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Several weeks ago I posted a light hearted piece about the haunted history of The Queen Mary. I asked people to share their ghost stories with me. I heard some fascinating ones. The one which intrigued me the most was told to me by my sister-in-law Melodie Bowles of Ashland , Ohio. She had grown up hearing the legend of the Haunted Tunnels and The Gore Orphanage in Lorain County Ohio. The legend is that in the early 1900's an orphanage was located on several hundred acres of rolling farmland. The overseer of the children harbored hatred and resentment of his small wards and one evening after seeing them all tucked into bed, he locked the doors from the outside, set the place ablaze and waundered off into the darkness. All of the children died save for a small boy named Jacob. The screams of the children are often heard through the treetops on Gore Orphanage Road. There are 3 tunnels near the property and if you park your car underneath one of them, turn off the engine and wait, you may be visited by the ghosts of the orphans. Tiny handprints may appear on your car or you may see the fires lone survivor Jacob standing on the edge of the forest in his raggedy clothes. The tunnels have become a magnet for pshycic activity and others have seen a sad end there .Lore has it that a grief stricken widower hung himself jumping from the railroad tracks above with noose lashed around his neck., And a local woman accused of witchcraft and stealing children for satanic rituals was decapitated by local farmers and her head buried on the property. She and the widower are said to haunt the tunnels and surrounding farmlands. Like many of the locals, Melodie visited one of the tunnels at Gore Orphange Road and shared a chilling experience with me. (You can read her story at the end of this article.)
As a genealogist, I had to look at these tales in a different light. I wondered what truth there was to the rumours. Was there an orphanage called Gore and did 100's of children die in this Lorain County fire. Who was the ruthless man who set the fire? Was he caught and prosecuted.?I had a lot of questions and since the time of the fire was said to be the first decade of the 1900's, I knew just where to find the answers.
First I "googled" Gore Orphanage. I came up with numerous sites which featured "true ghost stories" and pictures of ruins said to be that of the old orphanage. Here are the links to some of these sites.
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Gore/gorestories.html
http://www.ghostsofohio.org/stories/htb/gorph.htm
http://www.realhaunts.com/united-states/ruins-of-gore-orphanage/
As we all know , just because its on a website doesnt make information reliable. I went to some more reliable sites. I stopped by Wikipedia where I got my first clue that perhaps Gore Orphanage never existed. I then went to Newspaper Archives online and to Ancestry.com and searched newspapers in the areas near Lorain County. In checking the articles for the time period of 1875-1920 I found no Gore Orphanage. I did find the Light and Hope Orphanage in the area which is now called Gore Orphanage Rd.. I also learned that Gore Road was named after a wedge shaped piece of land called a gore and not after a blood thirsty maniac who ran a home for bedraggled orphans.
I chose to follow the trail of the Light and Hope Orphanage and found that it was run by Rev. John Sprunger and his wife who moved from Indiana. I found an announcement in an area newspaper transfering the land of Mr Swift to Nicholas Wilber and again a later sale to Rev. Sprunger. . I ran across two modern day articles by Bill Ellis and Rini Caudill who both debunked the Gore Myth. They agreed that 3 things worked together to create the myth. The Swift mansion which was purchased by the Rev Sprunger, burnt down years after the orphanage closed. Nicholas Wilber had 4 grandchildren die within weeks of each other in the diptheria epidemic. In 1908 the Collinwood School in nearby Cleveland caught fire. The following is from Wikepedia,
"The Collinwood School Fire (also known as the Lake View School Fire) of March 4, 1908 was one of the deadliest disasters of its type in America up until that time. 172 students, two teachers and a rescuer were killed in the tragedy in Collinwood, Ohio, a community that has since been absorbed into the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
While the Lake View School was built with load bearing masonary outer walls, much of the four story building’s floor structure system used wooden joists. It was one wooden joist that caught fire when it was overheated by a steam pipe. The building’s main stair case extended from the front doors of the building, up to the third floor; without benefit of fire doors, the stairwell acted like a chimney, helping to spread the fire quickly. Oiled wooden hall and classroom floors also fueled the fire. "
I pulled up the 1910 census records for the Light and Hope Orphanage in Henrietta Twp. Lorain Co. Ohio and the image can be seen in the photo section of the blogs home page. It shows a list of about 25 orphans living with Rev Sprunger and his wife. In 1920 census they are no longer listed because the orphanage had closed. It is important to note that all documents indicate that Rev Sprunger and his wife were benevolent people who were trying to make a positive change in the lives of orphaned children.
I looked up the Nicholas Wilber family and related death records. In 1911 Both Nicholas and his wife Harriet died as well as several of the grandchildren, all within months of each other.
In fact, the three items which merged together to form the Gore Orphange Legend were all to be found in historical records and documents. It does explain a lot.
But there are some things that it does not explain, such as Melodie Bowles experience in her own words. " It was fall and the leaves were turning. The air was crisp and I love fall weather. My friend and I decided to go for a drive. We decided to go to the haunted tunnel. We had heard stories about it and thought we would go check it out. We parked our car underneath the tunnel and sat on the hood of the car. The tunnel is in a deserted area and it is so narrow only one car can drive through it at a time. It was a beautiful night and we talked for a couple of hours but we didnt hear or see anything ghostly! We decided to leave and I got behind the wheel. As I put the key in the ignition a bright light came towards the front of my car really fast. It looked like a set of headlights. I turned the key and the engine stalled. I looked up at the lights which were almost on us, closed my eyes and waited for the impact. I waited, waited. No crash. I opened my eyes and no car was there. There was no car in the ditch or on the side of the road. We checked the brush for tire tracks and there was no car. We were scared out of our wits, got in the car and left as quickly as we could."
Melodie had not been back to this spot for several years. After she told me about it I asked her to go back and photograph the area. She was apprehensive about returning but made up her mind to go. She charged 2 battery packs for her camera in hopes of sending me dozens of shots. Both battery packs went dead.
To see the few pictures which she was able to get, go to the section at the top left which says "top page". Click on that and on the right is the photo section. Click on the tab and click on Haunted Tunnel and view pictures at this link
As a genealogist, I had to look at these tales in a different light. I wondered what truth there was to the rumours. Was there an orphanage called Gore and did 100's of children die in this Lorain County fire. Who was the ruthless man who set the fire? Was he caught and prosecuted.?I had a lot of questions and since the time of the fire was said to be the first decade of the 1900's, I knew just where to find the answers.
First I "googled" Gore Orphanage. I came up with numerous sites which featured "true ghost stories" and pictures of ruins said to be that of the old orphanage. Here are the links to some of these sites.
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Gore/gorestories.html
http://www.ghostsofohio.org/stories/htb/gorph.htm
http://www.realhaunts.com/united-states/ruins-of-gore-orphanage/
As we all know , just because its on a website doesnt make information reliable. I went to some more reliable sites. I stopped by Wikipedia where I got my first clue that perhaps Gore Orphanage never existed. I then went to Newspaper Archives online and to Ancestry.com and searched newspapers in the areas near Lorain County. In checking the articles for the time period of 1875-1920 I found no Gore Orphanage. I did find the Light and Hope Orphanage in the area which is now called Gore Orphanage Rd.. I also learned that Gore Road was named after a wedge shaped piece of land called a gore and not after a blood thirsty maniac who ran a home for bedraggled orphans.
I chose to follow the trail of the Light and Hope Orphanage and found that it was run by Rev. John Sprunger and his wife who moved from Indiana. I found an announcement in an area newspaper transfering the land of Mr Swift to Nicholas Wilber and again a later sale to Rev. Sprunger. . I ran across two modern day articles by Bill Ellis and Rini Caudill who both debunked the Gore Myth. They agreed that 3 things worked together to create the myth. The Swift mansion which was purchased by the Rev Sprunger, burnt down years after the orphanage closed. Nicholas Wilber had 4 grandchildren die within weeks of each other in the diptheria epidemic. In 1908 the Collinwood School in nearby Cleveland caught fire. The following is from Wikepedia,
"The Collinwood School Fire (also known as the Lake View School Fire) of March 4, 1908 was one of the deadliest disasters of its type in America up until that time. 172 students, two teachers and a rescuer were killed in the tragedy in Collinwood, Ohio, a community that has since been absorbed into the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
While the Lake View School was built with load bearing masonary outer walls, much of the four story building’s floor structure system used wooden joists. It was one wooden joist that caught fire when it was overheated by a steam pipe. The building’s main stair case extended from the front doors of the building, up to the third floor; without benefit of fire doors, the stairwell acted like a chimney, helping to spread the fire quickly. Oiled wooden hall and classroom floors also fueled the fire. "
I pulled up the 1910 census records for the Light and Hope Orphanage in Henrietta Twp. Lorain Co. Ohio and the image can be seen in the photo section of the blogs home page. It shows a list of about 25 orphans living with Rev Sprunger and his wife. In 1920 census they are no longer listed because the orphanage had closed. It is important to note that all documents indicate that Rev Sprunger and his wife were benevolent people who were trying to make a positive change in the lives of orphaned children.
I looked up the Nicholas Wilber family and related death records. In 1911 Both Nicholas and his wife Harriet died as well as several of the grandchildren, all within months of each other.
In fact, the three items which merged together to form the Gore Orphange Legend were all to be found in historical records and documents. It does explain a lot.
But there are some things that it does not explain, such as Melodie Bowles experience in her own words. " It was fall and the leaves were turning. The air was crisp and I love fall weather. My friend and I decided to go for a drive. We decided to go to the haunted tunnel. We had heard stories about it and thought we would go check it out. We parked our car underneath the tunnel and sat on the hood of the car. The tunnel is in a deserted area and it is so narrow only one car can drive through it at a time. It was a beautiful night and we talked for a couple of hours but we didnt hear or see anything ghostly! We decided to leave and I got behind the wheel. As I put the key in the ignition a bright light came towards the front of my car really fast. It looked like a set of headlights. I turned the key and the engine stalled. I looked up at the lights which were almost on us, closed my eyes and waited for the impact. I waited, waited. No crash. I opened my eyes and no car was there. There was no car in the ditch or on the side of the road. We checked the brush for tire tracks and there was no car. We were scared out of our wits, got in the car and left as quickly as we could."
Melodie had not been back to this spot for several years. After she told me about it I asked her to go back and photograph the area. She was apprehensive about returning but made up her mind to go. She charged 2 battery packs for her camera in hopes of sending me dozens of shots. Both battery packs went dead.
To see the few pictures which she was able to get, go to the section at the top left which says "top page". Click on that and on the right is the photo section. Click on the tab and click on Haunted Tunnel and view pictures at this link
