History of the Witch's Ball

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.