I have been preoccupied with the C. H. Hayden mausoleum pretty much since we started frequenting Green Lawn when I was a child. The first time I saw it, a seven-year-old anklebiter, I thought a president was buried there, or someone as important. It was a veritable Taj Mahal–and still, four or five of the standard tombs located around Green Lawn could fit inside this edifice, easy. It was constructed in 1904 and sits in the center of the cemetery by the lake. Most of my information on it comes from Andy at ForgottenOH.

Additionally, it marks the spot of pretty much the beginning of mine and Kristine’s first real cemetery exploit. It was September of 2003 and we were driving to Columbus. On the way down, I received a phone call telling me I was out of a job. I was more surprised than anything else, and to celebrate, we decided to have a picnic. This was unusual for us, to say the least; we swung through KFC and then tried to decide where to eat. Somehow we decided to go to Green Lawn; somehow we wound up on the steps of Hayden’s mausoleum. We settled down with a pretty decent spread of southern-fried goodness: crispy chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, biscuits. We speculated on the identity of “C. H. Hayden” and worked on a novel in a notebook.

I don’t remember anything else about that, but four months later, we were back with a video camera, and somewhere in the foggy interim, an obsession was born. Now every time we visit Green Lawn, we swing by to say hello to Hayden, even though we’ve learned a few things about him since.

This is the final resting place of Columbus banker Charles H. Hayden . . . and seven other people, apparently. At least potentially. Actually, nothing but vagueness surrounds both the potential interments here and the ghost story apparently related to it. All I know for sure is that the tomb was comissioned in 1904 and Chuck died shortly after. There are a lot of . . . actually, there aren’t a lot of stories. There’s just one story. That story says that if you knock on the door, someone will knock back. There is a tantalizing rumor about a potential “more substantial manifestation,” too, but no evidence as of yet to actual existance of the same.

Here is one fruitless attempt to get a response from Hayden, me from July of this year:

As can be expected, he wasn’t home. Here’s another, video this time, from just this month:

As you can see, the old boy has yet to respond to me. But . . . someday I may get lucky! Apparently there is also the ghost of a little boy who hangs around crying, but I’ve never seen him, either.

What about you? Any ghost stories?