Weird Ohio: Your Travel Guide to

Ohio's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets

by James A. Willis, Andrew Henderson, and Loren Coleman

Sterling Publishing, NY, 2005, 285 pages, hardback, illustrated - Price $19.95.

     The authors of Weird New Jersey, Mark Sceurman and Mark Moran have decided to branch out and cover another state.  The chose Ohio because of its reputation for weird phenomena.  This time the authors chose three experts on Ohio to actually write the book.

     For those interested in the paranormal there are dozens of Ohio cases mentioned and usually illustrated with a color photograph or an illustration.  There are Men in Black cases, Hanger 18 in Dayton where according to Barry Goldwater dead aliens were stored, crop circles in Miami Valley in 2004, phantom panthers, mystery kangaroos, giant snakes and even the Lake Erie sea serpent, dubbed Bessie.

     Bigfoot is covered in some detail.  The authors write that Ohio is second only to California in the number of Bigfoot researchers it has.  The first record of Bigfoot in Ohio (not including native American legends) is the report of a "gorilla" seen in Gallipolis in 1869.

     The Mothman creature seen in 1966 and 1967 in southern Ohio and West Virginia is also mentioned in some detail.  Athens reporter Mary Hyre was one of the first to write serious articles on the weird creature made famous in John Keel's book The Mothman Prophecies.

     Another creature seen was the Loveland, Ohio frogman seen more than once by policemen in 1972.

     There are several UFO reports mentioned.

     The book is especially rich in tales of ghosts and spirits and local legends.  There are numerous "cry-baby" bridges mentioned.  Those are bridges where sometime a crying like sound is heard.  The authors point out there may be a logical explanation for this.  There are also spook lights and ghost visions mentioned which also may have a scientific explanation.

     There are lots of fun facts in this book.  Pickaway County has several weird places to visit according to the book.  There is the Circleville Pumpkin Tower, the Octagon House, the first and oldest traffic light is in Ashville and the road named after a local family called Hitler, no relation to the infamous dictator but still an outsider would be startled by Hitler Road's name.

     Weird Ohio is an amusing collection of curiosities.  It is not meant to be a scholarly work.  The authors cite no sources for their research.  That caveat aside, I heartily recommend Weird Ohio as a fun, entertaining book.