Sherri Brake - Haunted Stark County: A Ghoulish History

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2009 by Sherri Brake

All rights reserved

First published 2009

Second printing 2011

e-book edition 2012

ISBN 978.1.61423.556.9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brake, Sherri.

Haunted Stark County : a ghoulish history / Sherri Brake.

p. cm.

print edition ISBN 978-1-59629-608-4

1. Haunted places--Ohio--Stark County--History--Anecdotes. 2. Ghosts--Ohio--Stark County--History--Anecdotes. 3. Stark County (Ohio)--History--Anecdotes. 4. Stark County (Ohio)--History, Local--Anecdotes. I. Title.

BF1472.U6B695 2009

133.10977162--dc22

2009013737

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Ohios history is a fascinating one, an exciting pageant that mirrors much of American history. It is a tale of ancient Native American Mound Builders and the many native nationssuch as the Shawnees and Miamisthat followed them. It is a tale of venturesome European settlers crossing the Appalachian Mountains to carve out new settlements in the wilderness. Both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution were fought in the wild frontier of the Ohio country. The states history also includes stories about the multitudes of Irish immigrants who hand-dug thousands of miles of canals throughout the state in the nineteenth century and the daring slaves who escaped to freedom from the Civil War South by way of Ohios Underground Railroad. The history also includes Prohibition-era bootleggers and gangsters and so much more.

Stark County in northeastern Ohio has played an important role in Ohios dramatic story. It has witnessed Ohios history from the original Native Americans right up to modern times, and all those people, over so many years, have left their marks on the state. In fact, its possible that many of them remain among us today. You see, Stark County is haunted.

Sherri Brake has lived for many years in the little Stark County town of Canal Fulton. Sherri is, to say the least, a complex womana mother, a Civil War reenactor, a historian and a ghost hunter. The last two attributes in particular are what make her the perfect author for this book.

I first met Sherri in 2003, when I was researching my book Ghosthunting Ohio (Emmis Books, 2004). She answered my Internet request for information about haunted locations in Ohio and provided me with a list of places in her part of the state. I drove to Canal Fulton, where I met with Sherri. She introduced me to the haunted warehouse on the canal and showed me the canal locks and a section of the old canal that still exists in Canal Fulton. In the towns Pioneer Cemetery, Sherri taught me how to dowse.

We stood in the snowy cemetery on a winters day, just as the sun began to slip below the horizon. Using metal dowsing rods that she had made herself, she showed me not only how to dowse for buried objects and fields of energy but also how to determine the gender of people buried in the cemetery. Sherri would stand alongside a grave, one dowsing rod in her hand. As she explained to me, if the rod pointed toward the head of the grave a woman was buried there. If it pointed toward the foot of the grave, it was a man. I asked her why that was, and she replied that it was because women thought with their brains and men thought with an organ located considerably lower than the brain. With a sense of humor like that, I knew we would be friends.

Sherri has investigated many haunted locations in Stark County and also throughout Ohio and West Virginia. Her method is balanced and rational, as she is neither a wide-eyed ghost fanatic nor a skeptic. Hers is an inquiring mind, seeking to explain what seems to be unexplainable. In addition to her investigations, Sherri conducts several ghost tours, including tours to the Mansfield Reformatory and Zoar Village, both in Ohio, and West Virginias Moundsville State Penitentiary.

Over the last several years, I have been a guest on some of Sherris haunted tours, and I have featured her in both my books Ghosthunting Ohio and Ghosthunters: On the Trail of Mediums, Dowsers, Spirit Seekers and Other Investigators of Americas Paranormal World (New Page Books, 2007). Together, we have conducted investigations of haunted locations, as well as Ghosthunting 101 classes open to the general public. She is, to my mind, the epitome of what a good ghost hunter should be.

When it comes to local history, and especially haunted history, Sherri is one of the most knowledgeable people I know. Informative and entertaining, shes a born storyteller. I am certain that you will enjoy reading this book.

John B. Kachuba

Cincinnati, Ohio

www.JohnKachuba.com

PREFACE

Upon embarking on this project, I knew I had several goals. First and foremost, I wanted to share with readers my love for the history of the area known as Stark County, Ohio. Secondly, I wanted to help readers explore outside the box of your typical textbook history. In other words, what you will find between the covers of this book may surprise you a bit. There are some tidbits of history amongst these pages that have been buried for many years. Its the darker side of history, the type you never seem to learn in school, yet for many people, including myself, its the history that we seem to remember the mostthe frontier slayings, the Indian battles, the lynchings, the gangster shootouts, the ghost stories and the cemetery folklore. This is the common thread that ties this foray into haunted history together. My third goal was to include a look into one of the nations fastest-growing hobbies: the paranormal and the subject of investigating ghosts.

This book is just another way to spark interest in what is local for both adults and children. Our local history. Our historical buildings and towns. Our scenic canals and rivers. They are all things that we usually see on a daily basis, but they are so much more than that. Nearly every old house, field, parking lot or building has a tale to tell. Sometimes you just need to take the time to listen and research. Is every place haunted? No. But I can guarantee that a stroll through any neighborhood locally will yield stories of odd things in homes that are unexplained. I have personally investigated hundreds of homes and businesses in Stark County alone. There have been allotments built over Native American burial grounds, houses built over cemeteries supposedly moved years ago, businesses where staff and customers experience thingsand the list goes on and on. I have worked with land developers, park managers and cemetery associations in finding unmarked burials. I have investigated haunted rentals, haunted stores and even a haunted factory. I have worked with private homeowners who have possible hauntings. What you will find here in Haunted Stark County is a sampling of what this county holds in its history and hauntings.

I hope you find this book to be entertaining, enlightening and a bit educational. Welcome to the world of haunted history!