Good evening everyone. This is your boy Mix Strange and this is Crazy Strange Stories Episode twenty three, How's everybody doing go? Story of the Wickerham Inn. One of the more convincing arguments for cemeteries as haunted places are the stories that come out of locations that people don't know are burial grounds until later. The following is a case in point. Built in eighteen oh one, the Wickerham is one of the oldest brick buildings in Ohio. As such, it should come as no surprise that rumors of ghosts swirl about the place. The Wickerham didn't have to wait until it was old to acquire its haunted reputation. That happened when it was still a shiny, new, burnt orange rectangle on the Wild Ohio front tier. As the story goes, it was late one evening in the autumn of eighteen oh four when a stagecoach pulled up to the inn. The driver, who was unknown, made straight for the sleeping chambers without uttering so much as a word. When he didn't come down the next morning, a boy was sent to fetch the sleeping man. Instead, he found a gruesome scene that was presumed based on the sheer volume of blood to be evidence that a murder had been committed. An investigation was conducted, but neither a body nor as suspect could be found. The innkeeper, Peter Wickerham, had the contents of the room burned in an attempt to be done with the affair, but word of the incident spread across the countryside. Then a strange, headless peak figure began appearing at the tavern. Sometimes it was seen silhouetted in an upstairs window, other times it would be standing in the fields near the inn, making dreadful gurgling noises. By the eighteen hundreds, the mid eighteen hundreds, locals refused to go near the Wickerham Inn after nightfall, so the family halted in service and turned the building into a private residence. In nineteen twenty two, Florence Wickerham and her husband moved in and began modernizing the old house. Flow had heard the legend of the stagecoach driver and ghost all of her life, but disregarded the tale as pure fiction. That is until she and her husband found a skeleton buried just below the surface of the cellar floor. This must have been quite a shit got real moment for the couple. Not only did their discovery support the rumor of a century old crime, but also the ghost stories. True to the sightings that were reported over the years, the skeleton they found had no skull. Folks continued to claim sightings of the ghost at the wicker Ham, but if you decide to visit, please be respectful. It's a private residents and the people who live there are probably haunted enough, as is next up the Home of Ghosts, Penitentree Chapel. Built in eighteen thirty one primarily as a house of warship for the ever growing number of convicts and free settlers, the Hobart Penitentiary Chapel has seen many alterations over the years. Close to free settle warship in eighteen forty five and greatly enhanced into an operational penitentiary in eighteen fifty seven with the addition of cells and an execution yard. The resulting complex was described as hellish confinement by those in prison there. Part of the complex was demolished in the late nineteen sixties during further construction. However, much of the site has remained in original condition for more than a century. In more recent times, the previously demolished section of the chapel has been painstakingly rebuilt to the original design in order to restore the site to its former glory. Subjective, the entire site exhibits a haunted atmosphere, regularly seeming unusually cold, with an overwhelming sense of despair and hopelessness. For some, the oppressive ambiance of the place can become so overpowering that they are forced to leave, complaining of headaches and breathing difficulties. The ghosts of Penitentiary Chapel room freely within the confines of the outer walls, each section of the site having at least one resident spirit and a myriad of reported unexplained phenomena. However, some sections of the chapel display a large volume of inexplicable occurrences on a more regular and spectacular level than anywhere else within the precinct. The Penitentiary Chapel is also haunted by ghosts and memories of convicts whose lives were abruptly terminated through execution. The first execution was undertaken within the confines of the penitentiary in eighteen fifty seven, with a total of thirty two convicted felons being executed in the years leading up to the final hanging in nineteen forty six. It is is within the vicinity of the still existent gallows that many visitors are exposed to the haunting atmosphere of the site, with experiences ranging from an overwhelming sense of fear, feeling hot and smothered even in winter when the temperature is low, the sensation of being grabbed by unseen hands, and the overpower powering smell of blood and decomposition in the area directly below the trap door. The solitary cells located beneath the floor of the chapel are also renowned for ghostly activity, affectionately nicknamed the dust Hole by convicts unfortunate enough to have spent time within this section of the penitentiary. The thirty six solitary cells were constructed with insufficient ventilation into complete lack of lighting, closed in eighteen forty seven due to concerns over the prevailing inhumane conditions of these cells. The oppressive atmosphere and the spirits of many still reside beneath the chapel flooring. Those willing to venture into the depths of this section report experiencing noticeable fluctuations in temperature, hearing footsteps and voices from within the empty cells, and catching momentary glimpses of spectral prisoners moving about in the darkness. That is it. I will have links in the show notes as usual. I know it's a short one, but I'm getting back into the crazy Strange story episodes and I hope you guys enjoy. I've been mixed strange. Please subscribe, please five star, rate and review, and please tell a friend that'd be awesome. And for now I am out of here, and then Lady days, somebody ud excludience
