Now’s The Time To Explore The Most Haunted Places In Columbus

It’s spooky season in Columbus, and if you love a good ghost story, you’re in luck.

Our city has its fair share of eerie landmarks and local legends. Abraham Lincoln supposedly still dances in the Statehouse, a lady in pink haunts a Town Street mansion that’s now a jazz club, and Ohio State’s first president reads by lamplight in the bell tower of the building that carries his name.

Most of these places you can walk into, and two of them put their ghosts on the schedule every October. Here are the haunted spots around Columbus worth checking out, plus two that are worth the drive.

Ohio Statehouse

• Address: 1 Capitol Square, Columbus
• Website: Ohio Statehouse

When it comes to haunted history, the Ohio Statehouse is a star player. It took 22 years to build, much of it with labor from the old Ohio Penitentiary, and the roster of resident spirits is long: Civil War soldiers, a weeping Lady in Grey, and Abraham Lincoln, who is said to still turn up dancing with Kate Chase, the daughter of the governor who hosted him here in 1859. The Statehouse runs its own lantern-lit Haunted Tours on October 16, 17, 23 and 24 this year, with slots at 7, 7:30, 8 and 8:30 pm. Tickets are $16, ages 12 and up, and they’ve sold out most years, so don’t sit on it. If you’d rather hear the stories from the safety of your own non-haunted house, the Statehouse’s Haunted Tales videos cover the same ground.

Kelton House Museum

• Address: 586 E Town St, Columbus
• Website: Kelton House Museum

Located in the Discovery District, the Kelton House was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and some of the Kelton family are said to have never left. Visitors and staff have reported apparitions, unexplained voices, and furniture that rearranges itself. The museum has been closed since a gas explosion and fire tore through the property in November 2025. City inspectors said the main house could be salvaged, and the Junior League of Columbus, which has run the museum since 1976, says it intends to rebuild, but there’s no reopening date yet. For now the ghosts have the place to themselves. Check keltonhouse.com before you plan a visit.

Old Governor’s Mansion

• Address: 1234 E Broad St, Columbus
• Website: The Columbus Foundation

Not the current Governor’s Residence in Bexley. This is the 1904 Lindenberg mansion on East Broad Street, which housed Ohio’s governors for decades until the state moved the residence to Bexley in 1957. It’s the Columbus Foundation’s headquarters now, so there are no tours, but the story has outlasted every tenant. A Black woman in old-fashioned servant’s clothing has been seen in several rooms, reports of the smell of smoke and burning hair go with her, and she once spoke to an employee during renovations to say she was happy the place was being fixed up.

Fort Hayes

• Address: 546 Jack Gibbs Blvd, Columbus
• Website: Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center

Fort Hayes, now a Columbus City Schools arts campus, once served as a military training post and arsenal. The spirits of former soldiers are said to linger in some of the old buildings, including the Shot Tower and the Drill Hall. It’s a working school, so unless you’re a student or a parent this one is a drive-by.

Thurber House

• Address: 77 Jefferson Ave, Columbus
• Website: Thurber House

The Thurber House, now a literary center, was the family home of writer and cartoonist James Thurber, and he wrote the haunting up himself in “The Night the Ghost Got In,” after hearing footsteps in the house with nobody attached to them. Writers-in-residence and staff have reported the same footsteps since, along with shadowy figures and the odd flying book. Thurber House leans into it. You can book a private six-hour ghost investigation for $95 a person ($300 minimum), and this year’s Halloween party on October 10 is a murder mystery and book bar at the Thurber Center next door, with a $5 raffle for a night in the house with a paranormal investigator. The drawing is October 19.

Green Lawn Cemetery

• Address: 1000 Greenlawn Ave, Columbus
• Website: Green Lawn Cemetery

With more than 160,000 interments across 325 acres, Green Lawn is Ohio’s second-largest cemetery and the resting place of a good share of the names on Columbus street signs. People have reported shadowy figures on the paths after dark, but the Hayden Mausoleum is the one everyone brings up: knock on the door and, supposedly, something knocks back. The grounds are open daily from 7 am, closing at 7 pm through mid-October and at 5 pm after that, so save the experiment for daylight.

Mirror Lake at Ohio State

• Address: Mirror Lake, south of the Oval, Ohio State campus
• Website: Ohio State University

The campus legend everyone hears freshman year: a woman in a pink dress walks the edge of Mirror Lake at night. The usual version says she’s the widow of Dr. Clark, an economics professor who shot himself in 1903 on the hill where Pomerene Hall now stands, and that she swore never to leave him. Go after dark and you’ll have plenty of company, most of it alive.

Orton Hall at OSU

• Address: 155 S Oval Mall, Columbus
• Website: Orton Geological Museum

Orton Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus and has its own share of ghostly tales. The building’s namesake, Edward Orton, Ohio State’s first president, was known to read late into the night in the bell tower, and people still report lights flickering up there after hours. The other regular is a prehistoric man who bangs around and grunts in the halls, maybe on loan from the museum’s fossil collection. The Orton Geological Museum on the ground floor is free and open weekdays 10 to 4 during the school year, so you can go look for either of them yourself.

The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield

• Address: 100 Reformatory Rd, Mansfield
• Website: Ohio State Reformatory

While not in Columbus, the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield is worth the short drive for ghost enthusiasts. The prison, famous for its role in “The Shawshank Redemption,” has a dark history that continues to haunt its corridors. I know it’s anecdotal, but it is genuinely the spookiest place I’ve ever been.

Buxton Inn, Granville

• Address: 313 E Broadway, Granville
• Website: Buxton Inn

The Buxton Inn has been taking in travelers since 1812, and it’s starting a new chapter: the former owners of the Worthington Inn bought it this spring, spent the summer refreshing the rooms, and set the grand reopening for September 23. The ghosts didn’t leave with the old owners. Guests have reported flickering lights and mysterious noises for years, and two former innkeepers are said to still roam the halls. Book a room if you want the full experience.

Snowden-Gray Mansion (Blu Note on Town)

• Address: 530 E Town St, Columbus
• Website: Blu Note on Town

The Italianate mansion at 530 E. Town Street went up in 1852, and since fall 2025 it’s been Blu Note on Town, a jazz club with live music in the main room and up on the rooftop patio. That makes it the one haunted mansion in Columbus where you can order a cocktail and wait. The resident ghost is a woman dressed in pink who appears to visitors, and the Dispatch has been listing her for years.

Westin Great Southern Hotel

• Address: 310 S High St, Columbus
• Website: Westin Great Southern Hotel

The Great Southern opened in 1897 and has been a downtown fixture ever since. The seventh floor is the part that interests ghost hunters. It held the hotel’s grand ballroom, and guests have reported phantom classical bands, unexplained noises, and apparitions that seem to belong to the ballroom’s heyday. The Dispatch has called the floor a hotbed of paranormal activity, which is not a phrase the Dispatch throws around.

Most of these places are open to the public, and the Statehouse and Thurber House both put their ghosts on the October calendar. Bring a camera, and go before the tours sell out.

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