{"id":3022,"date":"2025-09-14T22:14:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T20:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spookymarion.com\/?p=3022"},"modified":"2025-09-14T22:18:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T20:18:50","slug":"the-haunted-church-in-richland-township","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spookymarion.com\/?p=3022","title":{"rendered":"The Haunted Church in Richland Township"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nLet me set the scene for you: It\u2019s a Saturday night in October of 1975. You\u2019re sitting around with your friends, bored.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to shoot the loop?\u201d asks someone.<\/p>\n

\u201cNah,\u201d says another. \u201cLets go see a movie at the drive-in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing good showing,\u201d says someone else.<\/p>\n

After a few minutes, someone finally says, \u201cHey, I heard there\u2019s a haunted church out in Richland Township. Supposedly the lights flicker on an off as you get close to it. How about we drive out there and check it out?\u201d<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, you\u2019re crammed into your friend\u2019s car barreling south down 98, the windows down, the cool fall air rushing in.<\/p>\n

The Church<\/strong><\/p>\n

The haunted church was actually St. John\u2019s United Church of Christ (which was originally called the St. John\u2019s Reformed Church) and was located on the corner of Firstenberger and Mautz-Yeager in Richland Township.<\/p>\n

Construction on the church began in 1916, and it was dedicated on June 3rd, 1917. A Marion Star<\/em> article at the time described it as having \u201ca seating capacity of 250 and is modern in every way.\u201d\u00a0This church took the place of the original St. John\u2019s Church, which stood a short distance away and was home to the congregation between 1857 and 1916.<\/p>\n

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The church as it appeared in 1972. Image courtesy of the Marion Star<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In May of 1972, the congregations of St. Joseph\u2019s United Church of Christ in Waldo and St. John\u2019s Church voted to merge into a single congregation and build a new church. (This merger was preceded by the earlier closure of another church in the area, St. Jacob\u2019s, in 1931 due to dwindling membership; most of its remaining members joined either St. Joseph\u2019s or St. John\u2019s.)<\/p>\n

For the next couple of years, the congregation worshipped in the St. John’s church while construction began on the new church on Route 98 a few miles north of Waldo. That church, Peace Community United Church of Christ, first welcomed worshipers in August of 1975 and continues to do so today.<\/p>\n

After Peace Community opened, St. John\u2019s Church sat vacant, and that’s when rumors that the church was haunted began to spread.<\/p>\n

The Legend<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interestingly, almost all of the people who remembered the story mentioned the role lights played in it.<\/p>\n

Brad Walker, for example, said, \u201cI can\u2019t remember who told me, but a bunch of us drove out there and as you drove up to the church the lights went on or off.” He believed the effect was due to the car headlights reflecting off of the stained glassed windows.<\/p>\n

Randall Warrick said, \u201cI used to go by there all the time when I was taking girls on ‘ghost hunting’ trips around Marion for the fun of it. When you drove by it , it was completely dark. If you drove just a little further down the road and looked back, it looked like it was lit up for services.” He thought that an outdoor farm light in the distance was passing through the remaining stained\u00a0 glass windows and giving the impression that the church was illuminated.<\/p>\n

Kellie Tobin said she remembered driving by the church with her sister. “We turned the headlights off and it looked like there were lights on inside. It was easy to fool my 13 year old self.”<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, residents living nearby were not always happy with the crowds of thrill-seeking teenagers the church attracted. A woman who grew up near it recounted how, \u201cKids used to tear up and down the road at night to see it. We lived on that road and [those kids] made my Dad crazy with all the cars.”<\/p>\n

All Gone<\/strong><\/p>\n

In October of 1975, an auction notice appeared in the Star<\/em> announcing the sale of church furnishings, and in the spring of 1976, the church was torn down.<\/p>\n

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The auction notice for St. John’s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A workman salvaging boards from St. John’s Church. Only the bell and cornerstone were saved, and they are now preserved at the Peace Community Church. Image courtesy of the Marion Star<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, the land where the St. John’s Church was located is empty, any evidence of a church having been there long gone.<\/p>\n

For a short time — less than a year, it seems\u00a0 — stories about a haunted church out on the corner of Firstenberger and Mautz-Yeager captured the imaginations of local teenagers only to fade just as quickly.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n