Origin of Witch's Ball Superstition - A Theory

The Witch's Ball is a well-known tombstone located in Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Valley City, Ohio.  The folklore surrounding the cemetery itself includes several eye-witness accounts and re-tellings of appearances of the "Witch" buried beneath the oddly shaped marble headstone.

The truth behind the legend is especially vague and buried in layers of stories passed down for generations.

I first heard of the Witch's Ball in the mid 1980's.  Since starting the Creepy Cleveland website I have received more than a dozen stories each proclaiming to have heard the story, know of a first-hand account or offer an explanation.

Recently I've been reading John Stark Bellamy's excellent series of books detailing "Tales of Cleveland Woe".  In the book "The Maniac In The Bushes" there is a story called "Medina's Not-So-Merry Widow - Martha Wise's Deadly Crying Game 1925"

To summarize the story:  Martha Wise was weird. 

Born in the mid-1880's she led a hard life in a section of Medina County named Hardscrabble.  Growing up with a most likely undiagnosed case of epilepsy and weathering spinal meningitis in her teens, Martha had a reputation for "never missing a funeral".  Her first husband beat her and treated her poorly until his death in 1923.

Martha would go on to frighten the townsfolk with strange behavior, acts of arson and foaming at the mouth.  Martha also admitted to seeing spirits.

She would also go on to poison nearly her entire family with arsenic.

After what, for the time, was a sensational investigation. Martha was arrested and convicted of murder in the first degree.  All told she had poisoned 17 family members.  Three victims died from the fatal dose of arsenic.  Martha spent the rest of her mostly uneventful life in Marysville Prison and died in 1971.

But how is Martha connected to the Witch's Ball? 

The obvious connection, to me, is that Martha's family, including her victims, are all buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery.

While John Bellamy never uses the word "witch" in his story of Martha Wise, I find it an easy reach to assume someone over the years referred to Martha as such.  With documentation of Martha "seeing spirits" and at one point confessing that the Devil coerced her into setting ten mysterious fires in the township, connecting Martha with witchcraft seems obvious.

So there's a story of a backwoods widow embodying everything you'd expect in a children's fairy-tale of a witch poisoning innocent people with her toxic brew.  Throw into the story the location of her unfortunate victim's graves and lastly add a most unorthodox tombstone in the shape of a three-foot marble ball.

Now add over 60 years worth of embellishments and re-tellings. 

Ta-Da!  You've got a good ghost story.

---

Today I had the occasion to visit Myrtle Hill Cemetery and thought I might try to locate the graves of Martha's victims.  Surprisingly, they were very easy to find.  The families having plots right off the main road a mere 200 feet from the infamous Ball.  More fuel for the folklore fire?

Sophia Hasel, Martha's mother and victim of fatal arsenic poisoning

Fred and Lillian Gienke, Martha's Uncle and Aunt.  Both victims of Martha's arsenic.

  

Zoinks! Another Scooby-doo adventure.

I arrived for an actor training class offered at Regal Vineyards. It is on County Line Rd in Madison OH. Just off Route 20. There is a house there that looks like it was built before the last century began. I am told that the place has been locked up for the last 40 years.

The home was one of the first wineries located in Ashtabula County.  Established by immigrants from Lithuania, I have been told.  In the 1970’s, the vineyards were abandoned due to family tragedy.  That brings us to the new owners of this property.

Remember, this place has been closed off from human contact for over 40 years. Now they have cracked it open and there is some kind of rock labyrinth there. That may be some kind of spiritual tool. Several local Paranormal research groups have been out to the property, confirming suspicions that the building may be haunted. It seems that real spirits may roam these halls. On another note, I have heard employees there laugh nervously about some kind of vortex, when they think no one is listening. I heard one of them say, “It came from beyond the vortex.” It gave me chills.

I tend be skeptical when it comes to haunt stories. I hate to tell you that I think I saw something there. After the class was over and everything was closed up for the night, a few of us remained in the lot talking. That is when I noticed a face in the window looking at me. I know it sounds dumb, but as soon as it noticed me see it, the face vanished. At that moment I felt as if a friend was sad to see me go. I know this all seems weird. We checked inside, but found nothing. I just needed to share this with someone. It is always strange when you come in contact with the other side. I have to go back there some more, just to check it out.

House at Borromeo in Wickliffe

Hello,

I came across your sight while searching for information about the abandoned house on the grounds of Borromeo.

It IS haunted, I am quite sure of it. We used to walk by it when I was a kid. This was between 1981 and 1983. Images of the place flash in my memory from time to time and I have nightmares about the grounds of All Saints. Something very strange happened to me there which I still cannot explain and I suspect something latched onto me and has bothered me for my entire life. The story is that I was found walking around the grounds of the school in a state of shock. I don't remember walking around, I just remember waking up in the nurses office. I thought I had been knocked out because I opened my eyes on the cot. None of the other kids knew what happened to me. I have flashes of memories of dark figures standing above me and there being tall brown grass around me (I think it was at the top of the hill where the statues are). I've wanted to go back to the grounds to try to recall what happened since it's bothered me for my entire life, but at the same time, it might be something I don't want to know.

Anyway, yes, it is haunted and there is something terribly evil about that place. Be careful if you go there.

Since this is along your lines, look at the grounds of the seminary from above on google maps. Note the significance of the owl in occult symbolism.

That is all.

Be well.

-Paul

Unsettling Swamp Area

Contributed by E Er

There’s a section of the bike path in Chardon, Ohio where the land slopes down to a swampy section on the right side. A friend told me that if you jump the fence and work your way down into the middle of the watery area, you’ll be able to see a clearing a ways off from the trail. I guess a few high local kids in high school found it one afternoon while they were exploring and now everyone knows about it. They said the clearing has a lot of trees around it and seems like its hedged off from the rest of the area. Everyone who goes into the clearing gets a real uncomfortable feeling like they are being watched. It’s become a popular dare to go there at night and spend 15 minutes there, after dark. I had a few friends who did it, but they didn’t stay the entire 15 minutes because the shadows their flashlights made in the trees began to creep them out. My friends said the shadows seemed to move a lot even when they weren’t moving the flashlight, so there may be a weird optical illusion or something.

Offerings for the Dead?

I received a few photos with very little details...  all I know is that they were all taken in the same cemetery during a full moon.  Since they were sent to me - I presume them to be from a local cemetery as well, but I'm not sure.

In any event - the subject matter is the objects left at the tombstone.  I know there are many odd and not-so-odd traditions regarding offerings in cemeteries, but does anyone have any idea what these mean?



A candle. Simple enough, but what's it made of?


Blue hair braid over a loaf of bread, two cups of coffee and what appears to be an entire pack of cigarettes.


...there's also a suspicious hole next to the tombstone.


So what do ya think? Someone remembering a buddy with whom sandwiches, coffee and smokes were shared, or something more subtle? What kind of graveyard magic is this?

Heritage Hall on Prospect

Hey CreepyCleveland,

I found your site by accident, but I am glad that I did. I was trying to find historical information on Heritage Hall located at 2200 Prospect Ave in Cleveland. It is currently a property of American Campus Communities/YMCA and it serves as studio dorms for CSU Students.

I have several friends that live and work at the security desk in Heritage Hall. They report some strange phenomena that cannot be easily explained.

For example, and I am not exaggerating anything, there were two strange occurrences affiliated with Room 720. The first occupant was a young man of around 25. He was at first quiet, but sociable. He dressed well, bathed, and was relatively upstanding. I know this because he was in my section in Law School. Over the course of the semester, he became progressively withdrawn and ominous. His movements became slow and lethargic, his eyes sunken, words reduced to mumbles. He wore the same dirty hoodie day after day, pulled over his head to obscure his eyes. He used to leave and return at all hours of the night, and he started stalking girls in my section. Eventually it was so bad that he was dismissed from law school. He was evicted, and I haven't heard about him since.

The second occupant, a girl, moved in for the start of that following semester. She was social and outgoing. She even had RAs called on her for a party that got too loud. About a month into the semester, she stopped walking around. Eventually people lost track of her and nothing was heard until her family called the building wondering if anyone had seen her. She was missing for two weeks.

Beyond that there are other sorts of phenomena. Security desk workers report lights that turn off and on in the middle of the night. In the offices immediately behind the security desk, there is a two way switch were both must be turned off in order for the light to go off. These lights, and the lights in the mail room all turn off on their own from time to time. The current occupant of 512 reports incessant banging and voices from one corner of the room. It is interesting because his immediate neighbors next to him are his friends or the rooms are vacant. The rooms above and below are vacant as well. It is strange to say the least.

I know that the studios were used as lodging for the YMCA and then they were repurposed into a homeless-transitioning type housing. The building was built in the early 1900s, so it is plausible that there is some history. I wonder if anyone else in your community has heard about the goings on at Heritage, if there are any.

Any help on digging up some info on Heritage Hall would be great.

Thanks,

T

What do you know about South Bay Bessie?

I know I don't get much in the way of stories here about South Bay Bessie, but if you consider yourself a Lake Erie monster chaser there is some interest in airing your stories on a program in October 2012.

What do ya say? Interested? Get in touch with Creepy Cleveland.

Black Eyed Beings

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?

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.

NOTE: It only took six years, but I finally got around to putting this interview on Youtube (with a static image of the ad for the show).  Easier than downloading (and mobile friendly!)

The House of Wills

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

What *is* that?

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

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

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



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