It’s October and that means time for the annual A Grave Interest
haunting posts. This year we’ll take a look at haunted hotels, and the guests
who refuse to check out.
In the quiet community of Lebanon Ohio, north of Cincinnati,
resides the oldest operating business in the Buckeye State.
Built in 1803, The Golden Lamb was originally
a "house of public entertainment”
where locals gathered to visit and trade news. In 1815, the log cabin gave way
to a two-story brick building with rooms to let to travelers. By 1844, another
floor was added with the fourth floor built in 1878 for the men working on the
new railroad.
Several well-known people stayed at the inn including twelve
American presidents from William Henry Harrison to Ronald Regan and George W.
Bush. Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain along with Charles Dickens,
Daniel Webster and Harriet Beecher Stowe also stopped in. But there are also
others who came to spend the night and decided to stay ... indefinitely.
The most popular ghost at the Golden Lamb can be found in what
is called “Sarah’s Room.” Named for Sarah Stubbs, the niece of one of the hotel
mangers, who grew up at the inn. Sarah however lived to be quite old so its
thought the young spirit is that of 12-year-old Eliza Clay.
Eliza was the daughter of Henry Clay, a statesman from Kentucky
who served in both the House and the Senate during the 1800s. Clay
was
traveling with his family from his home in Lexington, Kentucky to Washington
D.C. when Eliza became ill with a fever. They stayed at The Golden Lamb for six
weeks as Eliza’s condition worsened. On August 17, 1825 she died and was buried
in the local cemetery.
Today, the child appears in a white nightgown in a fourth floor
room that’s actually not associated with Sarah Stubbs. The ghost has a
reputation for moving things around, knocking pictures off the walls and
stomping her feet when vexed. Maybe she’s still waiting for her family to
return to take her home to Lexington. Or possibly she’s tired of her room being
referred to by another child’s name. Either way, Eliza makes her presence
known.
Another ghost of The Golden Lamb is that of Ohio Supreme Court
Justice Charles R. Sherman. Sherman was “riding the circuit” and holding court
in Lebanon in 1829 when he died suddenly. The 41-year-old judge was staying at
the inn at the time. Sherman died leaving a wife and eleven children (one son
who became the famous Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman) to fend for
themselves. Many of the younger children had to be adopted out.
Sherman is seen as a thin, grey man who walks the halls. Many
times, only the aroma of his cigar indicates he’s present or a deep sigh heard
down the hall. Some say Sherman haunts the inn in misery that his family had to
be separated after his death.
And then there’s the ghost of the former U.S. Congressman from
Ohio, Clement L. Vallandigham who died of a self-inflicted gunshot in 1871.
Unfortunately, he didn’t intend to shoot himself. Vallandigham, an attorney,
was defending Thomas McGehean, one of five men accused of fatally shooting Tom
Myers the previous Christmas Eve at a Hamilton Ohio saloon. Vallandigham did
far too good of a job showing the jury how Myers could have accidentally shot
himself by pulling out what ended up being a loaded weapon and accidentally
firing it into his abdomen. Vallandigham lived through the night but died in
his room at the inn the next morning. Amazingly, McGehean was still found
guilty and had to appeal the verdict.
It is said that Vallandigham’s spirit has been seen for decades
throughout the hotel. While some ghosts prefer to remain unseen, Vallandigham’s
face is usually what people see when he chooses to appear, and heavy footsteps
have been heard outside the room which now bears his name. Maybe Vallandigham
is sill trying to come to grips with how he managed to shoot himself in that
long ago court case.
The Golden Lamb is open and taking reservations for its 17
historic rooms, each named after a famous guest. The Golden Lamb Restaurant
serves seasonally fresh meals, and the newly renovated Black Horse Tavern
offers numerous beers and wines along with their first branded brew - the Black
Horse Tavern Golden Lager. The Golden Lamb is open for business with guests
required to wear face masks when moving throughout the hotel. For more
information, visit GoldenLamb.com. Maybe you’ll be luck enough to encounter one
of the inn’s eternal guests.
~ Joy
The Columbian Harmony Society, which owned the cemetery, decided to purchase 45 acres near Landover, Maryland in 1929. There were no grave relocations, only new burials at the new cemetery. 
After much negotiations
and a name change to the National Harmony Memorial Park, the relocation of
around 37,000 African American graves began in May 1960. The relatives of those
buried at Columbian Harmony were contacted for permission to exhume and move
their loved one. It took more than 100 workers six months to exhume, place
remains in new coffins and move them to Forest Lawn for reburial.
or memorials. Those relocated were buried without identification. The existing
grave memorials were removed and sold as scrap. For the next half-century, no one would know what became of the original markers. 
More remains were
discovered in 1979 when a parking lot was being constructed; not all of
the bodies had been exhumed in the cemetery’s move in 1960. Thanks to Virginia historians, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Senator Stuart, a nonprofit group is working to place these rediscovered markers on the appropriate graves at Harmony Memorial Park. Markers that cannot be retrieved will become part of a memorial located along the Potomac River.
It should be remembered that Columbine Harmony Cemetery was not the only African American cemetery to be relocated during the 20th century. At least five more large Black graveyards were eliminated - all in the name of development.
