Cincinnati is a fascinating city with a vibrant local culture… it’s no wonder so many choose to make it and the surrounding area their eternal home. While some are content to sleep soundly in area cemeteries, some never quite find such rest, it seems. Local lore, including the Hatchet Man of Hickory Flat Cemetery, reminds us that things aren’t always as they seem. Buckle up, because we’re going to take a road trip about 40 minutes north of Cincy to check out a cemetery with a history that’s downright unexpected.

Butler County's Hickory Flat Cemetery is pretty peaceful... for the most part.
Brenda Krekeler/Google Image
This historic cemetery includes a number of old graves and a simply yet elegant fence. It's quite pretty, but it sets the scene for one of the most brutal stories in local lore.
Its oldest graves date back to the mid-1850s, and its many interments come from every walk of life.
Lois Gardner Sergent/FindAGrave
Among mothers, fathers, cousins, and friends are veterans and people just like you and me. None of the people buried here offer any insight into the cemetery's place in local legend.
Its haunting tale of the Hatchet Man, however, instantly disrupts the cemetery's peace.
Marco Verch via Trending Topics 2019/Flickr
The tale is said to have happened many years ago. Envision a peaceful Ohio night, and you're strolling peacefully, wrapped up in the song of crickets and night birds. Suddenly, your whole world changes when you hear approaching footfall.

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According to legend, dusk fell upon the region and the cemetery caretaker was closing down when a mystery man with a hatchet attacked him.
Google Maps
The caretaker had no reason to be afraid. The community is peaceful, and many Ohioans enjoy the tranquility of night in the country.
The story asserts that the caretaker's body was chopped up and hidden, leaving nothing behind but a few hatchet marks on the mausoleum wall. That same caretaker chased trespassers off the grounds with his own murder weapon.
Robert Couse-Baker/Flickr
Oh, and in some cases of the story, authorities also found a mannequin with an ax.
Spooky, right? As scary as it may sound, there is one hole in this story: the cemetery doesn't have a mausoleum.
Google Maps
It does, however, have a brick building on-site. Could it be that this is the mausoleum of the story, or is this detail just a telltale sign that this story is mere lore?
While the Hatchet Man of Wehr Road may be nothing more than a legend, this peaceful cemetery is still worth a visit.
The Necro Tourist/FindAGrave
Hickory Flat Cemetery is peaceful and well-kept. It truly is a traditional Ohio resting place, and you just may find solace in its landscape.

The Hatchet Man of Hickory Flat Cemetery is a bizarre story, but like all local legends, it had to start somewhere. Perhaps it’s a lingering verbal memory of the Cumminsville Murders, a series of still-unsolved murders in a Cincinnati neighborhood. One of the victims was taken down with an ax, which perhaps was talked about by locals enough that the story concocted its own identity and attached to a local place of interest.

That’s also the beauty of local legends. They make us wonder about the truth and, in many cases, we’ll never truly know what happened. Want to get to know other Cincinnati area legends? Take our haunted road trip!

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