Madison Seminary

Madison Seminary paranormal

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Location submitted by: sdonley on 12/08/2013
DBA Approved: Y

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PANICd#: 1286

In 1847 a small frame building opened in Madison Township, Lake County, OH that became known as the Madison Seminary. It provided high school and beyond education to people of Lake and surrounding counties.

6769 Middle Ridge Rd.
Madison , OH 44057
Phone: (440) 415-3059
Open to the public: Yes

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Madi...

Lat: 41.79051
Lon: -81.04554100000001

Database Summary:

Demographic Rank: 6
History: 1
Stories: 4
Claims: 6
Evidence: 0
Resources: 11
Retrievals: 11163
Vistor Rating: 5.0
Votes: 4

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History

History information is some background and history about the location. This is meant to be a basic summary. Below the history records you will find sources in which you can click on to find out more information. There may be multiple history records per location.

By 1859 a brick structure had been added to the east side of the original structure. The original frame structure was converted to a boarding hall. At one time some 150 students were enrolled in the Seminary.

The Madison Seminary buildings would serve students from 1847 to July 1891.

By Nov 10, 1891, the name of the facility officially became the Madison Home, purchased and owned by the Ohio Women's Relief Corps, a women's group of the Grand Army of the Republic, GAR for short. This home was to render needful assistance to Army nurses and soldiers' mothers, wives and sisters for whom no provision has yet been made to care for the people uprooted from the spoils of America's Civil War. The Madison site provided the best of five possible sites that were offered.

The Women's Relief Corps (WRC) constructed the western most section of the township center on the site of the original wooden structure of the school in 1891. The name on the doorway arch is Ohio Cottage.

In 1904, WRC donated the building to the State of Ohio when the organization could no longer afford to maintain it. The Report to the Governor of the State of Ohio called the complex Home of the Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Their Wives, Mothers, Widows and Army Nurses.

The WRC Madison Home portion of the facility officially ceased operation June 30, 1962 when it was taken over by the Ohio Department of Mental Hygiene and Corrections. Widows living in the Home either would be returned to their relatives or would be placed in private nursing homes under Aid to the Aged. Several of the residents were much saddened at the verdict, since they had no living relatives to look after their requirements.

In the 1960's, the institution was called Opportunity Village. A one-story addition connecting the other buildings was constructed, although another may have been built in 1989. Opportunity Village housed some selected honor inmates from Ohio Women's Reformatory in Marysville. These inmates worked as staff at the facility, learning skills as nurse's aids and other occupations.

It also became an extension of Apple Creek State Hospital and housed retarded women, most of whom could care for themselves. A joint project with the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, it was hoped that the slow learners and prisoners could be rehabilitated to live productive lives in society.

Also for a few months in 1964 it served as an extension of Cleveland State Hospital for aged, senile women.

Opportunity Village was closed in 1975 and the Lake County Commissioners purchased the building from the State of Ohio.

In the late 1970's Madison Township leased the facilities from the county to house its offices.

In 1981 Madison Township purchased the building from the county, with the understanding that the county would buy it back when Madison Township no longer had use for the facility. Later Madison Township became involved in designing a new Administration Complex to be located on Hubbard Road. Since the Lake County Commissioners had agreed to buy back the old facility, they did so, but had not decided it's fate.

The facility is on the National Historic Register and the county said it would do anything it could to save it.

In the 1980's, Lake County Administrator, Kenneth R Gautner admitted that demolition might be necessary since the facility, now two + buildings, does not meet required fire, electrical and plumbing codes.

Aside from not meeting codes, some township employees, who have worked in the history-rich facility, indicate that there may be a few ghosts.

A newspaper advertisement appeared in the 1993 newspapers - For Rent: Historic building on Middle Ridge Road . . . can be leased cheap, caution - building may be haunted.

In 1998 the county commissioners agreed, according to the Plain Dealer, to sell the property to Mr. John Cassell for $28,500. Mr. Cassell passed away in 2009 and his grandson now cares for the property.

Added by: sdonley on 12/08/2013 DB#:161
Source(s):
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Madison-Seminary/18...

Stories

Stories are just that. Stories and personal accounts that have been reported about the location. This section could also contain research notes as well.

The sprawling four-story brick building sits quietly on Middle Ridge Road, seemingly unnoticed, surrounded by trees and many well-kept flowers gardens and ornamental shrubs.

The building's exterior offers up no hint of its rich history or the range of emotions from its occupants, who once called it home. The dated interior hints that time stopped decades ago, as the hallways lead to empty rooms harboring the secrets of its residents during its 160-year history. If the walls could talk, there would be one man willing to listen.

Hearing children playing, women in conversation and footsteps is just one of the claims made by several people who have been inside the Ohio Cottage building. Claims that the building is haunted go back many decades.

Lake County Administrator Ken Gauntner, who had an office in the building when he worked for Madison Township several years ago, said he believes there is some kind of activity going on. Gauntner said that even though he never saw a ghost, he and several other employees did experience several unexplainable things, including hearing footsteps in hallways, doors opening and closing, and the intense feeling of being watched. He said several employees claim to have seen a woman walking in a second-floor hallway or standing at a second-floor window.

He recalls the time Channel 3-Cleveland was reporting and filming there, when cameras stopped working. At the same time, recording devices would record conversations and minutes later play back the conversations to stunned news crews.

As the news anchor stood on the front steps of the Ohio Cottage, Gauntner, who was with the anchor, said she noticed her voice recorder recording their conversation. He said she became frightened and quickly moved away from the area. Within seconds, he said a piece of glass from the upper fan-shaped window blew out and shattered where she had been standing moments before.

Added by: sdonley on 12/08/2013 DB#: 1119
Source(s): http://www.lakeviewparanormal.com/paranormal-inves...

Location: Madison Seminary is sits quietly at 6769 Middle Ridge Road surrounded by trees and many well-kept flowers gardens and ornamental shrubs in Madison, Ohio at the intersection of Highways 84 and 528 in Lake County, five miles west from Geneva in Ashtabula County.

Description Of Place: The Madison Seminary is an historical four-story red brick and white gabled Federal-style structure in Northeast Ohio. It consists of three wings which were constructed at separate periods in its history and consists of almost a hundred rooms. Once used as an office building, much of the main floor has restored while upper floors and rooms are in uneven states or restoration. Several of the upstairs rooms are vacant and devoid of furniture.

Ghostly Manifestations: Some people believe in haunted houses and cemeteries and some people don't. Is it just your imagination or is it true? Are there ghosts and spirits with us, or is it the wind and the ground settling below us? In Madison, Ohio, there is a large old building that has been around since 1859, and that several people speculate to be haunted. Several people here have reported sensations of being watched, while others have seen figures wandering through the location just out of eyeshot. Several people have reported being intimidated by the top floor.

"What I do know is I have been in this building my own fair share of times since the Late Eighties, and it was quite the spooky place back then." Former owner Greg Finlayson comments. "When I was there, it had high ceilings, paint flaking off the walls, big heavy doors that squeaked when you opened and shut them, and dark long hallways and lots of strange sounds from other rooms... Yes, everything you need for a ghost to live in...."

For years, people been saying that the location was haunted, as well as that a lot of people died in the old building. Several of the people who died here were eventually buried next door in the cemetery near the house. Between 1978 and 1992, the Madison Township Office Building as well as the Madison Township Police Station had been located here.

"Back in 1991, I was a news writer for the Lake County News-Herald and covered several Madison Township trustees meetings in that building." Local retiree Roger Baxby reports. "I recall after one meeting, the trustees invited the press to tour the second floor where their offices were. We were gathered in, I believe, the clerk's office, where she was trying to demonstrate the wonders of a new laser printer the township had recently purchased, but couldn't get this wonderful new miracle of modern technology to turn on. She soon noticed it was unplugged and remarked, "Well, that's strange - I never unplug it"...so she plugs it back in and punches the power button, but nothing lights up. We smug journalists exchanged a few snarky glances between us, thinking typical government ineptitude, but at that moment, one of the ladies starts complaining about sudden coldness in the tiny room, and we all seem to feel oddly uncomfortable and start edging toward the door. I guess Finlayson's mention of an unexplainable "pressure," as if being watched, kind of describes the sensation. Personally, I was happy the trustees moved to their new digs shortly after that."

Over the years, people have described hearing children playing inside, sounds of women in conversation and footsteps here. Foremost, people have seen a spectral woman in white flitting up the stairs to the third floor. As a result, no one likes to go up there. On the third floor, it is far more likely to experience something than any where else in the country.

"Claims that the building is haunted go back many decades, and it was these stories that drew my attention to the place." Madison resident Carl McFarland is the founder of Great Lakes Paranormal. "I had to ask permission to conduct a paranormal investigation inside the building. "I don't get scared during investigations, and when I see something, I want to go after it and see what it is."

While McFarland may not be bothered by the haunting tales, others are, and some plainly refuse to talk about the building or their experiences. Growing up, 17-year-old Darla Castle spent a lot of time in and out of the seminary back when it was owned by her grandfather, Gregory Finlayson, who also co-owns the local Darling Tree Nursery and the Caswell Grocery Store. Castle remembers when she was younger running loose through the structure and exploring all the tiny closets, back stairways and rooms against rooms, but when she got older, she started realizing something wasn't right with the building, though she could not explain what.

"When you would come into the building, you'd feel kind of strange inside it, as if there was some kind of a pressure on you. You feel like you're being watched, even when you're by yourself." She replies. Years later, she would hear the stories about her grandfather's building, including some from her grandfather.

"He would be working in his office, and he would hear children and groups of people in the building at night," Darla recalls. "One night, it was so loud he thought the building alarm was going to be set off from all the noise."

Indeed, the local proximity alarms often go off, and police show up to search the grounds and then the building, which is often locked up tight, but they never find anything. A few times, they comment on the sheer presence of the building even though they never find anything.

"I don't mind coming into the building. I have seen and heard many strange things, but nothing bad has happened to me." Baxby adds.

Lake County Administrator Richard Beard, who had an office in the building when he worked for Madison Township several years ago, said he believes there is some kind of activity going on inside the spooky edifice. Beard said that even though he never saw a ghost, he and several other employees did experience several unexplainable things, including hearing footsteps in hallways, doors opening and closing, and the intense feeling of being watched. He said several employees claim to have seen a woman walking in a second-floor hallway or standing at a second-floor window.

Beard recalls the time Channel 3-Cleveland was reporting and filming there, when cameras stopped working. At the same time, recording devices would record conversations and minutes later play back the conversations to stunned news crews.

As the news anchor stood on the front steps of the Ohio Cottage, Beard, who was with the anchor, said she noticed her voice recorder recording their conversation. He said she became frightened and quickly moved away from the area. Within seconds, he said a piece of glass from the upper fan-shaped window slipped out and shattered where she had been standing moments before.

"She was really shaken up over that and wanted to leave right there" He said.

Beard also recalls a college student hired for summer work quit in the middle of a job after claiming that an angry voice kept telling him to leave.

One group of people who wanted to see for themselves whether the building was haunted, decided to stay overnight in the building. In the middle of the night, Beard said the group was overcome by a rotten stench that prompted them to run for fresh air.

"I really believe that there is something paranormal or a group of paranormal things in that building." He adds.

Over the years, several police officers also have made claims of strange experiences and of seeing someone in a window. One officer said police dogs brought into the building for training would cower and whine in certain rooms and resist going up to the third floor. While many strongly believe something or several things of a paranormal nature exist in the building, there are many who refute those claims. If so, why is it that some have had unexplainable experiences in the building and some haven't.

McFarland comments that while there is no paranormal book to refer to, theories help to answer some nagging questions.

"Not all people are tuned into paranormal activity or seeing ghosts, and not all will hear or see the same thing if something happens in the presence of both parties at the same time. "He concludes. "The most common theory for some individuals who don't see spirits, ghosts or an apparition is because they don't have an open mind to such beliefs or that another dimension exists. Another theory is that some of us don't possess the ability to see or experience things.

"However, that doesn't explain why people who don't believe in ghosts are often seeing things while people who do believe struggle so hard to catch proof. One might surmise that ghosts can choose who can see them or that they just occasionally get careless."

McFarland recalls a recent incident where a local electrician exploring bad wiring in the building went up to the third floor to check the lines up there and walked into an unlocked room, surprising a tall pale woman with dark eyes and dark hair wearing a long white dress floating a foot off the floor. She was just floating there in the room, and upon getting discovered, she charged at him through the door and vanished in the hall. Not staying to tell anyone his story, he came racing and stumbling down the stairs, eventually throwing up in the grass outside the building. A co-worker had to come to finish the job for him.

"This building dates back to people from the Civil War era and was a prison and an institution for the mentally insane. You have all the energies of that turmoil and all of it within one building, and it becomes a perfect catalyst and battery for paranormal activity." McFarland believes there is truth to the claims made over the years. He and his team, which includes his wife, Mary, along with his brother, Gordon, and Jean Thomas, already have conducted three investigations here.

McFarland believes the location could be haunted by residual hauntings (place memories) involving phantoms replaying events trapped in the fiber of the structure like a giant DVD getting replayed by seasonal and meteorological conditions; however, he speculates, when these energies are strong enough, they can hold or trap surviving personalities here, like the female presence seen so often. Just who she is, no one is sure, but several people have felt touched by icy cold fingers or felt themselves being watched and become too scared to look behind them. She doesn't seem dangerous, but she definitely delights in scaring the living.

"I could be sitting there, and I would hear the phone silently dial numbers at random, and all of a sudden I hear a voice on speaker saying, "Hello." and then I have to assure this person I didn't call them, and that my phone is actually strangely, which it actually is." Richard Beard comments.

Other common problems he said are with the lights, which turn on by themselves in different parts of the building, even though the wiring has been checked several times. He has also frequently heard sounds of people talking and footsteps, but most of the time, he just ignores it.

"I'm always expecting someone to suddenly emerge at the bottom of the stairs or from out of the hallway, but no one ever appears." He sighs tiredly. "I've heard doors open and close when the place was supposed to be empty, water running from somewhere up stairs going on and off and lights on upstairs in rooms without light bulbs as I leave and look up to the second and third floor. We've had people come out to check these things repeatedly, and no one can ever find a reason why it keeps happening."

Several people have come here expecting to see something, often leaving in a huff when nothing happens and calling the place a giant hoax. There is no sure fire time to know when stuff happens. Despite an effort to predict the ghostly routine, activity is frequently random and unpredictable, as is the identity of the apparition that occurs. Different witnesses describe the apparition as a young girl while others think its a young woman. Whether the seminary has two ghosts or one is uncertain. Great Lakes Paranormal tried to placate her with a doll that has since started popping up through the structure. She has been seen in a closet, posed sitting in halls, left in chairs of locked rooms and even left staring out of the third floor windows.

"If you ask me..."Darla Castle wraps. "The scariest freaking thing about the place right now is that creepy doll. We can never find it when we look for it, and yet a day later, we'll discover it sitting at the bottom of the stairs where someone will see it."

Added by: sdonley on 12/08/2013 DB#: 1120
Source(s): http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/collinwood/madison00....

On April 30, 2010, producers of a TV-reality show called "Seven Dark Nights" contacted the owners of the location for their series where six strangers would be locked in the location for seven days to record and document paranormal activity here in return for prize money. However, despite the episode being edited together from their footage, it never aired as several of the contestants had nervous breakdowns or inexplicable stress attacks after fleeing the location. Although they were contractually unable to sue for damages, several police and business agencies sued Blue Moon Productions and Tandamount Pictures, the creators of the TV-pilot on grounds of creating unsafe living conditions among other charges. The case was subsequently settled out of court; the footage was instead released as a short film named "Seven Nights Of Darkness."

Added by: sdonley on 12/08/2013 DB#: 1121
Source(s): http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/collinwood/madison00....

Identity Of Ghosts: No one knows who the female apparition is haunting the location. One legend concerns a young girl who was left behind and died here when the structure was a boarding school. Another rumor is that she is a female patient was was abused and neglected here when it was Apple Creek State Hospital while yet another rumor is that both the young girl and the woman are two forms of one unidentified entity.

Added by: sdonley on 12/08/2013 DB#: 1122
Source(s): http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/collinwood/madison00....

Paranormal Claims

Here are the paranormal claims for this location. These have been found through Internet research, reports from members, or reports from personal interviews. To add a claim, please contact PANICd.com, and we will review and add your information.

Claim #	Added	Added By	Claim
1675	12/08/2013	sdonley	Children have been heard playing in the halls.
1676	12/08/2013	sdonley	Footsteps have been heard.
1677	12/08/2013	sdonley	Women in conversation has been heard and recorded.
1678	12/08/2013	sdonley	Doors have opened and closed by themselves.
1679	12/08/2013	sdonley	People have reported an intense feeling of being watched.
1680	12/08/2013	sdonley	Several employees has seen a women walking in a second-floor hallway or standing at a second-floor window.

Additional Resources

This is a collection of Internet resources for this location. This section will house links to other websites that contain information related to history, claims, investigations, or even the location's website.

Return to the Darkness: Madison Seminary Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	Article by a paranormal group that investigated this location.
History of the Ohio Cottage building Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	MADISON TOWNSHIP â€” The timeline of the Ohio Cottage building history was compiled through newspaper articles, records from the Madison and Lake County historical societies, and research by former Madison Township employee Judy Schaeffer.
Do you remember Madison Seminary Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	Select the collections to add or remove from your search 500 You have selected: 1
Madison Has A Real Haunted House... Do you Believe? Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	Â Some people believeÂ Â in haunted houses and cemeteriesÂ and some don't.
Historic sites: Rumors of haunting persist at Madison Seminary Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	Accounts of visits and reviews of Madison Seminary seem to bear out the statement made on the historic buildingÂ’s Facebook page, that the place is believed to be occupied by spirits from beyond the grave.
â€˜Too pretty to shootâ€™ Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	The knock at the cabin door came late in the October evening 149 years ago. Elizabeth Stiles, cracked open the door, advanced her lantern into the darkness and surveyed the mass of Union soldiers in front of her. Â Although she did not recognize any of men, their uniforms put Elizabeth at ease.
Madison Seminary Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	Location: Madison Seminary is sits quietly at 6769 Middle Ridge Road surrounded by trees and many well-kept flowers gardens and ornamental shrubs in Madison, Ohio at the intersection of Highways 84 and 528 in Lake County, five miles west from Geneva in Ashtabula County.
3-17 Madison Seminary Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	Madison Seminary located in Madison Ohio is reopening for Ghost Hunts and you have the opportunity to investigate this newly reopened locationâ€¦. Madison Seminary is composed of two treasured historical buildings.Â The Ohio Cottage was completed in 1891. It is 25,136 square feet and has 63 rooms.
Madison Seminary, Ohio Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	The historic site of Madison Seminary is known for its hauntings and paranormal activity, but what is it about this building that has so many spirits haunting the hallways? Ghost Hunt USA wanted to find out for ourselves what it was this location made it one of the most haunted locations in the Mad
The Madison Home: From a Grand Army to Ghosts Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	Todayâ€™s Friday the 13th post focuses on the Madison Seminary and Home. Although today it is known for its resident â€œghostsâ€ and haunted tours, for more than a century it was home to students and to the families of Ohio veterans.
Mary E. Truesdale (182 : 906) : Find A Grave... Added: 06/24/2018 By: mdonley	GREAT NEWS! We have a volunteer within ten miles of your requested photo location. GREAT NEWS! We have 2 volunteers within ten miles of your requested photo location.