House on Hampshire Road (Cleveland Heights)

Greetings,

A good friend of mine used to live in Cleveland for a while. I visited him a few times and we would walk around in various neighborhoods. There was this house on Hampshire Road in Cleveland Heights that was supposed to be haunted. We walked by it a few times. It was a large, foreboding structure that was fairly well kept even though the story had it that nobody ever saw anyone go near it. We always walked by at night and there was never a sign of life except for a malevolent orange light, akin to that projected by a candle, suspended in the middle of one room on the top floor. Every time it was the same. My friend said that none of the utility meters were running, no one was ever there, etc.

This was in 2002-03. I haven't been there since. We were usually pretty pissed in one way or another, so I don't remember much in the way of details. I've been thinking of taking a trip up there. I was wondering if you knew anything about this place? I know roughly where to go and all that. I was looking for more in the way of legend. I've scoured a bunch of sites and I can't find anything.

Thanks,

Joshua

Alger Cemetery, Westpark Ohio

I really enjoyed reading your blog but I'm surprised there was no mention of the creepiest cemetery that I have ever been to: Alger Cemetery located in the "West Park" area of Cleveland. For years I never knew the name of the place because my friends and I would enter from an old entrance not clearly accessible. Alger is technically located at 16710 Bradgate Street, Cleveland Ohio but it was commonly known to us as "the cemetery near Common Grounds." Here is a link to a site about the cemetery history. The back entrance is located behind a KFC parking lot off of Lorain Road, across the street from Common Grounds coffee shop. Anyone that used to spend time in Common Grounds about a decade ago knows it was a common haunt for teens, weirdos, magicians, rockers and artists, which is how I learned these legends about the cemetery:

One of the more noticeable features of the cemetery is the single crypt in roughly the center of the large cemetery. It's the only tall feature other than trees as it is the only raised structure, fairly easy to see during the day or evening. The only markings I'd ever seen on the crypt is the name PAULICK (I read somewhere it belongs to a Catherine Paulick, died 1951). The crypt isn't very well maintained, and had a 2-3 foot angel statue nearby. Legend has it that come time ago (unspecific) a gang of kids or "Satanic cult" broke into the crypt on Halloween, and burned the artifacts and human remains contained within. Either from angering the ghosts or from opening up a demonic portal (depending on the version), the cemetery is now heavily haunted with noises, shadow people and the like. Also, the angel statue is said to move, change position, and do other supernatural things.

I personally never had a frightening experience there, except for suspicious sounds like footsteps and branches cracking. I DID note the angel statue's head broken during one visit, only to see her intact and in a different location during a future visit, though that could easily be the work of maintenance crews. Still, I never felt comfortable there and I get the chills just thinking about Alger. I wonder if anyone else remembers hearing about this story or had a supernatural experience there, or can corroborate the crimes that supposedly took place there.

It's a lot more frightening than Old Chestnut Grove or "Witch's Hill" in nearby Olmsted Falls.

I saw a UFO by Helltown tonight. I'm not joking.

This is gonna sound unbelievable and insane. I thought I wasn't doing anything for Halloween, but my friends invited me to go with them to a place we wanted to check out for a long time and I couldn't pass that shit up.

Me and my friends Corey and Chuck decided to go to Helltown for halloween. For those of you who don't know about Helltown:

http://www.deadohio.com/ReturnToHelltown.htm
http://www.deadohio.com/HellTown.htm

We found it and got there, but drove through because we saw a county sheriff chilling at a corner on the road. We decided to drive back down the road, but turned because the roads out there were really narrow and windy and it was pretty fun to drive on. So we headed back towards Cleveland taking a new way, but we got in an argument about how long it was going to take to get back, and ultimately decided to go back to Helltown. We turned around here, at Snowville and Riverview Roads in Brecksville, Ohio.

Boston Heights, OH Map

We looked behind us North to see if there were any cars coming, and there it was in the sky, one of those black triangles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_triangle_(UFO)). Just hovering there. No sound (we turned off the radio and put the windows down). Me and my friend attempted to take pictures and a video, but our phones are low res and crappy and all we got was black with me and my friend saying "holy shit" and "look at that" a lot.

After the initial shock, my friend decided it was best to take off. Call us pussies, I don't care. We went back down to Helltown, and seen as how we were excited from the UFO sighting, decided to try and explore a "haunted" cemetary there and got busted by cops before we even got off the road. We left.

Crazy fucking night.

That's Life with Robin Swoboda

Did you miss the show? Robin Swoboda's "That's Life" Cleveland morning talk show on Halloween 2008 featured a number of haunted locations and creepy legends around Cleveland.


See all the segments here

Also see:
Creepy Tales on the Tube

Gore Orphanage Road on Fearnet

Links:
Dead Ohio
Charles Cassady Jr
Psychic Sonya
OHPRI

Creepy Reading

You must get this book!
You may remember me mentioning being interviewed late last year for an article in West Life. Well, the author, Charles Cassady, had mentioned at the time that he was in the process of collecting stories for a book he was writing.
I expressed how cool I thought that was and asked him to let me know when the book would be in stores. Well, back in June, he sent me an email letting me know that "Cleveland Ghosts" would be in stores by Halloween 2008. Sweet.
Well tonight I dragged the wife and daughter out for a nice family movie (Saw V) and stopped in a Border's beforehand.
Right when you walk in they have a Halloween/haunted-themed table. Among them was Charles' new book! I grabbed it and started thumbing through it. It looked awesome! He's got dozens of Cleveland pictures and all the ghost stories we've come to know and love. Franklin Castle, Squire's Castle and Melonheads (oh my!) Plus TONS of smaller and lesser known stories.
OK, I may be a bit biased because I got a mention in the book (YAY!), but I can't put it down. It's like he took all the stories I've heard over the past twenty years and put 'em all in one book. (In actuality, he did research web sites like Creepy Cleveland and Dead Ohio along with interviewing anyone who's anyone in the field of local ghost-stories)
I'm kinda hoping to get a real, more thorough, review posted in the future once I get a chance to read the whole book. But if what I've read in only a few hours is any indication... well, buy the book. You won't be sorry.

Haunting on Wakefield Ave

Hi my name is Tammie Mccourt and i grew up on west 58th and wakefield my backyard was The Fir Avenue Cemetery. There is a huge apartment building on Wakefield avenue and right on the front of the building on the top floor the name of the street wakefield is engraved on it. Anyway the building was four apartments when we moved in in the early 80's. We had heard all kinds of stories about the apartment we lived in, that a woman was killed in the back bedroom and her daughter was watching from the closet and when she made a noise she was then killed and left in the closet. Also there was a house behind the apartment building that had burnt down and several people were killed. Now the basement is designed like dungeons and had the old furnaces that made a loud roar when they started up. Now for the first yr or so we witnessed nothing, but then my lil sister was born in the back bedroom and all hell broke lose. My sisters crib was right against the closet about 5 feet away from it, my lil sister would always be standing up in her crib trying to reach for the closet door and couldnt get it, well one day she was in her crib and the kitchen were my parents always sat was right next to the bedroom and they could hear my baby sister making all kinds of normal baby noises but then they heard a lil girls voice about 6 or 7 yrs old playing peek a boo, my mom thought it was one of us other kids and she yelled for us to come here and when we came in from the living room she freaked. she ran into the bedroom and the closet door was open and my lil sister was standing up pointing at the closet. After that all kinds of things would happen we would lose toys for days and find them in the closet, we would close the closet door and go back in a few mins later and it would be wide open. My parents slept in this room and they would always hear a lil girl crying thinking it was us or my baby sister get up check on us all and we would be fast asleep. One morning my dad was at work we older kids were at school my lil sister was still in the crib at the time, my mom was in the living room watching a show after putting her down for a nap and out of nowhere she would hear a lil girl playing peek a boo and a few more mins later my baby sister came crawling into the living room. Now she was only about 8 months old there was no way she could have gotten out of her crib without help. On easter morning 1987 my mom hid eater eggs through out the aprtment, we went to church no one home now and when we got home all the eggs were in a basket in the back bedroom. So for yrs we dealt with the lil girl spirit, she was harmless just a lil girl having fun in her spirit life. Then in 1989 all hell broke lose again when cmha decided to remodel the apartments and combine the two upper apartments into one for my parents so there would be room for all of us kids there was 6 of us at the time so a 2 bedroom apartment became 4 bedrooms 2 kitchens 2 bathrooms 2 living rooms. Then the scarey man arrived and total terror started. There is so much i can tell you but would take you days to read it, things like poltergiest activity to my father passing away in one of the bedrooms to things we saw in the graveyard, now you can find The fir avenue cemetery on deadohio. com the story was mine i had posted one year on there about expeiences we had i lived there until i was 19 and moved in 1994 my mom lived there until 1999, so many frightening things happened there. I have my own paranormal group with my sisters and we started it because of our lives living on Wakefield ave. you are actually on our friends list anything and everyting paranormal is our group. If you would like to hear more stories i would love to tell them to you. I am married now and have 2 kids of my own and live in a non haunted house in Brunswick, but i think no i know that i am scarred emotionally and maybe even mentally from growing up over there. Well you said on your page you would like to hear ghost stories so here is one for you and there is a hell of alot more than this. Oh i am going to tour Franklin's Castle tomorrow night and i am so excited and scared at the same time only because it is so close to where i grew up i actually have to go through the nieghborhood i may just drive by and see what the old Wakefield Castle as we called it looks like, i heard stories that is is dilapidated and falling down.The memories alone of the place may just be to much for me to handle, well i am done yacking have a great weekend and if you are interested in hearing more, id be happy to tell it actually makes me feel better to tell someone about it.

Officially CreepyCleveland.net

It's official. I own creepycleveland.net

I want to thank Billy again for registering the domain and pointing it at my site for the past two years. Thanks, Billy!

Everybody else shouldn't notice any difference - creepycelveland.net always brought you here. But now I don't have to pipe it through that go.to/creepycleveland redirect...

Anyway. It's October people... let's get those stories in here.

Geneva Haunting?

I'm watching an episode of a show on Discovery Channel called A Haunting and it's about a house that was haunted in Geneva Ohio in 1965. Apparently there was poltergeist activity and unexplained phenomena, but this show is known for overdramatics. Any info?

Stories and Question

Dear Creepy Cleveland,

Just wanted to say I love your site, and the stories that you have. Although there are sooo many hauntings around cleveland that havent been mentioned, at least that Ive come across.

There are a few places on St. Clair near Collinwood High school dont quite remember the exact locations but a few nightly walks I'm sure I could stumble onto them.

But the reason I'm writing mostly is I was wondering if anyone knew any of the history behind boston township with the Stratfords, and the one light post that doesnt work, or the slaughter house, or the girl scout camp that used to me located near there and the minimal and maximum security mental institutions that are there I've heard the entire story myself but its been a very long time since I went down that way and I forgot who the guy was that took my friends and I on the "guided" tour.


Well here's my story.

Off of Euclid Ave. theres that place on Glenncliff what ever it is, known as the Hillandale Medical Facility when I was a youngster before they tore the old building down,
This place is commonly referred to as The Pits
I heard a story behind it (not sure of the truth but hey) involving a director of operations there was brainwashing the patients who suffered from severe alzheimers disease, to go out into Cleveland area and do his bidding, when the police caught on to what was happening there they raided the place only to find all the patients, and nurses slaughtered, and the director hung himself in his office (again dont know if there is any truth to it)

So anyways my friends and I ventured off to check it out. It being my first time there, I found the area to give me an eerie sense of feeling especially at the little playground with the walkway path that encircles it. We wondered around for quite some time checking out the dilapitated bridge and the cultists graffiti in the nooks and empty cages. We wondered around in the surrounding woods. As we came closer to where the old building was up on the hill we began to hear sounds, kinda like muffled voice. Our girlfriends at the time became frantic and begged up to leave. We found our way back to the brick road out of the woods, and started our trek back when all of the sudden we hear a woman scream so we took off running back to the cars, When we got there our cars wouldnt start (these werent old cars either) We then decided to call for a tow truck, all of our phones had no service so we sat there in the dark for several minutes. My girlfriend became extremely frantic and yelled out the window for whatever was out there to let us go, then she turned the key to my car and it started just fine, my friends in his car followed our cue and we left, we never went back. I heard that they tore the place down and were rebuilding a new nursing facility there

Red Raider

Hi there!,
Another creepy place u should add on your website is Red Raider. Red Raider is a street by Russell Ohio. there is a story that there is a ghost that holds a red lantern and runs through the woods. You can only see it on a clear night and your supposed too turn off your car and headlights. You can never catch this spirit it runs from you. I got a lot of stories to submit about it and i think others should hear about it. It is a very creepy place and should definitely be added. If you have any questions email me at deeman212@aol.com.

Thanks,
Danny

Witches Ball Videos

I can't believe I just found these.

Witches Ball


Myrtle Hill Cemetery (The Witches Ball)

(P.S. - I love the music!)

More on the Witches Ball here.

Directions to Witches Grave (Kirtland)

Awesome site... Love this stuff.... Quick question
Anyone know how to get to the Witches Grave in Kirtland? ... Planning a night out to check out all the "haunted" sites in the area with some friends...
Any information would be great and if anyone feels that there is someplace that you think I should check out please let me know...
Thanks!!!
Christina
notyouraveragegirl75@hotmail.com

Cleveland Gray's Armory

Webmaster Note: I've been sitting on this contribution for a long time because Erich sent me so many pictures and I was unsure how to properly display them. While I still hope to give them a nice layout on a web page in the future I decided to put them up in my Google web album for everybody to enjoy. Sorry for the long delay, Erich... and thanks for the pics!!

I have been a fan of your site for some time, and I think I may finally have something to contribute !

I work with a production company in Cleveland which puts on large shows for customers. Lights, Stages, Sound, the whole production thing.

Anyways; last week we had a show inside the old Cleveland Grays Armory; undisputedly one of the cities oldest buildings, and widely thought to be haunted. Its located right next to the cities oldest graveyard, right in the center of town !

Somewhat sadly, the Grays Armory building has been rather un-restored for such a historical landmark, and ( while it is lovingly maintained by a committed group of volunteers ) , it’s really not in the best condition, and remains a somewhat forgotten city treasure. Its actually hidden in plain site behind the Cavaliers “Q” Arena, and the Indians Jacob Field. It has a large ballroom that now hosts events like amateur boxing, and the front part of the building is considered a museum. The back ( southern ) end is where bathrooms are located on the main floor, off of the “ballroom” , underneath, in the basement, is an active shooting range ( used by Cleveland police ) , and the upstairs is casually chained off , and considered “off-limits”.

I had the opportunity to travel about the southern end of the building, un-supervised, while I was searching for a chair to use during my program. I found a chair, but what I also saw was kind of unexpected, and somewhat surprising.

I’m attaching some of the photos I took that afternoon; I hope you find them interesting.

All the best,

Erich

P.S. The building is reported to be haunted, but I was very comfortable inside it, and our program went very well !

Quail Hollow Cemetery

In a town known as Hartville, Ohio in Northeastern Ohio is a state park; Quail Hollow. This was one of the first settlements in this area with the houses still on the property right down the road from the Hartville Pie Factory, once known as the Wild Boar Tavern many moons ago and was part of the underground railroad. At Quail Hollow there is a super old cemetery (late 1700's to 1800's). A few of my friends and I have gone there on a few occasions. The first time I went by myself at night (yea it was freaky) and I could hear a woman humming on a path right behind the graveyard. I looked over there and didn't see anyone at first but at a second glance saw a woman in a white gown smiling weakly. I left quickly, hearing footsteps right behind me while I felt a presence following me. Many, many, many more stories occurred (if you'd like to know just e-mail me at Hippieboi@aol.com). Anywho, I went snapping pictures randomly one night there one night and noticed the one picture was COVERED in orbs. I tried recreating it thinking it might have been dust, water something. I couldn't do it. And if examined closely, some of the orbs are actually illuminating from behind a few of the leaves. Heres the pic!!!!

Weirdest Place in Cleveland

Cool blog! Franklin Castle is downright evil.

I visited the old Masonic lodge on Franklin Blvd. As soon as I walked in chills ran down my spine. The Masons told me that all kinds of weird things go on in the building and that no one would even consider spending the night there. A local psychic told me that the building is some kind of portal to another place and she had seen multiple entities while in the building. If you're looking for something that's truly creepy then this is the place.

Jeff

MelonHeads in Kirtland, Ohio

The most common story behind these Mutant little creatures is that a Dr., Crowe to be exact, who lived on Wisner Road,In Kirtland Ohio, ran an orphanage with many children and did various experiments on there brains causing there heads to become larger in proportion to the rest of there bodies. It is said that they roam the woods at night looking for humans, they eat their flesh. The most notable description of a Melon Head is about 3/4 feet tall with a large head, glowing eyes, and sometimes said to have razor teeth. One day the children killed the Dr. as well as his staff. The mutants still roam the area on a killing spree.

Well, I've got my own veiws on this. I WENT to Wisner Road in Kirtland, to prove what was real or what was fake. My aunt drove, her friend Meggan, My brothers, and their friend came along. We got lost in the area of Mitchel's Mill and Wisner, but we kept seeing shadows in the woods and when we came along a black gate in the woods of Wisner Road, we all had that GUT feeling. The kind of feeling that tells you that you aren't about to be in a good situation. Well my brothers and their friend thought it would be cool, to make them not seem like sissys, to get out of the car. Well they walked down a little side road for a few moments, and my aunt and I got scared, so we beeped the horn several times.. and they RAN back to the car, all diving in. They claim that there was something that ran across the road. It suddenly got extremely foggy outside.Momentarily,my brother,Keith, realized he lost his phone while running back to the car. We were in NO mood, and none of us had the courage, to turn back.

-Alyssa Morrow.

IPRN Award Winner!

I am proud to announce Creepy Cleveland has received the International Paranormal Research Network Award of Excellence!


Well... I'd never heard of the IPRN before today, but will admit to being flattered to receive an unsolicited web award from an organized paranormal group. After receiving the award I visited the IPRN site and was pleased to find what appears to be a well-organized, professional-looking page run by a group of people who are genuinely interested in investigation and education of the paranormal.

Many members, including the director, David L. Frost, appear to hail from Ohio. That alone qualifies the IPRN for a plug from Creepy Cleveland! Check them out. Join the organization or just contribute to the forums. Or both!

Thank you for the recognition, IPRN. I wish you luck in the future!

Melonheads and Rider's Inn

I stumbled on your website a few days ago, and having grown up in Painesville, I thought I’d pass on a few stories.

Like so many other idiot kids in the early 80’s I made the trek out to the Melonheads at least a dozen times. It’s been interesting to read other reader’s contributions and see how the story has evolved over time. Why is the old dairy barn that marked the turn-off for Melonheads never mentioned, has it been torn down? The bridge didn’t have a reputation as a cry baby bridge back then, but you could score dope there some Friday nights. There was an occupied house on one side, and a much smaller, abandoned house across the road. That was known as Doc Crowe’s shack. The front door opened to a view of the back door directly across the house, and one time, a guy I went to school with snuck out there and hung a scarecrow in the back doorway just to scare everyone. The shack was burned down in 1982 by vandals if memory serves right.

The story I heard in high school was pretty standard – Doc Crowe lived in the 1880’s, had a couple of kids with birth defects he kept hidden away and after his death, they went feral, hiding in the woods, interbreeding. The shame of their defect was so ingrained they would chase off anyone they found out there alone. (So we always went by the car load!)

The tale of the witch’s grave was already in full force, and the place so creepy we never disturbed her rest. How come no ever mentions the spring out there? The park system put in a pipe line back in the 70’s, you could go out there and fill jugs for free. The stuff was so amazing tasting I’ve always been surprised no one started bottling and selling it in the last ten years. And just a few miles from Melonheads was Gravity Hill, an optical illusion once featured on the TV show That’s Incredible! in the mid-70’s. You could put your car in neutral and it would appear to roll up hill which was cool as heck.

In college, I did a paper on the legends of the area for a folklore class, and dug up some interesting stuff. The historical society was such a small scale operation at the time, I was never able to mine their library, but the old Morley library in Painesville had a few pieces in their archives. One claimed that when the first white settlers arrived in the area, they found the natives would not live on or travel across Little Mountain fearing the evil spirits that lived there. Another talked about how Little Mountain was the site of several resorts featuring “water cures” from the local spring waters, starting in the 1850’s. It was briefly popular for rich, young people from Cleveland to summer there, but within 20 years all the resorts had folded. The last building was claimed by the forest by the 1880’s leaving no trace. And the name Crowe? It’s not an old Lake County surname, so he couldn’t have lived too long ago.

Also found was a legend from the 1950’s and early 60’s about a woman who was set to marry (possibly a Morley) when her fiancée ran off with her younger sister. Like some deranged Miss Haversham, the bride went a little nuts. It’s said the groom left her because her sister was cuter, so the woman tore apart her face, leaving horrible scars. Only her father and her doctor ever saw her face again, she rarely left her home, and wore a brimmed hat with a very dark veil, even in her house. Turned out my mother use to cruise by this woman’s house when she was in high school, hoping to catch a glimpse of the woman in the window – and my friends and would pass this house on our way to the Melonheads 25 years later! Really makes you wonder what is going on in the area……from Native American fears to the Avery murders, there has been a lot of creepy activity in and around the Little Mountain area.

I went looking for the house of the veiled woman a few years ago but wasn’t able to locate it again. There was so much new construction, I don’t think I missed it – it was razed for a new subdivision. I was hoping to show it to my then preteen nieces who were in from out of state and into spooky stories at the time. Instead I took them to Rider’s Inn.

I bought a copy of Haunted Ohio the day before and read the entry on Rider’s Inn (Tavern) to the girls while we ate. While I had always heard the place was haunted, I didn’t know Miss Suzanne was considered a protective ghost. The owner’s partner spotted the book and offered us a tour after our meal. It’s a nice place. Built in three sections, it consists of the original rough tavern which is now the left wing with much of its original character intact, the main building, and a dining room addition that makes up the right wing. During renovations, it was discovered the beer cellar under the old tavern was larger then originally thought. Painesville was a known passage point to Canada for run away slaves, and it’s now thought the tavern was a way station on the Underground Railroad.

Having stood at the top of the stairs Miss Suzanne is alleged to have fallen down to her death I can say the story is bull. Her husband broke her neck and staged the fall. It’s such a tight, cramped, circular staircase that even owning that she was probably a very small woman by modern standards, I can’t see how she could have made it more than 2-3 steps before getting wedged up against the walls. Unless her new, greedy husband followed behind, kicking her to the bottom. The staircase now leads to the kitchen.

Our guide was adamant that he did not believe there was a ghost at the Inn. But he did tell us during renovations back in the early 80’s the local police driving by noticed the front door was open. Investigating, they found a fire in the basement and saved the building. Not knowing the history before that day of Miss Suzanne opening the door, I told him of coming back to Painesville once in ’95 or ’96 and seeing a front door wide open (there are 2, one in the tavern, one in the main building) around 1 am. Actually I was really ticked at the time – I was tired and just wanted to get to my parents so I could sleep and now the world’s stupidest burglars were making me rush there to call the cops. Painesville’s finest passed me moments later, lights flashing and I watched them pull into Rider’s in my rear view mirror.

Our guide might have claimed he didn’t believe there was a ghost, but he must have asked me 7-8 times “which door did you see open?” after I related my tale. I’m not telling here – go to Rider’s to meet Miss Suzanne yourself, she might let you in on the secret (but I will say it wasn’t the door surrounded by nail holes on the inside) The stagecoach breakfast was a little pricey to feed two skinny preteens, but the impromptu tour was priceless. Now if I could only convince my husband to spend the night there…..

****************Sorry this is so long, but I knew if I didn’t get everything out in one letter, I’d never write. Glad to see your site, there are so many legends, stories, and tales in northeastern Ohio, it’s good to see them collected and preserved and passed on.

Please, do not share my name or my e/m address. I’m a respectable middle aged lady now, I’m supposed to be lecturing teenagers to leave such silliness alone, not adding fuel to the fire – but its human nature to want to be scared from time to time – and yes, sometimes there ARE things that go bump in the night!