Deep in the backwoods of Vinton County stands the Moonville Tunnel, a relic from an era long gone. The town it is named for was born when the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad was built through the coal- and iron-rich woods of southeastern Ohio in 1856. At its peak in the 1870's, the town boasted a population of more than 100--almost exclusively miners and their families. There was a row of houses along the railroad tracks, a sawmill just down Raccoon Creek, a general store, and a saloon. In its early days the residents of Moonville worked in the Hope Furnace nearby, but later on they turned almost exclusively to mining coal underground. The coal was then used in the many iron furnaces in the vicinity, usually the one at Hope, where weapons and artillery for the Union Army were made during the Civil War.
Hope Furnace
Many of the residents of Moonville are buried just west of town, in an old cemetery on top of a hill. Most of the grave markers are missing or unreadable, but a few have been replaced, and American flags are regularly put out for the veterans.
The Moonville Cemetery
The ghost of the Moonville Tunnel is one of those legends that's based on historical fact but has been distorted by telling and retelling over the years. The major story is that someone--an engineer, a conductor, a brakeman, a signalman?--was crushed under the wheels of the train that used to go through the place. Apart from that basic fact, things get hazy. Was he drunk? Was he stationed in Moonville or was he a brakeman on the train? Was he white or black? Some sources say he was playing cards with other guys. It's been said that he was a conductor murdered by a vengeful engineer who asked him to inspect underneath the train and then started it up. One source even said that he was trying to get the train to stop because Moonville was in the grip of a plague and was running low on supplies. His death was the end of Moonville. This seems a little too romantic, especially since the actual newspaper article from the McArthur Democrat on March 31, 1859 tells a much more mundane story: "A brakesman on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad fell from the cars near Cincinnati Furnace, on
last Tuesday March 29, 1859 and was fatally injured, when the wheels passing over and grinding to a shapeless mass the greater part of one of his legs. He was taken on the train to Hamden and Doctors Wolf and Rannells sent for to perform amputation, but the prostration of the vital energies was too great to attempt it. The man is probably dead ere this. The accident resulted from a too free use of liquor."
Has anybody ever seen the Moonville Ghost? The only specific account I can find appeared in the Chillicothe Gazette on February 17, 1895: "The ghost of Moonville, after an absence of one year, has returned and is again at its old pranks, haunting B&O S-W freight trains and their crews. It appeared Monday night in front of fast freight No. 99 west bound, just eat of the cut which is one half mile the other side of Moonville at the point where Engineer Lawhead lost his life and Engineer Walters was injured. The ghost, attired in a pure white robe, carried a lantern. It had a flowing white beard, its eyes glistened like balls of fire and surrounding it was a halo of twinkling stars. When the train stopped, the ghost stepped off the track and disappeared into the rocks nearby."
The other ghost of Moonville is reputed to be a girl who was killed when she was caught on the trestle by a train while going to visit a lover. Since at least four people were killed at Moonville crossing, it is possible that she is one of these, although the only story that seems to fit this description is that of Mrs. Patrick Shea, who lost a leg to the train while crossing the trestle and later died during an amputation. Mrs. Shea, however, was in her eighties and a grandmother.
The other two recorded deaths in Moonville are: Raymond Burritt, an 18-year-old killed in a mine explosion; and Charles Ferguson, who was killed in an interesting way while crossing the tracks: the train he was waiting on to pass snapped in two and he stepped out in front of the second half without looking in its direction.
Daytime view of the tunnel before the tracks were removed
In late July my friend "Chip" and I took his truck down Route 33 from Columbus to Logan, where we turned from the road and entered the Hocking Hills. Vinton County is the least populated and most heavily forested county in Ohio, and just turning off of the highway was scary enough. After ten minutes or so we stopped seeing other traffic. It was past midnight. Using my handy Ohio atlas we found our way to Lake Hope (which, incidentally, has its own ghost--the ghost of the furnace, which I plan to explore some other time). We missed the road several times before finding the unpaved, unnamed track where we would have to park.
A slightly tilted view of the tunnel from below
Immediately after crossing the river on a one-lane road we looked for the railroad tracks that were on the map, but we missed them and had to double back. Some time in recent years the Baltimore and Ohio railroad tracks were torn up, but the path they followed is still there.
Making a campfire
We pulled down the old railroad path and parked there, a few feet from the road. Getting out was a struggle; knowing we were about as far out in the woods as you could get in Ohio--and having just seen The Blair Witch Project--made it pretty damn scary. Gathering our stuff together in the bed of the truck we began to adjust, but the whole night we were jumping at shadows. "Chip" and I loaded ourselves down with flashlights, a web camera, his very realistic-looking pellet gun, a machete, and about ten knives.
Another view
We started down the path of the railroad tracks. It wasn't far at all before we came to what we thought at first was the end of our trip: the railroad trestle. It wasn't there. The stone pillars that once supported it were, but the rest of the thing was taken out with the tracks. I guess the ghost of the girl is homeless now. But we found our way down the steep embankment and crossed the river on rocks and climbed up the other side.
After the tracks were removed, but before the trestle was
A few feet later we came to the tunnel. In the dark we were almost there before we saw it. It's maybe twenty feet high, curved underneath, made out of brick. It tunnels through a kind of ridge which was difficult to see, although it was apparent that everything around us was heavily, almost impenetrably wooded. We walked through and looked at the graffiti other people had painted on the inside walls: names, dates as recent as June, faces. A few were really sinister-looking. "Chip" took pictures with the webcam which I intend to post here when I get a chance to convert the files.
A plaque inside the tunnel, old and new shots It says the tunnel was repaired during 1903-4
At the other end we noticed the word MOONVILLE written in brick above the mouth of the tunnel. No sign of the town, of course, although I'm sure there are some abandoned mines in the area. Shutting off the lights was scary. Straying too far from the other person was very scary. Going alone at night, I think, would be unbearable.
Train coming out of the other side of the tunnel, circa 1970's
I made an effort to talk to the ghost. Nothing happened. We turned off our lights and I asked it to come out, say hello, something. Nothing. We hung around for the better part of an hour without hearing anything scarier than geese in the river.
Some of the scarier graffiti inside
The whole thing was very cool. I fully intend to go back, preferably during the day. Part of the legend says that it has to be stormy out for the brakeman's lantern to be seen, so maybe I'll have more luck if I pay attention to the weather forecast. In the meantime, I highly recommend visiting the Moonville Tunnel.
For more information about the tunnel, visit the Herbert A. Wescott Memorial Library in MacArthur, Ohio.
My thanks to Mr. Emmett A. Conway, Sr. for his guidance and help. Mr. Conway was a forest ranger in the Zaleski Forest for many years and knows just about everything there is to know about the place--or where to find it. Visit his webpage at http://www.users.hockinghills.net/~conway/INDEX.HTML.
Incidentally, if anyone has information or stories about the tunnel, I would greatly appreciate it if you would drop me a line.
charlesmanson_2000@yahoo.com
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To order a FREE copy of my movie, THE MOONVILLE TUNNEL PROJECT,
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