By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
With the lights dimmed, cynics and believers alike listened to stories of haunted country roads, unexplained ghostly figures, and unearthly eerie creatures.
Cartographer Jeff Craig, a skeptic himself about many mysteries, shared his “Hidden Ohio” map and guide on Saturday in Bowling Green. The map lists 300 sites of hauntings, paranormal activity, and strange beings in the heartland state.
Though many of the mysteries remain unsolved, there seem to be a few unwritten truths about hauntings, Craig explained.
First, nearly every county in Ohio has its own “crybaby lane.”
Second, anyone who dies through decapitation is almost certainly destined to haunt the area.
And third, the incidents of circus train crashes – unleashing strange creatures into the wild – were uncommonly frequent during the last century.
In introducing Craig, Bowling Green Natural Resources Coordinator Chris Gajewicz confessed to a prior belief that Ohio lacked much paranormal activity.
“Nothing ever happens in Ohio,” he said. Then Gajewicz saw the huge “Hidden Ohio” map.
“We live in one weird state,” he said of his revised opinion.
Just in this area, there are stories of a “wild man” escaped from a circus who hid in St. John’s Woods, a ghost in a BGSU sorority house, the Defiance werewolf, and the local “crybaby lane” on Euler Road.
Before Netflix, oral storytelling carried these creepy tales through decades.
Dressed in his “Bigfoot” T-shirt, Craig said his interest in the paranormal began as a child when he watched “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy, and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Now he carries on those spooky stories with his map and guide focusing on UFO sightings, strange creatures, haunted locations, and sacred geography.
“I could certainly fill up the map with UFO sightings,” he said.
For example, in 1948, a farmer reported seeing a domed hovering craft over his farm at 2 a.m. “He didn’t say anything to anyone for a long time because he didn’t want people to think he was crazy,” Craig said.
In 1966, two police officers spotted a UFO around 5 a.m., and started a chase in their squad car. The object emitted a light so bright it was like a flashbulb, and made their eyes water. They followed the UFO to the Pennsylvania border, then were ordered to turn back.
“These guys were ridiculed,” with one officer finally quitting the force. Years later, he still stood by his story. “He said he wished he’d never seen it. It ruined his life,” Craig said.
Strange creatures spotted in Ohio include the hairy ape-like Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, Yeti or the Boggy Creek Creature. The “Hidden Ohio” map includes Bigfoot sightings, with more reported in eastern and southern Ohio. An annual Bigfoot conference is held annually at Salt Fork State Park Lodge.
Then there is Mothman. “He’s one of my favorites,” Craig said.
This grayish man-like winged creature with glowing red eyes was reported first in 1966 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. He was later spotted in Ohio, with several sworn affidavits submitted from those who saw him. The last time Mothman was seen was in 1967, right before a bridge over the Ohio River collapsed, killing 46 people.
Point Pleasant holds an annual Mothman Festival, complete with “rides, tacos in a bag and speakers,” Craig said. The town also has a Mothman Museum and statue of the creature in the town square.
Other odd creatures reported in Ohio include phantom kangaroos and panthers, and a Lake Erie monster named Bessie. “Any big body of water has strange things,” Craig said.
Sacred geography identified on Craig’s map includes the Great Serpent Mound, which is the largest effigy mound in the world, he said. The 1,348-foot long snake mound has its head aligned to the summer solstice sunset, and its tail to the winter solstice sunrise.
The “hauntings” category on the map lists strange happenings in huge settings like the “Green Ghost” in Cincinnati’s largest skyscraper, to more private hauntings like small “crybaby” bridges.
Tours are offered at several of the sites, like the Mansfield Reformatory, where “Shawshank Redemption” was filmed. Overnight stays can be scheduled for the brave of heart.
There are Haunted Heartland Tours and paranormal investigative groups. Craig suggested that tourists stock up on ghost hunting tools first – like maps, flashlights, video infrared cameras, voice recorders and, of course, extra batteries.
The Moonville Tunnel, in the Zaleski State Forest in southeastern Ohio, is supposedly haunted by a railroad worker who in 1850 fell off the train in the tunnel and was beheaded by the train.
“He is still looking for his head and he carries a lantern,” Craig said. “If you are beheaded, the chances of becoming a ghost are high.”
Craig recommended a visit to the tunnel, with detailed directions to this and all the sites on the back of the “Hidden Ohio” map. He cautioned, however, about the “spicy graffiti” on the walls of the tunnel.
“This is my favorite spot,” he said.
Athens, Ohio, has been named one of the top 10 haunted places in the world, according to a British paranormal organization, Craig said.
There’s an old mental hospital, and a university hall with reported bloody walls, cold spots and demonic faces on doors. There are five cemeteries surrounding the city, which create the shape of a pentagram. One cemetery has rope marks on a tree where innocent victims were hung, he said.
Near Sandusky, the site of a former orphanage burned down in the 1800s is reportedly haunted, with screams being heard at night, and handprints showing up on the windows of cars that stop near there.
In Dayton, a cemetery is haunted by the dog of young Johnny Morehouse, who drowned in icy water. The dog refused to leave the gravesite, and the monument was carved to show Johnny and his loyal dog.
A confederate cemetery in Columbus is said to be haunted by the “Lady in Gray” who walks between the gravestones.
In Wood County, the map identifies “haunted” sites on Holcomb Road, Potter Road, Euler Road, Fort Meigs, a Pemberville UFO sighting, and the grisly Mary Bach’s fingers at the county historical society.
More on the “Hidden Ohio” map can be viewed at www.CelticMaps.com, or www.facebook.com/HiddenOhio.
