MOONEY MANSION & WALHALLA RAVINE This past weekend we attended the housewarming party of two close friends of Booze & Boos on Clintonvilles legend-laden Walhalla Ravine and decided to use the opportunity to share the mystery held within its beautiful twisting tree lined path. Here are the facts: the mansion was built in 1913 and owned by the Mooney family between 1942 and 1961. After this the mansion sat vacant for twelve years before, once again, becoming a private residence in 1973. Though currently owned by a corporation, the house is presently occupied and nosing around there is disrespectful and highly discouraged. None of the stories associated with this location have been verified in public record or memory. Despite the lack of proof that any of the various versions of events linked with the location ever took place, the stories are well known and an important part of local folklore. The variety of details in this urban legend probably vary so greatly due to the nearby schools and university. Now lets get to the legends, which I present to you in the style of an abbreviated choose your own adventure story. In the tale of Mooney Mansion a (1Dr) or (2 businessman) Mooney (1 goes mad) or (2 looses his money in the stock market) and decides to (1 chop his wife and children up with an axe sometime in the 1950s) or (2 hang his entire family from the Calumet bridge in the 1930s.) After doing (1) the doctor is said to have kicked his wifes decapitated noggin down the stone stairs leading from the home into the ravine. Then he either takes his own life by (a) a gun or (b) a noose. If he took his life by method (a) he is said to only have done so in a bedroom on the top floor of the mansion. If he took his life by method (b) he did so in either the bedroom or from the Calumet bridge. The hauntings that result from this hodgepodge are many. For starts, ghostly blue lights are said to be seen floating by the windows of the house. Also people have reported seeing a noose hanging in a window of the mansion on moonlit nights. Sometimes people say it is an empty noose, sometimes people say the noose has an occupant. Figures of the family are also reported swing from their ropes on the underside of the Calumet bridge. The Mooney wife and children are sometimes seen reflected in the water of the creek that flows through the ravine. Sometimes folks even see Mr. Mooney kicking Mrs. Mooneys head down those steps I mentioned earlier. Even more fantastic, some claim that the yard of the mansion contains a statue of the wife that will bleed in all the spots where she had been hacked. Could this legend be how R.L. Stein got his start? The most interesting and dangerous of tales concerning this road says that if you go down the ravine with your car in neutral that the car will mysteriously crawl to a near stop at the bridge before picking speed back up. People swear this happens and it could be an optical illusion concerning the slopes of the ravine. I suspect that the most likely result of this experiment would be a lengthy jail sentence after running down one of the many joggers, strollers and dog walkers that heavily populate the beautiful street. No matter what may or may not be true, the Walhalla Ravine is a gorgeous and hidden gem that offers residents of Columbus a close and easy way to forget the scourge of city living and imagine a past reminiscent of the Amityville Horror. The house definitely has that vibe. Happy hiking!
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 22:29:05 +0000
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