Tales of ghosts, graves haunted area residents in earlier times
By JON BAKER, T-R Editorial Page Editor

Tales of ghosts and hauntings have been reported in the Tuscarawas
Valley since the days when the first white settlers – a superstitious
lot – sat around their fireplaces on winter evenings telling stories
of strange occurrences.
In more recent times, stories of supernatural incidents have been
reported in the area
newspapers.

On May 19, 1904, the Ohio Democrat and Times at New Philadelphia
reported on a ghostly sighting in Oldtown Valley. The apparition,
according to the paper, had been seen off and on for the previous 35
years near the bridge over Oldtown Creek just south of town.
"Either another ghost, or else some strange phenomenon of nature, was
seen by some people just at dusk Sunday, about a mile on the other side
of the South Side," the paper stated. "The apparition seen by this party
appeared to be a large black object looking something like a man,
floating around in the air."

A man named Heidy told a reporter for the paper, "This is the third time
I have seen the ghost or whatever you may call it."
The reporter learned from some of the older residents of Oldtown Valley
a story connected with the sightings. Years before, a schoolhouse in the
vicinity burned down and supposedly a murder was linked to the fire.
Shortly after the fire, the apparition was seen for the first time.

"The other night Mr. Heidy on seeing this strange thing floating around
in the air, stopped his horse, and started to approach the strange
unearthly thing, but before he reached it, the mass vanished, but
where?" the paper stated. "That is not known. No one has ever been able
to reach this ... apparition."

* * *
Apparently, 1904 was a good year for ghosts. On Nov. 24, the Ohio
Democrat and Times carried a story about a haunted cemetery.
The paper didn't give its exact location, beyond saying that it was
about 16 or 17 miles from New Philadelphia, outside of a town populated
by Old World natives "whose superstitions and traditions are numberless
as the sands of the sea shore." At one time, a church stood next to the
cemetery, but it had been allowed to fall into ruin.

A little boy in the vicinity told his schoolmates about a ghostly
encounter at the cemetery that he had heard about. One night a man was
walking past the cemetery when he was accosted by a visitor from the
other world. After they talked, the ghost asked for a parting handshake.
As they clasped hands, the traveler felt a burning sensation. He found
that his hand had been blistered by contact with the spirit.
The boy's story quickly spread, and soon even adults were afraid to
travel past the cemetery at night. "The place was so shunned that the
fences tumbled down and the acre was turned out unprotected to the
commons," the paper reported. "Witches were even hinted at and the place
and people furnished no end of amusement for others whose practical
brains contained no lodging place for hobgoblin nor ghost ideas."

The cemetery decayed to the point where the township trustees stepped in
to fence in the place. Eventually, relatives of people buried in the
cemetery became ashamed and began to fix up the graves of their
ancestors.
"Now the awe is falling away from the place somewhat," the Times stated.

* * *
Speaking of superstitions, the Pennsylvania Germans, who were among the
early settlers of the Tuscarawas Valley, were renowned for theirs. Some
of their beliefs were cataloged in the book "Popular Home Remedies and
Superstitions of the Pennsylvania Germans," by A. Monroe Aurand Jr.

Here are a few:
When several teaspoonfuls of a child's baptismal water is given to it,
it will make the child intelligent and perhaps a good singer.
A person born in January can see ghosts.
Fasten a sprig of St. John's wort to the door of a house to keep out
witches and flies.
A girl should feed her cat from her shoe if she is anxious to marry.

Relate a dream to someone before breakfast and it will come true.
Sweep the house in the dark of the moon and you will have neither moths
nor spiders.
If a crack appears in bread while baking, if a picture falls from a
wall, if a cricket gets into the house or if horses neigh at a funeral,
these are all omens of death.

Jon Baker is editorial page editor of The Times-Reporter.