Читать книгу Cincinnati Haunted Handbook - Jeff Morris - Страница 14

directions

Take I-75 north to I-275 west. Take I-275 to the Colerain Avenue exit, and take Colerain Avenue/US-27 north toward Butler County. Continue to follow US-27, turning left when you get into Millville onto Millville Oxford Road. Follow this road all the way into Oxford and then turn left onto East High Street. Then turn right onto North Main Street/OH-732. Continue to follow OH-732, turning left after five miles onto Hamilton Richmond Road. Follow Hamilton Richmond Road/OH-732 for another three miles then turn left onto Camden College Corner Road. The cemetery and church will be on your right.

history

This cemetery was the first public cemetery in Israel Township and is one of the oldest cemeteries in all of Preble County. The first burial here was in 1813. A man named Thomas McDill returned home from the War of 1812 with an illness that soon took his life. Many Revolutionary War veterans and Civil War Veterans have been buried here throughout the years. More than a thousand graves populate this small graveyard.

Perhaps the strangest and most tragic thing about this cemetery is the number of children who are buried here. Most of the graves hold children under the age of eighteen. Much of this is due to several epidemics that swept through the area in the 1840s—primarily cholera as well as other diseases. Hopewell became almost a monument to all those children who were lost throughout the years.

ghost story

This creepy cemetery in the middle of nowhere is reputed to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the southwestern part of Ohio. Through the years many strange stories have been told about this graveyard.

Some of the more common and harmless ghost stories involve strange lights. People who visit at night will sometimes see what appears to be a light from a lantern bouncing along throughout the cemetery. Other reports simply involve a floating ball of light that weaves its way through the headstones. On one side of the church, which stands in the middle of the graveyard, there is a motion-sensor light that will come on if anyone is near the entrance. People report that this light will often turn on by itself, even when there is no one close to the church.

Another somewhat harmless phenomenon involves voices that seem to come from all around the cemetery. These voices are so clear that the witnesses are certain there is someone else nearby. The strange thing, though, is that this place is so isolated there is almost no feasible way that someone could be way out in the middle of nowhere without a car. If anyone drove up, the car would be easy to see in the surrounding area.

Other stories about the cemetery are not quite so harmless. According to legend, if you visit this place at night, you will be plagued by bad luck. Another story says that if you leave your car and walk through the cemetery, when you return to your car there will be a surprise waiting for you inside. Unfortunately, anyone who has received this surprise refuses to reveal what it is, saying only that it startled them so much when they saw it that they almost ran their car off the road.

visiting

Hopewell Cemetery closes at dusk. This time limit is clearly posted on a sign just inside the cemetery. Since most of the paranormal activity only takes place at night, the closing time is unfortunate for us ghost hunters.

The cemetery is quite isolated. There are very few houses anywhere near this place. The graveyard is on the outskirts of Hueston Woods State Park, a large expanse of wilderness in itself. You can still see the stars from out here. This isolation adds to the creepiness of the place and makes it easy to see if there are other people in the area. It would be difficult to get to this place without a car, and your car would be clearly visible from the road.

It is completely legal to stand outside the walls of the cemetery and look into it. This is your best bet if you want to see the ghosts without trespassing. The lights should be visible from the road and the voices should be clearly audible. You can even just sit in your car on the road and listen. It is rare that another car will go down the road late at night, and if another car is coming, you can pull away or pull over and let the other car pass.