Local Legends and Hauntings

With Halloween drawing near I thought it would be fun to share some of our own local Legends and hauntiings with each other. The place I want to share is where we would sneak and go to as teenagers. It is located on Gore Orphanage Rd about a 25 minute drive from where we lived growing up.......we scared ourselves many Friday nights hanging out in the dark waiting to see or hear things.....many of us taking off with tires squealing and teenagers screaming.....in fear that we created in our own minds.......some still swear they saw and heard things.

The Legend Of Gore Orphanage

It's a nightmarish scene in the countryside of Vermilion on Gore Road over one

hundred years ago. A gigantic fire engulfs an old orphanage burning dozens of

young children alive. Desperate to escape the inferno, the children on the second

floor found the stairs blocked by flames. Dreadful screams of the children trapped

inside the blazing building pierce the ears of horrified onlookers unable to stop the

carnage. The deadly destruction continues until the screams finally fall silent and

the only sound that lingers is the crackling and roar of the hellish flames. The smoke

ascends into the night sky, carrying with it the souls of over 100 poor orphan

children. The building is soon reduced to a pile of glowing embers with only a

remnant of the foundation and stone pillars forever preserved for future generations to

happen upon.

Were the spirits of the helpless children extinguished with the flames, or do they still cry out in the middle of the night from beyond the grave? Do the lost souls wander the area, forever tortured by a reality too difficult to accept? Was the fire sparked by an orphan boy dropping a lamp? Or perhaps it was intentionally set by Old Man Gore, the abusive man who ran the institution, for insurance or just plain sadistic torture?

So is the legend of Gore Orphanage

here is the url to the site if you want to read further. It has some photos and the real story of Gore Orphanage
http://vermilionohioharbourtown.homestead.com/GoreOrphanageSwiftsHollow.html

Please share any local lengends or hauntings from where you live with us all.

Ddavidd
Thanks for sharing.....what a terrible story. Hopefully he is now paying for his crime.

Cindy...thanks for posting this....always good to hear of the local hauntings....

Here is a long standing legend from my hometown....I won't mention the sisters names for obvious reasons, although they've long ago passed on....Let's just call them:

"The Westside Witches"

Legend has it a certain trio of spinster sisters who resided on the west side were indeed witches....They lived in a century old brick three story and kept tons of cats!
Local teens for several generations had pulled many dares and harrassments against the sisters.....and passed down the legend from parent to child over and over. They were said to have telepathic and supernatural powers.

I recall it was about this time of year....near Hallowen....Being adventurous and fun loving teens ....Cindy, her friend Tammy and my friend Becky (who was a newly licensed driver), and I, set out across the bridge from the east side to check out the witches for ourselves. Being the elders....Becky and I decided to dare Cindy and Tammy to walk down the block, past the intended targets home, in the dark....what Fun!

So.....quietly we dropped Cindy and Tammy off around the block and proceeded to drive around to collect the little tricksters. Cindy tells it as this....They were scared to death, walked on the other side of the street and never even ventured a glance in the direction of the "evil house".....
Suddenly! All three sisters ran from the house and jumped into their car and began to chase Cindy and Tammy....As Becky and I drove around the block....two terrified and screaming girls jumped into the back and yelled....GO!!! THEY'RE AFTER US!!!!!!

And sure enough, the witches drove up and cut us off in the middle of the street! Becky drove over a lawn to make our escape and sped through stop signs and red lights losing them as we made our way back across town.....such a frightening experience....and now in retrospect....why did the old ladies decide to chase two innocent girls walking unassumingly down the public sidewalk? Were they so sick of harrassment over the years that everyone under 21 appeared a threat?....or did they really have some sort of "powers"?
...we saw them a few years later in the grocery store with a cart load of catfood....nothing else....had to laugh....my mom tells us that one of the sisters became a resident of a nursing home where she was employed and never hesitated to whack people with her cane....

I live only a few blocks from the old house now....it stands serenely in a sunny well kept old neighborhood....doesn't look the stuff of legends...but we know better........

The stuff of legends.....almost always gleaned from tragedy or misery....and oft time....very little truth left in it in the telling.....just as Gore Orphanage was actually a combination of several incidents....and The West Side Witches just harmless harassed old women tired of being picked on for many years....but at this time of year it is a bit of fun to tell our spooky stories.....

ddavidd....that is a tragic story....the truth is almost always more horrifying than any legend....your poem is very touching

That lighthouse story Britt reminds me of the movie with Demi Moore....Halflight...and lighthouses make such romantic haunted houses!

Britt and Debbie ....thanks for sharing these haunting tales.

Deb....I'll never forget that night as long as I live....at least now that I'm older I can laugh about it:)