Kent’s ghostly history has been brewing since the early 1800s. If you are looking for something spooky in Kent this Halloween season, you do not have to go far to find it.
Richele Charlton, assistant director of The Kent Stage and creator of the Kent Ghost Walk, explains some context regarding Kent’s paranormal history.
Eighteen years ago, Charlton and her husband, Tom Simpson, were on the promotions board for Main Street Kent, looking for unique ways to bring people to the city. One committee member had just returned from a ghost walk and asked, “Do you think there are any ghosts in Kent?”
And like a surprised ghost, the idea took off.
Working with the Kent Historical Society, the committee made a call to the public for local ghost stories. With those anecdotes, they published a booklet detailing those experiences with the paranormal. Using the published information, alongside historical events, the Kent Ghost Walk was created.
The Kent Ghost Walk has been operating since then, with each walk having its own path and features.
“Every year I come up with a different walk,” Charlton told Kent State Today. “It's not just one walk all the time.”
In September, the Kent Ghost Walk worked in conjunction with , a local cocktail bar, to create "Beware of the Spooky Side of Kent.” Beware of the Leopard is a part of the historic Franklin Hotel that first opened in 1920. The hotel, incidentally, was named after Franklin Mills, the original name of Kent, Ohio.
Occupying the basement of the old hotel currently is Beware of the Leopard, and on the main level of the building is Buffalo Wild Wings.
But in its heyday, the Franklin Hotel was a staple of the area that brought many people together. It provided 50 guest rooms, a ballroom, a cafeteria, a parlor and a barbershop. The hotel hosted civic, social and university events. But it also has a darker history. Online platform claims that in the early days of the hotel, the elevator took the lives of two men in separate accidents.
With the Franklin Hotel’s long history and a few freak accidents in its early years, the hotel has a lively, but macabre historical atmosphere you can visit and experience for yourself, if you dare.
Beyond the walk, Kent has many places to visit to get into the spooky spirit.
The Kent Masonic Center, built in 1880 and the former home of Marvin Kent, has had its fair share of local legend. Tragically, in 1886, Kitty Kent, wife of William Kent, perished after suffering burns from a kerosene heater. tour company, after her death, the area where the incident took place was boarded up, never to be used again.
Since the building transitioned into the Masonic Center, visitors have reported seeing Kitty Kent’s spirit dressed in all white. It is said that her spirit still lingers around the building’s halls, keeping watch through the windows and making noise on the floor where the burns occurred.
Years ago, there were locations even on campus with active spirits. Rumor has it that Allyn Hall and Clark Hall are visited by Sarah, a young girl who roams the halls looking for students to play with. Some students have reported hearing voices while alone.
Charlton has had her own unexplained paranormal experiences, as well. Charlton and her daughter were researching the case of Judy Martins, a Kent State student who went missing in the 1970s. Eerily, a recurring song plays each time they investigate the case
It started when Charlton and her daughter were walking along the path the student had last taken. At the time, they were using an SB7, a ghost-hunting device. The SB7 started to play Led Zeppelin’s "Stairway to Heaven." Weird enough, but now, ever since the two first investigated the case, the song has played. The pair have heard it randomly in houses, through sound systems at events and bands have uncharacteristically performed the song.
“It’s like one of those weird coincidences that keeps happening,” Charlton said. “I think that sometimes spirits are out there, and they are like ‘we appreciate that you’re remembering us.’”
To hear more about Kent’s fascinating paranormal history, .