"Historic Middleburg Heights cemeteries get needed maintenance" - Middleburg Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Click on title to read a great story posted today about two cemeteries in Middleburg Heights. One is the Hickox/Hepburn Cemetery and the other one on is located on Fowles Road, that are getting a clean up thanks to the local historical society.

"Marietta Running out of available plots - Former city pool site may be a new cemetery" - Marietta, Washington County, Ohio

Click on title to access a story that ran in the Marietta, Ohio newspaper, "The Marietta Times" on August 14, 2010. 

There is also a video attached with the story. 

I found this information after "Googling" :

"cemeteries"+Blogs+Ohio

I have also added more Ohio related blog links -- please check them out!! 

Ohio Chapter of the Association for Gravestone Studies Meeting - Saturday, November 6, 2010 - 10:00 a. m. to 4:00p.m. - at the Hancock Historical Museum - Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio

Click on title to access the home page of the Association for Gravestone Studies.

Their announcement is posted about the upcoming November 6, 2010 meeting of the Ohio Chapter of A.G.S. to be held at the Hancock Historical Museum in Findlay, Ohio

"More Info 10:00am - Chapter Members (business meeting)

10:30am - Guest Speaker for Graham Cemetery - Kate Hayfield

Noon - Lunch (bring your own) Beverages provided

1:00pm - Graham Cemetery Tour followed by stops at Kampf/Ewing, Union, Biglick Cemeteries for those interested"

Beth Santore can be contacted with any questions at:  graveaddiction@gmail.com

and Beth's Graveaddiction website - check it out!!!

http://www.graveaddiction.com/

Updated news story about historic Erie Street Cemetery - Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Click on title for a great follow-up story about the restoration efforts at Cleveland's oldest cemetery, the Erie Street Cemetery, and read about a possible new book in the works for the cemetery.

Also, to view a current listing of burials, check out "Find A Grave" below:

Erie Street Cemetery

Blickenstaff Cemetery (AKA Karns Cemetery) - Monroe Township, Miami County, Ohio

Click on title to access a wonderful website for the Blickenstaff (AKA Karns) Cemetery. 

Some of the information provided includes a history of the cemetery and biographical information about some of the early local residents. 

Also, many stone readings and photos are provided. 

The site was last updated September 5, 2009

Abstracted from the website:

"Professional stone restorationists Helen Wildermuth and Mark Davis from Indiana were employed and in August of 2007 began several days of work cleaning, repairing and resetting the markers. Using only water and special plastic brushes mounted on drills, they cleaned each marker revealing in most cases beautiful, white Italian marble."

"The Kissing Ghost of Greenfield Ohio" - Highland County - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - Parade Starting at 6:00p.m.

Click on title to link to Greenfield's Old Burying Ground on "Find A Grave"

From my friend, Earlene Scott - Thank you, Earlene, for sharing!!:

"Here is a story about Greenfield (1881 published by New York Times).
This is our Historical Society parade entry for the Halloween Parade in Greenfield to be held on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - 6:00p.m.

We'll have a float with the ghost, grave marker, a bench for her to sit on at times and of course she will blow kisses to the crowd!"

10/22/2010 7:04:00 PM

The Kissing Ghost

New York Times published story on Greenfield ghost in 1881

By JEFF GILLILAND
Assistant Editor


It's been more than 128 years since Greenfield residents have observed anything like they saw Tuesday, according to witnesses.

The three witnesses, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of being ostracized, said they saw a ghostlike being walking atop the walls of the Old Burying Ground, also known as the Pioneer Cemetery, in Greenfield. The witnesses said the ghost was mumbling something as it moved near a gravemaker that may lend some clues to its identity.

"She kept mumbling something about coming back for a parade in town," one of the witnesses said.

October 26, 2010 - The annual Halloween Parade sponsored by the Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District will be held in Greenfield starting a 6 p.m. Tuesday. Lineup starts at 5:30 p.m. at colonnades at McClain High School.

On Feb. 7, 1881, The New York Times published the following account of what came to be known at the Kissing Ghost in Greenfield.

The story was titled "The Greenfield Ghost:

"Greenfield, Ohio has a real ghost. There cannot be the least doubt about it, for a local minister, while conducting a revival meeting the other day, told his hearers that the ghost was a supernatural visit sent to warn the people of the near approach of the end of the world. As the same minister also professes his belief in the alleged words of the prophetess Shipton, his intelligence and judgment cannot be called in question, and we must join Greenfielders in believing in the genuineness of their ghost.

"In the opinion of the women of Greenfield, the ghost is by far the worst that has ever made its appearance. There have been, according to ghost-seers, all sorts of undesireable ghosts. Such were the ghosts that threw things at innocent people and smashed crockery; the ghosts that came and stood by people's beds in the dead of the night without having the decency to knock at the door or to say what they wanted; and the ghosts that rattled chains and thumped on the floor overhead merely in order to make themselves disagreeable.

"The Greenfield ghost is, in local feminine estimation, more wicked than any of her predecessors - for she is a female ghost. It is her loathsome habit to waylay young men in the midnight streets to kiss them and then to vanish. Often, she throws herself upon young men who are on their way to visit young ladies, and so terrifies them that they flee to their homes or boarding houses, leaving the unhappy young ladies to watch the front door bell in vain expectation. Conduct such as this is to the last degree revolting to very well brought up young woman, and we can understand why the Greenfield ghost is firmly believed by one-half of Greenfield to belong to the satanic host.

"Among the young men of the town the ghost is, as a rule, greatly dreaded. It must be remembered that Greenfield is an Ohio town, and, as we have learned during the last four yeas, Ohio is a state inhabited exclusively by men of the loftiest principle, the clearest intellect, and the most shrinking modesty.

"Were a female ghost of not unattractive appearance to infest a New York or New England village and to violently kiss belated young men, it is probable that 99 of every 100 local young men would walk the streets of that town all night and betray not the slightest fear of the ghost.

"In Ohio, as has been said, a totally different variety of young men exists, and young men of Greenfield, with few exceptions, declare that there is no more terrible wild fowl than a female ghost who lawlessly kisses persons to whom she is a total stranger.

"Those who have seen the Greenfield ghost are numberless, and their testimony as to her conduct is unvarying. One the night of the 12th of January, young Mr. Smithers, assistant pastor of a recently developed variety of Baptists, was met by the ghost at 9:30 o'clock. He asserts that she approached him from behind with noiseless steps, threw her arms around him, and kissed him before he could call for help. He instantly broke loose and fled to his home, where he was at once put to bed and physician summoned, who afterward said that the nervous shock which the patient had sustained might easily have proved fatal.

"Two nights later, at about the same hour, Mr. Edward Potter, one of the most respected young men of the town, was kissed in front of Esquire Dewey's house, and left insensible on the pavement. He says that the ghost spring on him suddenly and kissed him three successive times. As he had never before undergone the operation of being kissed, he suffered acutely, not only because of the outrage to his modesty, but because he feared that his life was in danger. He has since wholly recovered from the shock, but he never goes out at night without tying up his mouth with large 'comforter.' and keeping a sharp lookout for sudden ghosts.

"On the night of Feb. 3, Mr. Thomas G. Wilson, who purity of character and freedom from all knowledge of languages have induced the administration to offer him no less than three foreign consulates, but who preferred to earn the proud distinction of being the only Ohioan who ever refused an office, was waylaid by the ghost, kissed within the sight of Mrs. Wilson's windows, and afterward brought home by his neighbors, who found him lying in the snow and uttering incoherent moans.

"These are but samples of the devastation caused by the Greenfield ghost, and so far as is known there is but one young man in the town who is not in terror of his life. the young man in question is a notorious plumber, and though he has repeatedly met the ghost, she has never once offered to kiss him.

"The popular theory is that the ghost was originally a New England school teacher; and that she is now wreaking on mankind her vengeance for their neglect of her during her life. This theory is based principally upon the personal appearance of the ghost, who is described as being very tall, very thin, and wholly unable to cast a showdown when one of her edges in presented to the light. This may be true, but it by no means proves that the ghost is a New England School teacher.

It might with equal force be quoted to prove that she was formerly a Boston poet or and eminent female philosopher. The host of a New England woman of any kind would never be guilty of kissing, and even could we imagine her entertaining for a moment the idea of perpetrating such a crime, she would be utterly ignorant of the way in which to perpetrate it.

"The Greenfield ghost is clearly a great mystery. That she should forcibly kiss unwilling citizens of Ohio is simply inexplicable, and the longer she continues that unsatisfactory and unaccountable proceeding the face of the fact that she would be welcomed in a hundred Eastern villages, we must assume that there are ghostly idiots as well as living Greenbackers."

Maple Grove Cemetery - Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio

Click on title to access the City of Findlay, Ohio's website for the Maple Grove Cemetery.

Searches can be done by name or spaces by owner. 

Spotlighing Butler County, Ohio - USGENWEB Project

Click on title for access to the Butler County, Ohio Cemeteries site on the USGENWEB Project.  Links include "cemetery, obituary and tombstone projects." 

I noted that some links no longer worked, but many of them are valid. 

If your focus is with Butler County, Ohio cemeteries, this is one you may wish to check out.  

The Butler County site was last updated on January 19, 2010.

Black River Historical Society - Lorain, Lorain County, Ohio

Ghost Watch at the Moore House and a Tour of Charleston Cemetery on October 30, 2010!

Hunt for ghosts in the Moore House in downtown Lorain with a team of expert ghost hunters who are members of the Ohio Researchers of Banded Spirits (O.R.B.S.). Only 10 adults will be admitted to each two-hour session at a ...cost of $2...5 per adult. Choose your time: 7:00-9:00 p.m. or 9:30-11:30 p.m.

The O.R.B.S. team recently did an extensive study of paranormal activity at the Moore House Museum on June 20, 2009 as well as on October 24, 2009.

The tour will be held at the Moore House Museum located at 309 W. 5th Street in Lorain and guided candlelit tours of the cemetery will be held, weather permitting. Call today at 670-6624 or 245-2563 to reserve your tickets.

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzgvhMScg2Q

"Ohio Cemeteries" - wiki.FamilySearch.org

Click on title to access wiki.familysearch.org which offers several links to other on-line resources.

Updated information about Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Click on title to link to a story on "Cleveland.com" regarding the restoration efforts at the Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Per the story, 82,000 people are interred at Woodland Cemetery. 

Westwood Cemetery - Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio - "Radicals and Reformers" History Walk" - October 9, 2010 - 11:00a.m.

I apologize, but I just learned about these cemeteries walks at the Westwood Cemetery in Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio.  There is one remaining that is scheduled to be held on October 9, 2010 at 11:00a.m. - See information below.  Thank you!

From the Oberlin Heritage Center website:

"Sept & Oct - Radicals and Reformers Cemetery Walk"

8/21/10 -- Walk with us this fall on the new "Radicals and Reformers History Walk" through Westwood Cemetery. This guided tour promises a pleasing balance of Westwood's scenic landmarks and stories of some of the many spirited men and women of Oberlin who simply refused the status quo.

Find out which resident was remembered as "gentle, soft-spoken, tolerant and yet nobody's fool."

Visit the headstone of the man who escaped from slavery (twice!) and later served on the Oberlin village council.

This walk is offered four Saturdays this fall, September 18 & 25 and October 2 & 9 at 11:00 a.m. and to groups by reservation.

History walks cost $6 per adult with a $1 discount for members, and children under 18 attend free (history walks are recommended for children ages 9 and up).

Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made at www.oberlinheritage.org or at the Monroe House front office (73 ½ South Professor Street). Meet near the entrance of the cemetery to begin this historic journey."

Press Release - Click on link below:

http://www.oberlinheritage.org/files/whatsnew/attachments/pr_9_10-2010_Radicals___Reformers_History_Walks.pdf