The Red Brick Times

Tiedemann Castle -
For years, this Gothic mansion has been famously haunted. You name it, the house has it. Gray mist floats through the upper floors, accompanied by heavy footsteps from an unseen source; a baby's cries echo through the halls though no children reside there; doors fly off their hinges, lights turn off and on, mirrors mysteriously fog up and chandeliers twist and turn of their own accord. The spectre of a woman dressed in black has been seen to peer out from a small window in the front tower -- though the room was known to be empty. Two families have moved on account of the mansion's ghostly tenants, though the current brave owner has dwelled with them for 20 years.
Source: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places.' Penguin Books, 1996


Ashtabula Train Disaster-
An hour outside of Cleveland, Ashtabula is the location of one of the worst -- and first -- train disasters in the continental United States. On December 29, 1876 the Pacific Express was making its evening run, carrying an estimated 160 passengers and crew. The train started across the bridge, spanned its length, but as the first engine reached the other side the bridge collapsed. The rest of the train plummeted 75 feet into the freezing river. An estimated 92 men, women and children died that night -- most not from the train's impact at the bottom of the ravine, but by burning to death: the oil stoves and lamps inside the crushed cars burst into flame on impact. Town firefighters and good Samaritans arrived quickly on the scene, but were ill-equipped to deal with a disaster of this magnitude... rescue attempts were useless. 25 of the victims were burned beyond recognition, and were quickly buried in a mass grave in nearby Chestnut Grove Cemetery. Bridge Engineer Charles Collins testified before a Grand Jury convened to investigate the disaster, then went home and shot himself in the head - his crypt is located just feet from the mass grave. Amasa Stone, the bridge designer and architect, would also take his own life just a few years later.

The mass grave in Chestnut Grove Cemetery that holds the unrecognizable victims of the train disaster is marked by a stark granite obelisk, and Collins' more ornate gothic crypt is nearby. Both, when photographed, manifest a burned appearance once the film is developed and printed. Reports of wraiths near here are many... witnesses mention families dressed in period dress -- always warm winter clothes -- wandering together, often carrying carpetbags and baskets. Screams are heard late at night, many visitors say a charred odor pervades the grounds and near Collins' crypt a man can be seen weeping bitterly, crying out over and over, I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.'
Sources: www.deadohio.com; www.railroadextra.com.


The Satanic Church:
Mater Dolorosa Church in Cuyahoga County is widely known as 'the Satanic Church.' The small gothic structure, a center for Irish-Catholic worship, is distinguished by a number of upside crosses worked into the building's design that have given rise to the legend that the church is a center for satanic worship and that all manner of devilish doings go on here late in the night. In truth the inverted cross is symbolic of the Apostle Peter, who was martyred by crucifixion: when facing his death Peter requested to be crucified upside-down, feeling that he was unworthy to die in the manner of Christ. It is a long-honored symbol of the Catholic Church, referential to both Peter's humility and his stature as the first Pope of the Church. The plain truth isn't half as interesting as devilish rumors, but here's a little something to keep the goosebumps coming...

Just a scant two miles from Mater Dolorosa is the church cemetery, which makes all visitors uneasy: falling down headstones, rusty iron fences, graves dating back to 1799. Check out the marker of Michael Raleigh (d. 1874), and look just to the right of his name: a ghoulish face can be seen glaring out of the stone. Witnesses mention pale figures flitting through the graveyard, and chill winds blowing through on the warmest of summer days.
Sources: www.deadohio.com; www.americancatholic.org.


The Ghosts of Esther Hale -
On August 12th of 1837 pretty young Esther Hale was preparing for her wedding. In her cabin near Beaver Creek she primped and prettified, donning the new wedding dress she had stitched herself. Finally ready, she sat down to wait... and wait she did. Her feckless groom never appeared, effectively abandoning the young woman at the altar. Days later, concerned friends came to check on her... they found a near catatonic Esther sitting in her wedding finery. Urging her to change and leave her cabin, she demanded that they leave her alone -- and finally they did. That winter Esther's badly decomposed body was found in her cabin... still wearing her wedding gown; apparently she starved herself to death. She was buried as she was found, in her filthy and tattered white wedding dress.

Each August 12th reports trickle in of a horrific phantom -- a decaying corpse, clad in a tattered white dress lurking on the bridge that spans Beaver Creek near Esther's Cabin. She lunges at cars and screams unintelligibly... local legend has it that if she is able to touch a living human, that Esther will immediately grown young and beautiful again, even as her victim withers and dies.
Source: www.ghostsofohio.org.

All to be found at the Digital City Cleveland Ghost Stories site. Happy Halloween!
Posted 9:37 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

A bit of seasonal history is just the thing for a "dark and stormy night". There was never a burning orphanage massacre on Gore Orphanage Road, but that has never stopped people from thrilling themselves with shivery speculation. A short article at the Spirit Seekers of Ohio site tells an interesting tale. Remember that a "gore" is a tapering piece of land (like a triangle), or in seamery, a tapering piece of cloth or canvas used to shape a garment or sail.

Another site relates more traditional apocrypha, and includes old photos of the private residence that used to stand on the site. Forgotten Ohio details a visit to the site by the writer and his friends "Hoss, Elvis and Redneck" from Toledo. The second site includes links to the first and to others relating to legends of Gore Orphanage Road.
Posted 9:54 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Ahem. Er, excuse me, but...BOO!
From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night, Robert Burns deliver us.
Or you can immerse yourself at the Halloween dot com website. Includes links to things about the season, including Ghosts and Haunting.
Posted 7:49 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

OK. Here's the deal. I want to know the best way to send delicious foodstuffs in good condition to various places around the universe. So, whether you are losing weight or gaining blessings or sitting astride the fence, I want to use the blooming lot of you as lab rats (don't want to insult you by calling you guinea pigs). What do you get? Free homemade cookies of different types and flavors and condiments. What do I get? Detailed feeback about how crumby things arrived and also your responses to the product itself. I have been stuffing my co-workers every Tuesday for the past month with the results of Betsy and my experiments in the higher forms of cookiesteinian research. Nobody has called in dead, or even a little ill, so it is mostly harmless. Anybody wanna play?
Posted 5:01 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

I see that a young landy with the last name of Syrowski was crowned homecoming queen at Elyria High's Homecoming last week. What an honor for the niece of Michael and Mary Ann. Hey, how are you guys doing, anyway?
Posted 12:01 PM by Sally D. 0 comments

Do you feel the threat in the air? Is "fall" more than a season to you? Well, Chicken Little, you can stay informed and sleep secure knowing that you have the Homeland Security Status Indicator Night Light to illuminate your forays to the bathroom. Don't be left in the dark! Get yours today!
Posted 10:02 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments