Below, the Chestnut Grove Cemetery.

The mass grave of the unidentified victims and Charles Collins’ crypt lie within a few feet of each other.

This towering marker stands over the mass grave of the unknown dead.

Many believe that this site is haunted by the spirits of the unknown dead, as well as that of Charles Collins.

In Spring 2001, the Northeast Ohio Ghost Research Team shot their own photos of possible spirits here. This day, none were found.

Below are close-ups of some of the inscriptions on the mass grave marker

The crypt of Charles Collins.

Interestingly, both the long-shot photo of the victims’ monument and Collins’ crypt came up “burnt-looking” in the photos developed later.

UPDATES & SUBMISSIONS

• Amasa Stone’s Gravesite
• More Hauntings
• Bridge Photos
  
• Historical Photos & Memorabilia
• Links

Amasa Stone’s Gravesite The bridge’s designer and architect, Amasa Stone, is buried several miles away from the disaster, at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland Heights. His ostentatious marker is similar to the mass grave marker at Maple Grove. A closeup of the inscription on Amasa Stones’s marker. His date of death, as it appears on the tombstone, is actually seven years after the disaster.  His inscription further reads: “The memory of the just is blessed.” More Hauntings In its Halloween 2002 feature, Cleveland Digital City discusses additional ghost legends associated with the Chestnut Grove Cemetery.  Lisa Galloway writes, “Reports of wraiths near here are many… witnesses mention families dressed in period dress — always warm winter clothes — wandering together, often carrying carpetbags and baskets. Screams are heard late at night, many visitors say a charred odor pervades the grounds and near Collins’ crypt a man can be seen weeping bitterly, crying out over and over, I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.’”  Freaky.  For her sources, Ms. Galloway cites Dead Ohio <applause> and Railroad Extra, a great website dedicated to U.S. railroad history and folklore.  Since Dead Ohio certainly did not report of such ghostly happenings, we checked out Railroad Extra.  We could not find anything specific on that site regarding the cemetery hauntings Ms. Galloway writes about in her article (or any other hauntings related to this grim event).  So, if anyone can substantiate those tales, please write us and share your stories. The Bottom of the Bridge Below, a great shot of the Ashtabula Bridge looking south, as taken in the summer 2002 by Fast-Freight, a railroad engineer.  Here’s a photo of a fascinating find by Fast-Freight–An old rail.  Although not yet confirmed, it could be a piece of the original rail from the accident.

Ashtabula Bridge Memorabilia

Here’s a rare and interesting vintage postcard of the aftermath, submitted by Fast-Freight.

Other Sources

For more information about the Ashtabula train tragedy, check out:

The Ashtabula Railway Historical Foundation

The Ashtabula Train Disaster of 1876–article by Darrell E. Hamilton

The Ashtabula Bridge Disaster–Featuring the sad memoirs of Philip Bliss, who perished along with his wife in the accident.

The Corpse in the Cellar and Further Tales of Cleveland Woe–an on-line excerpt from John Bellamy’s excellent, well-researched compilation of local true crime and morbid tales.  This book is one in a series of four, and–strictly in terms of research and writing quality–ranks above Chris Woodyard’s overrated, fluffy books on Ohio hauntings and legends.  Before you beg to differ, read his books first.

10/9/05: The Ashtabula ghosts are apparently getting more creative, and technologically savvy, in spooking the daylights out of ghost hunters.  As Nick explains:

My friends and I were daring enough to go to the Chestnut Grove Cemetery over a cold October weekend. There were 3 of us on the first night.  We only stayed for about 10 minutes because my friend got really scared.  After we were there, we were all sitting in my friend’s car, and the windows got fogged up.  A bear face was drawn on my friend’s window.  She said she had never seen it before, and it was so perfect that it could not have been done by hand.

While we were sitting in her car, my cell phone made a weird noise, so I looked at it and it said “Calling Mom 2:56, 2:57, 2:58″ and the minutes kept moving up saying I was talking to her.  So I was saying hello? hello? but no answer.  So I tried hitting END on my phone but nothing happened.  I flipped it down and now it said I was talking to “unkown.”

The next night, we saw a LOT of shadows and heard a lot of noises.  We also saw some crazy lights.  We looked inside Collins’ Mausoleum, and saw a pop can in there from the 40′s with the peel back lid…it was really weird.

1/02/05:  Joe and his son visited the site on the anniversary of the Ashtabula Train Disaster to do a little ghost investigation, and shares their surprising results:

My son and I went to the trestle on the Anniversary of the Train Disaster. We took pictures and recorded E.V.P. at the site, hoping to see or hear something. Of course, we saw little and heard less. But,  my son did see what he described as a woman. But, it wasn’t until I got the pictures developed and listened to the E.V.P. that I was in shock. There were several pictures of ghost phenomenon and a voice on our tape. The voice called out for a woman named Martha. Not knowing the names of the people who died in the Disaster, I went online to find out. To my surprise, there were two women named Martha who died in the wreck. A month earlier, we went to Cedar Grove cemetery to take pictures of the monument. On that film we found orbs. All this is for my sons school report–I hope he gets a good grade for all the effort we’ve put in.

 5/27/02: Here’s some input by one very learned and observant reader

Hello,
Was looking at your neat Dead Ohio web page and being a RR engineer checked out your Ashtabula train disaster, great page! but you have the wrong bridge photos on your page. It’s the next RR bridge to the North in the valley that you want photos of. The photos you show are the ex NKP  ex N&W , NS bridge which is single tracked which I have been on trains over many times. The LS&MS bridge which the accident occurred on  became New York Central then Penn Central then Conrail and now CSX  was originally a single track bridge but was double tracked in the New York Central era and the abutments are now different since things were widened. The story has always fascinated me and being a railroader and collector I have always looked for articles and photo’s of the disaster. I’m not trying to criticize your article just wanted to let you know that you want the next bridge North.
Sincerely,
FAST-FREIGHT   

Thanks, Fast-Freight.  I also believe that this story is very fascinating and so historically significant that its accuracy is much more important than a few “cool” photos.  Therefore, I will be pulling the current bridge photos until the location  is confirmed.  I will then post new photos of the “proper” bridge to ensure the integrity of this page.