Haunted Ohio Unearthed Real Ghost Stories from the Shadows of the Buckeye State

Haunted Ohio Unearthed: Real Ghost Stories from the Shadows of the Buckeye State

By Jannette Quackenbush

Ohio's backroads remember what the maps forgot.

In Haunted Ohio Unearthed, folklorist and storyteller Jannette Quackenbush gathers over one hundred authentic ghost stories-at least one from every county in Ohio-each tied to real places, real people, and real history. These are not modern ghost-tour inventions or retold urban legends. Every tale has been carefully traced to its earliest known source-old newspapers, courthouse records, family diaries, and long-preserved oral traditions that echo through time.

From the Pale Shade of Dunkinsville and The Headless Coachman of Wickerham's Inn in Adams County to It Lingers in Egypt Valley and The White Dog of Bigley Trough, these stories rise out of the state's oldest graveyards, covered bridges, mining towns, and river hollows. They are the whispers of settlers, soldiers, miners, and children whose lives left marks on the land-and whose stories still linger long after the living have gone.

Each account is written in the tone of the old Appalachian storyteller: haunting, plainspoken, and rooted in truth. This is a book for those who want to walk where the ghosts once walked, to visit the cemeteries and forgotten lanes where the stories began.

About the Author

Jannette Quackenbush is an American folklorist, historian, and author whose work focuses on authentic ghost stories, folklore, and cryptid legends rooted in documented historical events. For more than four decades, she has traveled across the United States collecting and preserving oral traditions, firsthand accounts, and archival records of the supernatural.

As founder of the 21 Crows American Folklore Archives, Jannette has become one of the leading researchers of Appalachian and Midwestern hauntings-linking legends to their earliest verifiable sources in newspapers, diaries, and local histories. She is also the creator of Dark Journeys with Jannette, a project that brings folklore and field investigation together through public night hikes, lectures, and media storytelling.

In addition to her writing and archival research, Quackenbush has led public hikes and field explorations focused on ghost and cryptid legends-most notably her Moonville Night Hikes and Haunted Hocking Hills Adventures (Where the Natural World and the Supernatural World Collide(c)), which guide visitors through real haunted and creature-sighting locations. Through these programs, she shares historical context, eyewitness accounts, and folkloric origins while encouraging participants to explore Ohio's haunted landscapes and backwoods legends for themselves.

Her published works include more than forty titles exploring American ghost stories, legends, and unexplained creatures, such as The Big Book of American Ghost Stories, The Big Book of American Cryptids, and the Haunted Ohio, Haunted West Virginia, and Haunted Pennsylvania series.