Ghosts of the North Coast: Legends, Mysteries and Haunted Places of Northern Ohio
By Doug Dziama
()
About this ebook
From Lake Erie monsters to cursed Carousel horses to haunted wineries, Doug Dziama and Jennifer Dziama Teed explore some of the mysteries, legends and ghost tales of Northern Ohio. They delve into exorcisms, research a haunted fort which is also a massive burial ground, and discover the truth behind the infamous urban legend of Gore Orphanage.
Doug Dziama
Doug Dziama is a graduate of Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor's Degree in broadcast and written journalism. His stories have appeared in "Over the Back Fence" and "Paranormal Pennsylvania & Beyond" Magazines. He is semi-retired from D.D. Reckner Food Brokers, where is employed as an Operator Consultant specializing in School Foodservice.Doug and his wife Karlene have been married for 38 years and reside in Lorain, Ohio. They have two daughters, Susan from Santa Clarita, California, and Jennifer who resides in Plymouth Michigan and is co-author of "Ghosts of the North Coast." They are blessed with three grandchildren, Sahana, from Santa Clarita, and Charlie and Megan from Plymouth. In his spare time, Doug enjoys travelling, reading, listening to music, the backyard pool, and, of course, writing.
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Ghosts of the North Coast - Doug Dziama
GHOSTS OF THE NORTH COAST
Legends, Mysteries and Haunted Places of Northern Ohio
by
Doug Dziama
and
Jennifer Dziama Teed
Published by Second Chance Publications
Copyright 2013 Doug Dziama and Jennifer Dziama Teed
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the website where the ebook was originally purchased and purchase your own copy.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.
Photos by authors or are public domain unless otherwise credited.
Original cover design by Carol Nesbitt
***************
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Death on the Pacific Express
Chapter 3: The Perpetual Spirit
Chapter 4: The Cryptic Fort
Chapter 5: Of Wine and Other Spirits
Chapter 6: The Timeless Arcade
Chapter 7: The Curse of the Painted Pony
Chapter 8: Where Have All The Children Gone
Chapter 9: Shine on Crescent Moon
Chapter 10: The Spectral Handmaiden
Chapter 11: Depart All Ye Stranded Souls
Chapter 12: Lake Erie Monster: Creature Or Myth
Chapter 13: Stars And Stripes By The Bay
Chapter 14: Endnotes
Chapter 15: Acknowledgements
Chapter 16: About the Authors
***************
Chapter 1: Introduction
When we first asked Mark Nesbitt, author of the Ghosts of Gettysburg book series, to describe his work, he cleverly referred to it as faction.
His work marries historically recognized factual information with theories, or speculation that are drawn by him along with others who gave eye-witness accounts or professional opinions based on field expertise. Not only were we inspired by Mr. Nesbitt’s writing, we became inspired by his style of faction
. We believe that faction
should become a new section in every bookstore and library across the country. We are proud to offer Ghosts of the North Coast as our contribution to this unique genre.
We would categorize ghosts as faction.
No one can say for sure that ghosts exist. However, if you ask every eyewitness to a paranormal event, they will swear that their experience was real. In that place and time they saw, heard, or even in some cases, felt something that they could not quite process. We know that first hand, for we were eyewitnesses to our own ghostly encounter.
We were on a covered bridge in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, after a long hot day of visiting the historic Civil War battlefields. Much to our surprise, we saw something downright uncanny and eerie. To this day we don't know exactly what we saw, but we are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that what we saw was indeed something paranormal. As Mr. Nesbitt appropriately titled our story in Ghosts of Gettysburg IV, it certainly was A Bridge to Nowhere.
The person/figure/being that we saw was at the end of the bridge in a manual wheelchair with his head hanging to the side. There was absolutely no evidence of how he could have gotten there. There was no entrance to that end of the bridge, merely a dirt pathway. Even a motorized wheelchair would have had difficulty. We collectively described it as a lifeless body that appeared to be made of straw rather than flesh and that, accompanied by a strange feeling, told each of us that something was off. None of us walked to the opposite end of the bridge to investigate. You could call it chickening out, and a lifeless man in a wheelchair is hardly threatening, but we were afraid that we were right. Walking to the end of the bridge might have verified our suspicions. We were definitely not ready for that.
Even if you have never had an experience of the unknown, you may be open to the possibility that there are spirits who are still attached to this world for some reason. Maybe there is something that they need to resolve before moving to the afterlife. Who knows, maybe there will eventually be enough tangible evidence to support what many of us already believe in our minds and hearts.
Though we’ve seen these scenarios countless times in horror movies, there is nothing more frightening than a real-life ghost story. We have offered our explanations for each of these ghostly encounters, but we invite you to draw your own conclusions and get ready to have some fun.
Cheers and Happy Hauntings,
Doug Dziama and Jennifer Dziama Teed
***************
Chapter 2: Death On The Pacific Express
Lora, Lora, still we love thee,
Tho’ we see thy form no more,
And we know thou’ll come to meet us
When we reach the mystic shore.
—Philip P. Bliss
From his song Lora Vale
Dr. Stephen Smith held the fragile skull with both hands as he made some perplexing observations. He had received a court order to examine the remains of Charles Collins, former Chief Engineer of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. The victim had been found shot to death at his Cleveland residence on January 20, 1877, a few weeks after the Ashtabula Train Disaster. Collins’ post-traumatic depression, it was said, was to blame for the self-inflicted gunshot wound through his mouth.
He glanced at the clock and recorded the date, April 26, 1878, as he held the brittle brain case in one hand. Approximately fifteen and one half months had elapsed since the bridge collapsed into the gorge. He probed into the large irregular opening behind the left ear, approximately two-and-one-half by one and a half inches in size. Its precise edges defied original speculation that this was the exit wound, which would have been jagged and fragmented. Also, the absence of powder stains indicated the barrel’s end was no less than four inches from the head. He concluded that the projectile entered through the head and not the mouth.
Mr. Collins’ blood-soaked body was discovered, he was told, in a very natural position in his own bed with his next-day’s wardrobe lying neatly on a chair. His left arm lay at his side still clutching the half-empty military revolver (which he owned). Dr. Smith suddenly recalled that the victim was right-handed.
"If that were so, he thought to himself,
the victim would have had to hyperextend his left arm behind him and discharge the weapon with his non-dominant hand. Furthermore, the violent recoil would have propelled the gun away from him. He recorded the time once again before submitting his concluding statement:
my opinion is that Mr. Collins came to his death by a shot wound inflicted by other hands than his own."¹