Franklin Castle Hauntings: True Ghost Stories, Footsteps, Crying, and Real Paranormal Investigations in Ohio’s Most Haunted House Part 2

0:00 Speaker 1: Dear listener. By the time Franklin Castle entered the late

0:03 Speaker 1: twentieth century, it no longer needed rumor to feel uneasy.

0:08 Speaker 1: It had witnesses, not one dramatic, cinematic event, not one

0:13 Speaker 1: infamous night of chaos. Instead, it accumulated moments, small ones,

0:19 Speaker 1: quiet ones, the kind that stay with people long after

0:23 Speaker 1: they leave. One of the most frequently told stories comes

0:26 Speaker 1: from a woman who lived in the house during the

0:28 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. She described waking in the early hours of

0:32 Speaker 1: the morning to the sound of measured footsteps moving across

0:36 Speaker 1: the floor above her bedroom. The steps were deliberate, not hurried,

0:40 Speaker 1: not dragging, simply pacing. She assumed someone else in the

0:44 Speaker 1: house was awake. The next morning, she mentioned it casually

0:48 Speaker 1: at breakfast. No one had been upstairs. The house was

0:52 Speaker 1: fully occupied at the time, and everyone accounted for. She said.

0:56 Speaker 1: The footsteps continued on multiple nights, always after midnight, always overhead,

1:01 Speaker 1: always stopping abruptly. Decades later, another resident described something strikingly similar,

1:09 Speaker 1: footsteps on the upper floors when the house was otherwise empty.

1:12 Speaker 1: In one account, a caretaker doing renovation work in the

1:15 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties reported hearing movement above him while alone in

1:19 Speaker 1: the building, he called out, Assuming a colleague had arrived

1:22 Speaker 1: early silence, he climbed the staircase to check no one.

1:29 Speaker 1: The third floor tower room is the location most often

1:32 Speaker 1: tied to sightings. In the nineteen seventies, a neighbor across

1:36 Speaker 1: the street reportedly told a local journalist that she had

1:39 Speaker 1: seen a woman standing in the tower window on several

1:42 Speaker 1: occasions late at night. She assumed at first that it

1:45 Speaker 1: was simply an occupant enjoying the view, but on at

1:48 Speaker 1: least one occasion, she stated she watched the figure for

1:51 Speaker 1: several minutes and it never moved, no shift of posture,

1:55 Speaker 1: no step away from the glass, just a still dark outline.

2:00 Speaker 1: When she mentioned it to someone associated with the property,

2:03 Speaker 1: she was told no one had been using the third

2:05 Speaker 1: floor at night. Years later, during a tour arranged by

2:09 Speaker 1: a private owner, a small group gathered in the staircase hall.

2:13 Speaker 1: One visitor, standing near the base of the stairs, suddenly

2:16 Speaker 1: went quiet. She was staring upward toward the landing. When

2:20 Speaker 1: asked what she saw, she described a woman in dark

2:23 Speaker 1: clothing standing at the top of the steps, hands folded,

2:27 Speaker 1: head slightly tilted. No one else in the group saw her,

2:31 Speaker 1: but the visitor insisted the figure remained for several seconds

2:34 Speaker 1: before dissolving into shadow. The description matched older accounts almost exactly.

2:40 Speaker 1: Then there are the sounds. Not dramatic crashes, not violent disturbances, crying, soft,

2:48 Speaker 1: distant crying. In the late nineteen nineties, during an overnight

2:52 Speaker 1: stay documented by a local paranormal group, two investigators were

2:56 Speaker 1: seated in separate rooms on the second floor around one

3:01 Speaker 1: forty am. Both reported hearing what sounded like a child

3:05 Speaker 1: sobbing somewhere above them. The sound was faint but distinct,

3:09 Speaker 1: a rise and fall, not mechanical, not rhythmic. They met

3:14 Speaker 1: in the hallway moments later, each asking the other if

3:17 Speaker 1: they had heard it. Their audio recorders captured a faint

3:20 Speaker 1: tonal fluctuation around the same time, though nothing definitively identifiable.

3:26 Speaker 1: They searched the upper floor, no source was found. In

3:31 Speaker 1: another account from a former resident, a woman described standing

3:35 Speaker 1: alone in the kitchen area when she heard what she

3:38 Speaker 1: believed was a baby crying in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

3:42 Speaker 1: Concerned that someone had brought a child into the house

3:45 Speaker 1: without her knowledge, she climbed the stairs immediately. The rooms

3:49 Speaker 1: were empty, the crying stopped. The moment she reached the landing.

3:53 Speaker 1: She did not describe fear. She described confusion. Cold spots

3:58 Speaker 1: are not uncommon in old stone houses, but at Franklin Castle,

4:03 Speaker 1: certain locations come up repeatedly. The midlanding of the main

4:07 Speaker 1: staircase is one of them. Now a word about a

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5:42 Speaker 2: Now back to the staircase.

5:45 Speaker 1: A man who participated in a structured investigation in the

5:48 Speaker 1: early two thousands later recounted that as he ascended the

5:52 Speaker 1: stairs with a handheld thermometer, he felt a sudden drop

5:56 Speaker 1: in temperature across his face and chest. He checked the

6:00 Speaker 1: ice the reading had dipped several degrees within seconds. He

6:04 Speaker 1: remained there for nearly a minute. The temperature stabilized. When

6:09 Speaker 1: he stepped down two stairs, it rose again. He repeated

6:13 Speaker 1: the motion twice. The fluctuation occurred in the same narrow stretch.

6:19 Speaker 1: He did not claim proof of a ghost, He simply

6:22 Speaker 1: documented the moment. Other visitors have described something more physical,

6:27 Speaker 1: the sensation of brushing against someone while alone on the staircase.

6:32 Speaker 1: One woman touring the property during a brief public event

6:35 Speaker 1: later said she felt what she described as a solid

6:38 Speaker 1: shoulder press passed her midway up the steps. She instinctively

6:43 Speaker 1: moved aside. There was no one behind her. In the basement,

6:47 Speaker 1: stories take on a different tone. The stone corridors below

6:51 Speaker 1: the house are narrow, with low lighting and uneven acoustics.

6:55 Speaker 1: A contractor working in the basement during renovation reportedly described

7:00 Speaker 1: hearing three distinct knocks on the wall behind him while

7:03 Speaker 1: installing wiring. He assumed someone upstairs with signaling. He responded verbally,

7:09 Speaker 1: no reply. When he climbed to the main floor, the

7:13 Speaker 1: building was empty. Three knocks clear enough that he stopped working.

7:18 Speaker 1: Perhaps the most consistent detail across accounts is the sensation

7:21 Speaker 1: of being watched. Visitors describe entering the third floor rooms

7:26 Speaker 1: and immediately feeling as though they are not alone. One

7:29 Speaker 1: overnight guest said she refused to remain in the tower

7:32 Speaker 1: room after midnight because the feeling intensified when she turned

7:35 Speaker 1: her back toward the doorway. Not panic, not terror awareness.

7:41 Speaker 1: Former owners have spoken carefully about their experiences. One late

7:46 Speaker 1: twentieth century resident acknowledged publicly that doors occasionally closed on

7:50 Speaker 1: their own and lights sometimes activated unexpectedly. She attributed some

7:56 Speaker 1: events to wiring issues and airflow, but admitted there were

7:59 Speaker 1: moments could not easily explain. She described standing in an

8:04 Speaker 1: upstairs hallway one evening and hearing footsteps approach from behind her.

8:08 Speaker 1: She turned, expecting to see a family member. The hallway

8:12 Speaker 1: was empty. The footsteps continued past her, then stopped. She

8:18 Speaker 1: did not scream. She left the hallway. National paranormal investigators

8:23 Speaker 1: who later visited the castle approached it methodically. E MF

8:27 Speaker 1: readings were taken in multiple rooms. Baseline measurements were recorded.

8:32 Speaker 1: Digital voice recorders were placed during question and answer sessions.

8:37 Speaker 1: In one session, an investigator asked aloud, is anyone here

8:41 Speaker 1: with us? On playback? A faint sound resembling a whispered

8:45 Speaker 1: yes appeared between the words skeptics here, static believers here response.

8:51 Speaker 1: But what matters most is not the recording itself. It

8:54 Speaker 1: is that similar sessions across years have produced similar ambiguous results.

8:59 Speaker 1: Franklin Castle does not produce spectacle. It produces moments. A

9:04 Speaker 1: figure at a window, footsteps when alone crying in empty rooms,

9:08 Speaker 1: cold air, and specific places, a shoulder that isn't there,

9:13 Speaker 1: And perhaps that is why the stories endure. They are

9:16 Speaker 1: not grand enough to be dismissed outright. They are not

9:19 Speaker 1: violent enough to be exaggerated beyond recognition. They sit in

9:24 Speaker 1: that uncomfortable middle space, detailed enough to be retold, subtle

9:29 Speaker 1: enough to remain believable. Franklin Castle stands today with its

9:33 Speaker 1: reputation intact, not because of one catastrophic event, but because

9:38 Speaker 1: of repetition, different decades, different witnesses, different owners, similar experiences.

9:46 Speaker 1: Whether those experiences belong to the architecture, the mind, or

9:50 Speaker 1: something we do not yet understand. The house has done

9:54 Speaker 1: something rare. It has made people hesitate, It has made

9:58 Speaker 1: them look over their shoulder, It has made them lower

10:01 Speaker 1: their voices on the staircase and sometimes, dear listener. That

10:05 Speaker 1: is how a haunting is not in screams, but in

10:09 Speaker 1: the quiet certainty that you were not alone. I myself

10:12 Speaker 1: have a ghost story, a story of a house that

10:15 Speaker 1: my husband and I purchased as our dream home. It

10:19 Speaker 1: was an eleven room Victorian Colonial that needed a complete renovation.

10:23 Speaker 1: It had been built in eighteen sixty three, still had

10:26 Speaker 1: gas lines in the walls from the old gas lighting,

10:29 Speaker 1: the old knob and tube wiring, and if I had

10:32 Speaker 1: to count, thirteen to fourteen layers of wallpaper under the

10:36 Speaker 1: painted walls, and to our horror, many coats of paint

10:40 Speaker 1: layered over mahogany woodwork all throughout the house. We purchased

10:44 Speaker 1: it as a young married couple, three small kids, and

10:48 Speaker 1: a dream of restoring this house to its original beauty.

10:52 Speaker 1: Our haunting was not dramatic. It reminds me of this one. Actually.

10:56 Speaker 1: I would be home alone in my office, kids had

10:59 Speaker 1: gone off to school, husband to work, and I would

11:02 Speaker 1: hear a thud upstairs, like someone had fallen on the floor.

11:06 Speaker 1: The first three times I had rushed upstairs to see

11:08 Speaker 1: if something had fallen. Of course I found nothing. It

11:12 Speaker 1: got to the point where I made sure everything was

11:14 Speaker 1: picked up off the floor above me, so when it

11:17 Speaker 1: did happen again, I could clearly see what had fallen.

11:20 Speaker 1: I continued to find nothing. I started to ignore it.

11:24 Speaker 1: It wasn't creating too much of a fuss, so I

11:26 Speaker 1: figured whatever it had been was like me. It just

11:29 Speaker 1: wanted to be in the house, but be left alone. Then,

11:32 Speaker 1: the more tangible things started to happen. The water in

11:35 Speaker 1: the kitchen would turn itself on full blast. My husband

11:39 Speaker 1: changed the fawcet, washers, etc. It continued. It even happened

11:43 Speaker 1: on Christmas Eve with a house full of people. The

11:46 Speaker 1: entire family was sitting in the dining room around the table.

11:50 Speaker 1: Someone said to my husband, tell your uncle about your ghost,

11:53 Speaker 1: and as if on cue, the sink faucet, which we

11:56 Speaker 1: could see from the dining room, turned on full blast.

12:00 Speaker 1: Could it have been old plumbing, maybe, but we don't

12:03 Speaker 1: think so. Then the door between the kitchen and the

12:06 Speaker 1: front hallway would slam shut on occasion, no windows open

12:09 Speaker 1: for cross ventilation, no doors open, just me home alone.

12:13 Speaker 1: Everything closed up and it would slam, not swing shut slowly. Actually,

12:17 Speaker 1: I think that would have scared me more. This was

12:20 Speaker 1: a very loud, deliberate slam. Another thing that would happen

12:24 Speaker 1: would happen in our laundry room, which was off the kitchen.

12:27 Speaker 1: You would be putting laundry in or taking it out,

12:29 Speaker 1: and you would feel like someone touched your hip. I

12:32 Speaker 1: thought it was just me. I never mentioned it. Then

12:35 Speaker 1: one day my daughter, she was about eleven or twelve

12:38 Speaker 1: at the time, came to me and said, Mom, someone

12:41 Speaker 1: keeps touching me in the laundry room. I asked her

12:44 Speaker 1: where was she being touched, and she pointed to her hip.

12:48 Speaker 1: The defining moment for me was when I had been

12:50 Speaker 1: doing laundry. The kids were upstairs in their rooms, my

12:54 Speaker 1: husband in his office. I was giving my youngest a bath,

12:58 Speaker 1: and all of a sudden I heard the washing masie

13:00 Speaker 1: go off balance because I had a big, heavy quilt

13:02 Speaker 1: in it and it had apparently decided to stick to

13:05 Speaker 1: one side of the machine. I called out to my

13:08 Speaker 1: husband to ask if he could go down to fix it.

13:11 Speaker 1: He quickly came into the bathroom and said, you go,

13:14 Speaker 1: I'll finish up here. By the time I got downstairs

13:18 Speaker 1: and into the laundry room, there stood the washing machine open,

13:21 Speaker 1: the blanket out of the machine, and sitting on the dryer.

13:25 Speaker 1: I then realized three things. This was real. It was

13:28 Speaker 1: likely a woman, and she still felt ownership over that

13:31 Speaker 1: kitchen and laundry room. We never felt threatened. The house

13:35 Speaker 1: was just never quiet, and until you live in a

13:38 Speaker 1: house that has unseen occupants, it's hard to understand what

13:41 Speaker 1: that means. But when you have house guests from another lifetime,

13:45 Speaker 1: the house has a certain energy, noise, and personality that

13:49 Speaker 1: is undeniable. We moved eventually halfway through a bathroom renovation.

13:54 Speaker 1: The mortgage bubble that popped had us upside down in

13:57 Speaker 1: a mortgage after a refinance, went into a rental for

14:01 Speaker 1: a year before finding the house we bought next. From

14:04 Speaker 1: the moment we moved into the rental, it was as

14:07 Speaker 1: if life exhaled and got quiet again. Life felt lighter again.

14:11 Speaker 1: You don't realize the oppression till you're out of it.

14:15 Speaker 1: When searching for a new house, we had a rule.

14:17 Speaker 1: Nothing old. This house was built in the sixties. It's quiet.

14:22 Speaker 1: I often wonder if the people who have lived in

14:25 Speaker 1: that house after us had the same house guest we did.

14:28 Speaker 1: I had thanked the stars. Our house guest did not

14:31 Speaker 1: move with us, because you know it can happen. They say.

14:35 Speaker 1: I do have fond memories of that house. It was beautiful,

14:38 Speaker 1: it was majestic. It had all the charm of an

14:41 Speaker 1: old New England Victorian home. But it came with too

14:44 Speaker 1: much baggage and I am a minimalist. Thanks for listening.

14:49 Speaker 1: Do you have a true haunting story you want us

14:52 Speaker 1: to tell? Email us at Strange History Pod. At gmail

14:56 Speaker 1: dot com. Don't forget to subscribe for more strange history,

15:01 Speaker 1: Stay curious, dear listeners,