1100 Spaatz St., Dayton Along with the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Air Force Museum is believed to be haunted by those who died while operating the aircraft that is now on display here and deceased pilots are said to still live inside their planes. The evening staff claim that in “The Hopalong,” Sikorsky UH-19B, they’ve seen a pilot flipping switches in an attempt to get home. Apparently his seat is still stained with blood. Pieces of the “Lady Be Good,” a B-24 that disappeared in Italy, are said to rearrange themselves. The POW exhibit allegedly makes guests feel a sense of dread when visiting it. Employees say that some spirits even show up to work using lockers and visiting the breakroom. Cute.
Photo: Facebook.com/NationalMuseumoftheUSAirForce
12021 Echo Dell Road, Liverpool This park is special because of its history of being a canal system in the 1800s, with locks that still remain in the park. One of them, called “Jake’s Lock” is said to be haunted by Jake, who was struck by lightning while walking across the top. Many other legends exist within the park including the tale of Esther Hale, known as the “Bride of the Bridge.” On the morning of her wedding, someone was sent to check on the groom to find that his house was empty and he was never seen again. Esther, grieving for months wondering what happened to her soon-to-be husband, was found dead in her home. She is now said to be seen wandering the area, dressed in white, looking for her groom.
Photo: Wikimedia.com/Nyttend
44 Licking Pike, Wilder Yes, Bobby Mackey’s is technically in Northern Kentucky, but it’s labeled as the “most haunted nightclub in America” and has been featured multiple times Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures. Owned and operated by Country singer Bobby Mackey, the building was built in 1850 and originally served as a slaughterhouse and meatpacking operation. After the slaughter
house closed in 1890, the building took on new life as a casino and eventually became the
site of the Latin Quarter, a nightclub popular with mobsters. It was a spot renowned for murder, mob activity and satanic rituals before becoming Bobby Mackey’s in 1978; the building remains rich with history, and many patrons say the bar is still inhabited by former frequenters. Stories say Satanists were connected to one of the area’s most famous homicides: the murder of Pearl Bryan. Two men killed Pearl by decapitating her with dental instruments. They were wealthy youths from the area who were in medical school, and one of them had gotten Pearl pregnant. They saw no other option than to kill her. Rumors began circulating the duo were involved with the Satanists who practiced in the old slaughterhouse, and they had murdered her as an offering to Satan. Her head was never found. It has been suggested that it was dropped down the well in the basement.
Paranormal tours of the property take you into the main floor, upstairs and basement, where the so-called “portal to hell” — that dust-filled hole once used to drain animal remains in the building’s slaughterhouse days — resides. People who visit Bobby’s claim to have seen the ghost of Pearl (without her head), hear the jukebox play the “Anniversary Waltz” on its own and see the apparition of a woman named Johanna, frequently accompanied by the smell of rose perfume, reportedly the same brand of perfume that she wore while she was still alive.
Photo: Facebook.com/BobbyMackeyFB
307 E. Broadway, Granville Established in 1812, the Buxton Inn is a hotel, tavern and restaurant that takes you back in time. It was incredibly popular in its day, even visited by a few presidents. Today, the ghosts of past owners are said to haunt the building and surrounding land. Major Buxton, one of the owners who the inn was named after, is said to haunt it as well. Guests have reported slamming doors and hearing their names called out. Rooms seven and nine are apparently the most haunted.
Photo: Wikimedia.com/JudMcCranie
2900 Sullivant Ave., Columbus Used as a Confederate prison camp during the Civil War, close to 2,000 soldiers were laid to rest at Camp Chase Cemetery, many taken by diseases like smallpox. Obviously, this place is rumored to be haunted — but not by soldiers. The mysterious weeping “Lady in Gray” is said to wander and lay flowers on two specific graves. Those who’ve spotted her are overcome with tremendous sadness watching her seemingly grieve. She’s even been allegedly photographed by paranormal investigators.
Photo: Wikimedia.com/Judson McCranie
1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine Music Hall sits on several eerie plots of land and is reported to be one of the most haunted places in America. A portion of the building is situated on an 1800s Potter’s Field, or a cemetery used to unceremoniously bury the poor and unidentified or unclaimed bodies. And then, when a cholera outbreak in 1832 killed hundreds of Cincinnatians, many children became orphans after losing their parents to the horrifying disease. The Cincinnati Orphan Asylum was built next to where Music Hall is today and eventually became a “Pest House” because it entrapped several people with infectious diseases. But it wasn’t until 1876 when excavations began for the construction of Music Hall that workers first came across human bones in and around the foundation. The skeletons found during the excavation were laid to rest in a plot in Spring Grove Cemetery, but more remains were discovered in 1927 when workers were digging a trench. And again in 1988 when, according to the Friends of Music Hall, “workers drilling a new elevator shaft uncovered over two hundred pounds of bones.” And even more recently when Music Hall was revitalized in 2016-17, when workers found human remains under the orchestra pit. Employees ranging from the late former Pops Director Erich Kunzel to the Cincinnati Opera CEO and a night watchman have reported seeing and hearing spirits late at night, including the sound of unearthly music, children in period dress and more. Perhaps some of them are part of the many who died decades prior.
Photo: Emerson Swoger
129 Second St., Fairpoint Harbor Instead of hysterical spirits or even friendly ghosts, this tale involves a ghost cat. Captain Joseph Babcock was the keeper of the Fairpoint Harbor Lighthouse. Him and his family lived on the second floor of what is now a museum. His wife, bedridden, has several cats to keep her company and after she died, most of the cats disappeared. A curator living here years later, reported seeing the ghost of a gray cat. She claimed it would run around the kitchen as if it were playing and jumped on her bed one night and she felt the weight pressing on the bed. Workers who were installing AC units found the mummified remains of a dead grey cat in the basement.
Photo: Wikimedia.com/Laszlo Ilyes
950 Eden Park Drive, Eden Park Tucked away in the hills Mount Adams sits Eden Park, an urban escape that’s home to the Cincinnati Art Museum, Krohn Conservatory...and the Spring House Gazebo. On Oct. 6, 1927, George “King of the Bootleggers” Remus and his wife, Imogene Remus, were set to meet in court to finalize their divorce. (Imogene was having an affair with a Prohibition agent and the two stole most of George’s money while he did a short stint in jail.) George waited outside of Imogene’s hotel before she left for court and, after she got into a taxi, the two engaged in a heated car chase, ending near the Spring House Gazebo, where George shot Imogene in the stomach as she attempted to flee. Dressed in all black to bemoan her marriage, she died at the hospital from her wound. Those who visit the gazebo today say the have seen a woman wearing all black, presumably Imogene, wandering nearby and felt her presence lurking.
Photo: Wikimedia.com/Greg Hume
5963 Harrison Ave., Dent Legend says that a group of students mysteriously vanished from the Dent Schoolhouse in 1942, followed by several more disappearances in the years to follow. It wasn’t until 1955 that a foul odor led angry community members to the schools’ janitorial basement, where the students’ bodies were discovered in barrels wedged between the walls. The murders were attributed to the school’s janitor, but the man — Charlie — was never found. That is, until now — Charlie is said to roam the halls of the school today, cleaning alongside the 50 to 65 actors who bring Dent to life every Halloween. In addition to the costumed actors, the actual spirits of his victims are also said to roam the halls and Dent offers ghost tours for those who want to experience the paranormal. Tours (sans actors and manufactured frights) are led by a guide who will explain the history of the school and different spectral activities that have occurred in different areas of the school.
Photo: The Dent Schoolhouse/Facebook
639 Steiner Ave., Sedamville Get out your EMFs and your holy water. The rectory, which is the one of four buildings that once belonged to the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, is said to be haunted by an evil spirit. The building historically housed priests, including Father Donald MacLeod, who was hit by a train in the 1800s and whose spirit has been seen wandering near the building. According to the Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures, which went to Sedamsville to perform an exorcism on the property, “This once-holy place of peace and rest, however, has been plagued by a violent, demonic spirit. The current owners of the rectory have experienced ice-cold breezes on boiling-hot days, overwhelming (and spontaneous) feelings of melancholy and have been scratched and shoved by unseen forces.” People have also reported seeing unexplained voices and doors opening and closing on their own, as well as the spirit of a child with a noose around its neck.
Photo: Erin Gardner
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