5 Disturbing Cemeteries Around Columbus That Will Give You Goosebumps

Camp Chase was meant to be a training camp for Union Army soldiers, but quickly turned into a prisoner-of-war camp for confederate soldiers. Like many prisons, the camp was riddled with disease, and an 1864 smallpox epidemic took many lives. Visitors say that they’ve seen a Lady in Grey, who cries over the grave of Benjamin F. Allen, a private from the 50th Tennessee Regiment. In 1863 the prison camp held 8,000 men, the peak of its population. The cemetery, established at the turn of the 20th century, holds 2,168 remains in 2,122 gravesites.

Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery is located at 2900 Sullivant Ave., Columbus, OH 43204.

One of the oldest cemeteries around, Greenlawn holds the graves of several famous local residents, including James Thurber and Eddie Rickenbacker. Legend says that if you knock on the Hayden Mausoleum door at Greenlawn Cemetery, you will hear someone knock in return. And be weary, people have gotten lost while visiting the cemetery grounds.

Greenlawn Cemetery is located at 1000 Greenlawn Ave., Columbus, OH 43223.

The grounds of this cemetery is exquisitely maintained. The Union Cemetery has been serving Columbus families for over 200 years. Here you will find tombs much older than a century. The first burial to occur on the cemetery’s property happened in 1806; it was the burial of Northwest Territory pioneer and Revolutionary War veteran Balser Hess. The cemetery itself was established in 1847 when the land was bought from the Hess family.

Union Cemetery is located at 3349 Olentangy River Rd., Columbus, OH 43202.

Visitors report to have seen ghosts walking the grounds of this cemetery. The first burial that took place here was that of James N. Taylor on February 1, 1859. The funeral was followed by an enormous procession, composed of the Masonic Fraternity and other citizens.

Walnut Grove Cemetery is located at 5561 Milton Ave., Worthington, OH 43085.

This cemetery holds 75 graves of patients of the Columbus mental hospital. All the gravemarkers are of the same size. Some have basic information about the person, while others simply have the patient’s hospital number. The creepiest thing you find here is a grave marker that just says "specimens." One can only wonder who is buried there and what the story behind the burial is.