State file · OH
Haunted places in Ohio
What are the most haunted places in Ohio? The best-known are Ohio State Reformatory, Franklin Castle, Moonville Tunnel and The Ridges (Athens Lunatic Asylum).
Ohio has some of the most visited haunted places in America, and nearly all of them are rooted in its 19th-century boom: canal and railroad towns, Gilded Age mansions in Cleveland and Cincinnati, and the vast state institutions – prisons and asylums – that the young state built to reform and care for its citizens. When those institutions closed in the late 20th century, they left enormous empty buildings and long, painful histories, and the ghost stories followed.
- 4 hauntings
- 12 recorded sightings
- 1 news story
Haunted places in Ohio
Ohio State Reformatory
The castle-like Mansfield prison that held inmates from 1896 to 1990 and played Shawshank – now one of America’s busiest ghost-hunting venues. Widely reported
Franklin Castle
A turreted 1883 Cleveland mansion dubbed Ohio’s most haunted house, though its tales of murdered children and hidden bones fall apart against the record. Hoax / debunked
Moonville Tunnel
An old railroad tunnel deep in the Ohio woods, all that is left of the mining town of Moonville – and home to a lantern-swinging ghost on the tracks. Regional legend
The Ridges (Athens Lunatic Asylum)
A Kirkbride asylum that cared for patients from 1874 to 1993, now part of Ohio University – known for a patient’s sad death and the stain she left. Regional legendThe ghost lore of Ohio
The state also has deep roots in American Spiritualism. In the 1850s the Koons family of Athens County built a “spirit room” on Mount Nebo where visitors from across the country came to hear séance music, and Athens remains one of Ohio’s great ghost towns, with The Ridges and the Moonville Tunnel nearby. In Cleveland, Franklin Castle shows how a family’s ordinary griefs can be turned into lurid legend.
Ghost hunters head first for the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, which runs ghost walks and public hunts almost year-round, then to the southeastern hills around Athens and Hocking County. Many famous sites are private homes, active campuses or closed buildings: take the official tours, and stay out of abandoned property.
Ghost-hunting hotspots
- Athens and Mount Nebo
The college town has The Ridges, old cemeteries and the site of the Koons family’s 1850s séance “spirit room,” all part of its Halloween lore.
- Cincinnati Music Hall
The 1878 concert hall stands on land used as a pauper’s cemetery from the 1832 cholera outbreak until 1857 – the root of its ghost stories.
- Camp Chase, Columbus
The Civil War prison camp’s Confederate cemetery is the setting of a long-told story of a veiled “Lady in Gray.”
- Prospect Place, Trinway
An 1856 mansion built by abolitionist George Adams, once a stop on the Underground Railroad, now known for its ghost tours.
- Hocking Hills
Sandstone gorges, caves and old railroad and mining towns in southeastern Ohio with many local legends.
Timeline
- 1930Ohio Penitentiary fire survivors Ohio State Reformatory
After a deadly fire in Columbus, 266 surviving inmates were moved to Mansfield and housed in the windowless West Attic.
- 1950Death of Helen Glattke Ohio State Reformatory
The warden’s wife died days after being struck by a bullet from a handgun that fell and discharged; the death was ruled accidental.
- 1968–1974The first ghost stories Franklin Castle
A new family living in the house said it was haunted and that they had been warned it was evil. Their claims launched the legend.
- 1975Bones in a closet Franklin Castle
Human bones were reported found in the house during the era of public ghost tours; they are widely thought to have been planted for publicity.
- December 1, 1978Margaret Schilling goes missing The Ridges (Athens Lunatic Asylum)
A 53-year-old patient disappeared from her ward. She was found more than six weeks later in a locked attic ward; The Post reported her discovery on January 12, 1979.
- 1988The rails come up Moonville Tunnel
After the line was abandoned, the track was removed; the railbed later became the Moonville Rail-Trail.
- December 1990The prison closes Ohio State Reformatory
A federal consent decree over overcrowding and conditions ended the reformatory’s use as a prison.
- 1993Shawshank is filmed Ohio State Reformatory
Frank Darabont shot most of The Shawshank Redemption at the empty reformatory, making it one of the most recognizable prisons in the world.
- 1993The hospital closes The Ridges (Athens Lunatic Asylum)
Patients and staff moved to a new psychiatric hospital, and the property was deeded to Ohio University.
- 1999Arson fire Franklin Castle
Shortly after a sale, an arsonist badly damaged the castle, and restoration has proceeded slowly since.
- 2008Science studies the stain The Ridges (Athens Lunatic Asylum)
Ohio University chemists published a forensic analysis showing the floor mark was a chemical residue of decomposition and cleaning agents.
- March 5, 2020Ghost Adventures episode Franklin Castle
The Travel Channel series investigated the house, following Paranormal Lockdown in 2016.
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