Welcome To Haunted Athens Ohio, your source for pictures, ghosts stories, true tales and urban legends related to the haunted or supposedly haunted locations in my hometown. Aimed at being your one-stop resource for information about Athens haunted buildings, cemeteries, businesses and other properties, this site is growing into a complete resource on the completely bizarre, unusual and unexplained.
I’ve lived in the Athens, Ohio area most of my life just off Peach Ridge near Simms Cemetery, one of the graveyards that makes up the Athens cemetery pentagram. Through the years, I’ve visited these cemeteries and other haunted Ohio locations many times. In fact, I’ve become somewhat of an expert on them.
There are lots of stories on the Internet about the locations I’ve visited, but very few of them deliver the kind of detailed content you need to fully understand these haunted hotspots. Now, I feature these places on Haunted Athens Ohio along with the background information and stories that put them in context. I photograph and write about places as the whim hits me so this is not yet a complete resource, but it’s expanding all the time.
Beginning with Simms Cemetery, I hope to take you on a journey to The Athens Lunatic Asylum (The Ridges), The Ridges Cemetery, Wilson Hall room 428 at Ohio University and Mt. Nebo as well as other haunted locations as I learn about them.
Be sure to check back frequently for more photos and information from me and my friends. And watch out: If you don’t believe in ghosts, I don’t believe you’re exploring your world closely enough.
It’s Alive!!!
Hey I’m starting a podcast about the supernatural and am dedicating an entire episode to the hauntings in Athens Ohio and OU. If anyone has experienced anything first hand and would like to share their story, please email me at thespookfilespodcast@gmail.com. I’d really appreciate it:D
When my college boyfriend and I stupidly decided to spend the night at Strouds Run in the open no tent. We saw weird light anomalies dancing in the close distance. Couldn’t debunk.
Flashlights maybe? Teenagers do weird shit sometimes
Anyone have any experiences on grosvenor street? I am currently living here and have been hearing doors opening and closing at night when I’m the only one home…
Hey folks! I’m Cliff Manley, the guy that put the stick pins in the map, that became the Legend of the Pentagram of Graveyards. The story has gotten distorted over the years, in many respects! I’d like to tell you the story first hand, and what the pins were. What the pentagram consisted of. It was not 5 graveyard’s at the points, as is widely distributed as the story. That might be why the story has been blown off by researchers, saying you could draw anything. And that’s exactly what someone did. That is also the reason the graveyards seem to change, from story to story. Because they were not what defined the pentagon. If anyone still cares about this, I’ll post more of the true story, of this legend I apparently created!
I’d love to hear the true story, Cliff. I have been investigating hauntings for 20 years now, and those supposed cemeteries were one of the first places in Ohio that I tracked down. Even Simms, which was very hard to find. Nothing paranormal came from those locations, most often referred to.
This excellent website really has all of the info I wanted about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
well I think since I go to OU currently, I’m going to start looking into these stories I keep hearing about, see if there’s any truth to it.
So far I’ve been here for a semester and have seen absolutely nothing.
Wow. I would love to read more. am a book writer Novel specifically. I am bout to do a book with (Horror and Thriller) genre I would so much appreciate if I get videos or audios from past experiences. Here’s my mail gabrielzcollins@yahoo.com so I can use for the project. I want to say a big thank you to all those who took their time to say their experience and a bigger thank you to the admin for creating this platform. facebook.com/DEAD-SOUL-926030240806869
o’bleness hospital is haunted with patients that have died. I was born at the place and got surgery there and a ghostly apperance saying beware and screaming GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I used to visit Athens as a kid and young adult because my dad was born there and raised on The Plains and I would visit my grandmother on The Plains, but would head into Athens every chance I got to escape the boredom of the country because I was a city kid. I remember in the early nineties my sister and I had met a townie, Jay*, who was a little bit older than us and lived in an old house near OU campus. We had convinced our family to let us spend the night at his house in town because we were so bored. After spending the day with Jay and meeting a number of his friends, he had to leave the house to run an errand and told us he would be back shortly. My sister was tired and decided to take a nap upstairs, but I was wide awake and decided to explore the house a little. I’m from a major city in the West, where houses and buildings are relatively new, so I was fascinated with the old house. As I was walking on the main level there was a room off the main hall to left with the door open and a bluish light coming from it. Curious I headed towards the room and popped my head in. In the room there was a family, it looked like three generations. There were a teenage boy and an older teenage girl, what looked to be their parents, and another older couple that could have been their parents. They were sitting silently watching an old TV, which was the source of the bluish light. There was no sound coming from the TV and I remember thinking that the people’s clothes and hairstyles were kind of dated, but I found that wasn’t necessarily strange in Ohio because Ohioans seemed to be a decade behind in fashion compared to the West coast. I would say they looked like they had an 80’s or late 70’s style. None of them noticed me, they just stared straight ahead, expressionless at the TV not saying a word. Knowing I was a visitor in the house and trying to be polite, I stepped into the room and introduced myself letting them know I was a friend of Jay’s and my sister and I were just staying the night. They just sat there and stared straight ahead at the TV, not even bothering to glance at me. I thought it was strange because I was standing right next to the TV and they were facing me, but they just sat there with expressionless faces. I then made a comment that it was a beautiful house, still nothing. After a few minutes of my one-sided conversation and their awkward silence, I finally just said, “well nice meeting you all, have a good night,” before leaving the room and returning upstairs to where my sister was. Jay came back about an hour later and I told him I met his family earlier downstairs but they were really weird. He looked at me funny and said that he didn’t live with his family. He lived in the house with one roommate, one of the guys I had met earlier in the day. This confused me so I took him to the room where I had seen them, and the room looked completely different than it had earlier! There was no couch or TV in the room, and no family! It was pretty much empty with a few storage items. Perplexed and not knowing what to say, I just let it go because I didn’t want him to think I was crazy.
*alias, not his real name
I approach this skeptically….when I was a student at OU 2001-2005, In my freshman dorm at Treudley Hall on the West Green, My room mate and I heard the strangest sound on occasion. Like marbles rolling all over coming from the ceiling above. Honestly, it was chilling and we were both really scared….It didn’t add up how loud the noise was to the density of the architecture f the floor above. There were a few other things and everyone has different experiences(of course) The grad students in the Art Dept have studios int the Ridges and we regularlly broke in and explored. It relly is very spooky but nothing ever happened to me other than just how sad and eerie it is. The scrathed up dors in solitary confinement area….if i remember correctly there was a floor where all the scratchings in the stone window sills have backwards R’s.
I attended Ohio University a little over 20 years ago. While I was there I saw several ghosts and I was never alone when it happened. More significantly, I was never the only witness and often part of a large group of 10 or more to share the experience.
There is a cemetery that sits atop a hill separating West State Street from North Lancaster. We did not live next to the cemetery but about seven houses closer to Court Street on State Street. Our house was one of half a dozen in the area on both sides of the street that at the time had almost regular strange ghostly occurrences. From time to time I will look through websites discussing the haunting of Athens hoping to see mention of this area but I never do. The focus always seems to be the Ridges, the cemetery on Union Street, Mt Nebo or Wilson Hall. I have never known anyone to personally have any experiences in these areas yet I knew many people who had seen things move, heard sounds and voices and even like me seen apparitions in the houses on West State Street.
Was it 95 West State? I had many experiences there
I was a student in the mid-70’s living in Wilson Hall my Freshman year. I knew nothing of it’s paranormal history. While I was sitting in the TV room one night, a girl came flying in, ashen and out of breath. She lived on the 4th floor and said she was in the storage room looking for things for her dorm room. She found an old rug there and pulled it into her room. When she rolled it out, a ghostly figure appeared. It was a lady who stood in front of the mirror brushing her hair. Others have said that their typewriters fell off their desks, things were moved around, voices were heard at night, and figures appeared in their rooms. Later, I found out that Wilson Hall had a recent death in one of the rooms on the 4th floor. I personally had no experiences but was pretty spooked!
I was in Athens for Mom’s week-end yesterday. My daughter & I went around the outside of the Mental Hospital, all around the grounds & finally through the cemetary. It broke my heart to see all the unmarked graves of the people who resided there. Are there any records of the names of the people who lived there. They should all have a name. Looking at just numbers is so sad. They were all human beings who obviously went through rough times in life. Would love to see them remembered in a proper way.
This is so freaky i am gonna have nightmares every night now for the rest of the night!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 <3
We bought what used to be the farm home place on Hooper Street a few years ago. We renovated the interior and moved in. Since then small innocuous things have happened. A man in overalls was seen standing in the closet. An appliance (floor heater) that was by that closet disappeared…nowhere to be found. Shadows moving in the kitchen. Strange marks on my body just appearing and one remains nearly two years since it appeared. The water in the bathroom sink swirls sometimes clockwise and sometimes counterclockwise. I watched a ball from a piercing roll down into the bathroom sink and literally disappear. The drain was covered and it vanished halfway down the sink bowl. I’ve been gently pushed off balance like in a joking way. As I did a sage cleansing this week I got punched (again, not hard) in the back. The living room has a constant feel of strong positive energy. I’ve done EVP sessions with no apparent results. The TV remote gets moved from time to time. None of our animals are affected. I’ve never felt attacked or oppressed. We seem to be getting along well with the spirit here.
I will be coming on vacation staying in albany and would love to explore something paranormal. Ive always loved it since I was a little girl I wanted to be a ghost hunter or paranormal investigator. Please has anyone seen anything lately or know of any of any places I could go to see or feel something?? Thank you for your help!!!
Has anyone experienced anything paranormal in Athens this year so far? If so please share your experiences with us.
I was born and raised in athens ohio I still live here and I personally broke into the tb ward at the ridges and recorded the entire experience while inside what is known as the most haunted building I went to the basement and inside the tunnels and nothing out of the ordinary happened until we were on our way out the door after that I highly recommend that no one do what I did after the county chairman seen the tape the building was torn down and is know gone for good
What happened as you were leaving?? Would like to see the video if that’s possible!! I too have been inside the tb ward before it was tore down but we didn’t experience anything!!!
Thanks you for such an informative site!! We’re from South Carolina and son attends OU. I am so intrigued by the area.
Last week, my son dropped me at the Ridges while he took my SUV back to finish his move-out. I wanted to explore and photograph the Ridges and had a severely profound paranormal experience in the cemetery closest to Nagy Pond. I’m sensitive to spirits (have been all my life. I don’t communicate, but sometimes a very dominant spirit can make itself known to me). My guard was down and I forgot my protection prayer upon entering the cemetery. There is a line of 8 tombstones deeper in the woods up the path from Nagy Pond. That’s where a horrible chemical smell filled my mouth (metallic like blood, yet sweet like fruit). It made me gag and retch filled my sinuses and this went on for 20 minutes despite me drinking an entire bottle of water. It only subsided when I moved away from that line of tombstones.
Both my fully charged camera battery and phone batteries were drained (I only shot about 40 pictures and my battery in my DSLR can take up to 1,000). My truck was back at my son’s dorm on South Green and my Kindle inside was drained and my GPS was shot.
Something definitely was trying to tell me it’s story. Does anyone have any information on if chemicals (such as Ether) were used on the patients?? I definitely felt like I was gagged with a chemical soaked rag.
I live in Jacksonville Ohio all my life. I am close to 685 (Greens Run). I did not know 685 (Greens Run) is haunted by a wrecked car on the big turn. I would like to know more info on 685 (Greens Run).
Thanks
Keith
i have an cousin that worked at Athens Sanitorium for many years, dont know the info she might have but if interested please email me back. she used to tell us crazy stories.
K so this is silly but I thought I’d tribute something 2 ur website even tho it’s about Ashville Ohio. The ashville diner on long st. is suppose 2 b haunted apparently it was written about in Haunted Ohio, a man died in a fire there once upon time, but fact is I worked there nearly 3 yrs & I always got there an hour b4 I was suppose 2 b there 2 get everything ready 2 open up which was around 4:30 am so I completely alone, & not once did I ever experience any phenomenon but those b4 me & after I quit has said they did so idk.
But when I was 13 friends & I camped out @ this place known as the canyons which is located around under the train bridge next 2 the creek. It started 2 rain & the fire didn’t last that long & we had blankets & beer only @ the time we hated but it was alot of fun, anyways after midnight I was just sitting there listening 2 every 1 when I looked across the creek I saw 4 figures wearing white tshirts smoking. Now it wasn’t any 1 playing a prank cuz nothing happened or was said about. After a week later I talked about what I saw leaving out a few details like the # of people & what they were wearing 2 people who wasn’t there, 1 time I told my mom & every 1 knew of the 4 people wearing white t-shirts w/out me saying anything about those 2 details. Very creepy & very cool. It’s been 10yrs later & even my husband saw these 4 figures & again w/out me giving the specific details!!!!
Greetings! I am a fellow Ohioan with a very small group of investigators. Would love to do this area. I am a sensi, yet approach ‘ghosts’ from a skeptic approach. I live near the Mansfield Reformatory & have had interesting experiences. If you could even point me in the direction of how to make this happen, it would be greatly appreciated!
Just do a couple of Google Maps searches and you should be on your way… Good luck!
Id like to go on a ghost hunt if possible in athens ohio
I would love to hear more! I am an aspiring author and I am in the beginning stages of writing a “Haunted/Supernatural” story based in my home state (which of course is Ohio!) featuring the surrounding area of Athens meshing with the characters from the Supernatural T.V. series. Involving the 2 main characters, who are brothers; Sam and Dean Winchester who are Hunters of the Supernatural.
Your site is the most in-depth that I have found so far!
Good luck on the book and thank you!
I went to OU and was there from 1977 until 1981. I did volunteer work at the Athens Mental Health Center and lived in two houses that used to belong to the same (mining) family that were both haunted and across the street from a cemetary. One of the houses was the family’s “big house”, built in the early 1800’s and the other house was built later for one of the children and his family on the same property. The larger house was where a group of roomates and I experienced several books pulling themselves out of the built-in bookshelves in the living room and falling to the floor. The smaller house was where I saw a rocking chair rock, by itself, for 5 minutes and I was the only one at home at the time.
To whom it may concern,
My name is Christopher Sharpe and am a founding member of the Appalachian Paranormal Activity Investigators (A.P.A.I). We are a fairly new group that have been studying the paranormal for about five years now. The reason I am writing this is that we are currently looking for homes and other places that the owners feel may be haunted and are looking for a team to come in and investigate. We have been scouring for investigation sites but to no avail. If you need anymore information on our group please let me know. We can be contacted at apactivity1@gmail.com. Thank you all for your time.
Hi,
I recently accompanied my mother in law and my niece to visit the OU campus as a potential school for my niece to apply to. While there we went to the ridges cemetery. I am 32 years old, a CPA at a big four firm, and consider myself a very skeptical person. While at the cemetery with my niece I decided to start the voice recorder on my iphone. The recorded picked up some very clear responses from a spirit and I would like to send them somewhere for further analysis to see if there are any other voices that can be deciphered from my recording. Let me know how I should go about sending this recording to someone who can verify that the voices on this recording are separate and distinct from my and my nieces. Thanks for your help.
born and raised in athens county. my ancestor Margret Snowden was the first white woman of athens county. so im very connected to this countys history. Between the old native american campsites and villages around to all the old towns i know where most are at. the spirits of the past walk among the living around athens ohio
I am from Illinois and not familiar with Athens other than what I have researched. I recently came across Margaret Snowden in my family tree and have always heard of the paranormal activity in Athens. I now want to do a paranormal investigation there while visiting ancestors.
We’d love to hear some interesting stories form locals who’ve grown up in the area. If you’ve had experiences in any of these places or any others around the area please share your stories with us.
Thanks
HAO
Route 685 (greens run) is haunted by a wrecked car on the big turn
Mr dad died in a car crash on 2002 on that turn
After moving to Athens from Dayton back in the early 90’s, I found work through a local temp service. It was a University custodial/maintenance position. On one occasion, during a late night shift, doing work at an old campus theatre/auditorium, the name of the bldg. I can’t recall. My co-workers said the place was haunted. One of our duties that evening, was to wax the front lobby floor. This was last on the list of things to do. We pulled the trash in the offices, and ran the sweepers. It was time to wax. We did the front lobby floor, Everything was to be locked up until we came back the next evening to buff it. We left out the back way, through the auditorium and across the stage, which was only lit with a single bulb. I stopped, and jokingly said out loud, to any spirits who may had been listening, “Hey! I thought this place was supposed to be haunted, where ya at?” My voice echoed around the empty hall. We then all departed out the back door. When we got back the next evening, and after we had pulled the trash from the offices, our supervisor called us to the locked up, roped off lobby. There, running across the middle of the lobby floor was a twenty foot scratch in the fresh wax. Not a footprint insight. My co-workers turned and looked at me. One jokingly said, “Thanks a lot!” We had to re-do the floor. This time I kept my mouth shut. when we left.
BOO!
Who’s has a frightening experiences this season at a haunted property and what happened? We’d love to hear about it!
HAO