Ghosthunting Ohio

EXCERPTS MAIN STREET CAFE Medina It began with hot water suddenly gushing from the faucets at night, unexplainable rushes of cold wind, and exploding light bulbs, but Psychic Sonya knew beyond any doubt that the Main Street Cafe on the Medina town square was haunted when she received the impression of a man sitting on the stairs, watching her do a Tarot card reading. I kept seeing the letter D, Sonya said, and eventually his name came to me: Daniel. Sonya didn t know why the man was there or what he wanted, until she heard that human bones had been found in the coffee shop next door during a renovation project and that the owner of the shop had discarded them. I could not understand why the owner would not have notified the police about finding the bones, but Sonya didn t have an answer for that. All I can say is that you never desecrate human remains. It s a bad thing to doreally bad juju, Sonya said as we talked on the phone. I had been to the Main Street Cafe only a few weeks before, but was unable to meet with Sonya at that time. The building that houses the restaurant is 120 years old. Behind the purple and blue facade and the frosted glass windows, the decor inside recreates that old-time feel with high ceilings, ceiling fans, and wood floors. A handsome old bar and cozy lounge are at the rear of the main dining room. Halfway across the room is a staircase that leads to the basement dining room. It is in the basement where most of the ghostly activity took place. The basement was brick-walled with a low ceiling, the beams exposed. The lighting was dim, provided by only a few small lamps scattered throughout the room and a couple of spotlights. Half a dozen or so tables draped in white tablecloths awaited guests. A bar stood at one end of the room. At the opposite end was a large mural depicting a bearded old man dressed in eighteenth-century style breeches and shirt, sprawled on his back, eyes closed, an empty wineglass in his hand. Floating in the distance was a vineyard. In the foreground, floating above him, were two naked women sprawled on clouds, one facing the viewer, the other providing a delectable rear view. The mural carried a mixed message, both erotic and pathetic at the same time. I was alone in the basement. It was cooler down there than it was upstairs, but that was to be expected in a subterranean setting. No rush of wind. No exploding light bulbs. I glanced over at the stairs where Sonya had sensed the spirit of Daniel, but I m not psychic and didn t feel anything. I took a few pictures then went back upstairs. One of the waitresses told me about another waitress who had set the tables downstairs, lit all the candles, then left the room. When she came back only a few minutes later, every place settingevery knife, fork, and spoonhad been turned upside down. Now, three weeks later, Sonya was telling me that things were much worse than that. Daniel was acting up. He seemed to be attaching himself to Frank, the dishwasher, in particular, Sonya said. Frank used to wear this old Marine compass on a chain around his neck. One day, it suddenly shattered into pieces. He had worn it for years and had never had any problem. Then light bulbs started exploding and Frank cut his hand when he went to change one of them. He was becoming so annoyed by the ghost that at one point, he said he would like to send it back to hell. No sooner had he said that than he fell down the basement stairs, injuring his neck and shoulder. Sonya brought in two friends to help her get rid of Daniel. One was a psychic investigator, the other, a healer. They set up a video camera and tape recorder. While they did not record any images, they did record an evp, an electronic voice phenomenon. There was nothing but silence on the tape. Then, clear as a bell, a man s voice said, Go away. I knew then that Daniel would not go easily, Sonya said. Sonya continued her research and put together a plausible story for the spirit of Daniel. She said he came from Cleveland and was only in his twenties when he died, sometime around 1830. She doesn t know how he died, but she is sure he did not receive a proper burial. She believes the bones discovered in the wall next door belonged to Daniel and that his haunting is a result of the desecration exacted upon his final resting place. I wondered if there might not be another explanation for the ghost. Sonya s research revealed that at one point, the building was home to Longacre & Son Furniture. In days gone by, furniture makers frequently doubled as coffin makers, since they had the tools, materials, and skills to do the job. During a winter cholera epidemic that hit Medina in the mid-nineteenth century, victims were stored in coffins in the building until warmer weather made the ground softer for burial. Couldn t one of those poor unfortunates have been the ghost? Could it be that Daniel himself was a cholera victim? Sonya said that she was interested in knowing the ghost s history only to the point that it would help her get rid of it. I don t care what its story is, she said. It s leaving. She said that ghosts simply do not belong here, and that people who try to live with ghosts are doing both themselves and the spirits a disservice. Ghosts are earthbound spirits. They are trapped here when, in fact, they need to move on. They re not healthy to have around, period. They have to go. Some of them don t even know they re dead, but once they understand that, they will move on. Others, like Daniel, are more stubborn and don t want to go, she said. Sonja was concerned about the dishwasher, Frank. His coworkers were telling her that his personality was changing. He was becoming depressed, sometimes surly and angry. Sonja feared that Daniel was taking over. With her two friends, Sonja conducted a healing ceremony at the restaurant, which was recorded by a reporter and photographer from a local newspaper. Sonja didn t give me the details, but did say that her team was able to free Frank from the ghost s influence. After the ceremony, Sonja, the healer, and the photographer went out into the alley near the wall where the bones had been found. There, she knelt in the snow, said the prayers of a Christian burial service, and gave Daniel the rites that had been denied him so long ago. She looked up and saw a huge, bright cloud above the photographer s head. It was the angels, come to take Daniel away, she said. He didn t want to go. I saw him kicking and screaming as the angels dragged him away. It has been quiet at the Main Street Cafe since that incident, but are the ghosts really gone? What about all those cholera victims? Are they still around? And what about that shining white orb I discovered I had captured on film, hovering by the basement stairs? What was that? Only time will tell. "