{"id":3043,"date":"2025-10-24T23:11:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spookymarion.com\/?p=3043"},"modified":"2025-10-25T15:58:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T13:58:21","slug":"a-house-with-a-past-history-and-hauntings-at-laipplys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spookymarion.com\/?p=3043","title":{"rendered":"A House with a Past: History and Hauntings at Laipply\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

In July of 2025 I contacted Jacqueline “Jac” Psyhogios at Laipply’s Printing & Marketing Solutions because I\u2019d heard she had a couple of good ghost stories about the place. Amazingly, she didn\u2019t think I was a complete weirdo and graciously agreed to share them with me that September.<\/p>\n

Jac\u2019s parents, Ron and Effie Laipply, started the printing business in 1973. The shop was originally located at 120 S. Main Street, but in 1978, needing more shop space and better parking, the Laipplys decided to relocate to 270 E. Center Street. The new location was a house \u2013 one of the oldest in Marion \u2013 and as the years passed, peculiar stories about the house began to make the rounds.<\/p>\n

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Laipply\u2019s Printing & Marketing Solutions in September of 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the exact date is unclear, most sources agree that the house was built in the early 1830s. Constructed in the so-called Greek Revival style, the house featured a symmetrical fa\u00e7ade and balanced proportions reminiscent of an ancient Greek temple. In a 1977 interview with the Marion Star<\/em>, Carroll Neidhart, one of the founding members of the Marion County Historical Society, said the house, as one of the few at the time made of brick rather than logs, would have been impressive. An early occupant was probably Judge Ozias Bowen, a seminal figure in early Marion history.<\/p>\n

After Ron and Effie purchased the house, Neidhart offered to assist in restoring the home to its original grandeur. In return for his efforts, the Laipplys agreed to let the Marion County Historical Society use the upstairs as their headquarters, which they did until relocating to 255 S. Main Street in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n

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The house undergoing renovations in 1977. Jac said that her parents ultimately decided not to put the house on the historical registry because it would have made it harder for them to make the changes necessary to meet their evolving business needs. The house was also reportedly part of the Underground Railroad. Jac said both the cellar and a cistern behind the house served as hiding places for escaped slaves. From there it was a short dash to the railroad tracks, where they could hop trains heading north to Canada.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For her part, Jac told the Star<\/em> in 2021 that \u201cIn my younger years, I never even considered buying the family printing business.\u201d She left Marion for Ohio University after high school, and following graduation, her career took her to Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Chicago, and finally New York City, where she served as a VP of sales for Liz Claiborne. Life takes unexpected turns, though, and after a health scare, Jac decided to return to Marion in late 2007. \u201cIt suddenly became very important to be closer to family,\u201d she told the Star<\/em>.\u00a0 In 2008, she began working at Laipply\u2019s and in 2010 she began buying out the business. Today, she and her husband, Bill, are the owners.<\/p>\n

Jac began by telling me a few stories about the two shop cats, Copy Cat and, later, Carbon Copy (or CC for short). Copy Cat, a rescue Ron and Effie found up at Lake Erie, lived full-time at Laipply\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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Copy Cat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From her office, Jac has a view of a hallway closet, and Copy Cat used to sit in front of the closed door. \u201cHe would bat at the door with his paws and then suddenly just take off like a shot. I mean, he would probably not hit three steps on the way down [the stairs]. It would happen all the time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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The closet outside Jac’s office that seemed to unsettle Copy Cat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The basement was another area of the shop that made Copy Cat uneasy. To be fair, Jac avoided the basement as well. \u201cI was up here [at Laipply\u2019s] all the time as a kid, and I\u2019ve been back [in Marion] for almost eighteen years \u2013 I\u2019ve never set foot in the basement. It scares me.\u201d The closest she came was when her husband was carrying some boxes down into the basement for storage. \u201cI think I went down to the halfway point and pointed to where he should put them, and that was about it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCopy Cat would never, ever go into the basement, either. He would stand at the top of [the stairs] but would never go down. One day my dad went down into the basement with a press operator, and Copy Cat must have been feeling brave. He went down there with them. They didn\u2019t realize that he\u2019d come down there and accidentally shut him in the dark for hours.\u201d Later, when the employees noticed Copy Cat was missing, someone opened the door and the poor cat \u201cshot out of the basement terrified<\/em>. Ears pinned back, fur standing on end.\u00a0 And he never went near the basement again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The stairs leading to the basement. Both Jac and Copy Cat had an aversion to going down there. According to Jac, these stairs were originally an exterior feature, later enclosed by a back addition to the house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eventually, though, Copy Cat developed a blockage in his heart that was causing pain and difficulty breathing. The family decided the most humane option would be to put him down. The following morning, one of Laipply’s employees spotted another cat right outside the shop with more than a passing resemblance to Copy Cat. \u201cWhen the new cat jumped right into her arms, she asked, \u2018Can we keep her?\u2019\u201d Jac told me. Everyone began calling the new cat Carbon Copy or CC for short.<\/p>\n

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Carbon Copy or CC for short<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another story Jac told me involved the so-called overnight man. Back in the 1980s, when a lot of the work was still done manually, Laipply\u2019s was running three shifts. \u201cThe overnight guy was a big, burly, motorcycle-driving, bearded, husky guy. He was a press operator.\u201d Part of his job was \u201cshooting plates,\u201d which, in the pre-digital era, meant shooting images of layouts with a specialized process camera and then transferring those images to light-sensitive metal plates that would be used in the printing presses. This process required a darkroom, which, at Laipply\u2019s, was up on the second floor. \u201cThis guy,\u201d continued Jac, \u201cwould swear that he would turn on the hallway light, go into the darkroom, shut the door, shoot plates, and when he would come back out, the hallway lights would be off. He thought, \u2018Maybe I just didn\u2019t turn the lights on.\u2019 He\u2019d switch the lights on, go back in the darkroom for fifteen minutes, and when he\u2019d come back out, the lights were off again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The former darkroom where the overnight man worked many night alone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Things culminated one night when the man confronted the specter of an old woman carrying a candle and wearing an old-fashioned nightgown on the second floor. After this incident, the man told Mr. Laipply that he would never work the overnight shift again.<\/p>\n

As our conversation wound down, Jac gave me a tour of the shop. She cheerfully pointed out features of the house that were original as well as the additions the Laipplys had added over the years.<\/p>\n

As we made our way through the building, Jac half-jokingly asked one of the employees if she\u2019d ever experienced anything spooky. The woman replied that she used to hear footsteps from the apartment upstairs, especially when she stayed late. Disturbingly, nobody was living up there at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019ve ever shared that footsteps story with me,\u201d Jac said.<\/p>\n

The old house, it seems, still has a few stories waiting to be told.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n