What the Living Say…

Over the years many guests of this alleged “haunted house” have reported different incidents that could not be explained, but were very noteworthy nonetheless. Some people have reported to have seen an actual apparition. According to a local newspaper article, guests have seen a ghost in the form of a light. Others that have stayed there have said they have felt small jabs and hands patting them although no other person was around.

Some people describe being followed by something from room to room. One staff member of the Columbian House claimed that the ghost is like “a cloud or a puff of smoke” that usually hangs around in doorways and then disappears. He said that he has also felt the classic “cold spots” and has personally witnessed furniture he had arranged suddenly out of position moments after leaving the room.

Another unusual incident occurred in the 1970s when the owners of the Columbian House hosted a wedding reception. Photographs were taken of the bride and groom in front of the fireplace on the first floor. When the pictures were developed, a bone chilling “image of a face” was seen in the fireplace.

Another unusual reporting of this “presence” happened around the 1930s when Toledo antiques dealer Charles Capron moved into the Columbian House for business purposes as well as to reside. Capron, described as a serious man of intellect and reason, had heard the local lore of how the building was haunted but dismissed any such notion as nonsense. Within a matter of a few days, Capron began hearing different things in the middle of the night such as cries for help, moaning and groaning, and footsteps outside his door.

No longer desiring to lose another night’s sleep due to these weird noises, Capron had a work associate spend one night in a room at the end of the hall opposite his bedroom on the second floor. He needed to know he was not going crazy. He instructed the associate not to come out of the room at all during the night and to lock his door from the inside. He also locked all of the outside doors so that nobody could get inside the building.

Moments later as Capron lay down to sleep, he began to hear moans and groans along with heavy footsteps. After a few frightful moments of this, Capron flung his bedroom door wide open only to glance down the now empty hallway to his associate’s door. Hearing Capron open the door, the associate also opened his door with a terrified look on his face. They swapped their immediate experiences and swore to each other that neither had left the room.

Eventually, the pair went back to their rooms and moments later the footsteps and the moaning continued. The noises proceeded to make their way to the first floor where Capron had many of his antiques. Suddenly, there was a loud crash that sounded to the antique dealer of a large mirror breaking. Presumably very scared, Capron and his work associate waited until morning to go downstairs to clean up the mess of shattered glass. However, to their surprise, the mirror that Capron thought had been broken was hanging from the wall, untouched and unbroken.

Over the next few years Mr. Capron became less interested in his antiques and more with his haunted building. He restored it, made major repairs, and opened it up again to the public as an inn. From this time until he abandoned the building around 1940, guests and workers swore that they had witnessed and heard ghosts inside the establishment.

Time passed and this historic building was left alone, only to have the windows broken by vandals and the inside of the house exposed to the harsh Ohio winter elements. The walls were literally crumbling. It appeared that the ghosts had finally accomplished their goals and had driven the living away. It was not until 1943 that Ethel Arnold and her son George from Findlay, Ohio bought it and once again saved it from the wrecking ball. They repaired the building and re-opened the inn, spirits and all. Although Ethel herself never claimed to believe in the ghost stories that locals had passed down to her, her son and daughter-in-law Jacqueline testified otherwise.

In the 1970s George and Jacqueline Arnold acquired the building, converted it into a restaurant and furnished it with period pieces to give the restaurant its authentic, original look. The Arnolds were very straightforward with the reporters that asked them about their experiences both working and living on the site.

“We’re haunted”, Mrs. Arnold claimed in a 1980 interview. Both her and her husband as well as staff members of the restaurant have “seen the presence”, which they say had been spotted in the downstairs hallway or near the fireplace. She stated that, “most of the appearances of the ghost occur in this front waiting room,” but pointed out that, “the ghost has plenty of room to move around.”

One story she recalled in the interview was the time when a non-believer friend of hers came over to dispel the alleged ghost stories and was suddenly “nudged or poked” from behind. When she turned around to see the culprit, nobody was there. That quickly challenged her beliefs in the ghost.

Another story involved her daughter walking down a hallway when she “swore that someone was walking behind her and she stopped in her tracks.” Suddenly, she “felt someone run into her, but there was no one there.”

According to a different article in a local newspaper a few years later, the eldest Arnold son recalled that several years before he “saw an apparition with the general appearance of a person” near the downstairs bathroom. Still another story revealed that a waitress witnessed a pair of eyeglasses that “seemed to float” from a kitchen counter to her feet.

“We find all kinds of things-prankish things,” said Mrs. Arnold. “Doors are locked or unlocked when there was nobody there. Things have disappeared forever with no reasonable explanation,” she added.

Today, the Columbian House is still open on certain nights for a great home cooked meal served by candlelight. The restaurant, located at 3 North River Road in Waterville has remained a popular destination, complete with traditional furnishings that make it appear like you are stepping into an early 1800s time warp. The wait staff and owners are happy to show ghostly photos (on display) and are certain to share stories on the building’s rich history and its popularity with both the living and the dead alike.

Extra special thanks to Nancy Myerholtz of the Waterville Historical Society who contributed to this article.

Sources-
“Eye Opener..on Restless Spirits” -Kate Jamieson, unknown year and publication
“Ghosts Among Visitors to the Columbian House” -Sentinel-Tribune 11/29/81
“Ghost Lives with Area Family” -Sheila Hart-The Collegian,10/31/80
“Ancient Hostelry Again Gives Ghosts the Pitch" -Jean Douglas-Toledo Blade,6/28/48

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