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) .
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Trip to the Ball
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
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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
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
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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
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...
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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
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.
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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
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.
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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
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.
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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.
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