The Best Years of Your Afterlife

The history of Wood County stretches back over a hundred years. Some of its most memorable stories and items can be found at the Wood County Historical Muesum. Among the many historical buildings located on the grounds is the site own simply as the Lunatic House. Once when the area was used to care for the mentally sick and unstable, the Lunatic House was where the most dangerous and aggressive patients were kept.

The old Lunatic House, dating back to the early days of settlement in Wood County

The treatment of the patients there was not the best. “This place was pretty bad for some of the people who lived in here,” said Dick Gollen, a long time volunteer at the muesum and expert on local folklore and stories. “Men were being chained to the walls for long periods of time if they were too loud or reckless. And that usually made things worse.” Every small cell there had thick bars on the windows, some of which are still there to this day.

There are several ghost stories and legends connected to the house. Right next to the building is a small open field that contains a garden grown by the staff of the muesum. This area has had several reported instances of children’s laughter and voices being heard. One story told by Mr. Gollen involved these bizzare voices. One volunteer, working in the Lunatic house one day, heard the sounds of children playing in the field right outside the house’s window. When he looked out, there was no one around. He ran out to investigate and still found no signs of any children. THe man asked the other volunteers working on the grounds, but they had not seen or heard anything. And no children were there that day.

The area reportedly haunted by the voices of children right outside the Lunatic House

The building itself is very quiet and cold. Despite its recent renovations, most of the building is still original and quite old. Any breeze makes the whole building creek and moan. That, combined with the sites dark history, give the building a very creepy feeling. If any place in the world was ever going to be haunted, it would be a place like this.

Mr. Gollen had to stop several times during the interview to calm himself down. The building makes him very uncomfortable and uneasy. This man served in the US military for 25 years and, since his retirement, has explored many haunted and spooky places throughout northern Ohio. Yet with all the experience, this tough man is openly scared of this building. The feeling in it is that a dread, and it can certainly has an effect on you.

The building as no identified or named ghosts, but there have been sightings of several different spirits. The Lunatic House was once investigated by a local ghost hunting group. According to Gollen, a black form that could not be idenified moved through the building with the group inside. There was no sign of an animal or person besides the group, making them wonder just what the black form was.

The old stairway and hallway in the back are some of the places the black form was spotted

The Wood County Historical Museum is a great place to visit, with a lot of history and stories for those who are interested. And when you do visit, make sure you stop by the Lunatic House. You may not run into a ghost, but you will get the feeling of dread that the men who were once held there must of felt. And that is just as terrifying as any ghost encounter.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 4th, 2011 at 1:19 am and is filed under Interviews and first person, Urban Legends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.