On this page we present stories, eyewitness statements or first-person accounts that were submitted to us by average people, looking either for additional information or to share their experiences with others who may have experienced similar things. Please note that Cleveland Supernatural Investigations (CSI) takes no stand on the authenticity of these stories nor do we vouch for any of them. New investigations into their backgrounds may turn up new facts. We present them here merely as a matter of professional interest.



THE PHANTOM OF GARFIELD PARK -
On the Garfield Park Bridge, in Garfield Heights, Ohio, is often reported the ghostly image of a man, always dressed in brown, who fishes off the bridge. People have reported him whispering in their ears while fishing. Directly across the street from the park lies Cavalry Cemeterey, one of the area's largest. Whether this spirit is more closely associated with the park or nearby cemetery is unknown. One interesting speculation is that since Cavalry Cemetery is so close, the spirit may be that of someone who is actually buried in the Cemetery but who enjoyed the park in life and still comes to visit. Diana Pence recently had an encounter while in the park, and sends us this detailed account of her experience:

"I was looking on your website and wondered if you had heard of anything going on in Garfield Park? I have seen things (ghosts?) since I was a kid, not everyday, but quite a bit in my life and so have my Mother and sister and my children. But I have seen an old man dressed in brown near Garfield Park near the Bridge by Broadway going down a road that is no longer used. On the other side of the park early one morning I had seen a large white cloudy mass moving towards me, although I was far enough away I thought maybe it was fog until I got closer and realized it was more of something kind of gliding along. But what got to me was that it had two choices, one to pass me (which it was still about 50 feet from me) or cut a right turn to another old exit road from the park that is not in use, and as it took that right turn onto that short exit road I noticed a smaller white cloudy mass following exactly behind it and also go down the short exit road. When I reached the same spot it was gone.

I have been in that park since I was a child and I know I had really seen that, whatever it was. I wasn't scared of it I guess, just surprised by it and that there were two. My oldest Son had also seen something a year before in a different part of the park. I guess I am just curious to hear if anyone else has heard of anything in Garfield Park. I go there many times a week early in the morning, I know the park very well and it's not just shadows or anything like that.

The man I had seen had on brown pants, a lighter colored brown shirt, with suspenders and a brown (I think) hat, that's the reason he caught my attention so easily is that he was so out of place and oddly dressed. I kept my eyes on him as I was walking on the walking path and I had to walk past him (although he was heading down the old road to the right of the path) and I kept thinking he was older (maybe 60-65) although I didn't get a good look at his face, I kept thinking he could'nt have walked there like that, he walked but at a slower pace. I watched him walk up the old road and he was as clear as day to me, it was about 6:45 -7:00am when I had seen him and was in maybe July or August of 2005." (10/4/06) - Diana








HAUNTED CIVIL WAR ERA HOUSE -
Dear sir, I have sought out your site due to an incident that occurred this past summer. Some local young people decided to explore an abandoned house that had the dubious reputation of being a pre Civil War abortion mill. I scoffed at the idea due to the remote rural location of the house. My interest was piqued however when told by one of the young men of the tiled basement and the enormous double door incinerator located therein. Additionally, the second floor was taken up by a series of 9' x9' square rooms. The youths had brought a case of beer into the house, which being left out in the open was not at all cold. Upon returning to retrieve the beer however, they found each of the bottles frozen to point of being cracked. Additionally, throughout their tour of the house, there was encountered several cold spots. By this time the explorers felt compelled to leave, which upon doing so, the door was pulled from the hand of the last youth and slammed shut. This individual told me he would take me to the house, but would not venture inside again.

I am a student of the local history of our area of Virginia. The house in question could date to the mid 19th century as there is an even earlier dwelling across the road still occupied. The house has not been occupied for many years and trees have so completely overgrown the front facing as to conceal it from the road. The last tenants purportedly left after only three nights in the house. I have contacted a Civil War historian who works for the county to identify the previous owners, as I am told the current owners acquired said structure through a tax default of the former estate. More information will hopefully be forthcoming. I would be interested in your assessment of this report. At this time I am reluctant to personally inspect these premises beyond a most cursory exterior survey with the owner's permission. Thank you for your excellent site. I look forward to hearing from you. (10/22/06) - Will








TINKER'S CREEK MIST -
As a little girl, my father used to like to scare me around Halloween, by driving me past Franklin Castle and telling me the old stories of the place. I sometimes look for pictures online, as I was VERY convinced at the age of 10 that I saw something from the road in the front tower window.

As I was wandering around your site, I noticed Tinker's Creek Cemetary. This particularly caught my attention due to an experience I had in the general area a few years ago. I have often wondered if anyone else has experienced the same. Probably three years ago, a friend and I were headed back to Akron after having dinner with her mom in Parma. We were somewhere on Valley View/Canal Road, heading towards Route 8, deep in conversation. Suddenly I noticed a mist at the edge of the woods by the road, to my right. It took a minute to register, as I even finished my (unrelated) sentence. Right after we passed it, my friend said to me "Did you see that??" We looked in the rearview mirror, and it was gone. I wish I had noted specifically where we were, but I do know the canal was no longer visible, which probably placed us somewhere in Sagamore or Northfield (Ohio). Like I said, I have often wondered if anyone else ever noted anything in that area. It was no "Amityville Horror", but it definitely made my skin crawl, and I always pay special attention on that stretch of road, hoping to see it again!!! These kinds of things pop up so unexpectedly. I have been to Squire's Castle, hoping to see the ghosts, and made the drive down 71 between Medina and Berea, hoping to see the ghostly hitchiker, and here something finds ME, when all I wanted was to get home!! (10/25/06) - Kate








UNEXPLAINED GETTYSBURG OCCURENCES -
I'm not sure I'm a believer in ghosts or not. I have an open mind about it. One of my hobbies is reading about U.S history, so needless to say I've read a lot about the Civil War and the battle of Gettysburg. The last time the family and I went back east to visit my mother-in-law we made a trip to the Gettysburg battlefield. We drove to the top of Little Round top to look at the battlefield and down to Devi’ls Den. As soon as the family and I got out of the car we were struck by this smell of something dead. My daughter made the comment about it and I told her it was most likely a dead animal that the rangers haven't yet picked up. We then drove down to Devil’s Den and when we got out of the car the smell was still there. There’s a famous photo taken at Devil’s Den that is called the Sniper's Pit, which shows a dead soldier lying behind a stone wall built between two large boulders. I explained to my kids that the soldier wasn't killed here but further away, as is now commonly known. I had been to Gettysburg a few years before and by using old photos from a book I found the same location. The area is off the beaten path so you have to walk through some overgrown brush to get there.

As we moved around to the back side of this boulder where this poor soul was killed we found a small 2 x 4 inch Confederate flag planted there. Someone like myself, perhaps a Civil War buff, must have left it there. So I had the kids stand there next to the flag and I took four pictures. Now comes the strange part. When we had those photos developed all of them came out except the four I took by the Confederate flag. A bright light ran down the middle of all four of those pictures right between my kids, like they were over exposed, yet all the other pictures taken right before and after those were fine. And the smell? It was there the whole time we were there at that area of the battlefield it never got stronger or weaker, it was just there. Michael C. (Webmaster’s note: Camera anamolies and other malfunctions are quite common in this area and that known as the "Triangular Field" which is just across the road from the sniper’s position. I myself have experienced photographs there that just didn’t take for some unknown reason, while all the others taken at the same time, but away from this area, were normal.)









HAUNTED WESTLAKE CONDOMINIUMS -
The following is a story of a possible haunting in the Westlake area of Cleveland. The author will remain anonymous. It is taken from two or three different descriptions, edited together for continuity. Nothing else has been changed. The person involved wishes to share her story in the hope that anyone familiar with the area described may have had either similar experiences of their own, or knows someone who has, that might be able to shed more light on them. Perhaps there is some story or legend associated with the location that might provide some background. Any information given to me in private will be shared with the author if you desire. You may contact me at HorodyskiJ@aol.com.

I just found your site online and am wondering you are aware of any hauntings near Dover Center Rd. (Westlake area near Cleveland) I used to live in the condos on Westown Blvd. and although I am a skeptic of my own experiences, I believe it might well be haunted there. I am so curious as to why and what tormented us. I don't think it was just our unit . . . I have a feeling it was the area. We lived there for about five miserable years and I don't think I could type everything that happened. It felt evil there. I always tried to find explanations for things but I couldn't for everything. I wonder if anything tragic ever happened in that area?

They were called Dover West Condominiums. The address was 27401 Westown Blvd. We were there about 5 years. I will only mention at the moment the least explainable occurrences. First, when we arrived in the Cleveland area, we got a room at the holiday inn in Elyria. We looked at the condo and another place that we didn't like. That night, the owner of the condo called us to tell us we could have the place if we wanted. The next morning we were to meet and get the keys, sign the lease, and pay the deposit and first months rent. My husband first headed to the bank and as soon as he left the room, the TV and lights went out. I thought that he had hit a switch and went to turn it back on but that wasn't the case. I could not get the lights or TV back on so I figured the power had gone out and headed to the front desk to see what the problem was. We were the first room in the hall on the first floor.

I entered a well lit hallway and noticed the maid vacuuming in the next room over. Our room was the only one with no power. I then ran to the window just as my husband was driving by, trying to catch his attention before he left, but I could not. After he was gone, the power came back on. I told him about it later, but neither one of us thought much of it. I only recalled it recently and thought it might be linked. Our first night in the condo, we were doing some unpacking and I put my family shield on the wall in our bedroom where our bed would be. There was a screw already in the wall. I went to the kitchen for something and then went back into the room. The shield was resting on the ground against the wall. This particular shield is no longer in our possession. It was made by my great grandmother and was a family heirloom, but I completely forgot about it when we moved and could not get the landlord to return our phone calls when we wanted it back.

I lived there for 2 1/2 years before I began working 3rd shift. I had 2 younger children and I would be very tired during the day. When my daughter was 2 or 3 and my son 4 or 5, I used to give them snacks often instead of fully waking to make a meal. The garbage hadn't been taken out and so there were a few bags in the kitchen waiting to go out. I went to the pantry to get a granola bar or something and stepped in a cold puddle of water. I instantly thought that the garbage had leaked and was so tired that I wiped my foot on the carpet and went back to sleep. A little later, the kids were still hungry and I went back to the pantry for another snack. I again step into the puddle and again am so lazy that I wipe my foot and go back to sleep. This happened all morning. When I was finally awake, I went to clean up the puddle, but there wasn't one. The garbage hadn't leaked anything and I realized that the cold spot was a few feet away from the garbage anyway.

I searched the ground with my hand and found a cold spot. It was not at all wet, even though it was so cold that I mistook it for water. Throughout the day I kept going back to the spot and found it still cold. In the evening, when my husband came home from work, I told him to come look. I put my hand on the spot, but it had returned to room temperature. I could only tell my husband about the spot. One morning, as I entered the house after work, I was entering the hall on my way to the bedroom when a gas-like form came towards me. I froze in my tracks and said something like, "go away." I then reached forward to turn on the light even though the sun was rising, it was around 7 am. I later told my husband that I must have been pretty sleep deprived but it scared the crap out of me all the same. He complained of seeing what he calls "the predator" because it looked like the alien in the movie - you could see its outline but you couldn't see it because of the cloaking device. I recently realized that his description matches mine, we just described it differently.

My children would often wake me from my day naps because they were afraid of the hall monster. They would not sleep in their room, which they shared. They now sleep just fine, each alone in their separate rooms. At the time, my kids camped out every night in the living room. So did I on my nights off. I couldn't/wouldn't sleep in my bedroom. We did this for so long that it almost doesn't seem strange to sleep on the floor with perfectly good beds in our bedrooms. My husband slept in his bed and was bothered the most. My husband also sleepwalks. Well, he has only done it once since we moved a year ago, but it was very frequent there. We also went through many, many light bulbs while living there and felt as though our energy was drained when we would walk in the door. It felt like a fog was in the air. This fog got thicker as time passed. We never looked forward to returning home. Even the children would want us to just take drives, and we would.

There is more . . . much more, but some of it is unbelievable to me even as I witnessed it. Some of it has already been blocked out. I'm mostly concerned that what was there would follow us. I want to know it's attached to the building. It’s hard to tell you this, even though I am eager to learn more. I would be very interested if there were any stories similar to ours in that area. I think it might be important to also mention our neighbor the first year who lived directly below us. We never took her very seriously because she often spoke of her many acid trips from her younger years and we just thought she had messed up her wiring. She claimed she saw a "ghost cat" in her place and also a little girl's fingers wrapping around the edge of the wall. She thought her 2 year old daughter was up, but she was fast asleep.

Also, every morning around 2 am, her daughter would wake up, run into the hallway, and scream inconsolably for a time. We sometimes woke up from her screaming. We just thought that maybe she was a drug baby or something and had issues. This neighbor moved the moment her one year lease was up. We used to hear crying a lot when our kids were sleeping, or we thought we did. We thought it was the neighbor until they moved and we still thought we heard crying and would check on the kids. Our last 2 years there my husband and the kids often woke up around 2 am. For a time, it was nightly. I started to wonder if the neighbor wasn't dealing with the same things we were.