It's the scariest month of the year and that means it's time for local horror stories to reemerge from the dark shadows.
Is the paranormal real? It's a question that's divided Americans for generations. Hollywood sure wants you to think so. But if you really dare to find out for yourself, here are nine spots in the Tri-State that could make your nightmares come true.
The Sedamsville Rectory
This creepy old house sits on Steiner Avenue near River Road in Cincinnati.
According to the Travel Channel, the building is owned by the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. It was built in the 1800s to accommodate the growing parish. However, it is rumored to be plagued by a violent, demonic spirit.
In an episode of “Ghost Adventures,” local priest, Father Jack Ashcraft, is portrayed as performing an exorcism on a possible demonic entity in the building.
Owners have said they've experienced ice-cold breezes on boiling-hot days and overwhelming and spontaneous feelings of melancholy. The Travel Channel reported that people on the property have also been scratched and shoved by "unseen forces."
Dead Man's Curve
Between Amelia and Bethel in the village of Bantam in Clermont County sits a spot that is known as one of the most haunted places in Ohio, according to Creepy Cincinnati.
Legend has it that this stretch of road is haunted by a faceless hitchhiker. He's allegedly known to roam the roadway between 1:20 a.m. and 1:40 a.m. Creepy Cincinnati reports that this faceless ghoul sometimes appears in the middle of the road where unsuspecting drivers hit him, only for him to "jump and chase your car afterwards."
They also said those who've been unlucky enough to see the man up close report seeing nothing but black where his face should be.
The Spate House
The once historic brick mansion was built along the Ohio River in the late 1700s in what is now Moscow in Clermont County.
According to the Ohio Exploration Society, it housed many well-known names of the past including the King of France, Louis Philippe and the first tourist in America, Marquis de Lafayette. Unfortunately, none of these interesting people were rumored to haunt the grounds. Instead, the ghost of a dog that was killed over a card game dispute was the alleged culprit for the home's paranormal activity, according to the society.
The home was reported to be full of cold spots and occasional whining and barking of a dog could be heard coming from within the walls, the society said.
The Spate House no longer exists today. It was destroyed in 2012 when a deadly EF3 tornado tore through the area. It is unclear if the spirit of the dog left when the house was destroyed or if it still haunts the grounds where it once stood to this very day.
Lick Road
Haunted by a woman named Amy that was reportedly murdered along the road, people have allegedly heard screams, had windows fogging up and "HELP" being written in the condensation, echoing voices and sounds of footsteps among other things.
If you dare to take the trek down Lick Road, you can supposedly see signs with Amy written on them if you flicker your headlights at them. You may even get a glimpse of a girl dressed in all white walking around the road.
The Ohio River Ghost Ship
About 20 miles south of Cincinnati, in Petersburg, Kentucky, an old abandoned ship sits just up a creek off the Ohio River.
According to Creepy Cincinnati, the boat was built in 1902 and was originally named The Celt. She spent decades in and out of the Navy before she then became a sightseeing ship in New York City. In the 1980s, a man named Robert Miller bought the ship and sailed her into a small tributary of the Ohio River on his property where the rusted old ghost ship still sits to this day.
Schenck Mansion
The Vevay, Indiana mansion dates back to the 1870s. The former bed and breakfast is rumored to have some guests that have never left.
A former inkeeper told WCPO that she's seen them and they're a friendly bunch.
“We do have friendly spirits, four or five,” Michelle Thompson said. “One gets a little frisky with the guys."
A group of seven paranormal investigators encountered at least two female ghosts in the mansion — a 12,000-square-foot, 35-room house that Thompson describes as “this ‘Addams Family’ place up on the hill” — when they spent a day there in 2011. And a number of male guests have reported being kissed lightly on the cheek by a ghost known as the “Victorian Lady in White.”
The Second Empire-style mansion, which is listed on the National Register of Historic places, was designed by Cincinnati architect George P. Humphries for the family of steamboat captain Benjamin Franklin Schenck.
The home is now owned by celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D. According to Instagram, the LA Ink star bought the property in 2020.
Arnold's Bar and Grill
This is The Queen City's oldest continually operating bar. It sits at 210 East 8th Street in downtown Cincinnati. Arnold's has continually operated as a bar since 1861, when Simon Arnold bought and renamed the property that had formerly housed a brothel, according to Michael Morgan, president of Queen City History & Education, Ltd.
According to Cincinnati Ghosts.com employees and patrons claim that an otherworldly presence likes to hang around. People have reported lights turning off by themselves and doors slamming shut.
"A long-time bartender at Arnold’s has gotten pretty used to the inexplicable happening and likes to leave out a shot of bourbon to appease the spirits," the website reads.
Arnold's has been featured on The Travel Channel and in Esquire Magazine. It was closed earlier this year briefly for an undisclosed high-profile movie shoot.
Cincinnati Music Hall
The Cincinnati icon is known as one of the Tri-State’s “most haunted” places, and was even featured on the SyFy Channel's 'Ghost Hunters'in 2014. Music Hall got its reputation because of where it was built.
Before its construction, Music Hall’s plot was home to Ohio's first insane asylum. Next door, at 12th Street and Central Parkway, was Cincinnati Hospital.
In 1832, a cholera outbreak in the city killed more than 800 people and resulted in many orphans. In response, the city built the Cincinnati Orphan Asylum next to Music Hall near the corner of 12th and Elm streets. The Orphan Asylum, a four-story building, was later called the “Pest House" because the hospital used it to isolate patients with infectious diseases.
For 20 years, the grounds around the hospital were used to bury the homeless. Instead of coffins, the dead were bundled and dropped into the ground, according to the book "Ghosthunting Ohio." In 1876, the land was turned over to the Music Hall Association. Music Hall was later built over the countless unmarked graves.
According to CincinnatiGhosts.com, employees have reported unexplained occurrences including music playing from nowhere and ghostly figures appearing in the audience
Bobby Mackey's
No list about creepy places in the Tri-State is complete without the mention of the legendary Northern Kentucky night club. It's known as one of the most haunted places in America.
There's a sign at Bobby Mackey's that reads: "Management is not responsible and cannot be held liable for any actions of any ghosts/spirits on the premises."
One of the spirits thought to haunt the premises is Pearl Bryan. On a cold morning in 1896, Bryan's headless body was discovered in a farmer's field near Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Her head was rumored to be thrown down the well in the night club's basement. Mackey himself even memorialized the young woman's tragic tale in a song:
"Poor Pearl, poor girl,
Laid dead upon the ground.
Poor Pearl, poor girl,
Her head was never found."
Other legends at the club stem from the prohibition era and the mobster years in the early part of the 20th Century.
According to the Travel Channel, some still believe that in the building's basement lies a gateway or "portal" to hell. Some believe that spirits can't cross flowing water, so the rare northern current of the Licking River may keep whatever dark forces trapped inside the building.
In its research, the Travel Channel also references the case of a former caretaker, who lived in apartment above the club. He claims to have been possessed by the demonic spirits that lurk within the walls. His exorcism was performed in the club by a minister, according to the Travel Channel.
The Tri-State's very own "portal to hell" was recently the set of a brand new horror film. "Sweet Meats" is an ultra-low budget horror that follows the life of a fictional serial killer who has a taste for other humans.
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