Today, still moving away from Green Lawn, however briefly, I’d like to tell you guys a ghost story! Well, it is my department. I wouldn’t want to disappoint my fans. So here’s a little ghost story about Clark Road in Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio.

Once upon a time, there was a guy, and even though his name was not Jack (I don’t think), he built a house – a beautiful house in the country where he intended to live with his wife and children. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before Or just go watch The Haunting.

Anyway, while he was building the house or shortly after finishing it, his wife and children died in a train accident. En route? I don’t know–if they were, that really smacks of The Haunting, so I’m inclined to say forget that thread. Who was he? Did he really exist? At the moment, I don’t know, but I promise the Headstoners will return to this topic to let you know the truth on the subject. Right now, the truth is off-topic. What’s on topic is the house that the guy who wasn’t Jack built.

Hell House

Satan's Piggies

After the death of his wife and children, the builder of the house set his work on fire and hanged himself from the oak tree in his front yard. However, though he died, the house itself mysteriously did not burn down. It exhibited charring, and yet continued to stand for an indeterminate amount of time. That wasn’t the place’s only mystery–website lore maintained that the suicide’s body could be seen, occasionally, at night, hanging from a branch of the tree that hung over the road, though by the time my fellow headstoner and I made it there to see, the tree had no branches hanging over the road. The house itself was not actually abandoned and appeared to be in use . . . as a barn. A few cute little pigs came out to greet us when we drove by, but we didn’t stay long enough to figure out who might belong to them. Who the heck uses a haunted/abandoned house for a barn?! (There was a cow hanging around, too.)

Still, that was in 2005. Today, Hell House no longer exists, having been demolished by its owners who apparently decided to invest in a proper barn. However, our Clark Road explorations revealed something that we may not have have discovered otherwise: a place we rather fondly nicknamed Hell Cemetery in honor of Hell House. (more…)