped in after, dying from hypothermia in the cold river water . The next day they pulled her body from under the bridge where it was caught up in the understructure but the baby's body was never found............Thomas' wife believed in the curse, thinking she heard a baby crying till the day she died in 1926, when she commited suicide . When they found her body in the bedroom she had cut her wrists and written "the baby is crying again! the baby is crying again! in her own blood on the floor .................................

now the names may have been changed to protect people but i have written it as it was told to me by my cousin hope you enjoy and i will be in touch again with more "STORIES" from Rouges Hollow......... just make sure that when you go to bed tonight if you have children thank whatever god or goddess you belive in that they are safe and that no harm like this will ever come their way

Children's Laughter

2009-07-27T05:31:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Dave

One story I have that happened to a friend and myself was that we we're driving on one of the roads in Rogue's Hollow (forgot the name) and we had the windows down and the car was idling down the road. We turned off the headlights and just left on the parking lights thought that would set the mood. When all of a sudden I heard some children laughing very softly and as I turned to my friend he turned to me and asked if I had heard something and I said yes and I know what I heard what did you hear and he said it sounded like children laughing softly so I stopped the car and shut it off and we sat for about 5 to 10 minutes but nothing more happened. Mind you this is about 11:00 P.M. at night on a Sunday and in the middle of no where the closest house was probably 3/4 to a mile away. We also can across some railroad tracks about a half mile from when we heard the strange noises (children). My friend had told another friend that we went to crybaby bridge (the one in Rogue's Hollow) and before he said anything else his friend asked if we heard the kids crying by the railroad tracks. Seems that years ago 2 kids running away from home were killed by a train in that area. We have been back several times but seen and heard nothing. Anyone else have any strange things like the kids happen????
Dave

Ghost Train

2009-07-27T05:29:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Steve

I have been to Rouge's Hollow. My god, It was 17 years ago. My aunt and a friend of hers took us all when we were about 16 years old. This is a place they used to go to get spooked when they were our age. I remember the ride down there, It all seemed harmless and really.......... we were not expecting to see anything at all. Us kids were more interested in the road trip more than anything. We went in two car loads so you can imagine the fun we were having on the CB. It was near Halloween so we were telling ghost stories that we got out of a "Haunted Ohio" book but when we told them we made it sound as if we were there first hand! My aunt was telling us about the Rouges Hallow and some of the stories that happened. She was telling us about the "Ghost Train" and how it derailed some time ago. She did not believe the story about the train, she was more interested in taking us to a place where a man lost his head near the rail road tracks some where inside of Rouges Hallow. I guess there is a plaque of some sort along side of the tracks in his memory and to what happened there. She told us that some nights he wanders and you can actually see a man walking around with out his head. Now we were starting to get spooked our selves. When we finally got to the town we must of driven every where TWICE!! We could not find out destination and the we got a flat tire. It must have been between 1:30-2:00 a.m. in the middle of no where with no lights and nobody wanting to get out of the car to change the tire. Well we finally decided that we would ALL get out of the car together and change the tire. It must have looked real funny to see 11 people out changing one flat tire. After the tire change we all decide to hit the road and go home. All of us were upset that we did not get to see a man running around with out a head. When we turned back to go home my aunt was telling us that we were real close to our destination but could not remember the exact names of the streets. She also said that local authorities had taken down some street signs to confuse outsiders on how to get there. We were approaching a rail road crossing when all of a sudden we heard a loud roar to our right, we looked and there it was the "Ghost Train" rolling down the tracks. We were all shouting with excitement and really........we could not believe it. It was an a old steam train (the loudest I've ever heard) it had no front light and was not pulling a single car. The whistle had blown 2 or 3 times and then passed us shaking both cars!! Then it was gone like it vanished right in front of us. It was so unbelievable and not a soul believed us when we had told our stories to others, but it had happened all right in front of us. We said that someday we would all go back with a detailed map so we could find exactly where the hobo had lost his head but we had never found the time. Now when we hear of Rouge's Hollow...........we'll always have the train!!!

A Couple Questions

2009-07-24T18:04:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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OK, creepy Clevelanders...I need your help. I'm looking for some information on a couple of different haunted subjects. If anybody has any information on these topics, please, please let me know...thanks!

1. A haunted house in Sagamore Hills, Ohio. If I remember it right, it's supposedly off of route 82 somewhere. We had gone out there a few times one summer years ago and every time we got there, there was some reason we couldn't complete the mission. We got too scared, somebody forgot a flashlight, the police just drove past us...any excuse really. Anyway, I got to wondering the other day and figured 'Why Wonder?' I've got a direct link to some of the best ghost hunters in Cleveland! So, if you've ever heard of such a place, drop me a line and at least let me know I'm not crazy...

2. Any information about a reputed Cleveland area psychic named Mr. C. I guess it would have to be about 40 years ago (late 1960's) that he told someone I know something kind of spooky, and I'm wondering exactly how much of what he said can be believed. I'm not one to put all my eggs in one basket (metaphysically speaking) and I'm not sure I totally believe in psychic powers - but much like ghosts and other things paranormal - I'd like to think I'm open-minded enough to never say never. I wouldn't be surprised if this Mr. C has long since passed away - but even a note saying 'yeah - I remember him!' would be enough to assure me that I'm not grasping at straws.

The International Exposition Center, Brookpark Ohio

2009-07-24T17:21:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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...More Than Meets the Eye?...

Once known as the Cadillac Tank Plant, The International Exposition Center in Brookpark, Ohio now plays host to hundreds of organizations, trade shows, sales and entertainment year-round! But is there a shadow lurking beneath the surface?

Last year (1999), while working the Ghoulardifest at Berea Fairgrounds, part of our duty was to tear down the some of the stage and sound equipment. Being the last ones out of the building that night, we struck up a conversation with an off-duty police officer that was acting as security guard for the show during the weekend. He related a story to us that I had never heard before...

It seems he was working security for an event at the IX Center late one evening. Unbeknownst to us, the IX Center still has many underground tunnels and hallways (hailing back to the days when it served as a tank plant during the war - the tunnels connected the IX Center to Cleveland Hopkins Airport and nearby NASA Lewis Research Center) How many of these tunnels and halls still exist is anyone's guess. Rumor has it that they were demolished and severed years ago.

Anyway, getting back to the story, another employee told this officer that he was down in one of these tunnels (a long one - maybe half a mile long) We never found out what he was there for, but apparently because of the length of these tunnels the employees were provided golf carts to get back and forth with. The light switches that powered the long fluorescent lighting were located at either end of the tunnels. After switching the lights on for this particular tunnel, this fellow proceeded down the tunnel on his golf cart. About half way down the tunnel the lights went out on him! The guy could just barely see the other end of the tunnel where it intersected with another tunnel (and where the other light switch was located) and saw a figure standing there. No one was supposed to be in the tunnel this particular evening and pranks like this from fellow co-workers were not tolerated because of the safety hazard it presented. After deliberating for a bit over whether to proceed to the other end of the tunnel and confront this individual (who just may have been an intruder) or go back and turn the lights back on, he decided to go back. After turning the lights on again and again trekking down the tunnel he arrived at the intersection were he saw the figure. He was alone. He did whatever it was he went there to do and upon returning to the showroom floor (1st floor) he questioned the other employees and affirmed that no, no one was supposed to be down there with him. No one was authorized to be down there except him and no one else had returned before he did.

He never did get a good look at the person who he still believes turned the lights out on him, and he never accepted an assignment to go below the 1st floor again alone.

I realize that this is one of those "I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend..." stories, but I have to admit that with the aura of mystery surrounding the IX Center's past that there might just be some truth to it.

Webmaster Note: I don't have enough on the IX Center to give it it's own page yet - but I did get this little tidbit from Miss S recently...

About the IX Center... My dad has been working there a few weeks out of each year for the Sport Show and Home and Flower Show since 1987. He has been down in the tunnels twice. He said there is no lighting except maybe some emergency lights. He *did* say it is gross down there with RATS. He called them "catacombs" rather than tunnels. He thinks the reason they are there is that when it was a tank testing place, there were concrete ponds and lakes where the parking lot is now. The ponds and lakes were to test what the tanks could do underwater. The tunnels or catacombs were so the workers could see what the tanks were doing underwater. They led out to a "window" by the ponds and lakes. They are filled in now and are either where the parking lot is or part of the airport. He said over all the time he has been there he has heard no ghost stories. He wished that he had and will check around next time he is there.

Webmaster Note: Yet another contribution on the IX Center rumors... Thanks to Dingus Maximus

Concerning the tunnels at the IX Center, they only criss cross the building. Two going the length of north/south and three going the width of east/west. There are no tunnels to the airport or NASA as the current construction at the airport would revel since the construction and excavation sites would have cut through the tunnels. In addition I have seen the original blueprints and there is no indication of tunnels.
I used to work in the office for two years and still know people that have been there since the IX Center opened. One of them being an architect who says the rumors of tunnels are absurd.
As far as driving the tunnels with golf carts that is correct. I had my own and we used to race in the tunnels.
True the basement is spooky in areas but my office was in the basement and I never saw a rat. As far as ghosts. That I can not confirm nor deny. I had some odd experience and often thought I saw people hanging out in the tunnels. Usually they are the temp workers looking for a place to smoke a cigarette. I did work some late nights and being one of the only persons in the place at midnight is spooky.

The Kelm House - Vermillion, Ohio

2009-07-24T16:18:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Steve

This sick house does not need to be arise here on this earth. For it may be a portal linking hell with the earth. Many have lost themselves and their souls in this house. It stands on Risden Rd. off of Cherry Rd. in Vermillion, OH. Covered with over grown weeds and trees that are probably cursed as well. The grand piano half in and out of the picture window, the pentagram painted neatly on the floor, the explicit word of screwing witches written in red on the walls. Have you seen the demon's that lurk inside of this house? Many have said they have. If you value your life, this is not the place to go. For it is one of Ohio's most scariest places according to ghost hunters and those who study the paranormal. This house was talked about twice on the Art Bell show. Take this short story as a warning to never visit this house, you may not live to tell about it!! For those of you familiar with this house, leave your story on this page so others can be warned about the evil that resides here.

Webmaster note: I did a little digging around and found this writeup posted by Steve on another web page. I contacted him to make sure it was OK with him if I reposted it here... he said it was... check it out:

Originally found at http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/ghost191.htm

Strange but True

My name is Steve and I'm from Cleveland, Ohio. Everything that i tell you is absolutely true. It all started when I was 18 yrs. of age. If I did not see half of it myself I would mot believe it. My friends and I found the paranormal very fascinating. We had no ghosts living in our homes so we went out looking for them. We would ask ourselves " where do we find ghosts"?? We all heard rumors about places out side of town, but most of them were a hoax! A friend of mine was in Sandusky for the weekend near lake Erie with family. He had met somebody out there at the camp grounds and they began talking about ghosts and the person he met told him about this house in Vermillion that is most definitely haunted. It has been abandoned for years.
John was all excited to come back home to tell us all what he had learned! The day he came home is the same night we all made way to this house in Vermillion. It took us a little over an hour to reach our destination. The person John met had given him pefect directions! There were a total of 13 of us that evening and when we had finally found the place all of us were quiet. You could feel it! We all knew we should never have went there. The house stood back from the street a little way. It was hard to find at first with all of the trees and brush that grew over the house. Most windows were missing and the house had a slight lean. There was a grand piano sticking half way in and out of the house. The gravel driveway could not be seen anymore (grass was 3 feet tall).We parked the cars in the street a little ways down and made way to the house. We stood outside for about 20 min. when we all decided to go inside. I knew it was not a good idea and i followed anyway. We entered in through the back right above the cellar doors that lead into the basement. I think we were standing in what once was the kitchen. We walked down a small hallway into the living room. there was a fireplace a broken chair and writing all over the wall written in a foriegn language you could see the other half of the piano all of the strings were sticking out. There was a pentagram painted perfect on the floor with candles at each of the 5 points. I wanted to leave. It was all still very quiet when a loud thud came from underneath us from the basement. We all jumped at least a foot high. Another friend of ours Brian We called him loony, was sort of crazy wanted to investigate. There was only one way into the basement and that was outside (the pantry doors) and they were still shut!! We all got scared and left!! The next day it was all we could talk about!! I thought i would never go back. Two friend of ours who were there that night were in photography class in college had a project. Well they decided to shoot the house! Of course I went and there was only 5 of us this time!! The sun was setting and was almost dusk when we arrive, the house was as sick as ever!! They had all of their equipment set up in a matter of minutes and went to take the first picture when the flash did not work!! So Sean went to use his camera when his flash did not work either. They messed around with their cameras for about 20 minutes before they gave up. They thought there was something wrong with the battery packs so we packed up and left. We got about a quarter of a mile down the road when the flashes started to work. There still was enough day light so we turned around. They took their cameras out again and the flashed did not work again!! Now we were all freaking out so we left again!! We got to the same place in the road where the flashes worked when they started to work again so like fools we turned one last time. We got about 50 yards away from the house when the flashes started to go off by themselves!! We heard the same loud thud come from inside the house and we booked! While we were running my buddy was shooting pics. That night we went into his darkroom and developed 7 pics.
the rest did not come out. At first it seemed like they were just cools pictures if the house when John looked closer at one of the pics. and noticed a long face smiling down at us from one of the windows!! It definitely was not a mask because you could see through to the other side!! It had long pointy ears A wide smile glowing beady eyes and a stubby nose. This was all real!!! We showed everybody the picture and with in days rumors started to fly around about us be devil worshippers. Some people were curious and wanted to come with us!! One day we decided to go there again. This time there was more of us. Walking up the drive way was scary enough when we all seen shadows moving inside the house spooked us out even more!! Right away a buddy got sick a threw up. At one time the moon was white but now redish-orange. Everything about the house was wrong!! I don't know how but we found courage to enter again. We explored every room hearing the same noises everywhere we went. You could definitely see shadows moving from one corner to the other. I felt like I was watching a horror movie And I was the star!! I left the house first and many followed! When we all grouped up every one was really scares and it was a good time to leave!! I know what I seen was real and I still talk about it to this day!! The place still haunts some of us and we don't even visit no more!! My best friends brother still travels there in his dreams and out-of-body experiences. Like I was saying we explored every room in the house except for the attic. We could not get in, it was sealed shut!! But my friends brother would travel there out of his body. Along the way in his hazy dream he met a soul named mike. Mike led him to the attic of the house where he confronted a demon. The same demon in the picture! Scott (buddy's brother) Told us all he lost his soul to this demon and would never get it back!! It is weird that a couple of experiences can change one's life. Now Scott is into crystals and that sort of thing. He believes he can read others minds!! To this day he travels back to the house, for what I don't know. One day Scott was in his mom and dad's living room talking to this Mike when his mom heard him talking and no one was there! She got all worried and went to find help! There was a psychic around the corner from our homes and they went there. The lady was taking care of a client in the back when they walked in and as soon as they sat down the lady came immediately out and asked Scott to leave! Some how she knew there was an evil presence with him. They tried a psychiatrist but still no help. We still were curious about the house though. We had no explanation. Six of us went to the Vermillion Library And found out a lot of sick information about the house!! We learned that the Kelm's were the only owners of the home and was abandoned in the early 1920's. We found a small article that read something like the family adopted alot of children into there family and the MR. abused molested and killed most of the children in that house!!

Webmaster Note: This is getting popular! I got an email from Steve's friend Bryan (the Loony...see story above)...

I am here to prove Steve isn't giving any BS. I was there through this whole situation. I am the one mentioned in the article, I am Bryan the Looney. A lot has been said but what we experienced, we'd need a book. The Blair Witch hoax is nothing to this house. This house is evil plain and simple. I don't scare very much: this house had me trembling, not of its presence but a fear of something being there that you could not explain, it was strong, it was present, and it was watching us. This presence knew we were coming, no matter what we did we never made it there till darkness fell. We always knew we were close because are stomachs turned; just an ill feeling fell upon us. This house seemed to know we were coming to visit it. It played games with us. We knew how to get there but it wouldn't allow us till after sunset. We'd always find it then . It was waiting, wanting us. We gave it what it wanted, but we would always lose some way, some how. This house has a power to draw you to it. A power of a presence you can't explain. If you love supernatural you'll love this house. I have so many things I can say but I cant write a book. I have stories of my friends brakes going out, strange hand prints on his windows, no matter what something failed. Someone's stomach, urinary tract, or bowel movement gave out. This is a house I hope YOU WILL FEEL. YOU WILL KNOW! Any info you want, talk to us. I'm out. Bry the looney

BAD NEWS, folks... The Kelm House has been torn down!! Reported by MESTIZO2002@xxxxxx.com ...

I was there once when I was 12yrs old (1992) I was only able to stay inside for about five minutes,while I was Inside I started to go up the stairs,but the farther I got up them the evil the atmosphere seems to get. I got out of there quick and I coundn`t get away from that house fast enough. I`ve always wanted to return to see what it was that was in there, however the house was demolished about five or so yrs ago and a new house stands in it`s place. This place too has been rumored to be haunted as well.

Hemlock Road - Independence, Ohio

2009-07-24T16:11:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Steve

Hemlock Rd. in the city of Independence is by far one of the most haunted places in Ohio. It all started back when settlers were coming to Ohio and taking over Indian territory. Legend has it that two settlers were hunting in the woods near what is now Hemlock Rd. when they noticed an Indian girl sitting near the Cuyahoga river in her canoe. The three settlers approached the girl and jumped into the boat and began beating and raping the helpless girl. The boat started down stream, when suddenly the vessel had capsized and all three had died. When the Chief of the tribe had caught word of what had happened to his daughter, he put a curse on that area of the river. Since then many unexplained and strange things have happened on the old road and river.
A portion of Hemlock Rd. was closed about 7 years ago. The only way to get back there now is to walk if one is brave enough. If you walk about half way down the road and go to the right before the bridge, if you are lucky enough you will come across the remains of the old indian burial ground where the Chief rests. Many have said if you listen close enough you can hear him cry out his daughters name.
Another haunting is the Hemlock bridge that once ran over the Cuyahoga river. It is no longer there today for a couple of mysterious reasons. A little over 80 years ago two kids were playing jokes on cars and other motorists driving by at dark. They would climb the tree with the thick branches that hung over the bridge. When cars would pass by they would drop a ghost they had made from sheets and fishing line. At that time the fishing line was a little stronger than the line we use today. They had spotted another car coming down the road, only this one was missing one head light. When the car approached the bridge the ghost was dropped directly on the motorist who was not driving a car with one head light but a motorcycle. The strong fishing line wrapped around his neck and the man instantly lost his head. Did this happen because of the Chief's curse? The ghost of the man can still be seen today. Town records stated the man died at 11:57 p.m. If you want to see the ghost of the headless man, stand near where the bridge would have been. Make sure to bring a piece of sheet and a small piece of fishing line and throw them off into the river at exactly 11:57p.m. You will then witness a headlight coming over towards you from the other side of the river. Don't be frightened to run. The light will vanish in the exact spot where he lost his head. Dozens of people have witnessed this, many trying to forget about it just don't want to talk about it. I myself had seen the ghost and I can honestly say that I will never be returning back to Hemlock Rd. for anything!!

Nurse in the Woods

2009-07-23T14:23:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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NOTE: This story also appeared in the book: "Cleveland Ghosts" by Charles Cassady.

CompliBot@xxxxxx.com

All I can tell you what I've heard - rumor - and what I know happened because I was there.
I grew up on Cleveland's west side. My friends and I were avid fisherman and used to ride our bikes down to Metropolitan Park. This was a ride of a few miles and involved pedaling back up the Lorain Road valley hill. That's why I was delighted to hear of a small pond I'd never known about much closer to my house.

The pond was supposed to be located southeast of the intersection of Memphis Avenue and Bellaire Road. We left our bikes south of Memphis in a wooded area about a hundred yards south of a railroad bridge. Then we hiked through some woods, climbing in and out of two (I believe) deep gorges.

The area is much more built up today but there are still some woods and a deep ravine in this area. Interstate 71 goes through just north of here. There is a small shopping center across the busy street directly opposite the spot where we left our bikes and entered the woods.

Our guide was an acquaintance who'd fished the pond before. Sure enough there was a small pond back there. Completely surrounded by woods. However it was full of tiny bluegill - stunted by over-population - who would greedily eat your bait but were far too small to ever hook.

Near dusk we started back, got all turned around in the unfamiliar woods, and ended up coming up a steep valley near a small amusement park, further south of the spot where we'd originally entered the woods. It was now dusk and quite shadowy and dim under the trees. We'd gotten spread out and one of my buddies was ahead of me by about 50 feet.

Suddenly I noticed a young nurse walking toward me through the forest. I mean literally a "nurse." Her white uniform really stood out in the murky half-light in the woods. She passed my buddy who took no notice at all of her. Then she passed me - as noiselessly as if she were walking on a thick carpet. She looked at me and smiled. I distinctly recall her darkish hair and white teeth. Her smile was so friendly - and she was so pretty - I couldn't help but smile back like a grinning idiot even though I wanted to say "hi." Not a word passed between us.

I remember thinking how odd it was she would be going through such a steep, rugged area wearing a nice, white uniform. After a moment or two I turned around to see which way she was going. There was absolutely no sign of her. I stopped, looked around, listened, but it was like she'd just disappeared. Now at the time the last thought on my mind was anything spooky. I was far more intrigued by the young nurse's good looks than anything ghostly about her.

Back on the road I remarked to my buddies that maybe someone was hurt in the woods. They didn't know what I was talking about. I mentioned the nurse but none of them had seen her! Not even my buddy who she passed right by as I watched.

At this point we were passing an old house on Memphis, now the site of a factory or trucking company. There were some buckeye trees growing near the street and we stopped to pick some buckeyes as we talked. An older guy, he looked eighty to me then but might have been younger, was going up to the house with a grocery bag. He heard me being teased about the invisible nurse. He stopped and said, "So you've seen our nurse. We see her back there at sunset quite a lot. She was killed in those woods you know." This stunned us into silence.

Years later I heard a nurse had indeed been strangled in those woods. This was told to me by a newspaper reporter. This incident has stuck with me all these years and I still wonder about it sometimes.

Creature in the Woods

2009-07-23T14:14:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Hey. I haven't written you in a long time. Doubt you remember me, lol. I'm a paranormal investigator.
I got a problem here, lol. I used to have the haunted ohio book, I believe it was the 1st one it was in, but you might know the story. I can't remember the name of the woods it happened it or area, but i wanted to look into it some more. I know it happened in ohio though:
A man (racoon hunter I believe) went out into these woods in his truck late one night to hunt, with his dogs. He let the dogs out and they ran off into the woods, then he heard them yelping and they came running back and got in the back of the truck, shaking and yelping. He got in, and headed out... big bang hit the passenger side of his truck and he picked up speed and left. When he got home, he discovered deep claw marks in the side of his truck. That sound familiar? I'm stumped, lol. Hope you can help. And keep up the great work on the site.
Sincerely,
Shawn Staggs

RE: Gore Orphanage

2009-07-23T14:11:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Does any one know the names of the four children who died ? the children of nicholas wilber? i can not find that info any where. also where are they all bured. one story said in a local cemetery? where might that be. please help!!!!

A Witches Grave in Kirtland?

2009-07-23T14:10:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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I could have sworn there was a witches grave (who was burned at the stake) somewhere in Kirtland, but I can't seem to find any information about it. Do you have any information regarding this or any other witch graves in Ohio? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Heather

East side of Cleveland questions

2009-07-23T14:09:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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I found your site almost by accident, and I hope you can help with some Cleveland history questions.
1)Old Sunny Acres TB hospital site. Was the TB hospital where Metro Health Skill Nursing Facility currently is? (Metro East stands on the same property as Tri-C east. SW corner of Harvard and Richmond Rds) I'm finding conflicting answers on line. Also, there is a building on the same property, that is currently abandonded. I was told that at one point this building was the nurses dorms for the old TB hospital. (This building in on the left side of the driveway coming in from Richmond Rd) Is that accurate??
Same area of Harvard Rd.. North West corner of Harvard and Richmond, there was a group of buildings (I understand they were demolished to make room for the Chagrin Highlands project)in the same area as where the Armed Forces Recruiting station is (and also immediatly across Harvard for the driveway to Tri-C) I'm getting conflicting stories on what these buildings were. Some have told me it was a work house for the county. Some have told me it was the County Hospital (forerunner to Metrohealth) and served the poor and psych patients. Which is accurate, and what was it called?
2)I grew up in Euclid, and there was a building on Euclid Ave. between E. 260th and Babbitt Rd, on the south side of Euclid Ave. (The property is now a nursing home/retirement community) I remember people saying it was a "funny farm" (their words, not mine) Is this where the old Ridgecliff Psych Hospital stood?
I appreciate any input you are able to give me.

Thank you in advance

Anyone know anything really spooky about North Royalton?

2009-07-23T14:07:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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I have lived in North Royalton my whole life. Its about 20-30 min from cleveland, but thats beside the point. I was just wondering if you have heard any creepy stories, myths, or legends about North Royalton. I have checked the sight many times, but i have never seen anything. I have heard stories about my woods, and have accounts of things in the woods on Royalwood Rd. but no one can truly confirm these events because its such a small area and not to many people who really care around here. So i was curious if you have heard of anything or know anything that could help me in my search of some creepy things in town. Its a boring city, but knowing something like that might help make it just that less boring. I love the websight, and its nice to see someone as enthused about the paranormal so close to home. Thank you,
Jason J.

Abandoned Mental Hospital in Broadview Hts.

2009-07-23T14:06:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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I have been living on the west side for about 6 years now. I moved to Parma when I was in 8th grade and I just recently moved to North Royalton to my own place (Yay!). I was wondering why no one has ever written anything about the abandoned metal hospital in Broadview Hts. It is located on Broadview Rd., about 1 mile south out Rt 82, and unfortunately sits right next to the Broadview Hts. police station. I don't know for SURE if this place is haunted but I do know some of my great but stupid friends went in there and said it is all kinds of screwed up. I am a practicing pagan at the moment and I can usually tell just by looking at something if it has a ugly past. I drove around the outside of it a couple times and something definitely went wrong in there. Anyway, it wasn't closed down that long ago (may 20-30 years ago), but when it was closed down, it was out of the clear blue: no warning, no notice. One day it was there and open, the next it was abandoned. I'm just kind of curious I guess. People have been trying to get me to go in there with them but I won't. I don't want to bring anything home with me from that place. Also, it has signs all over the place saying "No Trespassing", and considering it is right next to the police station, I would gather that you could get arrested for going in there. Although, I have heard from someone who went in there, that if the cops do see you go in, they WILL NOT follow you. And if you are in there for too long, they say screw it and leave. But if you could post this, that would be great; maybe someone that lives around there could give some more insight on that place. Thanks and great site.
Katie

Unexplained Pictures

2009-07-23T13:57:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by John

Here are two digital pictures I took during a tour of the prison this summer. I'm a skeptic, but I can't explain the images and the camera has never messed up.

John Leach

Reformatory Ghost?

2009-07-23T13:51:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Dugan

I took this pic touring the reformatory on my own when it was pitch back in August [2002]. The figure of the head in the background doesn't show up in any other pics so it's a bit weird. I can't explain why the head figure is so high in the air unless this individual hung himself in his past life.

Dugan

My First Visit to Squire's Castle

2009-07-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by velvetniteskys

I havent been to Squires Castle often but I won't forget my very first visit! The inside wasn't as I expected.
I walked in and saw (briefly) I think what it was supposed to have been-it was furnished, had windows and decorations on the walls and I could hear "bustling" like quick activity that goes on as visitors are expected.
I saw a short bench covered in a deep blue with a candle table next to it with a vase and sunlit streaming thru the side window made a lovely warm welcome-Could feel the warmth in the place and lots of good feelings-sort of like expectations of excitement.
Thing of it was-it was a cold dark, dreary rainy Sept. morning and no one was out and about-not even walking the paths yet. I stood frozen until my friend spoke and it all cleared to what was actually there-nothing. And there was me whipping my head around wondering where it all went - looking rather silly I bet! But I told her stay where she was and went thru the rest of the place by myself-there were bits of impressions but nothing as vivid as that first entry.
I am no psychic - not skeptical of paranormal but no great believer either - too many frauds and too many too quick to believe ANYTHING just for the drama-but I have to believe what I see and experience myself. I believe that was to be a lovely place-or once was! I had heard it was brought from elsewhere-perhaps the things I experienced were from there-or I suddenly stepped into the dream of what it was hoped to be. I had never heard of the place until that day and it was only after talking about my experience to a neighbour that I was told parts of the story about the place.

Just a hoax

2009-07-23T13:42:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Robert

Here it is. I too am a resident of the area. I have been going to Squires Castle my whole life. nothing is strange about the castle no cold feelings as you enter it. As the relative stated above the wife never lived there or died there. At homecoming for the local high school my freshman year we took pics there. NO ORBS. I am not a skeptic though I do believe in the paranormal, ghosts, the whole bit. I just never experienced anything there. Except a boxing match which we did video tape inside the castle and nothing was caught on tape. This legend is a hoax. But who knows about the Cults in the 60's and 70's and the suicides they might be luriking around somewhere.

It's not Fergus

2009-07-23T13:40:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by lakecountypimp@xxxxxx.com

As a former employee of the Cleveland Metroparks, and the Ranger Department, I would have to say that anyone who believes that the stories of Fergus Squire and his beloved wife are untrue, is just being a little too naive. First off, Mr. Squire made building his castle a passion because he was drawn to that area, if you indeed wander up the hill behind the castle there are remnants of the observation tower from which Mr. Squire used to enjoy the spacious view over the valley area. However the story of his Wife's tragic death are very exaggerated, she was indeed the city girl and did not die in the basement.
However here's where the strange parts of this story start, there were indeed, strange people afoot in the 60s and 70s, Biker Gangs, Devil Worshipers, Animal Sacrifices, and there are quite a few suicides in that park every year, probably spawning the paranormal events that occur on occasion. I personally was present a few years back when the maintenance staff reopened the basement prior to refilling it with gravel and concrete, and one of the workers climbed to the top of the turret in order to cut out what turned out to be a small tree growing out of the concrete.
Another little known tidbit is the presence of cult types or "Druids" at the River Grove Reserved area (Just south of the Castle) at the summer and winter solstice. They have the area booked on those two days every year.
Now I've been through those woods at night, and even down some of those walking paths that go very far from the roadways, and I have experienced at times cold chills in the middle of summer an broad daylight, I've seen lights in the hills behind the castle that were too oblong to be man-made, bottom line, too many unexplained things occur in that park to assume that there is a strong presence there.

Not Haunted!

2009-07-23T13:38:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Mdniteraven@xxxxxx.com

I just wanted to say anyone going to Squire's Castle looking for ghosts or orbs or whatever is probably wasting their time. Maybe the pics that I saw on the page were real, I don't know. But I do know that I have been going to the castle since I was a little kid(I'm 30 now), and I have never felt anything strange or unusual. I have hiked the woods behind the castle (on and off trail) and have never seen anything there either. I'm not a sceptic, I have been places that I wouldn't go to again because it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but Squire's Castle isn't one of them. I do know some people that have been married there, and I have great memories of playing tag with whatever kids were there when I was a kid. We would jump out the windows and all around, unfortunately they put bars up on most of the windows now :(

Orbs at Squire's

2009-07-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Jay at NEOSI

Ok, heres the whole deal with Squires Castle! I've been here for thirteen years and have heard every story out there about the former maids quarters. First, Mrs. Squire died an old lady of natural causes in her home in Willowick in the early 1900's, not in the basement of the castle. But I'm far from the one to tell you that there's no supernatural activity there, or in the Metroparks period. I have some pics that are clearly orbs. Keep in mind these few things while viewing these pics.

#1. Im a skeptic, I dont use 35 mm 400 speed film. I use a digital camera, no mistakes and no misprints, just high quality pictures.

#2. Supernatural "beings" or apparatus' feed on energy. I use really good batteries that last about two weeks, the ones that I had in died in two and a half hours of use, same batteries that usually last a week or two.

#3. I cleaned the lens before every shot, everytime.

#4. My cousin and I grew ill the moment we stepped up to the main entrance of the "castle" and felt like we had no buisiness being ther in the first place, so we left. We bumped into the park rangers on our mission and they confirmed my accusation that during the 60's and 70's devil worshiping and animal sacrifices were practiced there often.

Take it for what its worth, but look at the other pics in the squires castle category and make the connection, plus please keep in mind that this was a very clear night and there wasnt a snow flake or dust or rain anywhere in sight. This is the real thing..Im the one on the far right. Notice how clear the picture of us is?

Not so scary

2009-07-23T13:29:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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LilyMunster623@xxxxxx.com

Hi,
I've visited Squire's Castle many times, I even had my 16th birthday party there. I have to say there is nothing scary about it or the surrounding woods at all. I've hiked through those woods and spent a lot of time at the castle and I've never experienced anything out of the ordinary. In fact, I've never even heard any ghost stories about it before I visited this site. Anyway, the rest of the site is cool! I live in PA now but when I go home to visit I'll probably see some of those other places.
Renee

Squire's Castle Orb

2009-07-23T10:05:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Becky

This picture was taken at Squire's Castle on Friday, October 26th at about 9pm. I used my typical ghost-hunting camera, which is a Polaroid 35mm with Kodak 400 film. Out of about seven pictures taken at Squire's Castle, this is the only one that developed with a very dense, clear orb. Dr. Ken of the Ohio Ghost Hunters Society confirmed the anomaly for me. I was aware of all the stories and rumors that have been told over the years, but I never believed that Squire's Castle is haunted. Maybe now I the have proof to show that it most definitely is still home to Mrs. Squire!

Squire's Castle Debunked!

2009-07-23T10:02:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Justin Vargo

I read the link you have on your site about squires castle being haunted...well that's a bunch of bull! at least the story that is posted. I am related (that's what my great grandmother told me) to the squires that built the castle. Any way the guy and his wife never lived in the castle. That is why it was never completed. She was a city dweller like the story said, and refused to spend even one night in the castle. Remember at the time it was built it would have taken a extremely long time to get from there to Cleveland (the suburbs were non-existent) so the story about her dying there are 100% false!

Tall man in the cemetery

2009-07-22T13:45:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Charlie

hello my name is charlie, i have been to the witches ball. i heard of it from my teacher, she lives right down the street from it . anyways...my mom went to myrtle hill cemetery when she was in her teens which was in the seventies and she went there with three of her friends and they planned on scaring their friends. the plan was to scare 2 girls that were in the car with them. 5 of her other friends were behind gravestones and they would pop out and scare the shit out of them. they would go to myrtle hill about every other weekend. well any way they were driving through the cemetery and there friends popped out and scared the girls. while every one was laughing my mom had saw in the corner of her eye a man that was at least seven foot tall that was dressed in very old clothes staring at them. my mom yelled at her friend and as soon as he looked the man had disappeared and it was in the back towards the workers shed and at that time the trees were about 6 feet high and the man was taller than them[ at least a foot . when my friends went there on october 25 2003 we had saw glowing in the woods[at ten at night] we freaked and ran but then we turned around and went back to admire the witches ball and nothing really had happened except the glowing and some cracking in the woods
i plan on going back there in the winter to see if the myth is true about the whole warm/cold thing and i hope that we don't see no black rose!

Another explanation?

2009-07-22T13:42:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Toni

In concern to the witches ball.
I myself have investigated a number of unusual local occurrences, and looked most closely at this one, because it affects me most. I researched the arsenic killings, because the house of a good friend in VC of mine is where the second of the two arsenic killings took place. It was the thanksgiving killing, and its a 10 minutes walk across the street and through the woods from the cemetery. I never seen anything unusual at the house, and neither has the owner, or his family. I am not sure however that the arsenic killings and the witch are a related subject.
As for the cemetery itself? My father and some friends in an investment group recently bought the house directly across the street from the cemetery. I immediately heard the stories of the ball, and did some research. Due to the nature of the shape of the material of the ball (and others like it) it absorbs heat and light from the sun, and after particularly sunny days it radiates almost a glow, not to mention warmth. I walked over there, and I saw leaves on the grave, and scrapes in the ball from the last time it was knocked over (yes its been knocked over a few times).
I have witnessed quite a few paranormal occurrences in my time, and I have to say that the ball was not even near one. I heard from a local land owner that the so called witch was buried in a smaller private cemetery on columbia road. I have not yet investigated this, but it seems to me that the ball is a family memorial.

-Tony

Wrong Witch

2009-07-22T13:39:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Jon

I just wanted to tell you that a couple people on the website for the witches ball are either lying or do not have their facts straight. The widow who killed her family has nothing to do with the woman buried under the witches ball. Martha Wise is the murdering widow from the Legend of the Widow Wise. The name on the ball is Stoskoph. Also one girl claims to live next to the home of Martha Wise. I know this to be false because I live next to the home and there are no neighbors on the other side. Another person claimed to currently live in the home of Martha Wise. I know the individual who lives there and she is not that person.

Experience at the Witch's Ball

2009-07-22T13:38:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Asoulwatcher13@xxxxxx.com

I myself, live about a mile from the Witches Ball. As a visitor of Myrtle Hill Cemetery almost everyday i can tell you my experiences there. I have never seen a black rose or leaves surrounding the ball. However, I have many times layed my hands upon her grave and felt the cold or hot. My creepiest moment. A warm (and i mean warm) June day, My friend and I were walking among the dead, and freely speaking. I laid my hands upon the ball and it was freezing cold, I immediately took them off the grave and a relatively calm breeze became extreme and this is broad day light. I went back that night and saw the eerie figure coming out of the woods. I have never been afraid of "ghosts", but this time i felt scared and definitely RAN!!!

Creepy noise

2009-07-22T13:35:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by RunLolaRun SLC Punk

Just something i thought you might like to add to your site...

i have been to the witches ball.. both during the day, and 2 different times at night, and i have a feeling, since there is no birth/death date no first name, it's a family monument... there are many people with Stoskopf as their last name, burried in that cemetary. I touched the ball, and it was warm, because of the sun.. just a comment i'd like to add... marble retains heat, so if the sun set and it's cold outside, it's still going to be a bit warm. The reason there are no leaves etc. around it, is because there are no trees near by. I haven't encountered a black flower of any sort...and the ball didn't glow.. it's a normal monument for a family during the day, but with all the stories attached to it... it is scary at night..
The only things creepy is that i was the only one up in my house the other night, after i came back, and i kept hearing static of some sort (even though all the appliances were off.. in my basement ) yet the same thing happened in my bedroom.. i was awoken by a not so faint static noise.. and the other thing is that there are no lights surrounding the grave and it looked like eyes on the grave following us as we drove past, and we know it wasn't out lights, because when we turned off the headlights, there was still a faint light, and i looked back at the ball, the lights should have been red from the tail lights...but they weren't red they were white... which could not have been possible.. it just felt like the eyes were watching me....

Alliey
Medina, Ohio

A warning from the current owner

2009-07-22T13:33:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Anna

Hello,
I have been reading your stories about the witches ball and all the hype.... I just wanted to say that I am now the current owner of the house where all this supposed murdering occurred. Granted, this may have happened. But it would not be associated with the witches ball. The person who did the Murdering was a lady named Wise, who did not own the home until the 1950s, according to court records. The person buried under the witches ball is one of the original owners of the home...the Stoskopf family. And many of their relatives still reside in Valley City.
I have lived here for 8 years and haven't seen glowing walls, or bleeding ceilings, or slamming doors yet. Nor has it been turned into an office building...Geez! It just goes to show you that some people have extraordinary imaginations.
I have, however, been known to scare off teenagers who drive over here to look in my windows hoping to see a ghost, only to be met by a very unhappy ME! And they should know that they should be far more worried about the living then the dead.
We have had some "out of the ordinary" occurrences. But nothing life threatening, scary or anything to be concerned about. The house just needed someone to love it. And we do.
The reason the witches ball is cool during the hot sun of the morning is because Granite, which the ball is made of, is cooled down significantly with the cold of the evening, and it is warm at night, because it takes all day to heat it up, and stays warm most of the night. So people need to stop visiting, having rituals and most of all, need to stop knocking it off it's perch, which requires a crane to return it to it place, at an expense to the family when it happens.
Nothing magical, creepy or otherwise will happen when visiting the site. Only over active imaginations seeing things created by their own minds.
If you have any questions, I would be happy to give you answers, or perhaps find out for you. But people really do need to relax about this house. And stop peeking in my windows before someone really gets hurt!
Anna

The Witch under the Ball

2009-07-22T13:29:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Lindsey

Hi. People say it's a joke but my current boyfriend's brother is buried there and believe me it's no joke. As a child he was very interested in this and a friend of his family researched the name on the ball Stoskopf. It is the name of a woman who believed she was a witch. My boyfriend knew the family who rented out a house to the Stoskopf family. It was in Valley City where all this took place and the house still stands. He told me that the house was rented out to other families after the time she murdered her family but people would move out after being there a month. It was said that the basement wall would light up having something to do with the rituals she held in her back yard. He told me he will drive me by the house some day which is now a office building. The only thing he said that was different was that she killed her family with a ax. It's all scary to me because the first time me and my friends went their we got a flat tire on the way home.
-Lindsey, Brunswick Ohio

It's not the Ball

2009-07-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by REV. William R. Mayor

THERE IS NOTHING WITH THE WITCH'S BALL BUT THERE SOMETHING AROUND THE WOODS SURROUNDING THE GRAVEYARD. I MYSELF HAVE BEEN THERE AND HAD MY HANDS ON THE BALL NOTHING CAME FROM THE BALL BUT IF YOU ASK THERE IS SOMETHING THAT WILL COME OUT OF THE WOODS BEHIND THE WORKERS SHED. I ALSO THOUGHT THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHURCH ON ABBEYVILLE RD ON THE BRUNSWICK/VALLEY CITY LINE NOW THAT IS SOMETHING THAT I'M STILL LOOKING INTO I HAVE HEAR REPORTS OF "SOMETHING" BEING THERE AND WHEN I HAVE BEEN THERE I HAVE FELT SOMETHING.

SIN.
REV. WILLIAM R. MAYOR WICCAN PRIEST

A Non-believer

2009-07-22T13:25:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Matt

hey....love the site.... well i dunno all this about the witches ball..i've been there 3 times....the first was with 2 of my friends and it was around dusk.... the second time was with my friend and it was like 10 at night....the third was around 11 and i was alone.... i only touched it the first time we went..and it was warm... from the sun beating down on it all day.... of course no leaves are gonna touch it cause its not near any trees... it might rain tonight so i think i'm gonna go back ....i'll tell you if anything scary happens. oh and about helltown ...i live right by there and i've never seen/heard anything or seen any devil worshipers....but i do know the cops will hassle you if your just driving around. keep up the good work.

matt.

Eerie Occurances at the Witch's Ball

2009-07-22T13:23:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by KittyN219@xxxxxx.com

My friend and I have gone to the witches ball several times and we have never seen a black rose, an eerie mist surrounding it or anything special like that. The reason no leaves fall around it is because the ball is in the middle of the graveyard, nowhere near the trees. The stories about it being warm are true though. One night we went there around 2 am, way after the sun set, so it couldn't have still been warm from the sun beating on it all day, and it was really really warm especially on the bottom. Also we put a penny on the very top of it and we just left it there. About 5-6 months later, no exaggeration, we went back and the penny was still there. I don't really know what that means but its very weird because there are so many people that go there and how could it have been sitting in the exact same place that much later, with the wind and snow and kids who are always going there? It probably means nothing but it just kinda creeps us out. My mom used to go there when she was younger with all of her friends and for those who have never been there, there is two entrances to the place, one is just a little road and the other is a hill, its kinda steep. Anyway my mom and her friends went one night they choose to go up the hill and the car was in perfect shape and they had plenty of gas but half way up the hill the car stalled. They got out to investigate under the hood and they heard screeching noises and someone saw some sort of white floating object in the trees. They couldn't get the car started and they wanted to get out of there so they decided to just push the car back down the hill and get away from there when they got the car down the hill it started right up. I don't know if that was true or not, I wasn't there but those are my stories

History of the Ball

2009-07-22T13:21:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Shawn

I have visited the witches ball a few times since I only live a few miles from it. Nothing weird has ever happened to me but I have heard some good stories about it. One was that back in 1800's people would pass the hill the ball sits on at night and see a strange figure sitting on the hill watching people. One time a group of men actually went to see what it was and were surprised to see the figure of a man with horns on its head run down the side of the hill and disappear at the bottom. My older brothers friend lives across the street from the hill and he would often complain about weird noises at night. One night he heard a loud crash in his basement and went to investigate and found all of his family board games knocked down from a shelf. He went upstairs to answer the phone and when he returned all the games were picked up like nothing had happened. Another story probably had nothing do with it but two girls were visiting the ball one night and when they were on the way home got in a minor car accident (minor as in no one was hurt) .

Trip to the Ball

2009-07-22T13:17:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Jennifer

I love your website. after reading about the witch's ball, i decided to drag my friend rachel out there to investigate. we took the top off the jeep and set off from euclid around dusk. we found myrtle hill road and the cemetery with no problem (thanks to mapquest!) the cemetery is small, on a quiet country road, up on a hill. we pulled in and found the odd grave-marker right away. we left the jeep running (just in case!) and got out to investigate. i had been telling my friend the story of the witch, trying to make her nervous. she wasn't buying it. she did refuse to touch the ball, "just in case" there was a curse. the air felt electric and the hair on our arms stood up. i grabbed my camera to take a photo before the sun set. it was a new roll, only on the 3rd or 4th picture. i snapped the photo and immediately the camera jammed up! i tried to shut it off and it automatically rewound the film and spit the roll onto the ground. my friend saw what happened and we both decided to leave. when we got back to the jeep, it was full of flies (although there were no flies anywhere else in the cemetery and nothing in the jeep but a bottle of water.) the whole thing was very strange, especially since we really weren't expecting anything more than a nice drive to the country.

jennifer

Curse of the Witch's Ball

2009-07-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Steve

Everybody from the Cleveland area has at one time or another heard tales and stories about the "witches ball". I myself have been there a few times. My parents used to go there when they were kids and so did my grandparents when they were kids. Through all of the generations, the story behind the mysterious ball remain the same and true. The local legend about a witch being buried at the old cemetery on Myrtle Hill Rd.is in fact true according to vague documents at the town library. If I remember correctly the only markings on her grave is her last name "Kolthoff" -or- "kothloff". There are no dates or no other wording on the eerie tomb. The few times I visited, there was always a fresh black rose resting on the grave.
The story about the witch is a long one so I will try to trim it down a bit to make less reading. More than a 150 years ago lived a quiet widowed women on Myrtle Hill Rd. nobody bothered her and she bothered nobody. After her late husband died she was thought to practicing witch craft in the barn behind her home. Many neighbor's were losing their animals such as dogs, cats, chickens etc... People were starting to get suspicious about the old woman. One late night when she was asleep some neighbors gathered up and broke into her barn to find weird marking on the wall and on a small table there were several bones of animals stacked nice and neat. One of the neighbors turned toward a fire pit in the barn to find the collar of his dog inside.
The very next night they got together again and went to the barn, this time with the witch in it. Rumor has it before they broke in they could see her from an outside window standing by the fire and she was gazing into it while the fire changed colors from red to blue to green. The people were scared and they felt threatened so they decided to take her life right then and there. They busted the door down and ran in and grabbed the old women tied her up to a pole in the barn and piled wood beneath her legs. She started to scream and chanting words they never heard before. She looked right into the eyes of all the people and told them this would not be the last time they would see her. She said she would put a curse on her grave before she passed. The barn was burnt down to the ground and the next day her remains were gathered and placed at the old cemetery on Myrtle Hill Rd. She went many years without a tomb stone until her niece who also practices witch craft provided her with one. It is a huge ball that stands about three feet off of the ground.
The curse she put on her grave is a strange and spooky one. If you go to the cemetery and place one hand on her grave and feel that it is cold, she is resting in her grave. If you touch it and is warm or hot I recommend you leave then because she is out of her grave and running!! One of the times I was there with several friends in the middle of winter we were standing near the grave when a friend and I placed our hands on the ball to find that it was extremely warm!! Second after we removed our hand you could hear loud footprints and the sound of breaking branches coming from the small woods near her grave. It was then we all took off, not waiting around to see what was going to happen next!!

True story,
Steve in Cleveland

Something in the trees behind Myrtle Hill Cemetery

2009-07-22T13:12:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Amanda

I really enjoyed your website... The thing about the Witches Ball really got to me because I have felt how cold it is in the summer and noticed how leaves never surround it. I visited the Witches Ball one evening in the summer of 2000... We had about 3 or 4 cars of people. My friend and I decided to be brave and go for a walk alone, we had a flashlight so we where looking at everything. We walked straight behind the ball... If you keep walking there is a little cliff type thing overlooking a few houses off in the distance. But if you look straight down, or in front of you all you is trees. So my friend started shining the flash light in the trees and I swear I saw something hanging in the trees. I have never ran so fast in my life... I have not been back there since...

History of the Witch's Ball

2009-07-22T13:10:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Tiffany

I just came across your web site on a fluke while looking for stuff about my home town, Valley City Ohio. I have lived in "VC" for most of my life. I grew up hearing stories of the infamous witches ball at Myrtle Hill Cemetery. I read the passage about it on your web site. I have heard all of the rumors about the temperature of the ball and the leaves, etc. I myself have never experienced any of these things because I am too big of a chicken to personally investigate. A good friend of mine lives across the street from the cemetery and frequently has to call the police to remove "devil worshippers" from the site of the grave who are holding ritualistic ceremonies at the grave. There was an article a few years back in the Plain Dealer about murderous women in Ohio. One story was about the women buried at the witches ball. Her name was Stoskopf and she died in the 20's. According to the paper she was emotionally and physically abused by her husband and sons. She was made to work like their slave and the boys were allowed to beat and beride her. Eventually old lady Stoskopf got fed up and poisoned the well at the house. Her husband and sons were killed by the poison and she disposed of the bodies down the well. I believe the article said she admitted to the crime and spent her life in an asylum until her death, she was then buried at the witches ball. I lived next door to the house that the Stoskopf family was killed in my whole life. The people who resided in the house always claimed that there were evil spirits in the house and many unexplained phenomena occurring, including doors being slammed shut and things getting broken. The well where the family was dumped still stands on the property and was never used because of its history. Please see if you can locate the Plain Dealer article, it ran around Halloween 2 or 3 years ago in the Sunday paper. There was many stories about murderous women from Northeast Ohio in the story, and this was one of them.
Thanks, Tiffany

Webmaster Note: I will certainly be looking for this Plain Dealer article. If anyone can help us out - please let me know!

UPDATE! I received this blurb via email from PeterElwell@xxxxxx.com :

The article about murderous women in Northeast Ohio ran in the November 15, 1998 Plain Dealer p. 1J. The womans name who poisoned her family was actually Martha Wise.

Not-Haunted Witch's Ball

2009-07-22T13:07:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by RatL316snK@xxxxxx.com

Hey i just got back from visiting the witches ball that we finally found and there's really nothing else to say but that it was a real big disappointment. All this talk about the ball either being hot or cold is not true, at least not this time, because it just felt like any normal "marble ball" would feel like... normal i guess you could say. And as far as nothing falls by it, like leaves etc... it's in the middle of a cemetery with other graves around it.. which means it has a about a foot of space to itself and it didn't look amazingly clean. So i dunno.. the stories about the person who's buried there is probably true but as far as the hauntedness of it might just be another crazy story people made up.

Bad experience in Boston Township Cemetery

2009-07-22T13:05:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by sk8er9215@xxxxxx.com

Dear Creepy Cleveland,
Me and 6 other friends recently went to Helltown on a Friday night looking for something to scare us, like most kids would do. I would say it's not a good idea to go there at night because of the high police patrols, (we got pulled over, but they let us go). We went down the end of the world and really didn't see anything but a police car, so we left and went back about 30 minutes later. It was about 1:30 and we wanted to see the cemetery. When we got there and walked up the hill, I must have saw almost 30 deer up there. It seemed kind of strange to see all of those up there that late, but it really wasn't that big. We walked through the cemetery and didn't see a bench or anything so we decided to leave. As we were walking back through Boston cemetery my friend jumped at something. He said he heard something running past him. Well, we were all together so none of us ran past him. I was kind of freaked out, but kept walking. All of a sudden I heard footsteps running around us all over. It sounded like over 10 people were running around us. We heard someone scream and we took off running. When we got back to our cars, our windows were down, so naturally we took off. As we were leaving the city, my friend in front of me called my cell phone and was talking to me and all of a sudden the phone cut out and all I could hear was people yelling on the phone in really high pitched screams. The phone just cut out and we took off. We flew out of Boston Township and got home in about 20 minutes. It probably was the strangest experience I've ever had, considering I didn't believe it at all, but I do have to say I will go back. I know there's more to it than just the cemetery.

Truck with One Headlight

2009-07-22T13:02:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Jason

Dear Creepy Cleveland,

Ive been a fan of Creepy Cleveland for years now, i wrote to you more then two years ago about helltown, my email address then was relimnosaj@aol.com i have a few updates about helltown, or as i prefer to call it, home. I visited the old abandoned house and i got the impression that people are just over-reacting to the site. Its nothing special, i mean, its just a house. Be it, the house looks empty, when i looked through the windows i could see boxes of stuff, so i believe its being used as a storage facility now. the bus has long since gone, and now there is a motion detector on the house to ward off drunk and stoned kids from the area. But one thing that i will confirm is the one head light car, because it happend to me again since my last email. To start, when i get stressed out, i like to drive around alone, and listen to music very softly. Anyway, i was driving around one night and decided to drive down to helltown, after i got to the top of the "end of the world" i turned around and started to drive back the way i came. about a quarter mile later a car popped up right behind me. Now the thing about this section of the road is there are no streets, well not really anyways, there was nowhere for anyone to turn onto the street that i could see at least. Anyways, it was a dark night, so i think that whoever was driving behind me had turned off his headlight and then turned it on after he had caught up to me. I was pretty weirded out to say the least. But i decided to try something that others haven't. I kept driving until i reached my development like i had done before, and when i turned, the car with one headlight kept going. Now he was never chasing me, but i am almost positive he was following me, i turned around in an attempt to start following the car. But to my shock, he was turning around himself, in the road farther down the street. As i drove by the car i couldn't see anyone in it, more or less because it was to dark out, but i did get a good glance at the car. It was an older Ford pickup truck. Dark bluish i think, it also had alot of rust on the bed of the truck, and i was surprised it could drive at all. I got a sick feeling in my stomach right after that. I felt like something was wrong, and i instantly went home. anyways, that's my story. If you have any questions, feel free to email me and ask. But keep in mind, i do not suggest going to helltown at night, ever. Not cause its haunted, or cult members will kill you or whatever, but because of the heavy police presence at night.

Duffy House near Helltown

2009-07-22T12:59:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Jeff R Stroup

Well I really enjoyed reading though all of the different encounters and stories about Boston Township. I live very close to that area and I have a few friends that live in Penninsula. I can't say that I have every experienced anything supernatural down there but i do know that there is satanic worship in those woods and i have heard of some sort of Penninsula secret society but nothing substantial. I have heard stories of people having there dogs disappear when left out over night. and sometimes you can see fires in the woods but those could be anything. I have seen people in dark cloaks walking down the road but that is by Virginia Kendell Park (a ways down the road). The satanic church with upside-down crosses is a normal everyday christian church. The so called upside-down crosses are just the way that the windows were built. I've never been to that old abandoned house in the woods but I do know of another old abandoned house in the woods very near by helltown. If you take Akron Penninisula road heading away from helltown and make a left on quick road you can find the Duffy House. Probably a another stupid legend but I can say that I have been in that house and I hated it. The story is that some guy killed his whole family and then hung himself in the barn. This place is weird and if anyone knows any info about it I'd love to hear it. But anyways....On the property there are two houses both boarded up, a well, an outhouse, and a barn. The property is owned by the government and there are no trespassing signs. but I had two friends that broke into the house through the basement window freaked and didnt want to go back down through the basement and kicked down the back door to get out. After they kicked down the door a few of my other friends and myself walked in. If was creepy and gave me a horrible feeling so we all left. That was about 3 years ago. We would always drive past at night just to get that scare but one time we drove past and the house was lit up. You could see light coming from behind the plywood on the windows. More recently there have been construction crews there and they have begun to rebuild the old house. I cant figure out why it sat empty for so long or who owns it now and what they plan on doing with it but if you look in the garage windows there is trash in the trash cans that must be at least 20 years old. There's a Pepsi can with the old logo and really old can style. There is still furniture and other belongings in the house also. I don't like to believe in old legends but I cant figure out why a family would just leave without taking anything with them and then why after that it would sit empty for so long. So check it out if you want to. Nothing big. I've had some other encounters there but i wont bother mentioning them. It's easy to find. Just down from Woodridge High School on quick road. Please try to find some more info for me.

Warning from a Resident

2009-07-22T12:15:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by ReliMnosaJ604@xxxxxx.com

hi, i live in boston hts. i moved here almost 2 years ago, and havent seen anything weird as of yet. but what i do know is that cops patrol the area almost every night. im using this as a warning to those of you who want to go see it. i have been there a few times, and it is pretty cool, the church has been used for a long time as a CHRISTIAN church. i went there with a friend of mine, and it is a very nice church. i have heard stories of dead animals being hung up on trees and such, but i have yet to see that yet. to be honest, i think i was followed by a car with one headlight once. i dont remember if it was a truck or not. i was driving on the road that led to highway to hell, when i reached the dead end i put it in reverse and turned around and went back up the end of the world. i drove for about 5 mins, when a car just showed up behind me. it had one head light, and wasn't chasing me, it was just following me. it took me about 4 mins to get to my development, i turned left and the car just kept going. i was by myself so no one else can confirm it. I work at a bp in boston hts. and it is a regular stop for the boston hts cops. i wouldent say im friends with them ,but i do know some of them on a first name basis. there all friendly, but are hard asses when it comes to the law. and why shouldent they be? there cops, if there not going to uphold the law, then who is? i asked them about the whole hell town thing, and they just laughed. they told me that kids not only do drugs at the houses, but there have been a few accidents involving the "end of the world" kids who are high and drunk speed up going down the road, and hit little bump before it, and land upside down. My class did a project on helltown, and i also saw an interview with the person who lives right next to the road closed sign. he said that many kids have died in his lawn as a result. the cops didn't mention anything about the deaths, but i would think that you could die easily. thats just a warning to you guys who want to visit. its a small bump, followed by a 15-20 foot drop, if not more. DONT SPEED GOING DOWN THAT ROAD! it comes upon you all at once, and it doesn't give you much of a warning. To be honest, i dont think there is much going on in helltown. the spookie garage that was talked about in an older letter, is now renovated, and the whole area around it has turned it to quite a nice bike trail. and let me give you a little bit of advice. it you get pulled over by a cop in that area, and he asked what your doing here, tell them your LOST, ask how you get back to new route 8! it might not get you out of a ticket, but it will help you get out of trouble with the cops. it that helps any. if i missed anything, feel free to email me. im not an expert on helltown, but i do know alot about it. and i will write you back, i promise.

End of the World Road

2009-07-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Stephanie

Being natives of the surrounding area, my husband and I were somewhat familiar with the urban legends surrounding Peninsula/Boston Heights, but always took it with a healthy dose of skepticism. Nonetheless, after listening to the CRUW radio show Halloween night (while transporting an injured wild animal to an emergency vet hospital), we decided to check this stuff out first hand this weekend.
So today, we ventured out to the Boston Heights Cemetery and the "End of the World" roadside house.
The results were for the most part uneventful but no less creepy. First, we traveled to the cemetery. No bench, no ghost. Actually, the cemetery was well-maintained and quite quaint. We actually spent more time there studying the various, historic headstones and family plots. It was quite interesting, though somewhat sad--for instance, the Fayreweather family who had tragically lost many young sons within a very short period of time (during the civil war, I believe).
But the cemetery wasn't creepy. Rather, it was our trip to the "end of the world."
At first, the drive up to the "road closed" point was fairly neat, with the steep dips and everything. However, when we approached the "road closed" sign and saw the narrow, deserted, leaf-covered road down below, I immediately lost my nerve and made my husband stop. We turned around and drove for a while. I later regained my nerve and we went back, about an hour before sundown. As we were driving slowing down the steep hill, we came upon a tall man who was walking in the middle of the road, who turned around. He wore light, neutral colored clothing with an off-white fishing hat. The weirdest thing about this guy was that he didn't seem phased by the fact that he was in the road and that a car was coming up upon him. He turned back and stared right at us. Even though we were looking right at him, I could not tell how old he was. He could have been in his 60's or 70's or he could have just as easily been in his late 20's early 30's--light, fair haired features with a moderately weathered look, but with no discernible expression on his face.
We past this man and continued cautiously beyond the "road closed" sign. We traveled about 40 yards and then came up to a barrier which appeared to have been there for quite some time, at least a couple of years. So much for being able to drive through. We pulled off to the side of the road (?) and decided to get out of the car and continue on foot. As we worked ourselves around the gate, I looked back and saw that man slowly walking down the hill behind us. Honestly, he could have been a local on his usual hike. My husband was not visibly concerned that he was there, so I continued without having another wuss-out fit. The road to the house on foot can be somewhat strenouse for a 30 year-old smoker, but we made it up the hill. The road was pretty worn and in disrepair. It was very quiet during our hike. So I was surprised to see this guy still keeping a steady pace behind us--it didn't occur to me later that this guy didn't make a noise, even with all the dried leaves on the road.
Anyway, we got to the top and saw the house about a hundred feet back, behind some trees on our right. To my relief, we came across a few hikers passing through on a trail, so I became less concerned that this guy was still walking behind us. Also, with some people around, I regained some courage. We walked up to the house, following a "trail" of leaves and gravel. As we came up to the front of the house, I turned around and noticed our "friend" walking past the house, continuing on down the road, albeit slowly. We walked up to the house. The door was nothing more than a board. There was no school bus, nor its shadow. We walked around to the right, down up to the basement garage door, but that's as far as we went. I felt that there may have been a vagrant or other individual inside the house and we both made the sensible decision not to trespass further. Interestingly, while the house appeared more or less abandoned, there was an air-conditioning unit in one of the upstairs rooms. We walked around the house further, and came upon the legendary "hell car"--a rusted out late 60's model which probably hasn't moved from the spot in over ten years. I find it curious that it has remained here in this state. There was a large barn/shed on the left side of the house, with tarp-covered junk in front of it. While the barn had windows, it was dark and, as with the house, we could not detect anything or anyone behind the windows. However, I couldn't get rid of this feeling we were being watched. We left, walking back down the same path/driveway. As we came upon the road again, I saw the same man up the road to our right, who had been standing there but was now walking (quietly) back down the road toward our direction. It was as if he was standing up on the road watching us the whole time. My husband noticed him, but he carried himself high, and we both walked confidently back down back the hill to our car. The man was walking behind us. While this was really starting to creep me out, we then came upon a two groups of other hikers, and so I felt relatively safe even though I couldn't hear this guy behind us but knew he was there. When we got to our car, I didn't look back. I got in the car, but then when I looked up from my seat of the car (it was faced forward, where we had just come from), I didn't see that man.
No spooks, no ghosts, no axe murderers (or their victims) but very . . .strange.

P.S.--The Boston Cemetary was nothing. There is a really eerie cemetery we had visited a year ago that's close by and worth the trip. It's located off Route 303 (heading West, toward route 8), and within the Cuyahoga Valley Parks property. It's called the Mater Dolorosa cemetery, and can be accessed off the Haskell Run trail, from the (ironically named) Happy Days visitor center. We literally stumbled upon it while hiking this trail, and we were quite surprised to see it there in the middle of park grounds. It's very old and very small, surrounded by mostly dead trees. There are maybe 20 graves. The ground is weak, lumpy and dark (even in the day time). As we were strolling, reading what we could from the more preserved headstones, both myself and my husband were struck by an overall gloomy feel while there. Perhaps it was the aesthetics. However, as we finished the trail and approached the visitor center from behind and travelled to the left, we came upon the foundation of an old structure. The park literature never mentioned it, and I have always been curious if this is linked to that god-awful cemetery we had just visited. I've researched this issue but turned up zilch. Have you or any other person heard of or know of any additional background about this area? I know I'm never going back there.

Questionable Religion in Boston Township

2009-07-22T12:08:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Steve

Everybody has heard of Boston Townships hauntings and Ghosts. The scares of the "end of the world" to the frightening "school bus". If you make way to Hell Town just to see the "end of the world" let me tell you that you are in the wrong places in this town. Everybody thinks when they enter Boston Township that they are going to see ghosts of children and school bus drivers. You are all wrong. This place is cursed. This place is very much alive. This town is a place of worship,but not of God. I myself could not keep count of how many time we have seen people in brown and black robes dancing around red & blue fires deep in the woods of this town. I can remember on a Saturday night we went to the Boston Township Cemetery around 2-2:30 in the morning. there were 13 of us in 4 car loads. We were all talking about Hell town at a party and we decided to go. It was the eriest feeling I ever had. The old grave yard sits on top of a hill and fog was rolling down it. You could see lighting in the black skies. It looked like something you would see in the movies. Though it was not raining the ground was very damp. We were all laughing having a good time up there when a friend noticed there was one more person in our party. Instead of 13 of us,there was now 14 of us. I can remember him saying "HEY YOU--WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE". We all started down the hill running our asses off!!! We got to the cars and he caught up to us. To this day I don't know why we were running because there was 13 of us and only one of him. This guy was nuts. This guy had no shoes on, no shirt only a pair of shorts. He had cuts and welts all over his back and distorted tattoos all over his chest. He had some make up or dirt painted under his eyes and this is at 2:30 A.M. Our cars were parked in front of the abandoned funeral home right in front of the grave yard. There was a candle lit in a top floor window. He tried many times to get us to go up there. He said something about a cool radio he wanted us to check out. It looked as if there were two more people up there or maybe more. Then he started to mumble something about the man with the axe, that's when we decided it was time to go. We started up our cars and we noticed people in dark robes walking toward us from the field on our left. You could see camp fires lit off in the distance from where they were coming from( I still can't believe we did not see them when we first pulled in). One of them came to one of the cars while the rest stayed back in the middle of the road. He tried opening the door of one of the cars when everyone started to yell to leave. When we started to move so did the others in the middle of the road. They made a human chain thinking that we would not bust it with our cars , but we did. We drove right through them. One even flipped over one of the cars. We flew out of there as fast as we could. We took the first right turn when we noticed a truck following us with one head light. When we finally got out of the town the truck some how vanished!! It was gone!! All of us have many stories and rumors about this place. I found it odd that the are two churches in this town, one is called Mother of Sorrows and it has two upside down crosses on it and the other is called Boston Township church and it has no crosses on it period. There is a sign next to it that reads "we believe in an inspired Bible". We have been to the Church several times when they hold midnight masses once a month but did not see anything inside. The road south of the church (I can't remember the name of it) there is a house where we believe they hide out in. We were in there once in the early evening one time. The back corner of the house looks have been burnt from a fire and it smells strong of gasoline inside. There are writings and markings on the walls and blood splattered on the floors. There are many animals that lay dead out side of this house that have been gutted for some reason. Also in the barn in the back we found a Blue pick up truck that was missing one headlight and it seemed to be in working condition. Could that of been the vehicle that chases everyone out?? We don't know for sure. What I can tell you is that over the last 15 years there has been 7 dead bodies found in this town. Do you dare to go to Hell town?? I know I'll never return back. People have to understand that this place is not about ghost hunting,It's about reality. That things of this story do happen and should not be messed with. Leave this place and these peoples religion alone!!

Filming Location for Children of the Corn

2009-07-22T12:05:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by XpastelXprincess@xxxxxx.com

hey...i was reading some of the stuff on hell town...just thought ud like to know that Hell Town is where Children of the Corn was filmed at. most of the houses along the hill known as "end of the world" were, at one, time stunt houses for the movie. also...underground railway systems run under Peninsula (hell town)...and hudson too. I've been threw hell town quite a few times...and did have some creepy encounters. first time....
in may, coming back from the Mushroomhead concert at blossom, driving down Akron Peninsula, i got pulled over for going 45 in a 25 mph zone. i couldnt see the speed cause it was so darn foggy out. the cop kept asking us over and over again if we knew where we were, and if we knew how to get home. after he gave me my ticket...he said "now...i want u do leave this place...make a right at the light...DONT GO LEFT. and go home!" so off i went on my marry way. didnt think twice about it. didnt even know i was in hell town.
second time....
it was about 11 pm...me and a few friends were bored outta our minds...so we decided to take a peek at hell town and see what everyone was talking about. we parked our car at the church on akron peninsula and walked around. as we walked by the winking lizard, a hairless cat came up to us...(not creepy...but i thought it was kinda cool) so we walked down RT. 303 for a while...n the whole time it stunk of something funky. it was like the smell of cat litter that was sitting around for a year or so. gross. but we got to the cemetery n walked around in there for a bit. we noticed a few cracked graves, so we tried to fix them by putting their pieces back together...we walked away, then came back a few min. latter, n sure enuf, they were back to their same spots. we left shortly after that...got back to my car...only to find 5 old men standing around it and looking into it. as soon as they sawus they walked away.
third time....
every time ive been to hell town, ive seen a massive amount of wild life. peacocks, deer, possom, wild turkey, racoons, fox, ....its like a freking zoo there. so we found end of the world...and the end of the road...we turned around in some ones drive way....only to have them come out yelling at us about how their drive way isnt a turn around point, n they were sick of all the teen's that come threw there....then asked us if we were those "devil worshiper kids" they see every night. we were like what? n drove away. we found the church that's in the fork in the road. rumors say that in the early 1900's it was used as a church to worship the devil...it was known for its witch craft too. we walked around the outside of it a bit, but couldnt get in. we looked threw the window and saw a bunch of lit candles, then a person saw us peaking in and shut the blinds. we made our ways back to the center of town...n went to the cemetery again. the gates were open so we just drove in...its a pretty big hill....n half way up it...my car decided not to go forward anymore...it would go to a certain point, then roll back....no matter what i did, i kept rolling back...i dont drive a stick, n the hill isnt THAT big to roll back on. it creeped me out. so i just parked my car there and got out...i locked my doors and had the keys in my hand the whole time...when we got back to my car, the doors were unlocked and all the windows were rolled down. we left straight after that.

Local Legend

2009-07-22T12:03:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by capang@xxxxxx.com

I am excited to see "Helltown" mentioned here. About six or seven years ago myself and a few others were introduced to Helltown by a gal that had worked at Boston Mills ski resort. It was the day after prom (a beautiful day in May, 1996) and we decided to roam around a little bit. She told us the stories of Boston Township. We drove around, and ended up hiking to a spot where we came across an old bus. According to the story we were told, the bus had crashed and all aboard were killed. The bus we saw had been damaged by vandals yet looked very old. We also visited a cemetary that was on a plateau. According to her story, that is where many young victims of the bus accident were buried. While we did see many tombstones of young people, I am not sure if this is the correct legend of the bus. She showed us many haunted houses that day. Feel free to email me, capang@kellnet.com. Of all of the people I know that visit this area during the winter, only one or two have heard of "Helltown" I am happy to see this local legend receive some attention.

Boston Cemetery

2009-07-22T09:43:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by RatL316snK@xxxxxx.com

Hey me and 2 friends just got back from visiting Boston Township "Helltown". We heard from some other site online that there were 2 mysterious roads in that town that were both dead ends. One was a road where at the end there is a "haunted" cemetery. (Boston Cemetery) We heard that trees have been known to move and that a ghost sits on a bench and stares blankly into creation. Well as far as we could see, there was no bench there. The cemetery didn't even look that creepy or anything. The other road we went down and got to the point where it said that it was closed but didnt go further because we didn't wanna park the car there and it looked to bad to drive. Just wonderin if you heard anything on the cemetery, doesnt look to be haunted to us. The road looks creepy but we havent investigated that yet.

Visits to Helltown

2009-07-22T09:40:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by DmxNautica@xxxxxx.com

Webmaster note: in February, 2001 I received this email...

...me and a few of my friends were in helltown this past weekend and we decided to check out the "highway to hell", so we walked down it, but nothing strange really happened. It was at night and we were walking down the road for some time when we finally came across the house in the woods that u guys say is supposed to be haunted or illuminated or whatever, but it wasn't. i'm not sure however if it was the right house... i was past all the road closed signs, and far down the road, and it was white.. there were also footprints on the ground in front of the house... so someone else was there earlier, but ne ways, where does that road really lead too? and what do you suggest i do in order to encounter ghosts? also, i was in boston cemetery, and i didn't even see a bench anywhere in there, and i heard there was a bench in which a ghost sits on. and are there really devil worshippers living in that town? what exactly is up with that place? I'm hearing all these different stories, but im not getting the whole picture...

Webmaster note: and in April, 2001 I received this one...

hey, i just got back from helltown tonight with a few friends of mine, and we went down the "highway to hell" and we got up to the point where the road dips up and back down and theres that road closed sign, so we turned around cuz we didnt wanna go all the way down cuz we didnt have ne flashlights, and all of a sudden when we were drivin back down the road a hearse passes us by goin down the road!! and it went down into the woods!! we were like what the hell, so we decided to get outta there and all of a sudden we get pulled over by the cops on the road... the cop took all 5 of our id's and told us that it was illegal to be down here, and it wasnt even past the road closed sign, i was like why? hes like theres a lot of devil worshiping goin on and teenagers causing trouble down here, so you need to go, and don't ever come back... it was strage tho, he didnt even come up to the drivers side window, he knocked on the passengers side, and made my one friend get out of the car.... i asked him if he saw the hearse and the cops said that he lives down there... i was like oookkk.. but this sucks tho cuz he took our names and we are not allowed to go back to helltown at night anymore... im pissed cuz i dont see what is so illegal about just driving around the town, i just thought id tell u cuz it seems like theyre startin to pull people over just for being there at night, i dunno why, but they are... somethings up but i dunno what, and that hearse was a lil strange....

The Edge of the World

2009-07-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Cammermanz@xxxxxx.com

Hey if you want to talk about "hell town" then talk to me, I've probably spent more time down there than anyone!

Hell Town should be most known for this event: driving down a road nicknamed "edge of the world" dead of winter we came up around the bend where three girls were standing in 1920s- 1930s apparel laughing and watching as we went by, we turned around to find out why they were way out there at 1:00 AM it took maybe 20 seconds to turn around, they were gone!!!! we got out to check it out there was nowhere to go and there were no footprints anywhere ours were the only tire tracks!!! it was like a dream!

Highway To Hell

2009-07-22T09:22:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Dave

Webmaster's Note : Dave emailed me and asked if I was interested in some of his stories of the Boston Township area. I readily agreed and wrote him back with a few things that I remember about the area (having been there several times) What follows is mostly Dave's contribution, with some of my own experiences thrown in to clarify certain things...

...the highway to hell (we called it the end of the world because of a part in the road were it looked like your car was going over a cliff) the road is now permanently closed (too many accidents) The road was unpaved and in dire need of some work. Potholes that were easily a foot deep and as you got further and further into the path (surrounded by woods, mind you) the road became narrower and narrower until it was obvious that if something happened to you back here, you would not be able to turn around...keep going forward, or drive back in reverse over that patch of horrible road.
The house in the woods is an interesting story, There used to be an old bus parked on a concrete slab in front of the house (it was towed away a few months ago to keep people from going back there-gee, it only took them 30-some-odd years) anyway legend has it that back in the late 1960's (maybe early 1970's) a bus load of kids were going to one of the ski resorts. They were passing the driveway of the house when an old lady ran down to the road and flagged the bus down. She said there was someone at the house who was seriously hurt. The bus driver pulled down the driveway and up to the house. As the driver was getting off the bus to see what had happened, a group of people ran from the woods and killed him then slaughtered everyone on the bus. Supposedly someone came upon the scene sometime later and found the bus parked on this concrete slab. All the people on the bus were dead and the house looked like it had been deserted for some time. Legend also has it that several attempts had been made to tow the bus away but after several injuries (and a few fatalities) they decided to leave the bus where it was at. (I had visited the bus many times over the years and it was indeed a late 60's model school bus) there was a school name on the side but I can't for the life of me remember which district, I know it wasn't local.
The last time I went down to the house (about 2 or 3 years ago) it still looked very run down but someone had installed new windows (maybe someone was trying to renovate). Also back in 1990 me my friend Damon and his girl friend went back to see the house and off to the side is a gravel path that leads a short way into the woods, we followed it back and at the end of the path was a garage, the garage seemed old, but it had seemed it very recently (at that time) had been aluminum sided (for whatever reason) we opened the door and inside was the largest collection of old junk I'd ever seen, everything in there was circa 1940's,even the body of a '48 Ford (just the shell, nothing else) I don't know if this has anything to do with the supernatural, but it was weird.
We never saw any lights in the house but one night we drove back there and as the headlights hit the bus, it appeared to be brand new and we could all see people sitting in the seats (the seats had been stripped out long ago) there were 6 of us in the car and we all saw the same thing. We got the hell out of there and it took me a long time to go back there after that.

Webmaster's Note : One of the legends I had heard was that anyone who had spent too much time snooping around the area was eventually chased from the area by a car with one headlight. It happened to us one night (although, looking back I now wouldn't call it "being chased") We were followed until we pulled out of the town limits by a car with one headlight. The house in the woods was theorized as being the source of the cars that did the chasing. Another story involves someone pulling into the driveway of the house in the woods - when suddenly the house was flooded with light (both inside and in the yard) - the trespassers escaped, but (you've guessed it already haven't you?) were chased from town by a car with one headlight...

I had been there many times

2009-07-22T09:17:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by j d

Hi, After finding your site on a link from deadohio.com I stumbled on the 'Melon-Head's' page. Below is a story/submission I can add:
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In reference to Miss S's note, when I saw the link for the 'melon-heads,' first- I was taken back- I knew that place and had been there many times. As I read on, I knew nothing about this in Kirtland but instead a house inbetween geauga lake and bainbridge. Out there off of old geauga lake road, was/is a corner house with two giant eagle stone statues at the end of a home's driveway. Back then in the mid 1980's (for me,) I don't even remember any complete 'stories' about the place, the people or anything else, but it was said that weird things went on there- nothing about large headed kids or people, etc, just the label- the 'melon-heads.' Another part to things was that on the unlit dirt roads that lead to the place that people sometimes popped up out of nowhere in the blackness of night on the road, and in nearby farm fields that statanic rituals were held.

Once when driving out there we did see two people that with car headlights just 'appeared' out of nowhere walking towards us along the road- it was pretty freaky, they looked freaky, they very pale in skin color, I didn't stop to ask, and it was 'extra' spooky that night. To hear that Miss S actually babysat for those people, that there was nothing to the stories of anything of the place, why the statues were there - this was a trip in the way-back machine for me and 'finally' an explanation for the 'melon-heads.' The 'real' story in the region out of the Kirtland area didn't seem to make it over to this other place that I ever heard or that any of us knew back then.

jd

Creepiest place I have ever encountered

2009-07-22T09:15:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by barkingspider

I grew up in kirtland off of booth road right up against the arboretum,i couldn`t help but notice in your postings about the melon heads nobody mentions the springs(unless i missed it) Myself and my friends had many strange encounters in and around the arboretum area,there are also rumors of bigfoot sightings in the area,my brother for example SWEARS he saw one off of wisner road,i also noticed that nobody mentions mystery hill(its a very strange optical illusion)all i can say for sure is that there is a LOT MORE going on in that little town than meets the eye,i have heard from various sources that much of the town is located on old indian burial mounds,i don`t know if there is any truth to that or not,but interestingly enough we had a very large mound in my backyard when i was a kid in what was otherwise a flat field of about 3 acres.I can also attest to the fact that in the early 70`s ourselves and several neighbors had tents set up in our yards that were COMPLETELY shredded by something,and i`m talking about the old style heavy canvas boy scout type tents,like i said there's more to that lil town than meets the eye,well thanks for letting me reminisce a lil bit about one of the creepiest places i have ever encountered,i haven`t lived there in over 25 yrs but talking about it still gives me goosebumps

The story that started the myth?

2009-07-22T09:10:00.000-04:00

Contributed by Alex

ok here's the story that kinda started the myth...its from http://www.cheapchange.com/Melonheads.html (dead link)

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"Melon Heads"
I have been checking out your web site for a while now, but always felt left out since I am not from New Jersey. Now I finally feel that it’s time for me to tell a tale scarier than any I have ever read on either of your sites, or anywhere else for that matter. It comes from my home town of Kirtland, Ohio, and it is the mystery of the Melon Heads.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard tales of strange creatures that inhabit the woods in a few of the towns in this area. I’ve always been told to be careful when travelling down Chardon-Windsor Road in Chardon, Wisner Road, and near the area surrounding the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland. There are supposed to be deformed humans living in the woods with tiny bodies and large round heads. They’re known as the Melon Heads, and it is said that they hate all human beings and will kill and eat any they encounter.
The reason they are filled with such hate towards humans is because of one sick man! , Dr. Crow. It is because of his twisted work that they are in the physical and mental condition that they are. Dr. Crow was commissioned by the government shortly after World War II to treat children who suffered from a rare condition known as hydrocephalism, which causes large pockets of water within the brain. Crow ran a small institution of sorts for these kids, and donated not only his services, but his own land, for the venture. The government sent him these kids, thinking he was doing a good deed and a great favor to society. Little did they know what evil acts were actually occurring in the woods of Northern Ohio.
Dr. Crow was a vicious, malevolent, insane man, who took pleasure in the pain of others. Hidden out in the woods, away from anyone’s supervision, he began a series of cruel experiments on the sick children placed in his charge. He injected their brains with even more water, causing their heads to swell to ridiculous proportions. He mentally and physically ab! used them, and exposed them to radiation. He basically used them as the guinea pigs in all of the twisted experiments he conceived. Many of the tortured children died– you can still see numerous graves of babies in the nearby King Memorial Cemetery.
Needless to say, the Melon Heads suffered severe physical and mental retardation due to their brains being experimented on. They continued to devolve until they were hardly human anymore. They became little more than wild animals, and like all wild animals, they had no ability to reason, and instead acted purely on instinct. Their main instinct, that to survive, led them to attack Dr. Crow.
Supposedly, the Melon Heads became feral to the point where Crow could no longer control them. One day, they simply snapped and overran him while he was in his lab. They pummeled him, tore his body apart, and ate him. In the process of the attack, the Melon Heads destroyed electrical devices and knocked over vats of chemicals, causing a fi! re to start. This fire engulfed the buildings on Dr. Crow’s secluded property, and the Melon Heads fled into the surrounding woods. Nowadays, packs of Melon Heads roam the woods of this area. Dozens of reports come in each year of people seeing creatures staring at them from the woods on the edges of local roads in the dead of the night. Hikers and outdoorsmen routinely find slaughtered animals in the woods, and many have been attacked by Melon Heads, especially along the banks of the Chagrin River. The Melon Heads rule these woods.
I know all of this sounds manufactured and sensational, and as I was growing up, even I brushed off this story as nothing more than a legend. In fact, I used to get mad at people who spread such ridiculous stories. I would mock and scoff at anyone who told me they genuinely feared travelling in the area. I changed my ways in July of 1995 though, when I was 18 years old. While travelling down Chardon-Windsor Road, I came face to face with one o! f these beasts, and I can tell you, they are as real as real gets.
I was dating a girl from Chardon, and we often found ourselves driving many of the secluded roads rumored to be Melon Head territory, not because we were looking for the creatures, but because we were young, horny, and well... you get the picture. We often joked about the Melon Heads, and talked about how without them scaring everyone away and giving us some privacy, our relationship wouldn’t have - umm, blossomed – the way it did.
One night we were sitting in my girlfriend’s car off to the side of the road when I had to take a leak. I got out and walked to the edge of the woods to do my thing. Suddenly, I heard the car start up and lurch into gear, and out of the corner of my eye saw it move backwards as the headlights came on. I figured my girlfriend was playing a joke on me, moving the car away so I wouldn’t have the car blocking my public urination. She did that every now and then. Then she leaned on the! horn, and I figured she was trying to bring further public attention to my peeing. But she was not playing a practical joke at all. I found this out when I zipped myself up, turned around, and saw the scariest sight I have ever seen with my own two eyes.
My girlfriend was crying behind the wheel of the car, screaming, although I could barely hear her through the rolled up windows. The headlights were pointed into the woods, and through the foliage I saw the silhouettes of three or four shadowy shapes lumbering around. One was already on the edge of the road, moving through the bushes and tall grass toward me. From what I could make out, it was no taller than three feet, and it had the biggest, most bulbous head I’d ever seen. It wasn’t really running, per se, as the equilibrium caused by its disproportion only allowed it to move at a limited speed. I couldn’t really get a good look at the thing through the darkness and thick underbrush, but in a split second I realized that e! very childhood story I had heard about these woods may just be true. I really feared that if I didn’t act fast I would be attacked.
There was about 20 feet between me and the car at that point, but it seemed like miles. I ran towards the it, and as I did, I realized I wasn’t going to make it. The Melon Head, or whatever it was, was going to cut me off. As it emerged from the vegetation it was on the passenger side of the car between me and the door. Since the headlights were still pointing into the woods, the thing was now shrouded in darkness once again. But I knew that it was there. I stopped in my tracks and strained my eyes to see it, but mostly I listed to it. Over the muffled screams of my girlfriend in the car I could hear the Melon Head wheezing, and as it breathed it made a kind of gurgling sound. I don’t mind telling you that I was paralyzed with fear at that point.
Thankfully, my girlfriend didn’t freeze up like I did. She threw the car into reverse and swung ! it around to face me and the thing, kicking up a cloud of dust from the shoulder of the road. Then she flipped on the high beams, and when the light hit the beast, it recoiled. I seized the opportunity and took off past it toward the car. In the split second I ran past it I tried to get a better look at the Melon Head, but the cloud kicked up by the car wheels and the glare of the high beams obscured my view. I wasn’t going to wait around for the dust to settle though so that I might get a better look.
I jumped into the passenger side door and tried to get a glimpse of the thing through the windshield. Just for a moment I could make out the distorted form of it, and its two eyes glowing in the lights, then it disappeared into the underbrush. By this time the other Melon Heads must have retreated, for there was no more movement in the woods. At that point my girl floored it and we got the hell out of there, never looking back.
Since that time, I have never laughed when I hear ! stories of the Melon Heads. I don’t brush them off, and I never make fun of others who are scared of them. Heed my words as a warning: don’t mess around in the woods around Chardon or Kirtland, Ohio, or near the Chagrin River unless you too want to come face to face with the hideous Melon Heads. Or theirs’ might be the last faces you will ever see.

Wisner Road Pics

2009-07-22T09:07:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Dave

My friends and I have recently traveled to Wisner Road to try and get a glimpse of a Melon Head. No Luck. Road is kinda spooky, foggy, narrow, gravel, so that was pretty cool. Anyway we drove down to the end and turned around. When we were leaving the street, a cop was pulling in but didn't stop us. BE CAREFULE! But it was fun, here are some pics:

UFO's in Kirtland

2009-07-22T08:23:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Riversecrets@xxxxxx.com

I grew up near Kirtland and used to do what a lot of teenagers did in the 70s -- got drunk or high and drove up to see the melon heads in the middle of the night. We visited the usual sights, drove up to the mansion, etc. My friend's parents laughed at us because they used to do the same thing when they were kids in the 50s. (We didn't tell them about the drugs and alcohol.)
I went up there often in the summertimes, and can't say that I remember seeing the melon heads there though I did see what seemed like a woman in white walking in the woods near the bridge where there isn't a trail that I know of. She almost seemed to glow, but it was a full moon that night so for all I know it was a real woman who was just out walking.
The thing that I do know for sure is that I have seen many ufo's in Kirtland and we often had missing time when we went to see the melon heads. I know we were drunk or high most of the time, but we all had gaps of time that we couldn't account for. We could always remember driving up the driveway, but we could never seem to remember going down the driveway. We often woke up hours later in a different place or suddenly coming to driving down the road going back towards civilization. On one occasion, my friend and I only had 1-2 beers, yet we came to quite a distance away and on foot with the sun coming up.
In a different place a few miles from Kirtland, I discovered some interesting tracks which the naturalists at Penitentiary Glen could not identify. I am very interested in knowing if anyone else has found tracks and if so, what did they looked like? I am also very interested in hearing descriptions of melon head sightings. One sighting I was told about when I was a little kid was of a kind of animal with a round head and a lot of sharp teeth which sounds a lot different from the descriptions of encephalitis.
I know there has been satanic activity in Chapin Forest, but I don't know if that means that it's connected to the melon head legends? Perhaps there's multiple strangenesses in Kirtland -- ufo's, melon heads, scientific experiments with encephalitis, and satanic worship?

Thanks!

The Goatman

2009-07-22T08:19:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Vil8tor@xxxxxx.com

This is the story as told to me over 20 somthin` yrs. fact or fiction is not known but the proof and the truth are out there. "In the mid 1800`s in KIRTLAND,OH ,after the Mormans left, there was a rich family named CROW that owned a huge plantation of sorts for this area, it was in the family for generations. DR. CROW, who lived there now with his wife and 2 hydrocephalic kids, was well liked in town. His kids' condition drove him insane, he became obsessed with it. He already had a "penitentary" on his property were he studied the criminally insane, why not study this too, so he was sent more kids with this from all over the world, the family grew. As time goes by the pressure on the doc got to be too much. He couldn't have kids, the kids at pen. were getting older and more unruly everyday and he turned to drugs and alcohol and much worse. In the spring of 1868 the doc was out in the northeast woods of his lands drunk and wandering when he came upon a place he didn't know and people he had never seen. They were pagans, worshippers of a blackgoat being, their families were servants and field hands for generations on local farms and estates and this was their ritual site. The doc was impressed and took part happily. If God couldn't help him the devil would. Over that summer the doc began to change he didn't care about anything except the "woods", he would disappear into the woods for days on end and the inmates at the penitentary were left alone and uncared for and at this time it is belived in a ritual in the GULCH he sold his soul to the GOATMAN. Now comes winter, the doc is never seen nor his wife, late one winter night the townspeople hear children crying on the wind in a brutal snowstorm and think its the kids at the institute. Storm breaks the next day folks go to investigate cries and are horrified by what they find. Of the 300 inmates at the "penitenary" 260 some had froze to death in the storm they hadn't been taken care of in weeks there was signs of torture and cannibalism and lots of demonic symbols and signs of rituals. DR.CROW shows up and demands the people leave. They do under heavy resistance. The doc then takes the remaining tortured and experimental kids home. Upon returning to town the story spreads. The townspeople demand this satanist freak be condemed so a lynch mob is formed and off to the "penitentary" they go. No one left there, so they burn it and head for the house. When they get there they bust in the doors and windows looking for CROW. What they find shocks them. CROW`s wife, long dead with her stomach cut out, lots of bodies of kids disfigured and experimented on and lots of satanic symbolism. This whips the mob into a frenzy and they find the doc and some of the melonheads in the cellar and they corner them there and lock them in and set fire to the house. As it burns more melonheads emerge from other rooms in the mansion and screams and cries fill the night air. The mob goes home. The next day in the light people return to the aftermath and find lots of little footprints in the snow around a small barn about 100yrds. Behind the remains of the mansion. Inside they find all the animals half-eaten and torn apart and lots of small tracks and tracks of large cloven hoofs leading out the back of the barn and into the northeastern woods. This is were the legend stops, but the stories just begin and those are for another time. Enjoy, VIL8TOR.

WEBMASTER NOTE: Shortly thereafter I recieved another email from VIL8TOR... the Melonheads story continues...

I grew up in Chardon, lived there for 18yrs., heard my first tales of the MELONHEADS in 4th grade at Maple school rushed home to tell my parents we had to move there were evil, nasty melonheads right over in Kirtland and they laughed themselves silly at my exspense. They grew up in Eastlake and had heard the legend when they were teens. This didn't stop me and my sister from being facinated and terrified for the better part of are childhood. My mom would threaten me with things like "be good or I`ll take you to the melonheads" and stuff like that and it would work I WOULD BE SO SCARED THE MELONHEADS WOULD GET ME, I WOULD BEHAVE! This also turned into a game for my parents called let's scare the shit out of the kids by taking the back way home from the great lakes mall at night thru the heart of melonhead country and pretend the car stalls or the headlights go out. HA-HA! Family fun of the 70`s, I LIVED FOR IT!!!! To be so scared of something as a kid it then turned to morbid curiosity and then obsession as a teen and young adult. I have always been into this legend and still am. I JUST NEVER LOOKED ON THE WEB FOR IT! The subject came up with me and some of my friends since childhood just the other day and I laughed and said I was gonna start a website for melonhead and goatman sightings and look at this here one is! I`ve put the legend together over years of stories told thru others to me , somethings change story to story, but that's what legends do, but some things stay the same. TRUTH BE TOLD! There was a "penitentary", still is in name ,"PENITENTARY GLENN" metropark and inmates froze to death there. All the lands owned by CROW are now owned by the metroparks and the HOLDEN ARBERATUM and most of it is private to keep people out!! There is a very evil place located in the woods to the northeast of melonhead lands in an area called the "gulch" were there is a ritual site, goatheads and faces carved beutifully into the rocks and an altar carved as well all do exsist, I`VE SEEN THEM WITH MY OWN EYES!!! AND THEY WERE NOT CARVED BY INDIANS, at least I dont think so!! In 30 odd yrs. I have never felt nor seen a more evil place than the gulch and the woods that surround it!!! It`s location is in another post, I will just say TREAD LIGHTLY - it`s private property, you will be arrested. BEWARE WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE!!! One of the scariest nights of my life took place on WISNER RD., down in the heart of GOATMAN land at the age of 20. Me and a friend were drunk and smoked up and out "doing research" when we had an experience I will never forget, but thats a tale for another night.
sincerely, Vil8tor

No Melon Heads in the Holden Arboretum

2009-07-22T08:16:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Lisa

Regarding the Melon Heads:
I know someone who works at the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland. The house at the end of Wisner Rd., that is before the dead end, is the Arboretum's property. A lot of people believe it to be the home of the melon heads, but it is really rented by the Arboretum to a radio personality.
People get in trouble for going there because of it being private property.
I have heard that the melon heads live beyond the dead end in the woods, possibly in an old insane asylum. Supposedly the road continues back there through the woods and you can find the old house.

I'm Not Crazy!

2009-07-22T08:14:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Jason

Hey, great site. I came across it tonight as I was searching for haunted spots in ohio. I saw your section on melon heads and thought to my self "Holy crap other people have seen things like that. I'm not crazy!" Several years ago, my mother had to attend a course for work in Cleveland. After her class we decided to go out and see the sites. Around 1 am we decided to head back to the hotel and drove through a lightly wooded area. Suddenly my mother slams on the breaks and I ask what was wrong. She said an animal was crossing the road. I look and this "thing" was shambling across the road. It had a big head, a human like body and it walked on two feet. My heart raced as I thought "What in the hell is this thing?" It's good to know people besides me have seen these melon head things. Jason

Melon Head Warning

2009-07-22T08:09:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Sally

Hi,

I know that the Melonheads seem to be a big draw to websites these days...but i still think that it is kind of irresponsible to keep getting kids excited over things that are and always have been urban legends. When i was a kid some 30 or more years ago, we all went looking for the melonheads too. But, these days most kids don't seem to understand that private property is PRIVATE PROPERTY!!! It is fun to "believe" that there may really be ghosts,and i DO believe in them, "melonheads", witch graves,houses, etc., but I stopped perpetuating these things for the Kirtland area after there was a serious incident that involved a resident,private property and kids looking for "melonheads".

I won't even begin to tell you how to run your website, and you are listed as a link on mine because i try to list local links...but, i wish you would at least mention that this is just an urban legend, and while it is a fun date night thing, it can get kids in deep trouble. So, if they want to go looking on the public byways , great, I am all for that, but i have totally stopped listing ANY stories i have gotten about melonheads. I am older now, and i have alot more respect for the poor people who have to put up with the kids, and Yes, i have a couple of my own, who probably wouldn't believe me about the urban legend thing either...LOL. Thanks, Just my opinion...and i will totally respect yours.
Sally
http://ghostlylady.faithweb.com

Stephens Gulch

2009-07-22T08:08:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Mindscape

Related to the Melonheads I accidentally ran across your site and am very familiar with the legend. I think the legend is more vague as to what really occurs down there. I am 31 years old and don't believe in ghosts or spirits of any kind. I have a cousin that works for the US government researching UFO's and occult stories. He is from Akron and one day came up in the mid 80's and was investigating a UFO sighting over Stephens Gulch (located on Wisner and Mitchell's Mills junction, Chardon) He asked if I would come along and walk with him through the woods with a park officer. the Gulch is very secluded and used to be a Military training zone in the 50's and 60's and also had Indians living down there way back. The proof is in historical documents and the Indian cleaning wells in the rock are still evident. This place is the most beautiful and enchanting place on Earth. I have never been anywhere that sends chills down your spine with its waterfalls and cut gorge walls. It compares to the most exotic places on Earth all hidden in the woods. Nothing ever came about the sighting and I didn't go back until years later.
In the late 1980's I and 2 friends that lived by Stephens Gulch walked down in. The entrance we took off Mitchell's Mills Road was one way in and one way out because of the steep hill. When we were done rock climbing we were leaving up a steep 80ft high embankment with a trail. As we climbed an old lady with her dog was coming down and freaked us out. He dog was crippled and she was dirty and almost homeless looking. Once we met in the middle she was very sweet and began to talk to us about the old hippie parties and stuff that use to happen there. She seemed senile and quite distraught. We blew it off as a stupid old lady and finished the conversation with her telling us that she lived across the road from the exit. The house she described seemed vacant by memory. Her dog was a German Sheppard. As we got to the top of the cliff my friend Adam looked down and asked where the "fuc*" the old lady went. You could see 500 yards left and right down the river and she was gone. Being semi freaked out we chalked it up to her being very fast. When we got back to my buddy Toms house he asked his mother if she knew some crazy old lady up the road across from the Gulch and she replied that the lady died years ago and use to walk her Sheppard up and down the road, it was hit by a car and died. This is a true story. I have never been there since and live 1 mile away. I am sickened by what happened and disturbed because my deepest beliefs were questioned. This place is messed up and is worthy of paranormal investigation. I have alerted many people to this story and have no clue if it has been researched. It's funny that there is actually a site with info about this messed up area!

Something Weird on Wisner Road

2009-07-22T08:01:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Mark

my name is mark. around early june 2002 my friend, and i were getting a little stoned and telling ghost stories. My one friend brought up the story of the melonheads out in kirtland. This was the first time I had ever heard the story, and i thought it was complete bullshit. But since we were already in Chagrin Falls, we decided to go and check it out anyway. We got to Wisner Rd. around 1 am and the entire road was really foggy, more than the other roads. So anyway, we stopped at "Crybaby's Bridge" and waited to hear some cries. About three minutes went by with us sitting in the car with all the windows down and the engine off in the darkness. We didn't hear any noises, but we all saw something that freaked us out much worse. I was in the car, looking out over the right side of the bridge when i saw a dim flash of reddish orange light. the first time i saw it i just ignored it, figuring it was some sort of water bouy (spell that right?). about 20 seconds later i saw it again only it had moved about 7 feet to the left in the darkness over the water. I told my friends what i just saw, thinking that i was just stoned, but they saw it too! We looked again and this time the light was moving onto the river's left bank coming up towards the bridge! Needless to say we got the fuck outta there. You might be saying to yourself "why did they freak out over some lights?" Let me explain. while we were sitting on the bridge, it was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop, so we would've heard it if there was some one wading through the water underneath the bridge holding a light up. There was no noise, just the dim flash of red lights.
A couple nights later, we returned to Wisner Rd. and the dead end with the bridge. My friend was driving and i was in the passenger seat and my other friend was in the back seat. We again parked on the bridge with the engine off listening or trying to see something again. My friend in the back was getting skeptical that there wasn't anything out there, so jokingly he exited the car and began to take a piss over the bridge. After a few moments he jumped back in the car with a freaked out look on his face. We asked him what happened, and he said that as he started to piss, he heard a man's voice from under the bridge say "grow up." then he heard the sound of a second person pissing into the water when he was done! we waited in the car for about another minute until my friend who was driving peeled away. I asked him why did he leave and he said he 1st heard the sound of someone walking on the bridge behind his car, and it paused then he heard it again, only closer, the third time it was right behind his car but too dark to see if anyone was there. So i still think the whole melonhead stuff is a bunch of BS, but there is definately something creepy going on at the back of Wisner Rd. I would never go alone.

Melon Head sighting

2009-07-22T07:57:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Bellaginag@xxxxxx.com

I have tried many, many times to find these places in Kirtland that are haunted such as the melonhead house, witches grave, haunted church, etc. My friends and I saw cry baby bridge however and we sat on it for a few minutes in our cars but heard nothing. There's stories though that say you have to walk there and actually sit there for a very long time in order to hear anything, so I don't know. My friend's uncle owns land by Penitentiary Glenn and when she was little her aunt and her were driving down kirtland/chardon road and she saw a melonhead walking along side of the road. She didn't know about the melonheads at the time but her aunt said "look there's a melonhead" and told her the story of it. She said it was really creepy b/c he looked pretty scary. We've tried several times to try and find the witches grave but no luck. Another of my friends, her neighbor knew where it was but we ended up sliding off the road in the snow and into a ditch. We were stranded on Kirtland/Chardon road in a ditch for 2 hours, needless to say we didn't get to go to the witches grave.
I have a new story, however, that I haven't seen anyone mention yet and that is of the woman who walks RT 306 by Kirtland/Chardon road. She walks by a cemetery on 306 and there's a big white church next to it. My friend I work with was driving on 306(she lives in Kirtland) at like 2-2:30 in the morning and saw a woman with a hood up walking in that area and she didn't think anything of it until she looked in her rear-view window as she passed her and saw that she had no legs!! She then recalled the story and was really freaked out.
If anyone has any additional information on these places I've mentioned I'd love to hear it and also if you have any questions you can e-mail me.

Ah... the old Melon Heads

2009-07-22T07:56:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Charlotte Szapowal

ah the old melon heads. i have lived in Chesterland for 13 years, and Chardon for 1 year, both are next to Kirtland. I have always believed in ghosts and paranormal. A good friend of mine has lived in Kirtland his whole life and always told us the different stories about ghosts and whatnot. I had never been to the "melonhead" house, so we decided to go one night. There was about five of us in the car and we went on our way to Wisner rd. We drove down the road and got to the end where the house is. It must have been about 11 or 12 at night. Sure enough, there were other kids there, so we didn't get out because they were being stupid. we turned around at the end of the road and started talking to them. The kids started walking up to the house when off to the side of the road there was a horrible scream from a woman. my husband and i both heard it, but nobody else did. It was weird. Anyways, a car came down the road towards us and stopped off to the side of the ditch by the house. We thought it was the cops, so we started driving, and the car quickly turned around and left. We sped up to see who it was and the car literally vanished in mid air. However, i don't think it had anything to do with the melon heads. I think it's all in the whole spirit of Kirtland. From what i understand, the "melon head" house is someone's summer home now. That is why you get in trouble for messing around there. My sister was there once during the day, and there were people there cleaning and what not. Anyways, maybe it's true, but i have yet to see one myself. However, don't go and ruin someone's summer home if it is in fact that. Make sure you go there with an open mind and don't get discouraged if you don't see anything. Also, respect other's property. It's not yours so don't go spray painting it and breaking things.

Michigan Melon Heads?

2009-07-22T07:54:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Ben Dawg

hey,
my name is Ben, and i live in Hudsonville, michigan. i have heard about melon heads before, but i thought they were only around west michigan. anyway, i haven't experienced them personally, but i have heard stories. first of all, hudsonville, is about 20 miles south west from grand rapids. now where the melonheads are located are in the county of allegan, more specifically the allegan woods. there are many stories about the allegan woods. the most serious, true, storie was a survivalist murdered someone and was living off the land in the allegan woods. this person has been on the fbi's most wanted list and was seen twice on americas most wanted. the ku klux klan, satanists, other cult groups, and melonheads are to be found in the allegan woods. im not saying melonheads are 100 percent true, but there is for sure a possibility. if you go into the allegan woods, you will find some weird things. you can find weird carvings in trees, cats hung by nooses with their stomach's ripped out, animal skulls in trees, and i saw first hand in the middle of the woods a pentagram made out of stones. anyway, on to the melonheads. the story of allegan goes something like this: there once was this kid with a giant head, everyone at school mocked him and called him melonhead [thus getting the name]. the parents were really weird and they ended up moving into the middle of the woods. for some reason they started to inbreed and therefore further screwing up their kids with the inbred genetics. they have a grudge against normal society, so they are violent towards people. i hear they make a loud, high pitched scream right before they attack. i have never seen a melon head, but i have heard stories of people driving down two-tracks and melonheads running out of the woods chaining off the trail with a chain. it is also a fact that a young virgin girl was sacrificed at a campground in the allegan woods, known as the horsemans campground, or silver creek. this is true because it was on the news about 10 years ago. they never found out who did it, but some believe it was melonheads, while most believe it was satanists. the melon head story in west michigan is dying fast, with only few still believing. i have also heard that a melonhead actually wrote a book about his existence and his life and why they do the things they do. i have yet to see the book or hear what the pages contain, but i hear that it was written. the hot spot for melon heads near one part of the allegan woods contains an abandon jail and an abandon insane asylum almost right next to each other. if these have anything to do with the melonheads, i wouldn't know. also, one more thing before i end this long email. me and some friends went to horseman's campground to camp at the place where the virgin was sacrificed. we didn't see anything unusual, but we did end up talking to some locals. they said that by the insane asylum and jail, there were caves in the sides of the hill leading up into a trail into the woods. they said the caves were constructed in the 60's due to the cold war. the locals also said that melonheads inhabited these caves for a period of time. i personally tried to find the caves, but didn't find anything, although i did find this weird imprint in the ground. it was also said that the local government put brush over the cave entrances and sealed them up to block any civilians from trying to get inside them. well, thats about all i know about the melon heads in this area, im glad to hear that the legend lives somewhere else in the country. although the legend is fading fast, the few that still believe will carry it on for a while and hopefully someday bring it back.

-ben

Melon Heads

2009-07-22T07:50:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Quicksilver@xxxxxx.com

I'm 20 years old and I'm very familiar with the Kirtland area due to riding horses out at the Holden Arboretum and having many close friends who live out there. I have been to where the melon heads "supposedly," reside at, on Wisner Road. My friends have actually taken me there a couple times at night. The first time they took me there I got bad vibes because I'm one of those people that pick up on them. We were at the bottom of the driveway in the car and my friends said something about the duck tape and pentagram, having been there on a tree the time before, was now removed. I don't like being somewhere, where there are signs of evil so, needless to say I got kinda freaked. My friend's boyfriend said he'd drive up there if I wanted, but I said no .It had been a rainy day anyways, and the driveway leading up to the "melon heads," was very muddy. We were not in a four-wheel drive vehicle at the time either. My friends also have talked about when you go up the driveway there are strange mounds on a path to the left of the driveway, almost like something is buried there. But, we were not about to go dig them up and find out. Though I never did get to see these mounds, since a a log was put there so you couldn't drive down the path to get there.
Another weird tid- bit they told me was when they drove up to the house one night they saw candles from a distance in the form of what they thought to be a circle. There were cars parked in the driveway at the time with boxes on them. They dared one of my friends to get out and take the box. So he jumped out of the car and went to look what was in this box, what he found in it was a small cauldron. Sounds more like witchcraft or satanic rituals caring on up there instead of melon heads, if you ask me.
Another time, we went to the melon heads was on April Fool's Day. Again, we couldn't go up the driveway because a vehicle was sitting at the end of driveway facing into the direction of on coming traffic (plus right at the foot of the supposed melon heads' driveway is a dead end so it wasn't like he had to worry about moving out of the way for vehicles to get through). It was a truck and it flashed us twice with its headlights, meaning get out of here. We don't know who was in the truck it could have been a ranger or someone assigned to watch the driveway since it was April Fool's Day.
The last time I went up to the melon heads with my friends, they FINALLY got to take me up the driveway. As we drove up my friend's boyfriend pointed to the left where the mounds were. As we got closer to the house we noticed the house was lit up on the inside. As we drew closer all the lights went off. But, that was all I saw.
My dad rides his horses up at the Holden Arboretum (and sometimes I'll join him for the ride) and laughs at the legend of the melon heads. He says Holden Arboretum actually owns the house and an old man resides there. When you ride at the Holden there are actually paths near the house where the melon heads are said to live. My Dad thinks it is all a bunch of BS although he hasn't really gone poking his nose around there to find out what lurks there. I have heard MANY different versions of the melon heads, including all the ones on your web page. As you're driving on Wisner Road to get to the "melon heads'," home, you must first cross a small bridge also known by thrill- seekers as "Cry- Baby Bridge. Legend has it that a orphanage used to be somewhere in the where- abouts near this bridge and burned down. It is said, if you (meaning by yourself) drive up onto the bridge at night and turn your car's ignition off you can hear the sounds of small children crying.
Personally, what do I think about the melon heads? I highly doubt they exist, even though it would be cool if they did. Though, I don't know what sicko would wish these little flesh eating men/ children running around attacking human beings as a source of food. That all just sounds a little too disturbing to me LOL. What I think is going on up there is some type of sick witchcraft or satanic crap, just by the things my friend's have told me. Like I said I picked up on bad vibes going up there, evil stuff. That is all I there is to it. If you would like to go find out for yourself the house is on Wisner Road at the dead end point. There to your right, a driveway will be and it will swing up a large hill. I will caution you though, there are no trespassing signs, so if you do, don't get caught.

Webmaster Note: Quicksilver also had a few tidbits about the alleged haunted church in Kirtland that Justin asked about a few posts earlier...

Now, for the church with upside down crosses. Yes, I have gone by it, again with the same friends. It was very creepy and eerie looking. The only info my friends had to give me on it was that it used to be a small school. The upside down crosses appear on the over- hang of the porch. I guess you would never really notice them unless someone pointed them out to you. I don't really have an opinion on this because I don't know much about it or its history, I'm going to try and dig up some more information on it in the mean time though. If I had to have an opinion on it now though, I would have to say some very foolish architect/ builder constructed this church/ school, what have you, and didn't even notice that he put these upside down crosses there. If you are interested in seeing this place it is at the bottom of Booth Rd. and Rt. 615.
If anything though, I would suggest looking into the Lundgren Barn's eerie past located on Rt. 6 almost directly across the street of Lake Farm Park. Jeffrey Lundgren (who is now on Death Row) was part of the Mormon church, until he broke off from it w/ a couple of followers leading them to believe he was a prophet of Jesus Christ. His followers, and him lived in an old farm house with a large red barn next to it. One of the families wished to with draw from the cult later on in time. I guess Mr. Lundgren wasn't to thrilled with this and he killed the family (including the children) by shooting them. When he was shooting them he sent his son outside to run a chainsaw to cover up the gun shots. After killing the family they took the bodies and buried them in the barn floor since it was dirt. Of course he was caught and latered sentenced to death. My friend's friend's uncle owns the house now (did ya catch that part), last I knew anyways. But, I know the family has encountered some explained things in the barn.

Shadybrook & Doctor Crow

2009-07-22T07:47:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by bigape2000@xxxxxx.com

Doctor Crow owned quite a bit of land out in the Kirtland Chardon area, running (from my understanding) from his house at Shadybrook out to Wisner Road. Shadybrook is now the headquarters of the Lake County Historical Society. I was in the house before they took it over and it's quite creepy. The Dr. Crow legend that I originally heard as a child had him having servants or people living on the property who had enchephalitis (water on the brain) or some similar condition and were called "Melonheads" by the locals. No account had him being a nice person. Several stories were told about devil worship or arcane practices and I do remember a room in Shadybrook with a big bay window and a window seat that looked more like an altar. I was very young and it was night, though, so I got out of there pretty quickly. My earliest "story memory" has him dying in a fire in his office, although I seem to remember coming across something a few years ago that didn't jive with that. It's been a while since I was messing around with that, so I can't remember the source.
Anyone remember the chained house that was out near that area until a few years ago?

Hey! I got some Melon Heads info...

2009-07-22T07:44:00.000-04:00

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Jay

Remember me? I sent you a story a while ago, about the Chagrin River. Anyway, I know lots about the Melon Heads myth. I guess that they are just here. I know the Dr. Crowe story is sorta true, but there are some facts missing. First of all, Dr. Crowe did exist, but he lived in the 1940s and was a dentist. There could have been another Dr. Crowe, though. Second, full moons have nothing to do with their nasty behavior. I know this from experiences with them, and from experiences that others have had. My first out of the three experiences that I have had with what I think were melon heads was on the East Branch of the Chagrin River. That story is here: Chagrin River. The second was at the same place, about two months ago. My brother and I were driving along Mitchell's Mills, and I saw a quick flash out of the corner of my eye. I looked right, and saw something (It was very blurry, though) by a tree. I was so scared I screamed and my brother looked out of his window. " What the hell was that?" he said, I guess he saw it too, because he turned around at the spring and we headed back up.

And I gave the wrong directions in Chagrin River. M. Mills is off of Mentor Road. Mentor road is off of Auburn. Man my directions were off. Hey I'm a kid what do you expect??? :-)!!!

Thanks Tons!!
Jay