Ghost-Hunting in Loudenville

I swear that door shut by itself!

A few months ago I took a road trip with a couple of my good friends to the town of Loudenville, Ohio. Or, not so much the town as the backwoods. We visited Landoll's Mohican Castle, a gorgeous building known for wedding ceremonies but crashed by a bunch of teenagers running around screaming. (We ran through a reception. Sorry whoever you were!)

If you aren't familiar with the area- which we weren't, so it was a bit of a challenge- the castle is almost hidden, tucked in the woods a few miles off the main road. So a perfect setup for some spooky shenanigans! It was quite the drive, but it was well worth it when we saw the place we'd be staying for the night. The castle was gorgeous, and the surrounding area was lush and green. It felt like a little fantasy hide-away.

Unfortunately, we weren't there to relax. A few months prior to the trip, my friend texted us saying that she wanted to go ghost-hunting for her birthday. Now, we are all avid fans of the YouTube series Buzzfeed Unsolved, so we immediately jumped on the idea. Was it a good idea? In retrospect probably not, because I got a whopping 2 hours of sleep and had to go canoeing in the morning, but I digress.

So while searching for locations we came across the castle, where they offered ghost hunts for $50 a person, including a place to sleep for the night. Sound a little sketchy? That's because it was. However, after a ton of research by me and the rest of the gang, we decided it was just trustworthy enough to warrant going and seeing what would happen. So we piled into the car, along with my friend's terrifying doll she insisted upon bringing, and made the trek to Loudenville.

The place was breathtaking, but I'm sure that's not what you want to hear about. We were there to hunt some ghouls! We were at a fifty-fifty split about whether or not it was going to be our last night on Earth. I was on the side that was pretty sure we were going to die, so naturally I did what any sane human being would do if they thought they were going to be possessed by a ghost that night- I stuffed my face with more than my fair share of bread and butter. We got a tour of the grounds and were told where we were allowed to go that night, and then the employees left us to our own devices until the ghost tour at sundown.

When it was just starting to get dark, we gathered in front of the main entrance to meet with this very nice (and slightly unstable) woman who was going to tell us all about the spirits that haunted the castle's grounds. With nothing but the light of an unnecessary lantern to guide us- seriously, this thing was barely even a candle, it was all for the aesthetic- we ventured into the cemetery.

Because, duh, it's not a ghost story if there isn't a cemetery involved. If you want to learn more about why the place was actually haunted, I would suggest reading this article about the history of the area. We had read all of this beforehand and got a very long-winded story from our tour guide, but despite all her best efforts to communicate, none of the ghosts seemed to want to talk to a giant group of people who were doing nothing but taking flash photos and whispering to each other the whole time- gee, I wonder why?

So the real fun began when we were left to our own devices. We got full reign of the grounds, and were allowed to go wherever we wanted aside from other people's rooms. My friends and I ran around, taking audio recordings and pictures in about every location we were allowed to, looking for nothing more than a spooky adventure.

We had access to a tunnel behind a small waterfall, a tower, the entire castle grounds including the cemetery, the pool house (where we would be staying the night) and a well right above a cave. We spent a majority of our time in the tower, because it was indoors, meaning there were no pesky mosquitoes trying to attack us as we searched for evidence of the paranormal. We messed around in there for a little while, my friends breaking 2 of my 3 key rules for ghost hunting (Rule 2, no telling the ghosts your home address and Rule 3, no asking the ghosts to latch onto you and follow you home. Come on you guys!)

Now my friend's dad and my dad tagged along with us on this adventure, deciding to play a little prank when we were on our way to investigate the tunnel. Remember the creepy doll I mentioned that my friend insisted upon bringing? Yeah, well, they got her from the car and put her at the end of the tunnel, so that when I went in first to start recording, she was there waiting for me. I would like to say that I didn't shriek and nearly jump out of my skin, but... I can't lie on the internet.

There was also a well that was positioned right above a 50-foot cave, where a crack in the ground was caused by an earthquake, just barely revealing its location. When the tour guide told us that an angry spirit of a Native American chief was down there, I was already halfway down the ladder.

And halfway back up when I saw the spiders. Seriously, they were like the size of my fist! It was easily the most terrifying thing I'd seen all night, and I don't even dislike spiders. It positioned itself right above my head as I stood in the bottom of this tiny well with my friend, talking to ghosts who, unfortunately, did not respond. I couldn't even turn my headlamp off because I thought that spider was going to pounce and turn me into Spider-man.

I personally do believe in ghosts, but I wasn't surprised when the clock struck 3 in the morning and we hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. Well, unless you count a giant bat eating a moth, which my friend talked about for literally hours afterword.

The only thing remotely spooky that happened was when we were about to turn in for the night, one of my friends still locked in the massage room as part of our little Buzzfeed Unsolved-style 2 minute lock down (I told you we loved the series!). I was talking to my dad, who was walking across the deck. The doors in the building we were staying in were not very stable- basically meaning they didn't really work- so you had to pull on them hard to get them to shut and stay shut. So when we got into the building about half an hour earlier, I was positive that those doors we shut tight. However, as my dad was walking over to me, the door in between us swung open, the cool breeze blowing through the crack leading outside.

Whether that was a ghost or just a maintenance error I'm unsure, but it was to this day one of the most... interesting trips I've ever been on.

Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, questions, feedback, or just want to chat, you can email me at naturaladventuresblog@gmail.com , or use the chat bar in the bottom right corner of the website.