Gretchen's Lock

Ohio · United States · Haunted site

A child drowned in the creek and was buried in a disused canal lock. Her father, broken by it, had her exhumed and taken back to England.

Gretchen's Lock lies at Calcutta, near East Liverpool, Ohio, and the object it is named for is a lock that once carried the canal at the creek.

Gretchen was the daughter of a wealthy man, understood locally to have come from England. She drowned in the creek as a small child, as a number of people have over the years. Swimming there is prohibited now, and so is canoeing, which tells you what kind of water it is.

She was buried in the lock itself.

Her father could not stay. He returned to England, and grief eventually drove him to have her body exhumed and taken back with him.

So the lock is empty. That is the detail the whole story turns on, and it is why people report her there rather than at a grave: whatever is understood to remain at the site, the child herself was taken away from it.

The canal is long disused and the lock is a ruin in the woods. The creek is still dangerous and the prohibitions on it are recent.

FAQ

Where is Gretchen's Lock located?

Gretchen's Lock is in Ohio, United States.