By now, you've likely heard about (and maybe even explored) the Ohio State Reformatory and the former Athens Lunatic Asylum (now known as The Ridges.) But there are several other little-known places in Ohio with hauntings and creepy histories that will also chill you to the bone. From abandon tunnels and bridges to hidden cemeteries and ghost towns, here are 11 haunted, off-the-beaten-path places in Ohio. Check them out for yourself—if you dare.
1. Haydenville Tunnel
The small town of Haydenville in Hocking County was once a booming mining and manufacturing town. Today, very few remnants of its past still exist. In the late 1800s, Peter Hayden's Mining and Manufacturing Company was once a thriving industry for the town. Today, the town's abandoned tunnel is rumored to be haunted by ghosts of former workers. For more information click here.
2. Walhalla Road
Within a unique geographical niche in north Columbus winds Walhalla Road, where it is said that passerby are haunted by a man who killed his wife before committing suicide beneath the road's bridge.
3. Molly Stark Hospital
What was once the Molly Stark Mental Hospital in Louisville, Ohio is now a long-forgotten facility with decaying structures, lonely hallways and a restless spirit or two—or so some speculate. Today, the surrounding grounds are a public park, and the asbestos filled facility is rumored to be slated for demolition. (Trespassing is prohibited.) For more information click here.
4. Jaite Railroad Bridge
What was once the town of Jaite is now just a lone abandoned railroad bridge. The Jaite Paper Mill, which opened in the early 1900s, closed in 1948. Many of the residents left, and today the town of Jaite also sits in the middle of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Former paper mill workers and residents of the town are thought to haunt the bridge.
5. Moonville Tunnel
Little remains of the abandoned coal mining town of Moonville except for a few foundations, a nearby cemetery and an old railroad tunnel—a tunnel supposedly haunted by ghosts of locals who died from being struck by passing trains. For more information click here.
6. Cry Baby Bridge
The Egypt Road "Cry Baby Bridge" (pictured) isn't actually located on Egypt Road, but on an old, unusual road right off of Egypt Road in Salem near the Mahoning County line. This road and bridge is associated with a couple who once lost their child along this road while stopped at the bridge. Some say the child drowned beneath the bridge, while others say it just wandered off. Whatever the story, many say you can still hear the child's cries at night.
7. Lima Tuberculosis Hospital
Hidden behind a small neighborhood on Lima’s far west side sits the abandoned Lima Tuberculosis Hospital—a structure nature is steadily reclaiming. oday, the building is rumored to be haunted by patients who died there. Ghost hunters and other urban explorers claim that ghosts of patients past wander the halls and hospital grounds at night. (Trespassers are prohibited.) For more information click here.
8. Mount Union-Pleasant Valley Cemetery
This off-the-beaten-path, rural cemetery is home to the infamous "Elizabeth's grave." Few people take this road less traveled, unless they are in search of this particular grave's headstone, which supposedly moves itself to the front of the cemetery after visitors move it to the back. (There is also some dispute about which headstone is the legendary "Elizabeth's grave," which is often spelled as "Elisabeth." There are two Liz's in the cemetery with detached headstones, one of which is pictured above.) Regardless, Elizabeth is said to haunt the cemetery because she hung herself from a tree in the area—and is likely unhappy with visitors moving her headstone. (To find the cemetery, follow Union Lane off of Egypt Pike in Chillicothe, which turns into a left turn that passes a residential area. After you pass the blue water tower on the right, the road will turn into gravel and the cemetery will be up ahead on the left where the road dead-ends.)
9. Schrader Road Tunnel
Part of this road, located in Chillicothe, goes through a railroad tunnel where you can supposedly hear a baby crying if you drive through the tunnel at night with your lights off and windows down. (Something I will not try, thank you very much.)
10. Buckley Road
If you take Route 732 north out of Oxford and turn left onto the country road Buckley Rd. at night, you might encounter the "Phantom Motorcyclist," who was struck by a car and decapitated one night after alcohol impaired his motor skills and he crashed headlong into a barbed-wire fence. For more information click here.
11. Cincinnati's abandoned subway
Not many people are aware of the dark, lonely and long-forgotten subway beneath the streets of Cincinnati—the country’s longest abandoned subway system that never transported a single individual. Today, the empty stations and eerie tunnels are visited only by brave urban explorers and city workers assigned to their upkeep. Some explorers and workers have reported seeing strange things in the tunnels—and what may be the ghosts of workers who lost their lives building the subway. For more information click here.
Have you explored any of these haunted places before? What other little-known haunted places are there in Ohio?
For more creepy, well-known places in Ohio, check out our previous article, The 10 Most Disturbing Places You Can Possibly Go In Ohio — They’ll Terrify You.
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