Haunted hikes and folklore along the Buckeye Trail

Haunted hikes on the Buckeye Trail

Those who hike along the Buckeye Trail take in a wide range of unique, natural worlds during their journey, from ghost towns nearly lost to time beneath dense forests to old towpath trails running along fast-moving streams. The occasional deer or black bear may heighten the excitement of adventure as these creatures cross the path. Yet, many do anticipate coming face to face with the supernatural along the way and perhaps, experiencing a ghostly encounter. In the southeastern region of Ohio, old stories and legends, passed down in local communities where the Buckeye Trail winds through, tell us experiences with the paranormal may happen more often than most might think.

A tale from the 1930s

When hikers travel the Buckeye Trail in Shawnee State Forest, where it connects with the Wilderness Loop Trail, they come within hollering distance of Dead Man Hollow and a mysterious, lone grave. Some may even hear phantom screams. A skeleton was discovered in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as they worked to open the area to the public for recreation. They reburied the bones nearby and placed a marker over the grave. After finding implements like combs and tin plates nearby, old-timers agreed the skeleton was that of a peddler who had disappeared under strange circumstances many years before. For years, locals avoided the area of the hollow after dark, reporting wraithlike screams, whistling, and strange noises.

Hike GPS Coordinates:: 38.698, -83.255 to 38.705, -83.242 Dead Man Hollow GPS Coordinates: 38.698760, -83.237083

A mysterious man and his dog

Northeast of Shawnee State Forest, between Logan and South Bloomingville, two young boys in the 1800s were visiting a cave rumored as haunted. Some had heard the low baying of a hound at night, but the source could never be found when they searched for the dog. The boys had only been inside the cave a few minutes when the crunch of footsteps caught their attention. Accompanied by a large, white dog, a bearded old man dressed in buckskins and carrying a gun walked into the cave. The strange man paced back and forth near the edge of the far rocks and, upon coming to a standstill, peered intently at a shallow depression in the sandstone earth. Then the man and the dog vanished into the depression as if they had not been there at all! Upon hearing the boys’ story, those in the community were curious and dug into the pit where the ghost had disappeared. They found the skeletal remains of a man and dog. Their presence was explained like this: before American families had formed the towns of Logan and Cedar Grove in the early 1800’s, some trappers lived along Cedar Creek, a stream that worked through a deep sandstone gorge. As their jobs required them to travel far into the wilderness, they were gone for many days at a time. One winter, upon returning from a seasonal hunt, neighbors discovered the dead bodies of one trapper named Retzler, who made his home in a cave outcropping along with his old dog Harper. They buried the two side by side in the back of the cave. The place in the Hocking Hills where the bones lay was dubbed Dead Man’s Cave or Old Man’s Cave and is part of the Buckeye Trail, and some still hear the old hound dog baying in the evening.

Hike Old Man’s Cave GPS Coordinates: 39.437124, -82.538276 to 39.427957, -82.541386

The road to hell

Those not too scared to continue onward will pass a long A-frame bridge along the rim of Cedar Falls where a grist-mill stood in the 1800s, powered by the waters of Queer Creek. Nearby was a massive beech tree carved deelply with the words “This is the road to hell, 1782” in its ancient trunk by a trapper held captive by Shawnee or Lenape (commonly known as “Delaware”). He escaped, but others did not. Often it was said that agonizing cries emanated from the roots of the old tree where some colonists were killed.

The A-frame Bridge GPS Coordinates: 39.419389, -82.524094

If that is not enough, a pale woman follows hikers further
along the trail in Ash Cave, and some have witnessed her peeking at
them behind trees. No one knows to whom the ghost belongs, but Ash
Cave was a shelter for Native Americans, a home for early European-American colonists, and even a place for Sunday church revivals.

Ash Cave GPS Coordinates: 39.400136, -82.537272

A lost man, found

Ghosts aside, I will leave you with this last bit of folklore and a thank you to Buckeye Trail volunteers who work hard to keep the trails maintained and carefully marked with blue blazes. Unfortunately, I do have the reputation of getting lost on unmarked trails. So those who hike often and have a poor sense of direction like me will relate to this cautionary legend. Where Lost Run Road and the Buckeye Trail come together in Hocking County, there was an old hunter’s trail along a shallow, nameless creek. In the early years of Ohio, one hunter got lost while pursuing game by the creek during winter. He sat down next to a tree and froze to death. His skeleton was found many years later with a rifle next to it, and so the creek was named Lost Run.

Hike about a mile along Lost Run. GPS Coordinates: 39.553687, -82.258228 to 39.556276, -82.239173

Dive into more stories

These stories and others can be found in Haunted Hocking: A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to the Hocking Hills and Jannette’s other books.