Halloween used to be a time for mischief. Soaping windows, kicking over barrels, pushing carts into the canal.
Trick-or-treating was used in the 1930s to entice rowdy youths to skip the pranks for a little treat. An apple, homemade cookie or piece of candy.
Our trick-or-treat offering is a few bite-sized morsels of dark, mysterious and spooky history.
The curious roadside gravesite of Elizabeth Whipple
Off U.S. 50 just before the Ohio-Indiana state line is a single grave marker that has kept people guessing. It stands alone near a cement brick shack, an old power house for the Cincinnati, Lawrenceburg & Aurora Electric Street Railroad.
The grave belongs to Elizabeth Whipple, “wife of Willard Whipple, who departed this life July 4th 1833 in the 27th year of her age,” the tombstone reads.
The Elizabeth
Whipple Gravesite can even be found on Apple Maps. It has sparked online speculation as people share the stories they have heard about the grave.
A version reportedly told by a Whipple descendant (and shared on Facebook) is that Elizabeth and her husband were riding home from church when she plucked an apple from a tree on a roadside property. A man came out of the house and fired a gun in the air, which spooked their horse. Elizabeth fell out of the buggy and hit her head on the stone state-line marker there. Her family buried her across the road from the house as a constant reminder to the family that fired the shot.
It is difficult to trace details from nearly 200 years ago. Sometimes oral history is all we have.
Some light reading of dark dealings
History writer Keven McQueen, who specializes in macabre tales in Kentucky, turns his pen to Ohio with his latest book, “Ohio Book of the Dead.”
McQueen combed through 19th-century newspaper accounts for strange deaths, supernatural incidents and premature burials throughout the state. As the largest city in the West, Cincinnati is amply represented.
Murders, graverobbers, ghost sightings and perhaps the first mail bomb. Cincinnati was certainly an interesting place in the 1800s.
‘Come one, come all! See the amazing, colossal …’
The spectacle and curiosities of old-time circuses still hold a fascination for people. From death-defying feats to exotic animals and human curiosities, circus shows drew large crowds that wanted to see it for themselves.
Theresa Leininger-Miller, professor of art history at the University of Cincinnati, has curated a collection of rare photos of circus performers — from strong men to curiosities like conjoined twins.
“Dare to Stare: 19th-Century Circus and Sideshow Portraits” will be displayed at UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning Library through Nov. 10.
Many of the performers were gawked at because of their disabilities and physical differences, but Leininger-Miller presents these men and women with sensitivity, revealing the person rather than the spectacle.
Leininger-Miller also dug up research on Cincinnati performer Leander Millward, a snake charmer known as the Serpent King. Millward performed in the 1880s and 1890s for John Robinson’s Circus and at Kohl & Middleton’s Dime Museum on Vine Street. He died from a rattlesnake bite while performing with the Robinson circus in Arkansas in 1894.
Kenner made terrifying ‘Alien’ toy
Following the immense success of Kenner Products’ line of “Star Wars” action figures and playsets, the Cincinnati-based toy company signed a licensing deal to make tie-in toys for another big sci-fi movie, the R-rated “Alien” in 1979.
But the creature was terrifying – a bug-like alien with an exoskeleton, acid blood and a snapping inner jaw.
Kenner also made an “Alien” strategy board game and a handheld movie viewer, but the main toy was an 18-inch plastic replica of the xenomorph.
“His translucent head glows in the dark and a lever in the back of the head operates the nasty-toothed jaws,” wrote Enquirer reporter Tom Brinkmoeller.
“Despite the fact that children under 17 can see ‘Alien’ only when accompanied by an adult, the toy undoubtedly will sell well.”
But it didn’t. Low sales meant not many were produced. The “Alien” figure has since become a rare collectible, going for as much as $13,000.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Spooky tales of Cincinnati history to get you in the Halloween spirit
