Everyone loves a good ghost story and Lawrence County, Ohio, is no stranger to that. Throughout the years, I have abstracted and combined various ghost stories about the Tri-State area. Below are the stories; as I find additional articles, I will add them to this file. Please help us grow this page by submitting relevant information in our comments below.
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Goes into Haunted House
One Man Enters and Finds Place Littered With Rocks
Huntington, WV. Sept. 11 – At last, a man who has no fear of spooks had the courage to enter the haunted house on the road to Getaway, about two miles back of Bradrick, in Lawrence County, Ohio, opposite Huntington, and he found the rooms full of rocks that had been hurled at the goblins by terrified passersby.
He found no ghosts and gave his opinion that the alleged ghosts were real persons.
The place was formerly occupied by the Rev. Elisha Thacker, a Baptist minister, but had been deserted for many years. The one family that rented it in recent years stayed there only one night. On account of the story of the house being haunted, it has been impossible to rent it. No one has ever been found brave enough to enter the place at night, and none would enter it in daylight until there came the man who found the rocks.
ANOTHER GHOST
Has Been Seen. Frank Brown of North Second Street Saw One on the River Bank Near the Old Palace Hotel Site, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Winkle Also Saw the Mysterious Visitor.
Are the ghosts holding a convention, Ironton, or is it that so many things happening here just by accident? Besides the one seen on the Klondike building on south Third street Tuesday night by Wilburn Hall and the one which has been causing so much excitement in the neighborhood of Seventh and Quincy streets, another mysteries something has been reported.
Frank Brown, who formerly conducted the Freeman grocery store near the tunnel, but who now is employed at the J. P. Lewis’ grocery store on Third and Oak streets, says that he saw a ghost all dressed in white Tuesday night on the river bank, just below the pile of pipes which are to be used in the constriction of the pure water system, and near where the old Palace Hotel used to stand.
Mr. Brown says the ghost was first seen by Mr. & Mrs. Chas. Winkle, who lives on Second street, near Buckhorn, just in front of his residence. Mr. & Mrs. Winkle was greatly frightened at what they saw, so much so that they could not sleep any more that night. They called Mr. Brown’s attention to the white object, and when he started over to get a close view of it, it disappeared as mysteriously as it had come. Mr. Brown described the strange sight as something which resembled a man dressed in white.
By some, it is thought that the ghost is the spirit of a man from West Virginia, who several years ago, went to sleep on the track in front of the depot while waiting for the train and was run over and killed almost in the sight of his wife and children, who were sitting in the depot.
One man, however, has been mean enough to suggest that it was the spirit of Engineer Potter coming back to haunt the members of the Board of Public Service. At the same time, another intimates that it is the prospects of the people of Ironton securing pure watch under the present management.
SOURCE: Semi-Weekly Irontonian, August 23, 1907
FATAL HOUSE
Within four or five years, as many unusual deaths have happened in a room of the long brick house on the corner of Sixth & Olive (now Park Ave-mm) Sts.
First, old man Razor died about four years ago of a sore hand that was not considered dangerous. Next, an old man named Ostenmyer hung himself in the same room about three years ago.
Then last summer, Joe Weitz died from the effects of being run over by a wagon. Last Saturday morning, Jacob Colahouse, who occupied the room, arose about five o’clock, built a fire and laid down again. After a while, his wife called him, and failing to get an answer, went to bed and found him stone dead. All these fatalities happened in the same room. The feeling is getting current that it is unlucky to live there and that spirits from the other world have blasted the apartment.
SOURCE: Ironton Register January 12, 1871
GHOST ABOUT
A month or so ago, a house in East Ironton was visited by the appalling denizen of ghost land. It appeared as a woman in a nude state, horribly cut, with blood trickling from the numerous gashes. At that time, it was seen by two young ladies standing at the head of the stairs. A couple of days after, it appeared again to the same young ladies at the same place and time of day. They were badly frightened and fled, screaming loudly. Subsequently, the family moved from the house, and another family went to it.
Last Tuesday week, a young lady belonging to the house was going upstairs when upon nearing the platform, the image appeared to her in all its bloody terrors. She ran as quickly as she caught a glimpse of it, but her friends ridiculed her so much that she assumed unconcerned about the matter.
But last Friday, as she was going up the stairs, she saw it again on the landing and was so shocked by fright that she fell the full length of the stairs. Her screams attracted the rest of the family and the neighbors, who found her lying on the floor, almost in paroxysms of death.
After a considerable time, she was restored by assistance and taken to another house. Since then, she has not been home and declared that she will not enter the house again.
The most singular feature connected with this strange spectral illusion is its appearance at exactly three o’clock in the afternoon. It has been unexceptionably the case heretofore that characters like the one mentioned above and ghosts generally made their appearance in the night.
The ghost of Hamlet’s father left, we believe, when the ‘glow worm showed the matin the be near.” There is talk sometimes of ghosts revisiting the glimpses of the moon but of the sun-never.
We sincerely suggest to those directly concerned in this affair to arrest the goblin the next time it appears and prosecute it for vagrancy or immediately procure the passage of an ordinance, making it unlawful for ghosts to run at large.
SOURCE: Ironton Register June 27, 1867
ANOTHER GHOST ABOUT
I have, on several occasions, noticed that you solicit local items. I thought it not amiss to inform you of a visitation the neighborhood has been blessed with since sometime last May.
On the farm of Turner Kemp stands a small, plain, framed house occupied by a colored man and his family. Since about the time mentioned above, there has, at regular intervals, appeared to some of his family a veritable ghost. It sometimes is seen only by his wife, and at other times is seen by the family, and on several occasions, it has been seen by many of the neighbors. I have had frequent glimpses of it myself, and although I have been taught to disbelief in such things, I must confess that the evidence, in this case, is so strong that I am forced to admit it a fact.
The first time I saw it was just in the dusk of the evening, as I was returning from the field. It started near the fence and flitted along till it came to the house and disappeared rather suddenly. Since then, I have often seen it in broad daylight and after dark. Contrary to most, it seems to have no regular hours of visibility but comes and goes just as it happens. I heard from a reliable source that it had been seen in the Court House yard last Saturday evening. The last seen of it was at a small house in East Ironton. So, Mr. Editor, it may, someday, take a notion to walk into your ‘sanctum.’
Anyone having doubts about the above facts can obtain the full name of the writer of this, by calling on the Editor of the Ironton Register.
ONE WHO SAW IT
Ironton, Ohio, Oct. 20, 1873
SOURCE: Ironton Register, October 16? 1873
GHOST DID NOT APPEAR
Ironton, Ohio – Rev. Kier and His Followers Hold Services Despite the Heavy Rain, the Spirit from the Unknown World Failed to put in its Appearance. Many well-known Persons are Reported to have already seen the Mysterious White Something, which it is said, Visits the Home of Mrs. Martha Price on Quincy Street.
The ghost which haunts the old log house on Quincy street near Seventh did not put in its appearance Wednesday night, or at least it failed to do so up until 10:00, when the members of the Rescue Mission next to the Hill crossed their meeting, and took their departure for their various homes.
It is not thought that the heavy rain, which fell most of the evening, prevented the ghost from making its presence known, for ghosts are said to the partial to wet, dark nights. Still, the reason assigned by Rev. Kier and his followers for the nonappearance of the spirit messenger from the unknown world was the noise made by the hundred and more skeptical who crowded into the house to get a look at the mysterious something which has haunted the dilapidated house for some time, and which permitted itself to be seen on several occasions this week, according to the statements of several who claim they have seen it’s snowy white unnatural form.
Five hundred people, some in automobiles, some in buggies, but the majority of them on foot, was in the neighborhood of the haunted house shortly before 8:00, the hour set for the meeting of the Rescue Mission workers to begin. The crowd began to assemble shortly after supper,. By the time the rain set in, which drove the majority of them to seek shelter and, for the time being, give up hopes of seeing the ghost, the street was blocked with people,. It required the combined efforts of Officers Higgins and Tate to keep the more venturesome and unbelieving from forcing open the doors of the house and seeing for themselves what there was in the stories current concerning the strange sights to be seen therein.
Despite the rain, more than one hundred people waited for the closing of the meeting of Rev. Keier’s flock, which was held in the early part of the evening at their church at the foot of the hill, and for them to put in their appearance at the haunted residence of Mrs. Martha Price and her aged mother, Mrs. Ames.
Shortly before 9:00, the veteran colored leader of the spirit-seeing band, Rev. Kier, accompanied by Revs. Kelly and Sanders, both white, Mrs. Ames, Mrs. Price, also white, and several colored women, came over to the house, which was filled to suffocation within a few moments after the door was opened with men, women, boys, and girls, both colored and white.
Mrs. Price suggested all the Christians in the house form a circle from the smaller two rooms and that “land, that happy, happy land.” Some eight or ten men and women of both races went into the smaller room, where the ghost was in the habit of putting in his appearance. At the same time, the unbelieving remained in the other room, pushing, shoving, straining to get a glimpse of the select and to see the ghost, should it become visible to the ordinary human eyes.
The members of the circle opened the meeting by singing “In that land, that happy, happy land,” “In the Sweet Bye and Bye,” and several other familiar hymns. Rev. Kelly then uttered a prayer which lasted for more than fifteen minutes, after which “When the Roll is Called up Yonder” and several other old-time favorites were sung, the words being read from a muchly used and badly soiled book by Rev. Sanders with the aid of the light from the one small lamp, which was left burning in the house, the light in the other room, having gone out because of a lack of oil, and through no fault of the ghost as some were to believe.
The crowd in the front room and those standing in the rain on the outside looking into the windows kept up such a racket that no ghost with a grain of self-respect would ever think of showing itself. After an hour’s session, the Rescue Mission members brought their meeting to a close upon the woman of the house, announcing that she was getting sick from the heat and must get out into the air.
Before closing the doors of the house, Rev. Kier expressed himself hilltrong terms concerning how the unbelieving had conducted themselves, and Mrs. Price said that if they did not behave themselves better hereafter, she would have the “law on them.”
Under the circumstances, she would have a perfect right to do so, as the conduct of several who attended the meeting was certainly not conducive to giving the ghost a very high opinion of the brains of the inhabitants of the flesh and which would no doubt make it feel thankful that is was not necessary to associate with them unless it so elected of its own free will and accord.
Most people question the existence of ghosts, but to those who claim to have seen the one who is said to visit the Price home, there seems to be no shadow of a doubt of its being.
Those who claim they have seen the mysterious white object are Rev. Keir, his brother-in-law, C. O. Venerable, Miss Anna Howard, Mrs. Martha Price, Mrs. Ames, Mrs. Anna West, Mr. & Mrs. Lunsford, and others. Their ideas of what the ghost looks like do not all agree, yet they are unanimous in saying that they have seen the strange thing.
Rev. Kier, the leader of the flock, is very positive that he has seen the spirit messenger. He is an ex-slave eabout seventy-five years, and of strong religious belbeliefsith many interpretations peculiar to himself upon the meaning of certain portions of the Gospel.
When seen by an Irontonian reporter Wednesday afternoon, the aged pastor readily consented to talk about the ghost. He said that he had undoubtedly seen it and felt its presence, as also had several others whom he named. He says the spirit came right out of the floor Tuesdahillght, in the center of the room where there was not even a hole or crack.
At first, it could scarcely be seen, but it gradually assumed the shape of a human form without visible hands or feet. He said that just before the head could be formed on the neck of the spirit being, someone made a noise, and the form vanished as suddenly as it came. He said that just before the ghost disappeared, someone behind him gave him a push, and he put his hand before him to prevent his falling too suddenly against the strange visitor, but lo and behold, his hand shot past the white form as nothing there.
Rev. Kier said that he believes that the spirit is some well, meaning person for, as he expressed it, it was the “quietest and best behaved” ghost he had ever seen. He says that this is not the first ghost he has seen, for he was born with a veil over his face, which ensured him certain privileges not accorded to most men.
Rev. Kier says that he can always tell when a ghost is in the room, for the first becomes very hot, then a cold chill runs over his body, while his hair rises upon its ends, after which the ghost suddenly appears.
He says that everything is quiet, and the question is asked with, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” the ghost will answer any question we may ask them. He claims that he asked the ghost Tuesday night a question in due form and that it began to twist itself back and forth, as though it was going to reply when someone in the crowd made the noise which caused it to disappear.
When asked how the ghost looked, it came through the floor. He likened its manner of coming up out of nothing to the effervescence of soda upon which vinegar had been poured without the sixon.
Rev Kier is well posted upon the ghost lore, and he told the reporter many strange and interesting stories and these mysterious visitors from the unknown world.
He says that he will continue his meetings in the old log house until he can see the ghost again and talk with it and find out, if possible, what its reason is for coming back to earth.
SOURCE: Ironton Register, August 23, 1907
SPOOK
Rendezvous is Being Removed.
The spooks, which formerly communicated with Rev. Kier and his followers, will now have to seek a new place of habitation as their rendezvous in the old log house on Quincy street, near Seventh, is being torn down, and the logs removed near the hill, where they will be used for constructing another house.
John McDowell, colored, is supervising the razing of the spook headquarters and apparently is doing the work without fear. Still, then, he is working during the day, and spooks never appear until after the shades of night have fallen.
It remains to be seen what revenge the ghosts will take on McDowell for his disturbing their place of meeting.
SOURCE: Semi-Weekly Irontonian, January 22, 1909
REAL GHOST AT MILLERSPORT
Frightens the People of that Town. Presence Cannot be Explained.
It is putting it mildly to say that the town of Millersport, Ohio, was shocked one-day last week by the appearance of a ghost in that little village, says the Huntington Advertiser.
The spirit first made itself known by making a slight noise like someone waking over a hard floor and attracted the attention of Thos. Baker, who was cutting weeds for his hogs in an adjoining lot.
The supernatural phenomenon appeared in the old McCown property, which stands on a slight rise next to the hill at the upper end of the town, in a less inhabited district.
Baker was in a lot adjoining the property, which has not been inhabited for some time, when he heard a slight noise as if someone was walking in the old house. This was of such an uncanny nature that it alarmed him, and gathering up his weeds, he left the place and went down into the town, where he told his story, much to the dismay of the neighbors.
Finally, when their curiosity got the better of a half hundred boys and girls, they decided to raid the spot and ascertain the cause of the mysterious noises. So they put out at once with the strong-hearted ones in the lead and those not so curious bringing up the rear and altogether presenting a rather formidable appearance to Mr. Ghost, had he come out to do them battle, as no doubt some of the younger once believed he would do.
With cautious step,hat some of the larger ones proceeded to steal up to the window. Scarcely could they believe their eyes when a figure clad in white appeared before them and standing in the center of the floor with folded arms?
With ghastly faces, they looked on in dismay for several moments without being able to speak, but finally, regaining their senses, they turned away their blanched faces and beckoned their less curious mates to come and gaze on the scene.
Several of the younger ones and some girls advanced to the open window to gaze spellbound upon the frightful object with abject terror. One of the little girls fainted several times before they could get her back home, and finally, the whole party fled in terror from the weird place.
The strange appearance is causing considerable excitement and comments in that peaceful little hamlet, where the quiet atmosphere is seldom stirred with anything out of the ordinary routine of daily life in a small town.
The spot on which the strange presentiment appeared was the old McCown property in the east end of town. No one has lived there in the house during the last three months. Previous to that time, Mrs. James Null resided there, and after her death, which was about three months ago, no one has moved into it.
Shortly before Mrs. Null’s death, her son,, a regular army soldier, obtained a release and started home on a furlough but was suffocated by the escape of gas in an Indiana hotel and was shipped there for burial. Mr. Null has been dead for about four years, and the death of Mrs. Null broke up the family, and as a purely a matter of circumstances, no one has moved into the house since.
SOURCE: Ironton Register, June 15, 1905.
A HUNT FOR THE DEVIL
SOURCE: Ironton Register, February 27, 1875
Mr. C., a reliable man, saw a few nights ago what he was suhilled to be the Devil, standing on his hind legs covered with hair. His devil ship viewed Mr. C. with an eye of scrutiny but made no effort to take him where ‘the worm dieth not.’ But early this morning, a gentleman who lives on this Furnace ground arose at 4:30, ate his breakfast, saddled his ass, and started for Mt. Vernon Furnace.
After riding some distance, and the sun having dispersed into darkness, our friend could see all around him. He found himself near the spot where Mr. C. had seen the hairy monster, and the first thing that met our friend’s eye was the said devil, but he was not erect this time but had assumed a talk which penetrated space horizontally.
He was jumping brush .. who had drawn rein to look at him by this time. They eyed each other ferociously. But our friend failed to subdue him by the power of his eye, turned his mule about, and by cogent and incessant thumps against the animal’s sides, which his pedal extremities, succeeded in gaining the brow of the hill, where he could shout to the inhabitants below.
He hill, “Tell the Manager to collect a force and come quickly, for I have seen that thing!” A gentleman heard the shout and ‘shot off’ his mouth once or twice and then followed as intense excitement as accompanied the intelligence that Poplar Flat was burning up. Within minutes, forty or fifty men left the breakfast table, snatching guns and revolvers, calling dogs and pups, and in five minutes more, they were scouring the hills and ravines between Buckhorn and Vernon Furnaces in search of “him that goeth around roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” The chase continued for about three hours when the dogs happened to chase the ‘critter’ near a little boy who at once recognized it as a fox. But those who trampled the bushes and green briers down in hot pursuit will tell you that it was that thing.
OBSERVED
Buckhorn Furnace, Feb. 20, 1875
The “Devil,” which a Buckhorn Furnace correspondent wrote about two weeks ago, was seen by a Long Creek gentleman as the latter was riding home one-day last week. The locality in which the strange creature was seen was the neighborhood of Vesuvius Furnace.
As the gentleman was riding along the road, it came out from the bushes but disappeared so suddenly that our informant did not sufficiently recover from his consternation to get a good look at it. A thin body, low squatty legs, and a long black tail were all he could distinguish, but it was altogether unlike any animal he ever saw before. We hope to have an accurate description of this interloper someday.
SOURCE: Ironton Register, March 11, 1875
LEVI’S GHOST
Levi Adams tells a strange tale of a midnight interview from which he has scarcely yet recovered his usual equanimity. Last Friday night, after he had retired to his accustomed bunk in the office of Davis’ livery stable and was closing his weary lids for peaceful repose, a mysterious rap was sounded on the office door. He dressed and went out and found there a lady.
She was nicely dressed, had on a gold watch and chain, wore a fine cloak, and bore every evidence of respectability. When Levi appeared, she asked, “Are you the night watchman here?” “Yes,” replied Levi. “Have you got a light?” “Yes.” “Will you bring it and follow me?”
Levi began to grow nervous but answered again in the affirmative and followed the mysterious stranger. She walked down around the stable to the rear wall and, taking off her kid gloves, felt all along the bricks inside and outside the door. Meantime Levi’s wonder multiplied, and he felt overwhelmed by the strange affair.
Finally, he burst out in an emphatic interrogation, decorating his question with a little profanity. At that thought, the woman instantly turned and raised a warning hand. “Be careful, sire,” she said, “I’m a lady.” Levi was subdued, devilhe went on, “Twelve years ago, a man who hired a horse and buggy at this stable concealed some rare valuables behind a brick in this wall.
They are here yet, wrapped in a blue silk handkerchief, and the brick is marked with an X made with a shoe buttoner.” Levi listened with an astounded gaze as the woman spoke calmly. “You were here then,” she concluded. “No, I wasn’t,” said Levi. “I’ve only been here six months.”
Then the visitor turned on him again and, with a confident expression, exclaimed, “You’ve been here fourteen years.” That was the truth, whicdevili, in the increasing wonderment of the scene, dared not to deny. She saw his unmistakable fear and begged to assure him of her peaceable intentions.
Still, Levi felt very uncomfortable and told the woman he would not stay there any longer. So the strange visitor left, saying, however, that she would be back again solemnly warning Levi that silence on his part would prove advisable. But Levi hopes she won’t rehill.
SOURCE: Ironton Register, December 4, 1884
A SENSATION LOST
Monday morning, a rumor was on the streets to the effect that at a house in East Ironton, a ghost had been seen, and a grave, supposed to be on the property of the said ghost, was being opened under the house. Several persons visited the premises in question in search of the solution to the rumor. Sure enough, a hole was found under the house, much in the semblance of a grave, and in the bottom of it, a box, and expectation was raised to the highest pitch.
The box was finally opened and pronounced a part of an old drain! Though some are inclined to dispute that and say there is more of a mystery to unravel. The story of the ghost is due to some talk of one of the little girls of the family, who says at times she sees the form of a baby, which disappears through the floor in her attempts to catch it.
As this has been unseen by the eyes of others, we presume it was continued so. As usual in such cases, there are rumors of ‘things having been seen and heard in and about the old house by former inhabitants.’ But till we hear of a veritable ghost having been caught there, we shall forbear to say more about the subject.
SOURCE: Ironton Weekly Journal, January 31, 1972
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