The Old Downtown YMCA

Is Marion’s now defunct downtown YMCA haunted? Given the terrible and senseless crime that took place there in the 70s, it certainly seems to be a possibility. Even more tantalizing, in early 2011 the now-defunct ghost hunting group Eerie Paranormal spent that night there and gathered some compelling evidence to support this rumor. Read all about it in Haunted Marion, Ohio!

Update: In April of 2012, another local ghost hunting group, Spirit Hunters of Ohio, investigated the downtown YMCA. Of the many photos they took, two stand out:

An ethereal shape hovers over the track on the third floor – the floor where a murder took place 1974.
Group member Kathy Miers says that everyone in her group was accounted for when she took this picture of what appears to be a shadowy figure in the far corner.
This is the same photo as above but with the brightness and contrast adjusted. Here the figure is much better defined.

The Marion Country Club Murder

It’s hard to imagine having a ghostly encounter in such an idyllic setting at the Marion Club grounds.

Ever since Marion Country Club employee Annette Huddle’s murder in 1981, rumors have persisted that her ghost haunts the golf course grounds.

Even if one disregards this supernatural element of the story, the crime and resulting investigation contain all the elements of a good thriller: A pretty and ambitious small town girl is found dead in the Olentangy River while her charming and manipulative killer walks free due to lack of evidence. Years later, the same man is once again at the center of a murder investigation in California, but he disappears before police can apprehend him. After he’s featured on America’s Most Wanted, a tipster in Marion points investigators to his whereabouts. Will the killer finally be brought to justice? Check out Haunted Marion, Ohio to find out!