Exploring Creepy Places in Ohio with Occasionally Eerie

This post is a little different than the others. I teamed up with Occasionally Eerie, who make paranormal passports for every state. Here, I’m going to feature each of the locations in their Ohio Paranormal Passport.

Those locations (and one cryptid) are the Ohio State Reformatory, Hocking Hills State Park, Fairfield County Infirmary, the Loveland Frogman, the historic Licking County Jail, the Lafayette Hotel, the Historic Prospect Place Estate, and the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft.

Let’s go over them, one at a time.

The Ohio State Reformatory

Mansfield, Ohio

The Ohio State Reformatory, also known as the Mansfield Reformatory, is instantly recognizable. Not only is it the setting for the movie The Shawshank Redemption, but it’s appeared on numerous ghost hunting shows. The Romanesque structure was built between 1886 and 1910 and stayed operational until 1990. Over the years, many prison riots, deaths, and other things contributed to its spooky allure.

Ghosts are plentiful at the Ohio State Reformatory if the stories are true. All of those professional ghost hunters weren’t wrong about the place. The turmoil of thousands of convicted felons kept in close quarters imprinted on the building, leaving it one of the most haunted places in the state.

Hocking Hills State Park

Logan, Ohio

From the Adena people thousands of years ago until the early 19th century, the area that is now Hocking Hills State Park consisted of Native American land. The Wyandot, Shawnee, and Delaware tribes all lived amongst the trees, caverns, and creeks that were formed around 10,000 years ago when the Wisconsin Glacier receded. The park itself was officially founded in 1915 with the passing of the State Forest Law. Now, Hocking Hills State Park is known for its walking trails, beautiful scenery, cool caverns, and, of course, its ghost sightings.

There are three main ghost stories surrounding Hocking Hills State Park. The first is the Moonville Tunnel, which once held train tracks connecting the tiny coal mining town of Moonville with the rest of the world. Supposedly, a train crashed near the tunnel, killing the engineer. His spirit haunts the tunnel to this day. Other ghosts, like the Pale Lady of Ash Cave and Retzler of Old Man’s Cave, appear on the trials and hike alongside living humans.

Fairfield County Infirmary

Lancaster, Ohio

Infirmary, poorhouse, asylum… all of these words apply to the Fairfield County Infirmary, which housed people who were sick, poor, mentally ill, addicted, or suffering from some other ailment that prevented them from being out in society. This infirmary opened in 1840, having been built on the site of the previous wood-structured Fairfield County Infirmary.

The “dungeon” in the basement housed the more troublesome residents, who, like those in the other wings, went without indoor plumbing until 1926 and electricity until 1956. Of course, the lack of amenities was nothing compared to the treatment of residents all of the way up to 1985 when the building was abandoned.

As you can guess, almost a century and a half of mistreatment and, in some cases, blatant, outright torture led a number of spirits who stuck around. The most common ghosts spotted include Willy, a lost-looking man who wanders the upper floors, and Susie, a small girl who pops up around the morgue and former offices. Other than visible spirits, visitors have reported hearing multiple disembodied voices, slamming doors, having creepy feelings, and running into cold spots.

The Loveland Frogman

Loveland, Ohio

The Loveland Frogman is a cryptid that’s so popular that the residents of Loveland, Ohio, officially made it their mascot. The tale started in 1955 when Robert Hunnicott spotted a trio of four-foot-tall frogs walking upright on the outskirts of town. He told others that the frogmen had grey, leathery skin, no hair, and webbed “hands and feet.”

The story stuck around, becoming a local legend, until 1972 when a police officer spotted a frogman. It ran right in front of his car. As he stopped to avoid hitting it, the frogman stood up on its hind legs, looked at him, and then jumped over the guardrail on the side of the road, ending up in the Ohio River. Two weeks later, another officer saw a frogman, bringing national attention to the city. There haven’t been any real documented sightings of it since.

The Historic Licking County Jail

Newark, Ohio

This particular iteration of the Licking County Jail (its fourth since the founding of the county) was built in 1889. The architect, Joseph Warren Yost, designed it using Richardson Romanesque elements like turrets and arched windows. He also added some whimsical elements that fit right in with the building’s creepy nature.

That was nothing, of course, compared to the people who were held inside the building for committing horrific crimes, like Laura Belle Devlin, the Handsaw Slayer. The 1910 lynching of an Anti-Saloon League of Ohio detective enhances the overall lore of the building.

As far as ghost stories are concerned, the Licking County Historical Jail includes the usual disembodied voices, slamming windows and doors, and shadow figures. However, there are also reports of people becoming incredibly dizzy and phone and camera batteries draining quickly or malfunctioning.

The Lafayette Hotel

Marietta, Ohio

After the first hotel in this location burned to the ground in 1916, the current version of the hotel took its place. Originally named the Bellevue Hotel, the Lafayette got its name from the Marquis de Lafayette of France, who visited Marietta back in 1825 while on a tour of the fledgling United States. The Lafayette is still a functioning hotel, making it a creepy yet elegantly appointed place to stay.

Over a century of business means that plenty of people have come and gone from the Lafayette, leaving behind their spirits. One of the haunted floors, the third, was the home of the Hoag family, who owned the hotel from 1931 to 1973. Several deceased members of the family are reportedly still around. Other ghostly tales involve a woman in Victorian clothing, missing food, doors closing on their own, and abrupt changes in shower water temperature.

Historic Prospect Place Estate

Trinway, Ohio

Prospect Place Estate has an interesting history. The structure, also called the Twinway Manson, was built by G. W. Adams, a staunch abolitionist. It operated as a stop on the Underground Railroad, helping escaped slaves get to freedom in Canada. Built in 1856, the mansion is one of the first in the area to have heated running water, thanks to a revolutionary, for the time, plumbing system.

The building was scheduled for demolition in 1988, but was saved by a member of the Longaberger family. Prospect Place Estate is now owned by the G. W. Adams Educational Center, Inc., who use it to teach others about local history.

As far as ghosts are concerned, the Prospect Place Estate is reportedly full of them. One, William Cox, the grandson of G.W. Cox, reportedly disappeared without a trace. His spirit is said to wander the building. In addition, the basement of the building was supposedly used as a makeshift morgue in the late 1800s when a nearby train collided with one stopped on the tracks, killing dozens. These two events alone (and there are others) explain the voices, cold spots in the basement, and apparitions viewed by visitors.

Buckland’s Museum of Witchcraft

Cleveland, Ohio

Raymond Buckland was a writer and an extremely influential person in the world of Wicca. He started his museum, Buckland’s Museum of Witchcraft, back in 1966. The museum bounced around a bit, starting in New York before moving to (in order) New Hampshire, Virginia (where the collection spent 20 years in storage, and New Orleans, finally ending up in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2015.

Buckland’s Museum of Witchcraft reflects several things, including Raymond Buckland’s writings, viewing Wicca and witchcraft from an anthropological perspective. Some of the artifacts on display are from this part of his collection, while others consist of haunted or cursed objects. Thankfully, you can buy protective stones in the gift shop.