GeoCalifornia

One of the haunted sites I visited during my recent trip to Ohio was at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers in Columbus. The cache was called ‘British Island’ (GC2K8AX) by user Sweetfyre, and the area is supposedly haunted by the ghosts of prisoners who tried to escape from the penitentiary located nearby. After a little digging I found there are a number of possible stories to account for the ghostly screams heard in the area.

According to the Columbus Ohio Ghost Hunter Guide by Jannette Quackenbush (link), one possible ghost was that of an Indian mother, a member of the Mingo tribe (not to be confused with the oldest active geocache with the same name). On a beautiful Fall day in 1774, Colonial William Crawford led a column of British troops to remove an Indian settlement along the banks of the Scioto river, just south of the confluence. Chaos ensued as the shooting started, and one mother frantically searched for her young child. Grabbing him in her arms, she tried to flee but was struck down in a hail of musket balls. As she lay dying, she looked into the terrified eyes of her child for the last time and told him to hide. He obeyed, hiding inside the hollows of a dead tree for two days before he was finally found. Some claim the cries are from the boy’s mother, searching for him still even in death.

This was one of those caches where the search was almost as creepy as the story. GZ is located some distance away from the nice view, and there had been recent reports of people camping in the area. After waiting out a few cars and getting an odd look from a jogger (I’m sure she suspected we were either muggers or geocachers), we hopped over the guardrail and into the brush. There was a lot of trash and suspicious material back there, but we didn’t encounter any two-, four-, or eight-legged threats. The cache was hidden in a familiar spot, so fortunately we didn’t have to hang around too long.

Another creepy spot in Columbus is the Schwartz Castle, located on 3^rd street in German Village. Admittedly, we originally came to this area for the (excellent!) deli across the street, but I couldn’t help but check this place out after we ate. The story here starts like so many other tragedies. Guy moves all the way to America from Germany in the mid-1800’s, builds a huge house for his fiancé, then gets a letter from his soon-to-be-ex fiancé who tells him she is staying in Germany and marrying some other guy. Ouch. Well, Fred Schwartz did what many of us guys are tempted to do in this situation – he went bat shit crazy. Personal hygiene went out the window, he became vegan, and he drank nothing but rainwater long before these were trendy things to do.

He also did a LOT of nude sunbathing on the top of the building and it is said that his ghost haunts that area. (The spirit of a nude septuagenarian sunbather… yikes!) There have also been reports of bodies buried in the basement, murders, and who knows what happened after the place was condemned in the 1970’s, but the place is a lot less creepy now. The geocache that brought me here (GC321HG) also by user Sweetfyre, is a sneaky little nano hide but a great placement for the all the muggles in the area (living or otherwise). I loved using these geocaches to explore the dark and creepy parts of Columbus!

Recent travels sent me to Columbus, Ohio to visit an old friend. Our objectives for the trip were to catch the Memorial golf tournament, sample some of the fantastic food in Cbus, and, of course, geocaching. There were many to chose from, as the City of Columbus actively promotes geocaching. The city has even published caches as part of a GeoTrail, which may be the topic of a future post. As I scouted for interesting caches, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the Haunted Columbus series. Each cache led to a location with a particularly spooky story, and since most were in old graveyards, I simply couldn’t resist.

The first few led me to Greenlawn cemetery, a rather large collection of graves dating back to the mid- 1800’s. The first stop was ‘Hauntings – A Ghostly Good BYE’ by Sweetfyre (GC58R6F). This nearby tombstone was more whimsical than scary, and a fine example of dark humor, or at least I thought. Ironically, it was actually the Bye family plot.  We next ventured over to the Hayden crypt. You know the ghost story must be good when the cemetery goes to great lengths to keep people from waking the dead on their own. The wooden door to the crypt was protected by a rusty iron gate, but we still tried to summon the spirits with a few good raps. The mausoleum itself was a rather imposing structure, with columns on either side of the door and a red clay dome. The inside must look amazing.

The geocache (‘Hauntings – Hayden Mausoleum’ by Sweetfyre GC2CFD7) was hidden in an area behind the crypt that was plenty creepy in its own way. Previous logs talked of ghosts, security guards, and an angry beaver, so we had several things on our minds as we crept around. Thrashing about in the overgrowth, I noticed a small pond a few feet away.  Hidden in the shadows of the oaks, and covered in leaf debris and pond scum, it had its own morbid charm. I half expected a zombie security guard to grab me by the ankle and drag me into the murky depths! Thankfully, my muggle friend made the find here (his caching skills are impressive for a muggle), and I for one was glad to be out in the open again.

I found another interesting ‘cemetery’ on my own. I wouldn’t have noticed this even if I had driven by, but a cache at the location had the word cemetery in the title (‘Cemetery on King’ by Chemist Kahuna, GC6ATJG), so I decided to check it out. I got rock star parking right at ground zero. I was on King Avenue, near downtown, and the rather nondescript building looked like an old house that had been recently renovated. To be honest, all I noticed at first was a ‘for sale’ sign stuck in what was left of the grass in front. Next to the sign was the single, lonely gravestone of Sylvester D. Uline from the 2^nd Ohio Infantry division. Who was this guy? Why is he buried all alone here? Is he EVEN buried here? (A past log suggested he may actually be buried in the Grove cemetery in Kenton, Ohio). It was a bit creepy but also a little poignant. The cache here was a real tough one, as there were dozens of places to look. The fact that you are searching along the sidewalk of a busy street, in the sightline of probably a dozen houses, made it even more difficult. Personally, I loathe these hides because I always feel like I’m casing out the joint. I was determined to find this one though, and after a 30+ minute search, I finally had my hands on the prize. Definitely worthy of the 4-star difficulty! Stay tuned for more creepy caches from Columbus!