Spend more than five minutes (okay, maybe 10) talking about cemeteries with us and we’re bound to bring up The TICO Incident. One of the more formative experiences in our exploration history, it just serves as one more reminder, for me at least, that my mom is always right.

TICO from the air

TICO from the air

TICO actually stood for the Training Institute of Central Ohio, which used to be a juvenile detention center a stone’s throw away from the old asylum on the Hilltop in Columbus. It was built in the late 1950s, and if I remember correctly went through a lot of changes before becoming more of a facility for less serious offenders. I really cannot find the resources we used to use to look this stuff up, but it’s something like that.

The entrance to the building which used to stand next to the cemetery

The entrance to the building which used to stand next to the cemetery

Anyway, this building was located just to the right of the cemetery shown above. At least when we went on Jan. 3, 2004. It was a very cool old building, and while I would love to be one of those people with enough courage to do exploration, I’m just not — and with fairly good reason, considering the remainder of this story. There was a huge yard surrounding it, and it actually looked to be in pretty good shape. From what I’ve found online, it seems it went through some rennovations in 1994. I guess the Ohio Department of Transportation that now stands where the asylum used to be didn’t think it was so nice.

But anyway, yes, the first day we visited TICO was Jan. 3, 2004, as I have already said. It was really warm and raining like crazy. Being a chicken, I heeded the “No unauthorized vehicles” sign and stayed behind, sending Megan out with a video camera and a coat. We were really there to find the “specimen” stones that the cemetery is so known for.

The old entrance to the road that went down by the main doors

The old entrance to the road that went down by the main doors

It was rainy and squishy and she encountered an abandoned car (“abandoned cars are dangerous”) and all we managed to do from that trip was visit the first cemetery we weren’t supposed to be in and discover that in addition to the large, traditional rectangular stones (that are easily visible at the bottom of that picture) there are about twice as many brick-sized stones with only a number and “M” or “F” for the gender.  I apologize for the lousy picture below, but like I said, we only had the video camera!

One of the other kinds of "stones" at TICO

One of the other kinds of "stones" at TICO

We then visited again on Feb. 8, since our mission had been unsucessful the first time. Details of this are sketchy, but it must have been rather spontaneous because we didn’t have a camera at all this time. Unlike the warmth of before, there was snow covering everything so we really had to search for the stones. after wiping almost virtually every one off, we finally located one of the specimen graves we were seeking.
The "Specimen" Stone

The "Specimen" Stone

While you can’t really read Specimen on there, it really is what it says. However, that picture was from our next visit. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t locate the other one and started wondering if it had been stolen since there was an empty slab above this stone.
On our third trip Feb. 20, we finally went equipped with a video camera, a digital camera, and both of us on foot when there was no snow on the ground. We once again located this same specimen stone, but couldn’t locate the other one, thus cementing in our minds that it is no longer there and hasn’t been since very, very early 2004 at least.
It would also explain why no one else online seems to have met our fate and why security was back there checking to begin with.  He wasn’t too happy to discover us back there poking around, and pretty promptly asked us if we had permission and when we said no (we don’t lie well and were flustered?) he told us we had to go and followed us back out to Broad Street to make certain we weren’t going to turn around and come back. Even though that was five years ago, I’ve never had the courage to go back again. He mentioned getting permission from the Ohio Department of Metal Health, but with being away for school and combined with feeling strange about asking, we’ve never done that. Maybe someday we will.
As I said before, the building is now gone so I’m sure it’s even easier to spot someone back there when they’re not supposed to be. Still, nothing really happened to us, and it’s our story to tell. It’s the only one of the four Columbus mental hospital cemeteries we’ve been to (since the other ones have other things to overcome, including permission and being more watched), and it’s just an overall really awesome spot. There’s a lot of saddness in the area, but I imagine it was even worse when the asylum was still standing. Someday we’d like to go back, but until then, at least we have The TICO Incident to talk about.
These are all the pictures we have relating to TICO and “the TICO incident.”