Camp Chase Cemetery and the Gray Lady

Camp Chase Cemetery, Columbus Ohio

Another bleary day in March and I find myself staring out my office window wondering about odd things as I typically do. Go figure.

My thoughts drift to some of my favorite cemeteries that I love to walk through. This leaves me wishing for warmer weather of course! As I look through some Ohio cemetery photographs, I wonder about some of the entities that are said to haunt these locations. There are many stories of ladies in white, women in black and gray ladies as well that dot the very fabric of ghostly strorytelling. Some border on fact, not fiction as everyday people have caught glimpses of these specter like visions as they walk the silent cities of the dead.

The Lady in Gray has been seen on many occasions. She walks the stoic rows of stones at one of Ohio's two Confederate soldier cemeteries, Camp Chase. Camp Chase was a prison during the America Civil War and was home to thousands of Confederate soldiers, and even some civilian prisoners of war. The cemetery is located at 2900 Sullivant Avenue, on Columbus's west side. The Gray Lady we are referring to is  Louisiana Rainsburgh Briggs. At least that is what some people say her name is. She never interacts with other visitors and tends to disappear before your very eyes. She weeps quietly over the grave of one Benjamin F. Allen, a private in the 50th Tennessee Regiment, Company D. 

 His date of birth was Jan. 30, 1842.

                       His date of death was on Sep. 15, 1864.



   Today people see fresh flowers placed on the grave of Benjamin Allen on a regular basis. Also, there are several stories about people hearing sobbing or crying while visiting Camp Chase.  Once during a Civil War memorial, many participants heard the crying, followed by a huge gust of wind that blew over tables and tents. Many believe it was The Lady In Gray.

  

Some claim to see shadowy figures that walk among the graves....

 

In May of 1861 a Union military training ground was established here under the name Camp Jackson. Two months later in July, the first prisoners were admitted. The name had been changed to honor President Lincoln's Secretary of State (and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), Hamilton County native Salmon P. Chase.

The prison population grew rapidly. Small Pox epidemics, dysentery and poor sanitary conditions claimed thousands of men.

 By 1863 there were 8,000 men incarcerated behind the high, staked walls of the Camp.

Why would a cemetery be haunted??

Overcrowding forced two to three men to share single occupancy bunks, and led to severe shortages in food and medicine and general health care. Clothing and blankets were scarce. The men were malnourished and low in morale making them susceptible to disease. In the February of 1863 alone, 499 men died from smallpox. My own 3 great grandfather is said to have been one of these men who perished. No grave exists for him at the cemetery. Many people believe that there are unmarked braves that exist at this cemetery. I believe that as well. And I am speaking from personal experience as I have used dowsing rods to locate unmarked graves on several occasions at this site. I have also come across newspaper articles stating that local medical schools would visit the cemetery and remove bodies so that they could be studied...and they did this at night and before laws were enacted protecting the dead.

When you walk the lines of gray stone markers, take a moment to read the names and dates as you stroll past. Each one has a story, each one had a family, a life, goals and dreams. All were cut down early and probably by disease, starvation or wounds received in battle. If you are quiet...and a bit observant, you may also see a melancholy figure in gray bending over gracefully to place a flower at a grave.

If you visit

Private Allen's grave is number 233 out of 2,260.

All Confederate soldiers or southern in their sympathies.

Camp Chase is open daily from 8AM-5PM

Do not visit after dark!

Cemeteries in the Snow

Cemeteries in the Snow?

Okay, call me a taphophile if you must, but I REALLY love photographing stones and statuary in the snow. Most people I "used" to know only went to cemeteries when they had to. You know, funerals and to maybe place flowers at Memorial Day or special days such as birthdays etc.. The people I know now spend a great deal of time in cemeteries walking, having lunch, studying genealogy, taking tours , and also practicing photography.

Whoa. Let's back up a bit.

What's a "TAPHOPHILE" you ask?

Taphophilia is a passion for and the enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile. Taphophilia involves epitaphs, gravestone rubbing, photography, art, and history of (famous) deaths. I love it all! All except the gravestone rubbing because it can actually hurt the stone and affect its appearance after awhile.

Epitaphs can be funny as well as advice laden.

Here are a couple:

Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime

Dean Martin

______________________________

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,

To digg the dust encloased heare!

Blest be the man that spares thes stones,

And curst be he that moves my bones.

William Shakespeare

I have been a fan of cemeteries and I'm not really sure where that came from? My earliest memories of actually spending any amount of time in a cemetery was when my parents would haul all of us to remote Webster County WV cemeteries to clean stones and place flowers. Having lunch on a blanket was a typical event during those afternoon treks as many southerners have done and still do.

My love of cemeteries entered into my professional life in 2005 and  leading cemetery tours seemed a natural addition to leading ghost hunts and haunted tours. I loved grabbing my candle lantern, donning my civil war era cape and leading people into the dark shadows among stones and the somewhat eerie crypts.

I have led nighttime tours of cemeteries since 2005. Cemeteries I have done professional tours at include:

Massillon Cemetery (Massillon OH)

Akron Cemetery (Akron Ohio)

Seville Cemetery (Seville OH)

Gnadenhutten Cemetery (Gnadenhutten OH)

Summersville M.E South.Cemetery (Summersville WV)

Pioneer Cemetery (Canal Fulton OH)

Schoenbrunn Village cemetery (Tuscarawas County OH)

But getting back to cemeteries in the snow...

Cemeteries in winter take on a whole new feeling. It's a fresh and clean landscape. Gone is the grass and the muddy car tracks and in it's place lies a crisp white coat of snowy pureness.

Snow on the hillside cemetery

  Photo by Renee Deal, Summersville WV 2010

One of the reasons I love cemeteries in the winter is because of photos like this.

Statue's tell stories and they are made all the more poignant when dusted with snow.

Angel draped in white snow

Cemetery in Canton Ohio

The symbolism of the two hands clasped represents a union of sorts, marriage or a couple who were partners in life. Stone's tell stories!

While winter is still upon us, take time to venture out to a local cemetery. Grab your camera, some hot chocolate to go, and head off into the fresh snow.

You may be surprised at some of the beautiful sights you will come across!

THE END

(or is it??)

 

It's Over!

Finally! It's over!

 October and November have come to a close and with it...some exhaustion has appeared in my weary bones. Thousands of people, rainy cemetery tours at night, flashlights that did not work, lost dowsing rods and pendulums, miles of walking tours with achy feet, thousands of miles driving on highways, too many hotel rooms, prisons without heat in the dead of a cold night, faulty EMF meters, multiple book signings without a bathroom break, a haunted bus trip with a "possessed" microphone and bad windshield defrosts, and many more messy details that made up October and November's typical busy season.

Book signing in Mansfield Ohio at Barnes and Nobles

I think I signed several thousand books in October alone!

Borders book signing in North Canton Ohio

Book signing in Massillon Ohio--and the store ran out of my books. I felt bad....and wish I could've made more appear!

All in all it has been a great haunted year as I do this kind of stuff year round. This year's haunted schedule was not as packed as my usual calendar and I suppose getting married, moving 300 miles away, writing 2 books and opening up a new office all had to do with the energy drain. It just seemed as though weird "stuff" happened.

One of my walking tours in NE Ohio

Take for instance the darkly dressed and well tattooed man who came on the walking tour in Canal Fulton Ohio and asked me if I knew of any male witches that were single.

Hmmmm....I had to think about that one.

 Then there was the little girl whose parents asked me if I could "train" her to be more psychic so she could be on TV.

Hmmm....sorry. Can't help you there!

Then there was the gentleman who called me from Toronto and talked for about 45 minutes about how he had a theory about  serial cat...yes....serial cat killers and did I know he could also bend EMF waves with his mind??

Then there were the typical calls from people who had either dreamt of being abducted, had been abducted or had seen a UFO and they were not sure who to call.

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A UFO too! I can certainly do without the probing though, thank you very much!

 A woman who claimed to be a psychic from southern Ohio...called me and asked ME if I could tell her of a historical society in her area of Ohio. I Googled it while we talked and gave her the info she needed along with the phone number and website. I was a little taken aback as psychics usually don't call ME for information. :-)

I get many calls, email and texts from people I do not know. My poor husband wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into when we went thru the "busy season" with late night phone calls asking if I knew of good ghost tours in Florida, where is the haunted hotel in Colorado, how to deal with Poltergeists, is it true ghosts can scratch you, is there a face in this orb, can you help me with my kids school project on ghosts, how do dowsing rods work, and did I know of a good demonologist??  (and I do!)

Then there was the phone call one afternoon from a production assistant in Michigan who called me in October. Did I know of any haunted houses in Ohio and could I rent it out for them to shoot a movie there. Then she asked me if I knew of any good make up artists for horror movies and if I could give her some advice on videographers.

 I did the best I could.

  A few minutes my phone rang again and the caller wanted to know if I knew when Halloween "Trick or Treat" would be....in a city 250 miles from where I was at.

At this point my husband told me I should start charging a paranormal consulting fee per phone call.

THEN there was the night at the WV Pen at about 2 am.... when we were interviewed by a producer for a popular paranormal tv show. She did not know what EMF meant. It went downhill from there for me. Any investigator should know that EMF stands for Electro mangnetic field.

All in all it's been a great year. Just a bit odd. Of course, I guess I am odd by many standards when it comes down to it.

After all, how many people are over joyed when their husband

 makes them a mini coffin ?

                                My husband Perry hard at work in the shop

The finished product with Mr Bones residing

Some of the highlights of the haunted year included filming for a show on the Discovery Channel. Okay, so the show is now cancelled for the third season...but at LEAST I got to be on one show. :-)

This past summer found me at the West Virginia Penitentiary filming with the Discover Channels GHOST LAB show which I have to admit was fun. Filmed about two hours with the crew and I think I had 25 seconds of air time on the show. Go figure! It was fun and I really did enjoy meeting the Klinge brothers of Everyday Paramormal. The epsiode airs again on Dec 7th at 10am EST on Discovery.

Working on my Two-Lane Livin' column is always fun. I love being a columnist and being amongst the other writers of this great publication! It's been interesting to read email from readers of my column as they sometimes have great details to add from their own experiences. Their input and comments have been appreciated and wonderful!   http://www.twolanelivin.com/  You can read past and present columns there, buy merchandise and subscribe online.

                                    My column is called "Fireside Folklore".

I also joined this organization and became a member of the WV Writers Inc.

Very cool!

Haunted Heartland Tours LLC was also voted into the Top 10 Best Ghost Tours in America for the 5th time in the last 5 years. We are still at #7 which means alot since they gather the votes online. We had over 5000 votes this year and could not have done it without all the great folks who came out and hung with me.

Our first ghosthunting 101 class at the Whipple Company Store in Fayette Co WV

I was also asked to review a great book by my friend Louis Charles and ended up having my review on the back of the cover. HELPING GHOSTS
 It IS a great book!! You can get a copy here.

The first Haunted History Walk of Summersville WV was a hit this year.

 So much fun for me, too!

Most of all, I have truly enjoyed meeting the great people who come and do the tours, classes, ghosthunts etc.. with me. We had a great turnout at the festivals and presentations we attended and met so many people.  It's like one big haunted family and I love it.

Canal Days 2011 in Canal Fulton Ohio

Me working at the office on book #4 due out soon!

Jared and Sherri at Cuyahoga Falls Ohio presentation

                                                   Jan and her crew

Radio shows are always a blast!  This one was at Akron Ohio with Ray Horner on WAKR am. I've been in the studio on his show a few times and love hearing from callers.

Skeleton Crew member Jodi Ivy and me at the Ohio State Reformatory Nov 19th 2010

The October photo shoot with Mark Romanos photography class was fun as well

Photo by Pam Mace

                      Sage Recco, Shannon Pachuta, me and the gang at a festival

WV Pen guide Lori O'Neill and me at the Pen this past March

                     One of our many haunted bus trips to the WV Pen in 2010

Another haunted highlight of 2010 was the writing and publication of my 2nd book, The Haunted History of the Ohio State Reformatory which sold over 2500 copies in two months after printing. The input from OSR volunteers, ghosthunters, psychics and Mr. Art Glattke Jr, all made it much more interesting and I thank them all!

Honestly, I was happy that it sold 12 copies and people outside of my family actually bought it.                                                           :-)

Finally...it's over! The spooky season has come and gone.

 I want to thank everyone who volunteers at the Ohio State Reformatory, the various tour guides, Rogues Hollow Historical Society, Massillon Cemetery Association, the Canalway Center in Canal Fulton Ohio, the Whipple Coal Company store owners, West Virginia Archives and Library staff, Summersville Library staff, Tuscarawas County Public Library in Ohio, Martine Bus Tours Inc, Cuyahoga Falls Library, Canal Fulton Ohio Public Library, and the staff at the WV Pen all have made it a great year, once again!

                                            I hope 2011 is just as spooky!

                                               http://www.hauntedhistory.net/

                                                   Thanks Josyln!

Haunted West Virginia

Cemeteries, Cameras, and Lanterns, Oh My!

Cemeteries, cameras and lanterns, oh my!

Just another day in the life of Sherri! October 4th found me "posing" for a photography class as a light fog and mist enveloped the hills around us. Mark Romano's photography class from the New River college needed a spooky prop in the cemetery and I guess that meant I was "it."

One of my favorite "trick" photos that my Grandpa Brake did

I grew up with my family in NE Ohio in a home where we had a darkroom in the basement. My dad was a avid photographer and did it mostly as a hobby, but he did do a record album cover for a local singer in Canton Ohio back in the 1980s. My Grandpa Brake was as a photographer as well and was with the first unit of army photographers to visit Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped. Grandpa Brake had a photo studio in Webster Springs WV and ran it for about 20

 years. Anyway, I'm a sucker for anything dealing with photography, nighttime and cemeteries so of course I said "yes" to Marks query as to whether I would help him out with his photography class.

Cemeteries occasionally make people a bit leery, even during daylight hours. Not me! I remember our parents hauling us around Webster County WV many summers ago. They would stick us all in the back of a pick up truck and we would go visit family cemeteries. Sometimes we would sit on the tailgate or cemetery ground and have lunch, snacks, or a maybe just a bottle of pop. We would walk the cemetery, hear about our ancestors and clean some graves. Pulling back vines, brushing off dirt and walking the hillsides of many cemeteries perhaps added to my adult interest and love of the "Silent Cities of the Dead".

When Mark approached me about posing for his students and helping them learn how to use their cameras at night and on various settings, I thought of two places locally in Summersville that would be good back drops. The Walker Cemetery and the Southern Methodist Episcopal Cemetery by the Moose Club downtown.

This photo was taken by Pam Mace and was shot in the old Methodist cemetery next to the Moose Lodge in downtown Summersville. This cemetery is the one we venture into on our Haunted History Walks of Summersville. Love the lighting!

Another eerie photo shot by Pam Mace. This was up on the hill as you first arrive into the Walker Cemetery in Summersville WV. The sky was perfect early on and shows up well in some of the early evening shots. All that is missing is a full moon!

Pam captured an image of me being reflected on the back of one of the headstones to the left. Do you see it?  This was taken at the Walker Cemetery in Nicholas County WV. I use the candle lanterns featured in the shots on my walking tours of town and my husband Perry make them for us to sell as well. They have a great ambiance at night, don't they?

This is another shot taken at the Methodist Church cemetery in Summersville. There are many variations of markers in this cemetery. Recumbent, table top tombs, new England style, hollow metal markers and victorian symbolism is present on many.

This is the simple headstone for a child who dies in 1860. Lambs represent innocence, the Lamb of God and purity in children. I took this photo this past summer as I strolled through the cemetery researching the stones for my walking tours.

New England style markers usually represent those who moved into the area from the NE area of the United States. In this cemetery in Summersville you can see a few of these all carved from local sandstone. The stones can be compared to human torsos as they have "heads" and "shoulders".

Malvina Kelly's marker as been snapped in half and lies propped up against a tree trunk towards the backside of the cemetery.

The grave of Margaret Dotson taken during the day....

and then one at night....

This was taken by Pam Mace during the photo shoot. Assistant Rick is standing at the head of the grave while I am sitting on the table tomb.

Thank you to Mark Romano of Images by Romano for letting me share in the class expedition!

More haunted blogs to come this week.....