Eastside Haunted Places

Some material adapted from “A Haunted History Of Clermont County” by Richard Crawford

OWENSVILLE - VILLAGE HALL

Owensville’s Village Hall was built in 1859. The ghost in the Village Hall is called Nellie, although no one is really sure just who he or she is. Nellie makes noises like chairs being
moved around, shows up in the occasional photograph, and even helps keep the building clean!

BATAVIA NURSING HOME

We heard about this creepy place from a local ghost hunter. No matter who we talked to confirm the story we were either told nothing or a “no comment.” Rumor has it this once nursing home became so haunted it was shut down. I can testify to one thing. Go there and sit on the porch you won’t want to go inside. It’s crazy creepy.

WILLIAMSBURG HIGH SCHOOL

Williamsburg High School is haunted by numerous ghosts. The county’s last hanging tree was located where the library is. Three students jumped out of a third floor window. A janitor hung himself in the closet. A teacher shot herself on the third floor. Lights are seen moving through the school at night. The kids that attend school here have bigger problems than ADD to watch out for.

HELLS CHURCH BATAVIA
Off Kent Rd. there is a burned down building with only a chimney remaining. Some say the building was and still is a satanic temple. The building was struck by lightning during a ceremony years ago. Since then people claim it is still in use. The Batavia police and the sheriffs both claim to have “no knowledge” of it at all even though they have ran people out in the past. Strange they know “nothing at all.” Maybe they just don’t want you to know.
Satanist graffitti is sprayed on the guard rails at the entrance to the church’s path. EV spent hours tresspassing but still was unable to snap a photo.

PROMONT
MILFORD
Today, Promont house is a museum and headquarters for the Milford Area Historical Society. The mansion was completed in 1867 and at the time it was regarded as the finest house in Clermont County. It is located at 906 Main Street, Milford. From 1879-1906 it was the home of the 43rd Governor of Ohio, John M. Pattison. Pattison’s life is a story of numerous successes and achievements but the last few months bordered on the mysterious.
Pattison’s fatal illness may have been brought on by a strenuous campaign. It is believed his end began when he gave his inaugural address on Jan. 6 1906 outside the statehouse in Columbus. Governor Pattison already appeared frail and worn, from that day on he was ill throughout his entire short term as Governor.
It is believed Pattison sensed his approaching death. As he became weaker he said he felt he could regain his strength if he left the Governors mansion and returned home (to Promont). In April 1906 he left Columbus and was taken to Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. While there, he continued to weaken and asked to be taken to Promont. Pattison arrived at Promont in early June 1906 and with his family by his side he died in the mansion on June 18 1906. He was buried in the nearby Greenlawn Cemetery.
It is believed Pattison died in the master bedroom on the second floor. It is in this room on the second floor and on the stairs to the first floor that most of the unusual activities take place in Promont.
Footsteps have been heard on the stairs. Cabinets, shutters and doors open and close when no one else is there. There have been many reports of feeling a strange presence in the parlor and master bedroom.
John Pattison loved Promont from the first moments he viewed it on the hill. It is obvious he is still there overseeing the care taking of his beloved home. If he’s watching, he must certainly be pleased with the excellent work the Milford Area Historical Society has done to preserve his beloved Promont house.

STONELICK COVERED BRIDGE

Just off Stonelick Creek on Stonelick Williams Corner Rd. sets the Stonelick covered bridge. This place has been a popular late night attraction for years. Many teenagers (and adults) frequent the bridge in search of a paranormal experience. Nearby residents will make no comment on the history or facts surrounding the legend of this haunted bridge. In fact, almost nothing is publicly know about the circumstances in which the bridge began it’s infamous history. Whatever the facts may be they are obviously a dark secret known only to those with the inside scoop.
No-one knows exactly why the Stonelick covered bridge is haunted, or who it is haunted by. Yet the fact remains it is haunted. The legend says you should park on the bridge turn off your car and flash your lights 3 times, a hanging apparition will appear, and your car will not start, when it disappears your car will start again. Many have followed the legend and swear they will never return. One person interviewed said they followed the legend and their car did not start, suddenly headlights appeared directly behind them from a silent, previously unseen vehicle. Scared out of their wits they made repeated attempts to start the vehicle, finally it did start. When they started to pull away they noticed the headlights had disappeared ! Others have had similar incidents involving “ghost” vehicles that were not seen coming or going but had suddenly appeared behind them. In some cases witnesses testify to being chased at high speeds down the narrow back roads by a van with extremely bright lights for several hundred yards, then the vehicle simply vanishes. The bridge is situated close by an old haunted farmhouse which is now in ashes. Rumors are there is a satanic church nearby...it’s exact

POND RUN ROAD
NEW RICHMOND

A doctor and his wife lived on a hill that overlooked Pond Run Road which is west of the village of New Richmond. They had a son who was mentally disturbed. Rather than to allow him to leave the house or possibly injure himself or someone else, his parents occasionally shackled the child inside his home. One dark, rainy night the house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. The bodies of the adults were found. All that was found of the the young man was a hand that is believed had been severed by a sharp object allowing him to escape the burning house.
Within a few years teenagers began reporting hearing noises at night on the hill along Pond Run Road. They would find empty cans and packages of food and, thatched huts and hideaways in the hills.
Then killings began on Pond Run Road. The road was being used as a lover’s lane because of it’s seclusion. A young man heard scratching noises outside his car, then told his date to remain in the car and not get out until he returned. The young woman fell asleep and did not awaken until she heard pounding on her car door. A police officer asked her to step out of the car and follow him and not look back at the car. After several steps she turned and looked back. She began screaming hysterically after seeing her date lying across the roof of the car with blood oozing from the many holes poked in his body.
Another young couple heard the sound of scratching outside their car but knowing of the previous murders, they drove their car away immediately. When the couple got home, the young man stepped out of the automobile and went to her door to open it, he jumped back and almost collapsed when he saw a hook stuck in the handle of the door!
Other incidents have occurred. Those killed or injured were all stabbed with what seemed to be a sharp pointed object like an ice pick or a hook. There has been several occurrences of cars being chased by vans or greyhound buses. In one case the vehicle did not have a driver.
Occasionally their have been reports of automobile lights catching glints of the flash of something metallic among the trees along Pond Run Road. The flash is usually about three or four feet above the ground as if something is being held by someone. Could it be a knife...or a pick or even a hook?

HOBERG HOUSE
BATAVIA

Built in 1865 just after the Civil War the Hobergs bought the house from a Mrs. Lytle . Her brother (Henry Hodges) lived in Promont (now the museum of the Milford Area Historical Society). Mrs. Lytle later sold the Hobergs (for $25) a beautiful antique bed that had just been removed from Promont. It was at this point that Mrs. Hoberg believes the unusual occurrences began.
“We had a Cocker Spaniel and there were times we’d be in the family room and we’d here footsteps coming down the stairway. The Cocker Spaniel’s hair would stand straight up,” Mrs Hoberg said. “It happened a number of times and (the sounds) always came out of the room with the bed (from Promont) in it.” “I was home alone one night when I heard the door to that room open and then I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I went out in the car and stayed until my family came home.” “ In 1968 we had an Open House. A man wanted to use the bathroom and the one on the first floor was occupied and I told him he could use the one on the second floor at the end of the hall. When he came back down he asked his wife if my parents lived here because he saw an old couple sitting in rocking chairs in the room upstairs. He said the women was knitting and the man was reading the paper. He said they both were well dressed in old clothes. He nodded at them and smiled and they did the same...but my parents weren't there at the time and there was no old couple in the house that I knew of.”
The Hobergs moved out of the house in 1972. Kids in later families who moved into the house saw this same old man looking out across the street. The bed in question was removed from the house before the Hobergs moved to another house in Batavia. Owners since the Hobergs have moved have reported unexplained scratching on walls, doors that won’t stay closed, mysterious footprints, and blasts of arctic air through the house on humid days. The current owners claim to have never experienced the ghosts. Except, the electric vacuum cleaner has been known to have turned itself on and off on occasions and fresh coffee has been smelled but the coffee maker was unplugged and had been unused.
Some evening if you’re driving by the house and see a well dressed old man or old women looking out a window of the old house, just smile and nod, they’re just keeping an eye on their neighbors.

SMYRNA CEMETERY
FELICITY

In 1808 in what is now the village of Felicity, a log cabin was built on the site of an old Shawnee village. The cabin was built as a Presbyterian Church, and soon a cemetery was established. Shortly before that church was built the land was inhabited by the Shawnee. The Government sent out surveyors to survey the Shawnee land. They set up a camp on what is now the Felicity-Franklin High School. The Shawnee were not pleased by this.
In 1787 on Christmas Eve the Shawnee Indians led an attack on the party of surveyors camped there, no-one was killed but the Indians took one prisoner; Peter Hastings. Hastings was to be put to death by burning at the stake but was saved by the tribe’s medicine woman “Sweet Lips”. Sweet Lips allowed him to make an escape and promised to give him land if he returned one day. Hastings promised he would return when times were better. Hastings returned in the summer of 1795, shortly after the Treaty of Greenville was signed by the Indian nations of Ohio. This treaty required the Indians to surrender the southern two-thirds of the present state of Ohio. Hastings returned to try to find Sweet Lips and the land she had promised him. His arrival prompted a dispute and when the Indians found out he intended to take more land, (after just giving up so much land to the white man) they the became very angry. Before they had to move north of the Greenville Treaty line, they decided to execute Sweet Lips. The exact method of execution is a mystery, one report says she had to dig her own grave, kneel in it, then be tomahawked in the head. Another report says she was to receive the intended fate of Peter Hastings by being burned alive at the stake then buried. Regardless how she died, her presence is still felt...and seen.
The grave stone (not that of Sweet Lips) near where she is rumored to be buried eerily glows at night and has been seen by many. In fact geologists have tested the stone for any logical reasons for the glowing, yet none have been found. Usually the sightings are best found during the darkest nights of the waning or waxing moon. However, there are sightings during all moon phases. The author (Richard Crawford) of “A Haunted History of Clermont County Ohio”, has even seen the glowing stone. in the year 2000 Crawford was conducting a haunted historical locations tour, after showing the cemetery he turned around to head back out to town when the passenger started shrieking. Slamming on the brakes he turned and was graced sight with the glowing stone he had been seeking for years.
Since that first encounter he has seen the glowing stone on many occasions. Countless others have seen it as well, each one bewildered by the unusual bright glow the headstone gives off in the deep dark night. R.I.P. Sweet Lips.

LUCY RUN
AMELIA

Charles Robinson and his family were originally from Maryland and moved to Kentucky. Robinson was a friend of Ezekial Dimmit who had moved, during the Autumn of 1797, to what would become Batavia during the Autumn of 1797. He reported back to his friends and family in Kentucky how pleased he was with the locale. The Robinson family arrived at the Dimmit’s cabin on July 6 1806 and immediately a cabin was built for them near the Dimmit’s cabin. That site today is occupied by the Batavia Branch of the United States Postal Service.
In the spring of 1807 the Robinsons moved along the north bank of a creek that soon after was named Lucy’s Run (after a member of the Robinson family). The Robinsons built a log cabin on the site of the present Batavia Township Cemetery on Lucy Run Cemetery Road.
The legend of the Lady in White begins with one of the Robinson girls, Lucy. Lucy is most often mentioned as a cousin of Charles Robinson. Charles and Asseneth Robinson had five daughters of their own. Some believed the Lady in White may actually be one of them. Regardless of who the young lady was, she was in love with a man who arrived early one evening to announce that he had fallen in love with another young woman and that he would not be visiting the Robinsons again.
While the two young people were talking the sky had suddenly blackened and soon a steady shower poured down on them. They soon ended their conversation and the man mounted his horse and rode off.
Miss. Robinson was not quite ready to end the conversation or see her sweetheart ride away. She went to the family stable and mounted a horse. In her desperation to catch up with her sweetheart she did not notice the water (of what was to become known as Lucy’s Run) had already overflowed it’s banks and was rising over the road. The horse slipped in the mud and the young woman was tossed into the swiftly rising waters of a flash flood. Stunned from the fall and seriously injured, she could not pick herself up and soon drowned in the high, raging waters.
For more than 150 years a figure in white, who is assumed to be one of the Robinson girls, has been seen crossing the road or standing next to the road where it is believed her body was eventually found, next to the cemetery where she was laid to rest. On bright, moonlit nights it is reported she can be seen with a flowing white veil covering her face and neck and a long white dress that seems to float behind her as she moves along Lucy Run Cemetery Road.