Haunted Cemeteries of Ohio by E.R. Cutright

Author:E.R. Cutright
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781439676035
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

LITTLE PENNSYLVANIA CEMETERY, DARBYDALE

On the outskirts of Darbydale, just a few miles southwest of Columbus, a nondescript steel barricade marks the entrance to a little burial ground with a big reputation. Beyond the gate, a wood-lined path leads to a clearing, past which rows of graves ascend a narrow hillside cemetery. Long ago, this was the site of a Mennonite church, and the earliest burial dates to 1811, making it one of the oldest active cemeteries in Franklin County.206 Over the course of its two-hundred-year history, it has been referred to as “Green Hill,” “London-Darbydale” and “Little Pennsylvania Cemetery.” It’s also reputed to be one of the most haunted locations in Central Ohio and known to the paranormal enthusiasts who consider it as such by the name “Woolybooger.”

At first glance, it would be hard to imagine how this pleasant country cemetery could have such a gloomy reputation. Its soil has embraced pioneers, pastors, veterans and poets—many of whom still have descendants living in the area and tending to their graves. There is seemingly little reason why such a place should be so haunted. Yet countless people attest that they’ve been witness to eerie apparitions and encountered monstrous beasts in the cemetery.207 An ethereal young girl in a white dress has long been said to roam there, and ghost hunters have claimed that other, darker forms, some human and some inhuman, have chased them from the cemetery.208 Even those who are innocently driving past the gate at a late hour have reported unexplained car trouble, feelings of dread and screams wrenching out from somewhere in the forest.

Just how the cemetery got its unusual nickname has long been a matter of speculation. One theory is that it was derived from Willie Butcher, a man who was supposedly driven insane by graveyard ghosts, slaughtered his entire family and then committed suicide at a nearby farmhouse in the late 1800s. Legend has it that after the crime was discovered, townsfolk quietly buried the victims in the adjacent cemetery and burned the house to the ground. For obvious reasons, there is no record that such a thing ever happened. In fact, there is no documentation that such a family existed in tax records, deeds or the census. So, if this is true, a round of applause is in order for the cover-up committee. Coincidentally, there is a Willie Boucher buried there, but it’s unlikely that he got up to too much murder. He died when he was ten months old.

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