The residents of Lake Erie's North coast have trouble leaving-even after they die. The area is flooded with the spirits of locals, some friendly, some not. See the sorrowful eyes of the Hauntingly Beautiful High School Student, who floats the corridors looking for her lost boyfriend, and head to an old Port Clinton hotel to watch the ghost of a maintenance man wander haphazardly through the inn, making routine repairs. Read about the figure that lurks in the clock of the Port Clinton Courthouse every night, never moving, simply watching, until disappearing with the sun. Local ghost tour guide Victoria King Heinsen has a personal connection with every story, and her firsthand accounts will turn every paranormal skeptic into a believer. Victoria King Heinsen is a Port Clinton, Ohio native. Each year between the summer solstice and Halloween, she conducts ghost walks through her hometown for those intrepid, romantic souls who believe in the spirits all around us. A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, subsequently earning a master's degree at Ohio State University, Victoria is currently in the doctoral program at Walden University. She and her husband, Ed, own a bed-and-breakfast, the Marshall Inn, in Port Clinton. Victoria has been featured on Cleveland and Toledo television stations and in Ohio Magazine. This is her second book. Ghosts And Legends Of Lake Erie's North Coast By Victoria King Heinsen The History Press Copyright © 2010 Victoria King Heinsen All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-59629-880-4 Contents Introduction, PORT CLINTON, An Officious Orb, Mrs. Edna Hess and the New Neighbors, The Hauntingly Beautiful High School Student, The Lonely Divorcée, Two Murdered Girls, Mother Evers, Parliament, Railroad Disasters and Tragedies, The Island House, Port Clinton Fisheries, He Waits. He Watches, Three Churches, The Marshall Inn, Colonel and Mrs. Archie King, Santa Claus, CATAWBA ISLAND AND MON AMI, Nabagon, The Tree of the Bleeding Heart, Caves and Prohibition, Mon Ami, PUT-IN-BAY, KELLEYS ISLAND AND THE LAKE ERIE TRIANGLE, MARBLEHEAD, DANBURY TOWNSHIP, THE VICTORIAN INN AND THE SURF MOTEL, Marblehead and Danbury Township, East Harbor State Park, The Victorian Inn, The Surf Motel, JOHNSON'S ISLAND, PORTAGE TOWNSHIP AND LOCKWOOD ROAD, BAY TOWNSHIP, If These Bones Could Talk, Night Life, Dan's Dream Girls, FRIENDS AND RELATIVES IN FREMONT, Spiegel Grove and the Rettigs, Aunt Martha, Ari's Ghost Stories, FINAL THOUGHTS, The Witching Hour, Ask Saint Anthony, Reflections, References, About the Author, CHAPTER 1 PORT CLINTON Ezekiel Haines officially founded the city of Port Clinton, Ohio, in 1837. The story goes that he first owned a hunting and fishing lodge where the Lake House Hotel used to stand. Wendy's is there now. It took his friends and him three and a half days by horseback to ride from his home in Cincinnati to "his place at the lake" Today, it takes three and a half hours by car. As with many cities in Ohio, Port Clinton has changed from a home to the location of industries, some now closed or moved elsewhere, such as Standard Products and the Matthews Boat Company to more of a tourist destination. Officially, about 6,500 people live within the city limits. During the summer, if one considers the surrounding areas of Catawba, Portage and Danbury Townships, the count rises to somewhere around 30,000. Bed-and-breakfasts, hotels, condominiums, restaurants, delightful pubs and gift shops offer tourists relaxation and fun during the summer months and the shoulder seasons of mid-April to Memorial Day and September through mid-November. Mention Port Clinton and you will see smiles on people's faces for any number of reasons. Those folks who yearly or just occasionally drive up from regions south for a day of recreational fishing on charter boats can happily recount adventures, real or expanded with time, on the water. Sailors, golfers, swimmers, campers and owners of private yachts of all lengths think of Port Clinton as their getaway spot, the best place to go to lower their blood pressure and have a good time. Within downtown Port Clinton, the Jet Express to Put-in-Bay carries eager travelers to South Bass Island, where they enjoy the sites and the beverages of that most famous of destinations. At Catawba Point, the Miller Ferry runs between Put-in-Bay and the peninsula. Take your pick; tourists do, and they have fun! Because Port Clinton is nearly 175 years old, it seems reasonable to consider that ghosts and spirits are as much a part of the community as permanent residents and tourists. Whether one believes or not, a brief walk at twilight down Second Street east to Fulton Street or north to the Portage River might confirm that indeed we are not, as the more solipsistic of us may like to think, alone. Here are stories of Port Clinton. AN OFFICIOUS ORB People fade to spirits; spirits fade to orbs, balls of energy left behind