Moonville Railroad Tunnel

Moonville Railroad Tunnel paranormal

Location submitted by: jragan on 01/08/2011
DBA Approved: Y

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PANICd#: 1035

In 1856, the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad (M and C) was pushing through southeastern Ohio to reach Cincinnati. William Cutler, the owner of the fledgling railroad, was having financial problems and was looking to streamline and conserve money while bu

Moonville , OH
Open to the public: Unknown

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonvi...

Lat: 39.3067
Lon: -82.3213

Database Summary:

Demographic Rank: 5
History: 1
Stories: 1
Claims: 4
Evidence: 3
Resources: 0
Retrievals: 4495
Vistor Rating: 4.0
Votes: 2

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History

History information is some background and history about the location. This is meant to be a basic summary. Below the history records you will find sources in which you can click on to find out more information. There may be multiple history records per location.

In 1856, the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad (M&C) was pushing through southeastern Ohio to reach Cincinnati. William Cutler, the owner of the fledgling railroad, was having financial problems and was looking to streamline and conserve money while building the railroad.

A man named Samuel Coe convinced Cutler to build the railroad on his large property for free, in exchange for a favor. The railroad would be routed through Coe's land in order to haul coal and clay off of his property. This move saved the railroad a great deal by reducing the amount of distance to Cincinnati.

Several coal mines sprang up, and it was found that there was a rich supply of it in the immediate area. Soon the mining town of Moonville was born.

Moonville never was a big town, with a peak population in the 1870s of a little over a hundred. It is thought to be named for a man named Moon who once operated a store in the town. The town was isolated in the woods and far away from any other towns; people had to walk the tracks to get from there to the nearest towns of Hope or Mineral. Vinton County is currently the least populated and most heavily forested county in Ohio; in those days it was even more wild and inhospitable.

Walking the tracks was incredibly dangerous, and was made even more hazardous by two long trestles in the area and the long Moonville tunnel. One trestle stood over Raccoon Creek less than 50 yards (46 m) away from the tunnel mouth. It is estimated that by 1920 alone, 5 or 6 people lost their lives on the bridges or within the tunnel. The last fatality was in 1986, when a 10 year old girl was struck by a CSX locomotive on that trestle directly in front of the tunnel.

In 1887 the M&C was bought out by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). It quickly became part of a vital line from St. Louis to Washington, DC. Train traffic increased dramatically, while the town entered a decline from which it never recovered. By the turn of the century the coal mines slowly started to be used up and closed down. The last family left town in 1947; by then the town itself was abandoned. By the 1960s all the buildings were gone and there was little to mark the site, other than the town cemetery and the tunnel.

Added by: jragan on 02/01/2011 DB#:75
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonville,_Ohio

Stories

Stories are just that. Stories and personal accounts that have been reported about the location.

The Moonville Ghost story begins with the death of a railroad worker over one hundred and forty years ago. According to a regional newspaper article dated 3/31/1859:

"A brakesman on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad fell from the cars near Cincinnati Furnace, on last Tuesday March 29, 1859 and was fatally injured, when the wheels passing over and grinding to a shapeless mass the greater part of one of his legs. He was taken on the train to Hamden and Doctors Wolf and Rannells sent for to perform amputation, but the prostration of the vital energies was too great to attempt it. The man is probably dead ere this. The accident resulted from a too free use of liquor."

Railroad workers in trains running on that line started to report seeing a ghostly man who would stand on the tracks and wave a lantern causing the train to stop. He might be in the tunnel, just outside or on the tracks leading to or from the structure. For a time, railroad engineers stopped their trains in case it was a real person warning them of impending danger. But after a while they got so used to the apparition that they ignored it and kept going. An article from the Chillicothe Gazette dated 2/17/1895 states:

"The ghost of Moonville, after an absence of one year, has returned and is again at its old pranks, haunting B&O S-W freight trains and their crews. It appeared Monday night in front of fast freight No. 99 west bound, just eat of the cut which is one half mile the other side of Moonville at the point where Engineer Lawhead lost his life and Engineer Walters was injured. The ghost, attired in a pure white robe, carried a lantern. It had a flowing white beard, its eyes glistened like balls of fire and surrounding it was a halo of twinkling stars. When the train stopped, the ghost stepped off the track and disappeared into the rocks nearby."

People hiking through that area still report seeing the ghost, but it"s not the only one they see! The reputation of Moonville has been added to over the years by more events with possible supernatural ramifications.

The railroad didn"t leave much room for error when it built the tunnel and four surrounding trestles. The tunnel is just fifty yards long and barely wide enough for the trains that once ran through it on a single track. The trestles were just wide enough for the tracks placed on them and most were long spans. If you happen to be walking on any of the trestles around mid-span when a train came, you would either be hit by the train or have to take a long deadly plunge into a very shallow creek. Numbers vary, but most people who have taken the time to go through area newspapers claim that at least five to ten people were killed in just such a way. The last person killed on one of the trestles was a ten year old girl walking the tracks in 1986 when a CSX train hit her. Shortly after that the line was shut down and more then a few people have seen her ghost!

Hikers that travel along the old track bed and stop for the night to camp out have also reported seeing the ghosts of an older woman who died on a trestle, a prospector, a worker that died in the local mines and one who perished while working at the Hope furnace that still exists in the State Park. But the stand-out spook in all this is still the original Moonville Ghost. Even those who visit the tunnel in broad daylight have reported seeing the apparition standing in dark corners of the structure waving his hideous lantern!

In July of 1977 a B&O freight train was headed west through the Moonville area. Near midnight, an inexperienced engineer saw a man standing on the track and swinging a lantern. Just before he could brake, a conductor told him to ignore the man and wait. He had already been through this many times before. At fifty miles an hour, the lights of the engine shown on the man and flowed through him. The figure then vanished!

New horror stories involving Moonville have joined the old ones. In addition to the original lantern ghost and those of various people killed on or near the tracks; not so ghostly, but equally frightening stories have surfaced of missing hikers, mutilation deaths and teen suicides.

Supposedly, a number of people who were set to hike the old railroad bed through the Moonville area were never seen again. People who sought out the tunnel ghost vanished in the presence of their friends, only to be found days later having been murdered and horribly mutilated. Several Teens are said to have committed suicide in or near the tunnel for no apparent reason. These stories come from the late 1980"s and 1990"s.

Added by: jragan on 02/01/2011 DB#:1050
Source(s):
http://esoteric.2hav.net/articleviewer.php?artid=1...

Paranormal Claims

Here are the paranormal claims for this location. These have been found through Internet research, reports from members, or reports from personal interviews. To add a claim, please contact PANICd.com, and we will review and add your information.

Claim #	Added	Added By	Claim
1329	02/02/2011	jragan	The apparition of a railroad worker is spotted swinging a lantern in the tunnel. When the tracks were still there, it actually would stop the trains.
1330	02/02/2011	jragan	Strange noises and sounds can be heard when it is very quiet, some have heard the sound of a train coming.
1331	02/02/2011	jragan	An apparition of a women who was killed on the tracks is sometimes seen.
1332	02/02/2011	jragan	Strange lights, mists, and orbs have been captured near and in the tunnel.

Paranormal Evidence

Paranormal evidence is based on claims that have been reported for this location. There can be several types of evidence; however, we have grouped them based on media type for better organization. Here you will find evidence that are logs, audio, video, or photographic.

To add evidence for a claim, you must submit it to PANICd.com for approval to be entered into the database.

CLAIM #: 1330 - Strange noises and sounds can be heard when it is very quiet, some have heard the sound of a train coming.
	Evidence Type: Video Encounter Type: EVP Hauting Type: Unknown Investigation Status: More Investigation Needed	Video that has capture EVP, Lights, and strange noises. Submitted By: jragan On: 02/02/2011 DBA Approved: Y

CLAIM #: 1331 - An apparition of a women who was killed on the tracks is sometimes seen.
	Evidence Type: Video Encounter Type: Mist Hauting Type: Unknown Investigation Status: More Investigation Needed	Video of digital photographs. Submitted By: jragan On: 02/02/2011 DBA Approved: Y

CLAIM #: 1332 - Strange lights, mists, and orbs have been captured near and in the tunnel.
	Evidence Type: Video Encounter Type: Orb Hauting Type: Unknown Investigation Status: More Investigation Needed	Video of digital pictures showing mists and orbs Submitted By: jragan On: 02/02/2011 DBA Approved: Y

Moonville Railroad Tunnel

Database Summary:

History

Stories

Paranormal Claims

Paranormal Evidence

CLAIM #: 1330 - Strange noises and sounds can be heard when it is very quiet, some have heard the sound of a train coming.

CLAIM #: 1331 - An apparition of a women who was killed on the tracks is sometimes seen.

CLAIM #: 1332 - Strange lights, mists, and orbs have been captured near and in the tunnel.

Additional Resources

Location Comments