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Dive into the intriguing ghost stories and local legends of Trumbull County's remarkable past.
It was a dark, and thankfully, not particularly stormy night – and it was the third I’d spent mostly alone in the Mahoning Avenue Pioneer Cemetery.
It was my first year acting as a ghost in the annual Ghost Walk put on by the Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County and the Trumbull County Historical Society. As a ghost, I waited in the cemetery until I saw the walking tours’ lanterns, and then emerged and told my spooky story to each group before they moved on to the next stop.
On the whole, I didn’t mind the cemetery – it was quiet and peaceful, and like I said, I was only mostly alone. I had been fortunate enough to make friends with a little gray cat that would follow me as I wound through the graves and out to the cemetery gate for my performances, much to the delight of the audience.
But on this particular night, as we waited for the next group to arrive, the cat startled. His hair stood straight on end and he bolted up a tree, then just hung there at eye-level in terror for nearly a minute.
As the next group meandered through the parking lot I tried to put the cat’s behavior out of my mind – but I couldn’t quite let it go.
I couldn’t help but wonder if I was less alone than I’d realized. Maybe that cat knew something I didn’t. Perhaps I was not the only ghost in the cemetery that night.
It would be no wonder, given the stories that people tell.
Mahoning Avenue Pioneer Cemetery
Pioneer Cemetery is thought to be one of the oldest in the area, with the earliest grave dating to 1804. In its boundaries are many stories – some lost to time, and some resigned to legend.
They say one woman buried her husband there before remarrying to a nasty, mean – and superstitious – drunk. When he got angry, she fled to the cemetery, which he would not enter, and slept on the grave of first husband. It was a solution, until winter came, and she froze to death on that very grave.
Then there’s three-year-old Mary Bosworth, set ablaze by a spark that blew from her father’s fireplace in 1822. Her obituary lays out the grizzly details: she was “so dreadfully burnt as to render all medical aid unavailing,” and “within sixteen hours” from the incident, “she was a corpse.”
And 64-year-old Ezra Rawdon – he was killed by a kick from a horse in 1824. That would make anyone grumpy enough to return as a ghost, don’t you think?
Warren City Hall and the Perkins Family
Pioneer Cemetery is not the only likely haunted spot in Trumbull County. Just down Mahoning Avenue is the notoriously haunted City Hall – historic home of the ill-fated Perkins Family.
Henry Bishop Perkins Sr., a local businessman and politician, built the mansion in 1871. He lived there with his wife and their four children, Mary, Olive, Jacob, and Henry Bishop Jr. – better known as “Bish.”
The Perkins family’s tragedy is said to have started after the body of a maid was found on their property. They say Bish wasn’t the same after that – he was withdrawn.
Rumors, of course, circulated about him and that maid. Some people said that when they found her, she was “in a certain condition” – with child.
Well, one night Bish went to a wedding out of town and didn’t return as expected. His family frantically searched for him. And they found him, face-down by the river, with a revolver still in his hand. Or, that’s how the story goes.
Henry Bishop Sr., who often had “fits of melancholy,” hung himself from the rafters in the law office a few years later. They say you can still see the marks made by the rope.
And if you’re wondering about Jacob, the older son, – they say he died after he drunkenly fell asleep in the snow right outside the mansion.
Folks have reported all sorts of bumps in the night at City Hall, from the sound of furniture being rearranged to doors opening and closing. Some even say they’ve seen old man Perkins in that law office, or other family members wandering the grounds looking for young Bish.
The Perkins, by the way, are buried in another Warren Cemetery, Oakwood Cemetery, which opened in 1848 – and which certainly has its own slew of ghosts.
The Kinsman House
It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that Perkins make up their fair share of the ghosts in Warren. Just a little further down Mahoning, the old Kinsman House – now the Warren Heritage Center – is also believed to be haunted.
Some say they’ve seen a specter looking down from the main staircase. Furniture sometimes to get itself out of place there, too. And of course, there’s the reports of crying babies.
Or so they say. But I certainly never enter that house without saying hello to Olive – it is her house, after all.
Olive Perkins Kinsman was Henry Bishop Sr.’s sister. Their father, General Simon Perkins, built the stately Kinsman House for Olive upon her marriage to Frederick Kinsman in 1832.
Their marriage was short and plagued with tragedy. Olive gave birth to three children, none of whom lived past infancy, before she died in 1838.
Frederick remarried and had a sizeable, healthy family. But plenty of people believe Olive’s spirit never left that house. She and her children may still be there, along with any number of other souls who found their way into the house over the years.
You can visit the Kinsman House and its ghosts when the Warren Heritage Center is open, 2 to 5 p.m. on the first Sunday of the month, or by appointment.
The Cortland Opera House
But you know, it’s not just Warren that’s haunted. There are ghosts all over Trumbull County.
I asked a ghost hunter friend where to go looking for them. She said, the Cortland Opera House, of course.
Long before it was the home of the Cortland-Bazetta Historical Society, the Cortland Opera House was a Methodist Church. At the turn of the 20th century a member of the church, Solomon Kline, purchased the building, removed the steeple, added a stage, and called it “Kline’s Hall.” The venue hosted plays, shows and silent movies.
The Kline family supposedly haunts the building now. Some say that if a performance is held there, Kline himself will speak to patrons in a deep voice, and that a woman sometimes sings along with recitals. Even on a quiet day, you might hear footsteps there, if you listen closely.
While I can’t say if that’s really true, my friend has investigated the paranormal reports there. She said the ghosts of the Cortland Opera House have set off motion detectors and have turned off equipment. In her opinion, it’s really truly haunted – but, the ghosts are pretty friendly.
East Gustavus Cemetery
And I can’t say for sure if you’ll meet any ghosts in the East Gustavas Cemetery, you can visit one of Trumbull County’s most famous murder victims: Frances Maria Buel.
Sixteen-year-old Maria was brutally – and publicly – stabbed to death by her step-father, Ira West Gardner.
It was 1832 when rumors circulated through Gustavas Township that Garnder was abusing young Maria. She began frequently running away from home, but her absence only made Gardner angrier.
In August, Maria took refuge at a neighbor’s house. Two days later she returned home to get clothes, but Gardner was waiting at the front gate. When Maria’s mother was out of sight, he stabbed Maria several times with a butcher’s knife – in front of a neighbor.
Maria died from her wounds. Gardner was put on trial in Warren, found guilty, and was hanged in front of a crowd of thousands of spectators who came from all over the state.
The story has inspired many retellings and variations, including the novel, “The Dance of the White Deer,” by Trumbull County author and photographer Rebecca Nieminen.
Maria’s grave is easy to find at East Gustavus Cemetery, but you won’t find Gardner there. He was denied a proper burial and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave on his brother-in-law’s farm near Williamsfield, Ashtabula. Though I wonder if either Maria Buel or Ira Gardner ever really found rest.
Other Haunts
Some other places that are reportedly haunted – though I myself have no proof – include the Hariet Taylor Upton House in Warren, the top floor of the Union Square Tower in Warren, and the Champion Beach House Bar & Grill (yes, that one really is a bar, so if you don’t find any ghosts, you can still grab a beer bite to eat).
There are also a number of other historic cemeteries in the county that are worth visiting, including Niles Union Cemetery, East Greene Cemetery, and Kinsman Presbyterian Cemetery.
Speaking of cemeteries, if you’re still wondering about that little cat and its odd behavior – I never did find out what spooked it. The next night was in fact quite stormy and my performance was moved inside a church. I never spent another night in the Pioneer Cemetery. And, you know, I was okay with that.
