Behind its iron gates, the Victorian-era structure of Franklin Castle harbors rumors of everything from insanity to mass murder. For more than half a century, the castle's dark façade has lured curiosity seekers from around the world. Disembodied voices echo from empty rooms, doors open and close of their own accord and cold spots drift about the manse. Witnesses swear to sightings of a woman in black and a young girl in white, believed to be the ghostly apparitions of the wife and daughter of the original owner, Hannes Tiedemann. Using previously unpublished photographs, interviews, family accounts, floor plans and nearly forty years of research, authors William G. Krejci and John W. Myers finally reveal the true and definitive history of Cleveland's notorious Franklin Castle. William G. Krejci was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975 and raised in the neighboring suburb of Avon Lake. With an interest in local history, he spends much of his time debunking urban legends of northern Ohio and works as a seasonal park ranger at Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial at Put-in-Bay, Ohio. During the off season, he resides in Cleveland as the resident historian at the Franklin Castle. Previous works of nonfiction include Buried Beneath Cleveland: Lost Cemeteries of Cuyahoga County (The History Press, 2015) and Haunted Put-in-Bay (The History Press, 2017). He is also the author of the Jack Sullivan Mysteries and has been a guest speaker at many various local historical societies, libraries, bookstores and civic groups. He's appeared as a guest on the SyFy Channel's original series Ghost Hunters and has been featured on many local television and radio programs. In his free time, he sings and plays guitar in an Irish band. John W. Myers is a retired Lutheran pastor with thirty years in parish ministry. Following eight years of college and seminary education, with degrees in history and theology, he served as pastor of Olive Branch Lutheran Church at Okawville in rural southern Illinois for eighteen years. While there, he authored a sixty-four-page history of the congregation, which was founded in 1865. He served as the editor of the Southern Illinois District newspaper for ten years. John has also written a children's Christmas program, some devotional material and a few published poems and directed as well as acted in several plays. He concluded his ministry at Lebanon, Missouri. John has three children and five grandchildren and lives with his widowed twin sister in the family home in Westlake, Ohio. Haunted Franklin Castle By William G. Krejci, John W. Myers The History Press Copyright © 2017 William G. Krejci and John W. Myers All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4671-3743-0 Contents Acknowledgements, 1. Once Upon a Time, 2. From Süderau to Cleveland, 3. Site-geist, 4. A Brave New World, 5. The Turning Point, 6. His Home Is His Castle, 7. Heyday, 8. Hannes Moves On, 9. Relatively Speaking, 10. The Widow and the Doctor, 11. Socialists, Bootleggers and Spies, 12. Wonderland, 13. A Proposed Church and a Misleading Article, 14. High Aspirations, 15. The Theatrical Promoter, 16. On the Brink, 17. A New Beginning, 18. And in the End, Bibliography, About the Authors, CHAPTER 1 ONCE UPON A TIME Many of us have read this story before, either while browsing the newspapers around Halloween or looking through books on local hauntings. Perhaps we've found ourselves driving through the Ohio City neighborhood on Cleveland's west side and have caught ourselves admiring the many Victorian-era structures. Suddenly, we see a large and ominous sandstone home at the intersection of West 44th Street and Franklin Boulevard. It strikes us as very odd and out of place. We suddenly realize that this is the house we've read so much about. This is the legendary Franklin Castle. Every time the story of the Franklin Castle has been told, it seems something new has been added to the legend. Still, the base tale is the same. When hearing the story, one conjures images of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. All the great gothic elements are in place for the perfect ghost story: a monstrous patriarch, incest, suicide, insanity, infanticide and murder. Later stories tell of Nazi spying and mass executions. For those unfamiliar with the legend of the Franklin Castle, it goes like this: Back in 1860, a rich German immigrant named Hannes Tiedemann and his wife, Louise, built a large home on Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland. The Tiedemanns spared no expense building their home. Mr. Tiedemann, a bank executive, presided over his business with an iron fist. It was rumored that he governed his family in much the same way. In 1881, his daughter Emma died from diabetes, though it was whispered she was actually murdered by her abusive father. Stories also say that Emma was possibly insane or promiscuous — sometimes one in the same back in those days. Two months later, Hannes Tiedemann's a