Ghost stories of the mansion
The bounty hunter :
(This story should be considered apocryphal as it does not appear in documented history)
The three story brick horse barn and carriage house standing on the estate property has a very interesting history of it's own. Built from the destroyed remains of the first Prospect Place (Prospect Place is the second house to stand on the foundation, the first and identical house was burned to the ground by an arsonist) the three story building has a colorful past. The first floor was used to stable the estate horses and the family carriage. The second floor was used for hay storage and the third floor was used as a bunk house for the ranch hands.
According to family history a true event occurred in the late 1850's. A Bounty Hunter from the South arrived at Prospect Place. He was met at the door to the mansion by G. W. Adams. The Bounty Hunter demanded George turn over any slaves he was hiding in the mansion. George proceeded to produce from his coat his Navy revolver and a stand-off with the heavily armed Bounty hunter ensued for several minutes. Seeing the predicament the ranch hands working in the barn quickly emerged with their rifles and the Bounty Hunter decided that the situation had become too dangerous. The man retreated to his camp for the night empty handed of slaves.
This is where the oral-tradition story ends. The story picks back up with modern psychics who have filled in the blanks from that point on....
The ranch hands, who felt themselves very well taken care of by George Adams and in his debt decided to execute a little vigilante justice on George's behalf. They tracked the bounty hunter back to his camp and abducted him. Returning to the barn they held a trial and convicted the bounty hunter of the high crime of slavery (under God's Law). The bounty hunter was executed by hanging from the third floor through the hay loft opening. The ranch hands then secretly buried the body.
Knowing George would never approve of their actions, nobody ever spoke of this incident again. Today, however, the restless spirit of the bounty hunter roams the barn where he died looking for revenge on the ranch hands who killed him. You may sometimes feel a touch on your arm in the barn, or if lucky capture an image of a ghostly dark clad man on film.
Little girl :
(This story should be considered apocryphal as it does not appear in documented history)
The story of a little girl who fell from the front portico balcony has existed in the Dresden area for more than a century. The young girl was afflicted with a fever and wandered onto the balcony one cold night in the winter. She lost her footing and fell over the low railing to the hard sandstone steps below.
The story continues that the girl's body was not buried immediately as the frozen ground would not allow for the digging of a grave. The body was placed on ice in the basement in a pit originally designed as a refrigeration system for the home. Here the child remained until the spring thaw when she could be given a proper burial. The mother grieved for her lost child and visited the body daily until the burial.
Today the ghost of the little girl can sometimes be seen on the second floor near the door to what once was the portico balcony. Other observations of her have been made in the basement, the ballroom and the Upstairs Parlor (the room in which she was kept while ill) which is today the guest bedroom. Her image has been seen standing near the fireplace mantle in that room.
Anna Adams - Cox :
Anna Adams-Cox was the eldest daughter of G. W. Adams. She and her husband, William Cox, Jr., inherited the mansion when G. W. died in 1879. For many years the couple lived a happy and high lifestyle within the mansion. William was known for having lavish balls and parties and for spending lots of money. It seems that eventually the money ran out and that was that for William. He boarded a train to Columbus one morning and was never officially seen again. Anna was left heartbroken and alone with her child (the surviving George Cox) in the huge mansion.
As time went by many family heirlooms and even parts of the house itself (the copper of the roof) were sold off to make ends meet. Anna died in Prospect Place due to complications from a fall on the ice at the neighboring River Dale mansion. She died lonely and broken, never knowing the fate of her missing husband.
Anna still wanders the halls of the estate searching for the life and husband she once loved.
William Cox, Jr. :
William Cox, Jr., was the husband of Anna Adams-Cox, the eldest daughter of G. W. Adams. When G. W. died in 1879 ownership of the mansion passed to Anna and William. William had grown up in a privileged home and was used to the finer things in life. He spent lavishly on a renovation of the mansion in 1886. His parties and balls were the talk of the area (no pun intended). William seemed to know very well how to spend money, but his ability to make money is in question.
One morning in the late 1890's William decided to board a train for Columbus instead of taking care of some personal business in Zanesville. He arrived at a hotel in Columbus and checked into a room with a strange man. In the morning the two checked out and William was never officially seen again.
CLICK HERE to read the full story of the disappearance of William Cox.
Anna was left with little money and a large mansion to take care of. For the rest of her days she pined for her lost William and died a lonely woman in Prospect Place.
Some psychics believe that the ghost of William still walks the halls of the mansion on a quest to make amends with Anna.
The refugee in the basement :
(This story should be considered apocryphal as it does not appear in documented history)
Many refugees (former slaves) escaping on the Underground Railroad once stayed in the mansion basement. One woman seems to have been injured, likely in her attempt to escape from the south. She received a head wound and was in bad shape when she arrived here. Although the staff of the mansion tried everything to save this lady she eventually died of her wound.
Today many have seen or heard this woman in the basement. She is not an angry or resentful spirit, quite the contrary in fact. She was most pleased with the attention she received here and looks upon the mansion as her home. She is a watchful guardian spirit of the mansion and has only become angry with people who have been bent on doing the house harm. She is normally friendly to ghost investigators, however she has been known to play a prank or two now and again.
The servant in the stairwell :
(This story should be considered apocryphal as it does not appear in documented history)
A local psychic has determined that there is a former servant of Prospect Place that exists in ghostly form. He is normally seen or photographed on the stairwell landing between the second floor and the ballroom. His primary complaint in life seems to have been the need to climb the many flights of stairs in the mansion on a nearly daily basis.
