History and haunts bringing people to Waynesville
WAYNESVILLE, Ohio (WDTN) — The village of Waynesville has a reputation as one of the most haunted towns in Ohio, with landmarks like the Thomas Swift House, the Museum at the Friends Home, and the Hammel House Restaurant and Inn.
“Waynesville is a great little story book town,” says Adam Powell, owner of Buckeye Charm.
The quaint village is full of stories — some even hard to believe — but they bring curious people to the village every October. “It’s so much fun just to walk around and hear people talking that they know this place is haunted,” says Paula Dytko of P3 Paula’s Paranormal Project.
Paula has been doing ghost excursions, tours, and classes for about the last three years. “My first official hunt was this building,” Paula points to Buckeye Charm. Now a western boutique, Buckeye Charm used to be a Catholic church. Adam Powell and his wife bought the building several years ago and started doing renovations. I was a huge skeptic. I thought, well, an old building… people hear stuff,” admits Adam. “We started hearing voices, footsteps, doors slamming.”
Within weeks of starting remodels and renovations, the Travel Channel came out to visit the site and shoot an episode of “Ghost Nation.” “Travel Channel was actually out here documenting the haunt. And they actually said yeah it’s haunted,” laughs Powell. “Our haunted history here, we do have a couple little kids that run around,” said Paula. “We believe one is from the Rogers family. He’s kind of mischievous. We have pictures of his shadow moving around.” She points to a shadow caught on surveillance video on an iPad. Paula says the building and the area around it are full of other happenings.
“We also have Father Jim, who is the longest standing priest here,” says Paula. “He actually passed away in this building from a heart attack, and behind us was the altar area. And that’s where he was found, on the altar area. “We believe he is still here. It’s very religious kind of background here. We have had some sightings of him. We’ve had pictures of him, his face in windows.”
Down the street, the Hammel House is also said to be haunted. “This is one of the most haunted inns here in Ohio,” says Paula. “The housekeepers hear their names being called.” “The servers also have regular activity where they see shadows passing by doorways and see the cat streak under the table or things mysteriously fall off the table,” describes Paula. It’s the mystery and the unexplained that bring people to downtown Waynesville, sometimes even turning skeptics into believers. “I always say in my tours, Waynesville has an extra layer of hospitality that you just don’t see,” smiles Paula. Paula also offers tours in Miamisburg, Springboro and Centerville just to name a few. Click here to learn more information. Copyright 2022 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
