FRANKLIN CASTLE--THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN OHIO?

For years, the gothic mansion known as "Franklin Castle" has been called the most haunted house in Ohio. During its long and strange history, the ghost stories have become an integral part of the lore. For years, tales have been told of doors that explode off their hinges, lights that spin on their own, electric circuits that behave erratically, the inexplicable sounds of a baby crying and even a woman in black who has been seen staring forlornly from a tiny window in the front tower room.

There are many ghosts here, the legends say. But what dark deeds caused this house to become so haunted? Are the stories of the murders committed here actually true, or the stuff of legend?

Franklin Castle is an eerie structure of dark and foreboding stone that has long been considered a spooky place by architects and the general public alike. There are over thirty rooms in the castle's four stories and the roof is designed in steep gables that give the place its gothic air. Secret passages honeycomb the house and sliding panels hide the doorways to these hidden corridors. It is said that a thirteen-year-old girl was once murdered in one of these hallways by her uncle because he believed her to be insane. In the front tower, it is told that a bloody ax murder once took place and it was here that one of the former owners found a secret cabinet that contained human bones. The Deputy coroner of Cleveland, Dr. Lester Adelson, who examined the bones shortly after they were found in January 1975, judged them to be of someone who had been dead for a very, very long time. Did they date back to the years of the original owners of the house?

( Keep going... )

GHOSTS OF ATHENS--The most haunted town in Ohio

If there is any town that might qualify as the most haunted place in Ohio, it would probably be Athens, a sleepy community in the southeastern part of the state. Besides being home to the Ohio University, it is also nestled into the Appalachian Mountains, which for centuries has been considered a region of magic and ghostly folklore. There are many stories to Athens -- and many ghosts.

( Skeered yet? )

Bad, bad Lizzie Borden

Lizzie Borden Took An Ax

The day is stiflingly hot, over one hundred degrees, even though it is not yet noon. The elderly man, still in his heavy morning coat, reclines on a mohair-covered sofa, his boots on the floor so as not to soil the upholstery. As he naps in the August heat, his wife is on the floor of the guestroom upstairs, dead for the past hour and a half, killed by the same hand, with the same weapon, that is about to strike him, as he sleeps.

"... one of the most dastardly and diabolical crimes that was ever committed in Massachusetts... Who could have done such an act? In the quiet of the home, in the broad daylight of an August day, on the street of a popular city, with houses within a stone's throw, nay, almost touching, who could have done it?

"Inspection of the victims discloses that Mrs. Borden had been slain by the use of some sharp and terrible instrument, inflicting upon her head eighteen blows, thirteen of them crushing through the skull; and below stairs, lying upon the sofa, was Mr. Borden's dead and mutilated body, with eleven strokes upon the head, four of them crushing the skull."

(From the closing arguments for the defense of Lizzie Borden, made by her principal attorney, George D. Robinson.)

Lizzie Borden (AP)

( Caught your attention yet? )

[

Inside

|

Excited, Very Excited.

]

Well, it's official--I've made up my mind. I'm going back to school to get my Bachelor's. I'm thinking either Social Science/Sociology or Criminology.

About The Ridges
Opening its doors, the Athens Lunatic Asylum welcomed its first patient in 1874. This state-of-the-art mental hospital was based on the design of renowned architect Thomas Kirkbride and embraced the current societal trends toward institutionalizing the insane. The hospital began as a type of long- term care for those not easily accepted or able to function in society. The typical meaning of “asylum” at the time was a safe haven with little likelihood of departure.

( Keep on reading... )