Wayne National Forrest in southeastern Ohio, covers over a quarter of a million acres, spread across twelve counties along the Ohio River and the Appalachian Mountains foothills. It is Ohio’s only national forest. It is a beautiful place to hike, but there is a darker side to this beautiful, forested area…ghosts are known to lurk within these woods.

First is the story of Airplane Hollow, and the ghosts of the men who died tragically in a military airplane crash back in 1941. Check out Spooky Ohio’s video for the full story, which also includes a Mothman sighting in the area!  And finally strange howls have been reported in several different areas within Wayne National Forest. The Nelsonville Police department investigated at least one incident, but the screaming abruptly stopped before they could locate the source. Sound creepy? Yes, absolutely! So, let’s go scampering off into the haunted woods!

I chose the Wildcat Hollow Trail because it runs through Airplane Hollow (the haunted part we discussed above). Now this is a 15.1-mile trail, but I did not plan to hike the full trail on this particular trip. Instead, I planned to hike about three miles in and double back to create a 6-mile hike.

Once again, I’ll being using AllTrails to navigate my path.  Please note, I am not getting paid to promote AllTrails; I just really like the app, and I really like not getting lost in the woods. Especially in woods where ghosts haunt, eerie screams are heard, and a large Mothman-like creature sometimes darkens the skies.

I really enjoyed the journey to this hike. If you like winding curvy roads through small towns and pretty scenery, you will enjoy the drive from Columbus to this trailhead. Well, most of the journey is on route 33, a major highway, but the last twenty miles or so is the epitome of small-town America. I really enjoyed it. However, as I was driving, I noticed a lot of trucks pulled over and parked by the side of the road. Then I spotted them…hunters! This is when I realized the flaw in my well-planned trip, it’s deer season!

But I continued on, thinking hopefully they do not hunt near a hiking trail. I am happy to report the trailhead was well marked and best of all, there was a bathroom. I am always grateful for a bathroom at a trailhead, especially after a long drive.

The trail is a rustic dirt trail through the forest, but clearly marked with blazes on the trees to help you find your way. And the forest is beautiful! I do not know why that surprised me so much, but the landscape made me feel like I was not in Ohio anymore. It has a wilder feel for some reason (maybe because I listened to podcasts about Bigfoot sightings all the way down – who knows?).

I was still pretty anxious about all the hunters in the woods with me at the same time. And when I got about a quarter of a mile down the trail, I heard a gunshot in the distance. That was when I decided completing this hike was not worth the risk, so I made my way back out of the woods. I was bummed but still glad I came. I will definitely return, when it is not hunting season, and I only have to worry about Bigfoot, Mothman and ghosts.

With my hike aborted, I had more time on my hands than expected. I decided to check out the surrounding area. I plugged Nelsonville into my car’s GPS and got back on the road. This short journey was not without excitement, however. Every now and again, I am convinced my car’s GPS is out to kill me. On this day it instructed me to turn off a perfectly good, paved road to travel up a steep, barely one lane trail!

I was very dubious, but the GPS was insistent, and I decided to trust the process. I passed a couple of houses, still driving what felt like straight up! I came around a curve, and these thugs were blocking the road!

Finally, after a few minutes of picture taking and gently edging forward, they agreed to let me pass. But just a little further up, I realized this was not a through road, rather just an exceedingly long and narrow driveway to someone’s house at the top of the hill. I had been foiled by my GPS yet again! So, I found a place to turn around and gingerly made my way back down the steep grade and got back on the paved road. This time my GPS led me directly to Nelsonville.

I had a couple of places I wanted to visit while I was there. First of all, the Starbrick BBQ restaurant looked interesting. Since I was starving, I headed there first. Turns out the restaurant is in the middle of the Rocky Outdoor Gear Store. They carved a section out of the middle of the shopping floor and added a little restaurant! I was not expecting that, but thanks to a helpful local, I finally found it. I had a delicious pulled pork BBQ sandwich, seasoned fries, and a soda for $12.85! Not a bad deal in my book! And if you are feeling adventurous, you can try one of their wine slushies! I passed on the slushie this time, but I did enjoy browsing the store on my way out.

With my belly filled and energy restored, I went out to explore. Nelsonville has this lovely central shopping area, and I hit a couple of cute gift shops. My main target was to visit the Mountain Mystics LLC shop because I am sucker for pretty gravel (otherwise known as crystals). But I was foiled here again. Apparently, the store was closed for the day because they were in Columbus at some kind of an antique market, literally just a few miles from my house! No pretty gravel for me on this day. But I did console myself with a chia latte at the coffee shop next door.

So, my day did not go as expected. Things can change even with the best of plans. But I still had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the drive, as well as exploring Nelsonville. I will definitely return to finish that hike though!

Here is the itinerary I planned for the day:

If you decide to take this trip for yourself, please share your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you!

The Great Seal State Park is located outside of Chillicothe, Ohio; which was our State’s first capital before it was moved to Columbus.  On this trip I was lucky to have my friend Jeannette, who traveled all the way from Canada to hike with me. We were training for the Camino de Santiago in Spain at the time, so we picked a challenging hike; the Shawnee Ridge Loop. 

The Shawnee is a 12.1-mile trek through the woods, and up and down very step ridges. It was a challenge indeed! You can find the trail head at the first parking/camping lot, right behind the bathrooms (I love a trailhead with a bathroom!). You have to look for a little bit, but you will see the sign. The trail is definitely rustic, sometimes very overgrown, and hard to follow. I would definitely recommend using All Trails for this one.

You are pretty much in the woods for the whole hike, and the hills keep you on your toes! It felt like we climbed forever, only to find we just reached a plateau and had more to climb to reach the top! I definitely recommend doing this hike when conditions are dry because the hills are both high and steep, so wet conditions would make this an exceedingly difficult hike. We did run into a few fellow hikers, but for the most part we felt pretty isolated on this trail.

Some strange highlights, we found the frame of an old truck randomly in the middle of the forest and I cannot image how that got there. But the creepiest thing we found was at the top of one very steep hill, these doll heads!

We have no idea why these were placed in this very remote location, but we decided to keep walking, and maybe pick up our pace a little. I did some Googling when we got home, but never did find any reference to the doll heads, or any explanation why they were there. Just a nice creepy mystery to add to our list of adventures!

Here is my itinerary for the day:

Note, the trail was much more challenging than we anticipated, so we did end up lobbing off the last portion and just hit the loop back to the parking lot. I was on the back loop that we found the doll heads, just for your reference.

If you decide to take this trip for yourself, please share your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you!

118 Ridges Circle, Athens Ohio

The Ridges, or as it was originally named, the Athens Lunatic Asylum is located in Athens, Ohio. The asylum was built based on the famous Kirkbride Plan. Dr. Thomas Kirkbride believed exposure to natural light and air circulation were crucial to healing of the mentally ill.  Thanks to Dr. Kirkbride’s influence, many hospitals were built using his design throughout the second half of the 1800’s.

But like many things started with good intentions, things did not work as planned. By the 20^th century, these sanctuaries for the mentally ill became overcrowded and understaffed. These formally bright and airy halls because warehouses for the unwanted. Along with the disintegrating facilities came patient neglect and abuse. And as expected, a place with a history of so much suffering also has the reputation for being haunted.

Today, some of The Ridges buildings are occupied by Ohio University. But other buildings on the sprawling campus remain empty and boarded up.

I decided to drive ~76 miles from Columbus to Athens and check out The Ridges for myself. I was lucky to find a podcast that provides historical background, and some ghost stories about The Ridges to listen to during the drive. 

I also recommend you check out Ohio University’s website for an in depth history of The Ridges.

The campus was much bigger than I expected. Apparently, The Ridges comprised of seventy-eight buildings at its peak. The main red brick building was designed to impress, and it is still beautiful and imposing.

The Ohio University website provides walking and self-guided tours. Unfortunately, there was not a walking tour available the morning of my visit, so I opted for a self-guided tour around the campus. It was a beautiful sunny fall morning, not quite peak fall leaves, but a lot of the trees were popping. So not a spooky time to visit, so I will definitely return to do a haunted tour at some point.

After I finished exploring The Ridges campus (external only, as the buildings that are not boarded up are used by the university); I jumped back in my car and drove to The Ridges Loop Trail trailhead. 

The Ridges Loop Trail is 2.9 miles, taking you through the countryside around The Ridges, including the asylum cemeteries. I used the AllTrails app to chart my course. I also recommend opening the mAppAthens app available via your phone’s browser to learn about the floral and fauna you will encounter along The Ridges Cemetery Nature Walk, as the two trails mostly coincide. 

I started my hike at about 10:00 a.m. and the parking lot was empty. But it was filling up by the time I left about an hour and half later. Please note, I did not encounter any bathrooms along the hike, and none were provided at the parking lot/trailhead. So go before you arrive.

The trail started out as a gravel road, but then changed to a grassy trail and finally a dirt trail through the woods.

This trail gives some great ups and downs to get your heart pumping, and the countryside and woods are beautiful.

As I mentioned above, the trail takes you to the asylum cemeteries. The podcast provided some background information, including how some of the poor souls who lived out their days in the asylum had no one left to care when they final died, so they were buried on the asylum grounds.

I do not know if the grave markers were originally inscribed with information about the person buried there, but they all appeared to be blank at the time of my visit. It is incredibly sad to think some of the patients were left at the asylum and forgotten for the rest of their lives and even in death.

However, the cemeteries are beautiful and a peaceful resting place.

I encountered this plaque along the hike, “Dr. Tom “Chainsaw” Walker; a tireless crusader on behalf of those with mental illness.” 

Now this sounds like an interesting guy and how did he get “Chainsaw” for a nickname?!   Of course I had to look him up. I found his obituary; he earned his nickname from his work restoring the cemeteries and building the nature walk.  Sounds like he was a nice guy.

Overall. the trail was well maintained, and I encountered enough people to make me feel safe, but I had long stretches between passing others to make the hike pleasant and quiet.

I was starving after the hike so I drove into Athens to see what I could find. Athens is a great college town, so there are a ton of options for restaurants and shops. I opted for a foot long and fries at Larry’s Dawg House and it was delicious!

Here is my itinerary for the day:

If you decide to take this trip for yourself, please share your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you!

Loveland, Ohio

Drawing By – The Loveland Frogman by Zach Taylor – https://zachtaylor.art/2016/08/08/loveland-frog-man/

Loveland is a charming small town in southwest Ohio, about 23 miles from Cincinnati. According to the city website, Loveland is known as the “Sweetheart of Ohio.”  But Loveland has another claim to fame as the home of the Loveland Frogman!

According to my trusty copy of Weird Ohio, the Frogman was first spotted by a police officer around 1:00 a.m. on a cold March night back in 1972. Another officer spotted the Frogman again later that same month. Both times the creature was on the road and when the officer stopped, it hopped over the guard rail and escaped. According to the first officer, the creature “weighed about sixty pounds and stood about three or four feet tall and had textured, leathery skin and a face like that of a frog or a lizard.”

So that is certainly exciting! So much so that this year the City of Loveland debuted their first Return of the Frogman Event!  I thought this was too good to pass up, so I began to plan my adventure. I had the creepy portion of the trip covered with the Frogman, but I needed a good hike to go with it.

I highly recommend using All Trails, both to find great trails in different areas and to use as a navigation tool on the trail.  The navigation feature is easy to use and gives you turn-by-turn directions as you go and shows you if you are getting off the trail. Hiking is fun, but getting lost in the woods is not! Please note, I am not receiving any compensation from these sources/apps. These are just tools that I find useful when planning and undertaking my trips.

So back to the story. I did a search in All Trails for hikes in the Loveland area and I picked the Symmes Township Park trail. It is a 4.2-mile paved/gravel loop that meanders through fields, wooded areas, and crosses streams. It seemed like a great place to go Frogman hunting! 

As any hiker knows, there are lots of different types of trails (e.g. scenic, wooded/forest, public parks, with elevation, flat, etc.). I was a little disheartened when I arrived at Symmes and found a busy public space.  But fortunately, that opinion changed as I undertook my hike. The first portion wound next to a pond and then across the street to a busy ball field (keep in mind, this was a Saturday morning, so kid’s sports was in full swing). But then it veered off into a quieter wooded area.

The trail alternated between paved and gravel/dirt and was well maintained. There are some step grades in one section of the trail to give a little spice of challenge to the hike. And in another segment, the park caretakers created a nice Halloween vibe with ghosts and bats in the trees and fun scarecrows.

If you are looking for a remote rugged hike, this is not the one for you. But all and all, Symmes Township Park gives a little bit of everything. It offers nice wooded quiet areas, but it is public enough so that you feel safe throughout. I enjoyed this hike, but unfortunately, I did not find the famous Frogman.

With my hike completed, it was time to investigate the Return of the Frogman Event! I traveled the 1.7 miles to the heart of Loveland (120 W. Loveland Ave., Loveland, Ohio 45140), and began to explore the town.

I am happy to report the Frogman was everyone where once I got to the town center! Or his likeness at least. I found a charming town with lots of fun shops and enticing places to eat.

Rather than a festival where all the attractions are centralized, The Return of the Frogman had events/attractions at various businesses/pubs/restaurants throughout the downtown area. So, it gave visitors an opportunity to explore more of the area.

So now you are probably thinking, “This sounds like fun! I’ll put this on my calendar for next year!”  Well, you can’t. According to the city website, Return of the Frogman “is a new event hosted by the City of Loveland to commemorate the mysterious sightings of the Loveland Frogman. It will be held on Leap Years (every four years).”  Sorry, you will have to wait until 2028 to partake in this adventure. But all hope is not lost! You can attend the annual Frogman Festival on March 1-2, 2025! I went to this one a couple of years ago and it is more of a convention setting with book authors, speakers, and vendors. It is a great deal of fun as well, but with more focus on cryptid sightings and hunting. 

After I completed my rounds of Loveland, I had time for another stop. So, I drove the 2.4 miles to The Loveland Castle (otherwise known as the Museum Château Laroche). The website gives a great overview of its history. But the highlight is that Harry Delos Andrews built the castle using rocks he quarried himself from The Little Miami River that runs near the castle. And when he ran out of rocks, he created his own stones out of cement. A true testament to resourcefulness and determination, and the outcome is stunning!

And like any good castle, this one is haunted! The website offers ghost hunts/paranormal investigations for the truly brave of heart. Or if you prefer, you can just do one of the wine tastings.

The castle was busy on a Saturday afternoon, especially with the Loveland Frogman Event going on.  I had visited the castle previously on a Thursday afternoon and my son and I had the place all to ourselves. So, I would recommend going during the week if possible if you do not like crowds.

Clearly Loveland has a lot to offer, and this was a day well spent. I stopped off at the Destination Outlet Mall in Jeffersonville, which is about halfway back to Columbus, to break up the drive.

Here is my itinerary for the day:

If you decide to take this trip for yourself, please share your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you!

MALABAR FARM STATE PARK

4050 Bromfield Road

Lucas, Ohio 44843

Malabar Farms is located about 69.4 miles (~1 hr. 10 min) northeast of downtown Columbus, Ohio.  I picked the Pleasant Valley Bridle and Hiking Trail from All Trails, for my hike.  This is a 6.2-mile dirt trail hike though the Malabar Farms woods and fields. 

The trail head was a little tricky to find, but the kind people in the gift shop helped me to find it.  It’s on the top of the hill behind the gift shop building just so you know.  The All-Trails app will help you find it. 

I went on a cool fall day, and it was beautiful.  The trail was lightly populated, I think I only ran into 1 or 2 other hikers on my trek.  It’s a peaceful walk, designated as “moderate” in All Trails; but the most distinguishable feature to me was when I had to cross a stream.  The water was up to maybe midcalf (keep in mind I’m 5’2”), but it was over the tops of my boots.  I chose to take off my shoes and socks and wade across bare foot.  So, I was able to put on dry shoes once I crossed.  So, keep this obstacle in mind if you choose to walk this path. 

I must give a shout out to the kind staff, park ranger and Poncho, the resident gift shop parrot (yes real parrot), I met in the gift shop.  They not only helped me find the trail head, but also shared some interesting stories on the local history.  The gift shop has some wonderful treasures.  I picked up a copy of The Witch of Mansfield: The Tetched Life of Phebe Wise, written by a local author, Mark S. Jordan (book is also available on Amazon).  Which I thought was a great read, about the life and struggle of one local woman.  I hit the gift shop again on my way out, not only to hit the lovely and clean restroom (which is treasured by any hiker!), but I also picked up some stew meat and ribeye steaks!  Yes, you read that correctly, I bought meat at the gift shop.  Malabar is a working farm, and they have a freezer in the gift shop with fresh meat provided by the farm.  And I can attest the steaks were amazing!  And since it was a chilly fall weekend, I made a heart beef strew when I got home. 

You can do a lot of things at Malabar Farms, including the Big House Tour.  But this is a Hikes & Haunts trip, so I found something else to do.  About a quarter of a mile from the gift house, right on the Malabar Farms grounds, is the Ceely Rose Murder House!  Ceely Rose was a mentally disturbed young woman who fatally poisoned her family members.  She was trialled and found not guilty due to insanity and spent the rest of her days in the Lima State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.  At the time of my visit, her house was not open to visitors, but you can explore the outside and grounds.  There is a plaque outside, so you’ll know you’re at the right place, and they placed a wonderfully creepy scarecrow figure in the upstairs window.  It’s a very fun and creepy side stop!   

Ceely Rose is buried in the hospital graveyard, but her family members are buried at the Pleasant Valley Cemetery, just 1.1 miles from Malabar Farms, if you would like to stop by and pay your respects. (as always, please be respectful when visiting cemetaries)

If you would like to extend your Hikes & Haunts trip a little more, Malabar Farms is only about 18 minutes away from The Ohio State Reformatory, made famous from the 1994 Shawshank Redemption Movie.  I’ve been several times, but I’m always awestruck at how it rises ominously out of the landscape.  It’s a haunting experience for sure! 

Well, fellow adventurers, that’s it for this Hikes & Haunts trip entry.  Below is the itinerary I used for this trip.  Please keep in mind I live in Central Ohio, so all my mile estimates are from downtown Columbus.  So, make sure to update with your own start and stop points when planning your trips.    

If you decide to take this trip for yourself, please share your experiences.  I look forward to hearing from you!