This was originally published on ActiveRain a Real Estate Network in August 2006. The events are from 2006.

Remember the allure of ghost stories when you were a kid?  Remember being a kid and there was a house in town that everyone told stories about?  Stories that it was a haunted house. Or the people who lived there were "different" or spooky or scary?  Remember ..you'd creep up to the front door on a dare? Knock on the front door? Ring the bell? Play 'ding dong, ditch"? The  really 'wild kids' threw rocks at the windows or pulled other pranks?    

I'd  never heard the kids in Worthington considered a house on the south end of town as "haunted."  I don't have children.  I wonder how many parents knew of their children's curiosity about the house at the edge of the cemetery.  When I heard the story in the news I thought "that house isn't old enough to be haunted."  It's in a post World War Two neighborhood. I think all the homes are cape cods, I showed a house up the street a couple of months ago.  There are some great old houses in Worthington...none are haunted as far as I know.  There are haunted "places" in Central Ohio... including Thurber House in Columbus.

A carload of high school girls went to the Worthington "haunted house" one night this week and one of the five girls was shot, twice.    

Haunted house, cheerleader, back to school time, it all makes an interesting story.   The headlines are all over the board and from all over the world: 

"Prank gone awry stuns Worthington" - Columbus Dispatch

"Teen Shot While Ghost-Hunting Was Having Harmless Fun, Father Says" - Fox News

"Ghost-hunting US teen shot in the head" -Toronto Star

"Shot in head in hunt for 'ghosts' " -Electric New Paper Singapore

"Loitering teen shot" - South Africa

"Teen shot in head at 'haunted' house" - Seattle Intelligencer

"Teen shot in head when looking for ghosts" - Sydney Morning Herald

"Dad laments daughter shot ghost hunting" - Leading The Charge, Australia

"Cheerleader Shows Signs Of Progress In Days After Shooting" - NBC4i.com,

"Haunted house dare gets cheerleader shot" - CNN International

"Uncle Of Shooting Victim Asks For Prayers" - Wheeling Intelligencer, WV

The story before "The Story." - "Family long considered outsiders by neighbors" 

I have been working on an entry about "blight" for my Columbus Best Blog.  Caron Mosey a REALTOR® in Michigan wrote a great blog article about Blight.  Blight can be frustrating for neighbors.   

One of my favorite movies growing up was "To Kill a Mockingbird" from the novel by the same name written by Harper Lee.  It is the story of three children in a small town in Alabama during the Depression.  Part of  the story is about their curiosity about their reclusive neighbor,  Boo Radley.  The children,  Jem, Dill, and Scout go out one night to try to peak into Boo Radley's back window.  As Jem is sneaking up on the house a gun shot rings out from inside the house.  No one is shot in 'Two Kill a Mockingbird.'  

I'm not blaming the victim...in the current Worthington tragedy.  Kids trespass on "spooky houses."  Or houses like the Davis home.   I know I did as a kid. I believe most kids did.  Did you?    

As the Columbus Dispatch story shows the Davis family, including Allen Davis has been at odds with their neighbors and the city for years. "Family long considered outsiders by neighbors" says: A neighbor, who refused to give her name because she feared retribution for speaking out, called the shooting a tragedy for everyone. "I feel terrible for the high school student. I feel bad for Allen and his mother."  

Aftermath: 

Davis was sentenced to prison.  The newspapers had stories about the sentence was too long...the Worthington girl who was shot had another surgery...

In 2007 the Worthington Library did a series of Worthington Ghost Stories... based on long ago ghosts...including:

Dr. Thomas Morrow of the Worthington Medical College...a Worthington Ghost Story

Mary Chase who is buried in St. John's graveyard... A Worthington Ghost

The series of videos made me think of the Worthington girls who went ghost hunting in 2006...

I'd love to hear from you if you have a comment on the topic of ghosts and Worthington's history.  All comments are moderated so you will not see your comment immediately. Thanks.

Copyright 2008 Discover Columbus and Maureen McCabe

There's a special offer in my mailbox for three course meals at the beautiful Worthington Inn in historic Old Worthington. Geat price. Sign up for emails at the Worthington Inn website.  Sometimes it pays off to sign up for emails.

Sign up for email updates - Worthington Inn

"STARTERS

Red Oak Salad
Field Greens Salad
Caesar Salad
Flash-fried Calamari
Bruschetta

ENTREES

Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Thai glazed with tomato and shitake mushroom salsa, black bean cakes and corn relish

Penne Toscana
Italian Sausage, portabella and porcini mushrooms in a light tomato cream

Slow Roasted Canadian Salmon
Three grain spring vegetable salad, cucumber-yogurt relish and sun-dried tomato oil

Spaghetti Cassandra
Locally raised slow roasted chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and feta cheese

Market Garden Plate
Our seasonal offering of market fresh vegetables

DESSERTS

Catalan Créme Brulee
House-made Fruit Sorbets
Warm Flourless Chocolate Torte"


I think I am going to have to go with the Red Oak Salad, the Slow Roasted Canadian Salmon and gosh I can't decide... all three desserts sound so good.


The fine print says:

"Dinner only Not valid on parties of 6 or more or in conjunction with any other coupon or discount. Offer expires on October 31, 2006. "

I can live with that.

The Worthington Inn has on-line reservations. Pretty high tech  for such an old place, built in 1831. Columbus Memory when the Worthington Inn was known as Hotel Central.

History

more history

Ohio's Katrina happened in 1913

There's lots in the news about Katrina one year after. There was a lot about Katrina in the news a year ago.  Lots about Katrina on the internet. 

I started Columbus Best Blog on August 27, 2005 just before Katrina hit the gulf coast.  If I am not mistaken I never once mentioned Katrina last year on Columbus Best Blog.   Why would I?  I was in Columbus Ohio just starting to write a blog about Columbus Ohio.  I could not watch or listen to the news on the radio or TV after awhille. I could not watch news on TV, read newspapers,  or read online news or blogs because I found the news coverage of Katrina so overwhelming after awhile.  Blogs everywhere no matter what their subject matter or geography were blogging about Katrina.  I had banners for the Red Cross on my websites and may have even put one on Columbus Best Blog... but I don't think in the entries I have anything about Katrina. A number of agents in my office were involved in furnishing a home for a family displaced by Katrina.  I did not mention that on my blog.

Real Town Blogs (Columbus Best Blog is a RealTown Blog) had a blog about Katrina written by REALTOR® Mary Kay Hopkins.   REALTORS® Respond.  Great stories.

What a difference a century makes, Ohio's 'Katrina' the flood of 1913 is long forgotten. Ohio recovered.  Tom Barlow of Blogging Ohio has a great entry about that natural disaster, 'Ohio's Katrina'.   The flood was as devastating to 1913 Ohio as Katrina was to the gulf coast according to Tom Barlow's Blog.   Just think about the difference in news coverage of a disaster between 1913 and today.   

Based on the talk about the one year anniversary of Katrina with Ernesto bearing down on Florida I did an informal, members only survey of Active Rain* real estate bloggers...  Weather is local..... 

Midwestern real estate bloggers prefer tornadoes

California real estate bloggers prefer earthquakes

Florida real estate bloggers prefer hurricanes

Well, ... maybe prefer is not the right word.  Midwestern real estate bloggers (and probably most midwesterners) are less scared of tornadoes than they are of earthquakes and hurricanes.  Florida residents  seeem to think hurricanes are less scary than earthquakes or tornadoes,  you get a warning of an impending hurricane today.  I forget why California real estate bloggers think earthquakes are less scary... I guess because they live in California.   You get used to your surroundings.

Cheryl Teague a real estate agent blogger in South Carolina had a blog entry about National Disaster Areas with a great map and a pie chart on her  blog, Inside Cheryl's Head.   Cheryl's blog is an  Active Rain* Blog.  I love pie charts!  Still today floods are a bigger menace than tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes according to the pie chart on Cheryl's  blog. 

Will Ohio commemorate the flood of 1913 in 2013?   Anniversaries!

* Active Rain is a real estate network - a group of blogs.  It has nothing to do with weather.  Active Rain is based in Washington State.  It rains a lot there... I believe that is partially  where the name Active Rain came from. 

Sign up for a free RealTown Blog,It does not have to be real estate related but many are.  

c. 2006 Columbus Best Blog and Maureen McCabe

Let there be light

The is week city government has moved forward with plans for the arches in the Short North to have light again by the holidays. Today the Short North is a thriving district of galleries, shops and restaurants.

ShortNorth.com has a history of lighted arches in Columbus.