Johnson Island Confederate Cemetery
Nestled in the cool waters in the Sandusky Bay of Lake Erie, a 300 acre Island with Historical value is only accessible by boat and one long lone toll road.
Johnson Island was home to a Confederate Soldier Military Prison during the American Civil War. The Prison was operational from 1862 to 1865.It is estimated that nearly 10,000 men spent some time in this prison during it's short history. Approximately 300 men died in this prison from disease and from the harsh weather conditions during the winter months.
Shortly after the war had ended the buildings were sold and the prison was dismantled. All that is left today is a small cemetery plot, and supposedly a trench on the Island left from the old wall.
Today this island is a small community and a popular vacation spot. New homes are being put up all over the island. The Cemetery is has been owned by the U.S. Government since 1931. The official acceptance of the deed was accepted on June 5, 1932...
Is Johnson Island Haunted?
One would think that with the Historical value of this island, this island should have some type of activity left over, but this is not always the case. We were glad to find out that there have been reports of voices heard, and apparitions of Confederate Soldiers standing in tree lines in different parts of the Island, and some have been reported near the Small Cemetery.
The Ghostly True Paranormal Research Society:
Although we had a little trouble finding the island at first, we had finally found the Island entrance. There isn't much of a notice to where this road is. There is a small sign, but it was hidden in the tall bushes, and only one direction of the traffic would only be able to view it. The street looked nothing more than a regular side street.
Since we missed the Road, we turned around and then turned onto the lone road leading to the Historical Johnson Island. The cost, $2.00!
After putting in our admission into the automated toll booth, the gate lifted and we were off. We slowly traveled down the road. The road was surrounded by the waters of lake Erie. It was a beautiful sight.
We finally reached the shores of Johnson Island. Small signs gave us the correct direction to the Cemetery. We followed the road and finally found the cemetery.
The Cemetery, although small, had us a little excited. It's historical Value in our Countries evolution was probably the most moving as we stepped out of the truck and gathered our equipment.
We spent the early points of the visit to read the historical markers, helping us learn some of the historical features of the old Island prison and the graves of those who Parrish here.
Aside from the marker outside the cemetery fence, there were two other valuable and informational stones located inside the cemetery fence, stating names, and other historical information.
We then began investigating the cemetery. We took several pictures and three of us, Fred, Cathy, and Myself set up in separate parts of the cemetery to perform audio work.
Although I did not personally have any type of personal experiences, Fred, felt he had a small glimpse of what looked like a Confederate soldier out of the corner of his eye. He caught this image out of the corner of his eye, but when he startling turned, their was nothing there. I took several pictures seconds after I was made aware of Fred's experience, but nothing showed on the Photos.
We continued with the audio work, with no other experiences. When finished, we got back in the truck and tried to leave. Well, we got a little lost for a second and took a wrong turn, but we didn't complain.
The Island is beautiful and the homes are jaw dropping. This place looked more like a friendly place to live, the kind of place that people dream about, not a grimy haunted Island we perceived before we visited the Island. As we drove through island, we were in ah, when we seen all the Deer grazing in the yards of these massive dream homes. They were everywhere and were not bothered by our presence.
As we passed by them they would raise their heads, look at us for a brief second that go on like we were not there...IT was a sight to see!!!
We finally made our way back to the toll road and left the Island. Later we reviewed the data.
At this time I am not sure to what Fred and Cathy had caught, but on my end, I did catch a few suspect photos and audio.
The suspect audio I had caught are faint, but definitely sounds like I did receive a reaction. I did receive a few photos as well. Although I cannot claim that they are defiantly ghostly anomalies, they remain suspect.
So this leads to the question:
Do we feel Johnson Island is Haunted?
At this time, we still remain suspect about the theory that Johnson Island is Haunted, but with some of the data we received, we do believe that it could possibly be, but at this time, we don't have enough solid evidence from our one visit to suggest so. Maybe future visits will help us change our beliefs....