Saturday, October 29, 2016

Mystery vintage postcard: "Haunted House" near Delaware, Ohio


This postcard was mailed from Delaware, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. in the final few days of October 1906.1 The recipient was Mr. Walter Dill of 910 E. St. N.W. The short note on the front states: "Write to 33½ S. Second St., Newark, Licking Co. We changed our minds since I wrote. Allie." Licking County is located in smack-dab central Ohio, and was named for the salt licks there.

And so this postcard, which was produced by Evans & Sons, features the mysterious caption: "HAUNTED HOUSE — THE, TOMB, near Delaware, Ohio." (Not quite sure what's up with that comma after "THE." It could be either a typo or a clue.)

Delaware, Ohio, is the county seat of Delaware County, which is adjacent to and west of Licking County.

The picture on the postcard is, indeed, something that resembles a tomb. But what's up with the "haunted house" and this forlorn tomb?

First discovery: There were variations of this postcard back in the day. A 2013 post on the wonderfully titled blog "The Strange and Spooky World of James A. Willis" features a card with the same photo but a slightly different design. No other answers there, though.

A different postcard, produced by The American News Company and featuring two images, is featured on the Delaware County Historical Society website. But, again, there is little other information.

I guess there's always the possibility that, 100-plus years ago, a photographer working for a postcard company got a good photo of a creepy tomb and they decided that a postcard with a creepy photo and the words "haunted house" would sell well. So they slapped it together and published it, without there being any actual good ghost stories associated with the site.

One last source I might try to track down is author John Ciochetty, who has written at least one book on the historic ghosts of Delaware, Ohio.

Either way, whether there's a spooky story that goes with this postcard or not, it's possible that information is lost in the sands of time.

Footnote
1. Also that month, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 2, in the World Series. It was the first of three World Series appearances in a row for the Cubs, who trail the Cleveland Indians, 2 games to 1, in the 2016 World Series, as I write this.

1 comment:

  1. Have a read:

    https://books.google.com/books?id=5jV3CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=haunted+house+the+tomb+delaware+ohio&source=bl&ots=91GCqszPXS&sig=4DHwEUW9uL48ZX6r-wPrpNQTEy0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQyrLSq-DRAhWmiFQKHbXyA3YQ6AEIRTAH#v=onepage&q=haunted%20house%20the%20tomb%20delaware%20ohio&f=false

    Details on the O'Shaughnessy Dam are posted here:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O'Shaughnessy_Dam_(Ohio)

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