New Washington Cemetery

Ohio · United States · Haunted site

A portrait on a headstone in Crawford County that does not hold still.

New Washington is a village in Crawford County, Ohio, roughly midway between Cleveland and Columbus and about forty five minutes from Mansfield, on State Route 602. The cemetery on the edge of the village is where the local stories collect.

One headstone carries a portrait of a woman wearing a necklace. The claim, passed down among people who grew up here and tested by every teenager in the village at some point, is that if you stand close to it after dark the necklace shifts and the expression on her face is not the one you saw a moment ago. Photographs of the stone taken minutes apart get compared, and people argue about them. It is the kind of legend that survives precisely because a carved portrait in low light genuinely does seem to move.

The larger monument near the entrance, a standing figure that visitors identify as Mrs Kline, has its own reputation. People describe the reaction physically rather than visually: the hair rising on the back of the neck as they pass it, in daylight as readily as at night, and the strong impression of having been watched from behind after they have gone by. This is an active burial ground and the families are local. Visit in daylight and leave the stones alone.

FAQ

Where is New Washington Cemetery located?

New Washington Cemetery is in Ohio, United States.