The Anchorage

If you like old houses that are haunted, well I have the perfect place for you!

Marietta is the oldest city in Ohio and while there are plenty of beautiful old houses in town, one caught my attention about ten or so years ago. The Anchorage, also known as the Putnam Villa, is a beautiful 22 room Italianate style home that was built in 1859 and sits proudly on a hill overlooking Harmar Village in Marietta. The house was built by Douglas Putnam for his wife Eliza and is built from native oak and sandstone. Eliza planned the homes design to suit her personal style and it took ten years for the home to be complete. Unfortunately, Eliza did not get to enjoy her grand new home for long, she died only three years after it was finished. 

Following the Putnam family, other prominent families owned the house over the years. After the last owners, Eddie MacTaggart and his sister Sophia Russell passed away, the house was turned into a nursing home which operated until the 1980s. After the closure of the nursing home, the house sat vacant for many years. Today the home is owned and being restored by the Washington County Historical Society.

I first knew of this home's reputation for being haunted, and that led to the initial visit years ago to see this it for myself. I have never investigated here, but stories of spirits that roam her halls abound. According to Hidden Marietta, the tour company that operates tours of the home, some 20 individuals have died inside the Anchorage over the years, including past owners, their family members and nursing home residents. Some of the reported paranormal activity includes hearing audible disembodied voices, shadows and apparitions and even the sensations of being touched. Up in the tower, the homes original owners, Eliza Putnam and her husband Douglas has been seen. 

I recently booked a tour of the old house to see it inside instead of just the exterior. Due to Covid-19, the only tours that were being offered were self-guided. We (my husband and myself) received a short summary of the history before we started. I was excited to see the inside of the house, although a fully guided tour would have been great, we ended up with the chance to roam the halls alone. I can't say that I was disappointed, this was a perfect opportunity to take lots of photos without having to wait for other tour guests to clear out of an area before I could snap photos. Trust me, I have done quite a few tours and typically hang toward to back in order to get plenty of pictures. 

During our tour of the home, I took notice of all the beautiful architectural details throughout the house, no doubt Eliza hand-picked them herself. The downstairs has been mostly restored, but the restoration process is ongoing. I walked throughout each room, simply admiring the work of art this house truly is, and with the restoration work, I can only imagine how much more beautiful it will become. The upper floors are still in need of restoration, but nonetheless, it is still beautiful, even with peeling paint, wallpaper and exposed boards. 

Having the old house almost completely to ourselves allowed for ample observation for any paranormal activity. There was an option to include a small investigation into the tour, but I just wanted to explore and if we happened to encounter any ghosts during our time, that was fine. Unfortunately, we did not have any experiences, it felt comfortable and calm inside the house, nothing out of the ordinary happened. We were told by one of the guides that a girl from the tour the previous day had her hair pulled by something unseen, which is another seemingly "normal" paranormal event that has been reported in the house.

On the second floor, it is still evident that the house was used as nursing home. The stairway was enclosed during the time the nursing home operated there, but if you look close you can still see some of the original character on the old steps. There are seemingly hidden rooms and rooms that connect to other rooms, which is pretty typical for houses built in the 1800s. This house has a section that was used as servants' quarters. The attic area is huge, and it is believed that the children liked to play up there.

The final spot we visited in the house was on up beyond the attic, and into the tower, also known as a campanile, or Italian bell tower. The tower has a breath-taking full view of Marietta. The winding staircase to the tower looks to be in original condition and it has a feel of being straight out of a fairy tale, or creepy haunted house movie, or perhaps just a combination of the two. I imagine this spot in the house was probably a favorite. I can envision children laughing and playing in the tower and running up and down the stairs. I can imagine Eliza and Douglas watching over their town below while having a quiet moment of reflection from their little castle on the hill. I can even picture the faint apparitions of the spirits that wander the halls of the Anchorage, peeking out from the tower windows and keeping watch over the house. 

Want to learn more about the house, take a tour or even book a ghost hunt? Visit Hidden Marietta for more information or to check out other haunts in the area.

Want to see more of my photos from inside the Anchorage? Visit Ghosts of Guyandotte on Facebook and check out my photo album. 

All photos on this site and in this article are property of the author, Melissa Stanley, unless otherwise noted. 

Old Burlington Jail - Burlington, Ohio

The old jail in Burlington, Ohio has been on the National Register of Historic places since 1978. This was the second jail built in Burlington after the original jail, a log building with clapboard siding, was set on fire by an inmate in 1846. The following year, a new jail was constructed from stone and was used until 1852 when the county seat was moved from Burlington to Ironton, Ohio. 

The old jail was then used as a private residence for many years. By the 1990s, the old jail had been left abandoned and dilapidated. In 2000, a fire destroyed everything except the stone walls. The jail is the last standing government building in Burlington from the time that is served as the Lawrence County seat from1817-1852.

Over the years, there has been some talk of the old jail being haunted, and I do know there have been a few paranormal investigators that have visited the building to search for spirits. I was unable find much information to corroborate the stories, however, I did have one of the investigators that spent an evening there tell me they heard some unusual sounds, one sounding like a lock on a cell door. 

This trip was my first time to stop, get out and photograph the building. Out front there is a large sign says the building is the future site of the Underground Railroad Museum at the Historic Lawrence County Jail. I do not believe that the museum has opened at this time. Regardless, this is a nice stop for any history buff. There are several other historic sites nearby, the Macedonia Baptist Church and the Burlington 37 cemetery are only a few miles away and worth a visit. 

Macedonia Baptist Church - Ohio

This was one of the very first places I explored when I began doing paranormal investigations. One of my former team members told me about this location and how it had long been rumored to be haunted. The evening my old team and I visited, we just walked around the outside of the church and took photos and audio recordings (which really isn't a great thing to do outdoors). We didn't find anything to solidify the rumors of anything paranormal happening at the church that evening, but it is not easy to investigate outside in an uncontrolled environment.

The church has been sitting abandoned since at least my first visit in 2006, I am sure it was abandoned many more years before I ever knew it existed. One could easily pass by this church, thinking it is just another old building that nobody uses anymore, but it is so much more than just an unused church building.

This old church has a very rich history. If you visit, you will notice there is a historical marker on the road in front of the church. This marker tells a brief history of the building.

The church was built in the mid-1800s. A Virginia landowner freed many of his slaves upon his death and provided land for them near Burlington, Ohio. Thirty-two of them settled on the land they were given, which was near a Baptist church. The existing church was a congregation made up of runaway slaves and free negroes. Together, the thirty-two freed slaves and the Baptist congregation built a new church on Macedonia Ridge, which was named Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.



All photos on this site are property of Melissa Stanley unless otherwise noted. 

Monitor School - Coal Grove, Ohio

I first learned about the old Monitor School in Coal Grove, Ohio around 2006. When I first started up the paranormal group. This is one of those locations that had some extremely vague information listed on the hauntings. Our group got in contact with someone that allowed us permission to check it out the building in the summer of 2007. While we did not find any ghosts during our investigation, we had an enjoyable evening exploring and photographing the old halls of this former school.

The Coal Grove Public School, also known as the Monitor School was built in 1905, it was named for the Monitor Pig Iron Furnace. The school was initially built as the new high school but later became the elementary school. The school closed sometime around 1989 after a new school was built. In 2000, the community attempted to have the building turned into a community center, however, it was purchased by an investor that planned to turn the building into an apartment complex. Again, the community voiced their concerns and wanted the old school to remain as much in its original condition as possible, and it was put up for sale again around 2007. Currently in 2020, I have not found any additional updates for use of the school, other than the fact it is still standing in the community and appears to still be vacant and not in use. 

Reports state that the spirit of a former janitor haunts the building. While we explored every area possible within the building, we found no evidence of any paranormal activity, which was disappointing. The building itself was in pretty poor condition overall, however, structurally it was still good at the time. Areas of the interior were quickly deteriorating, paint and plaster were falling off the walls, and the rooms were covered in bird droppings and dead bats. There were still a few remaining artifacts left behind from the days it was a school. Inside we found an out of tune piano, a ball lying in the floor of one of the classrooms and a photograph of a child who appeared to be in the hospital with a broken leg among other everyday school related items and papers.

This school was one of my first opportunities to explore and investigate an abandoned building. Looking back, I wish I had taken more photos while I had the chance. I would definitely love an opportunity to re-visit this school and explore. I would also love to see the community continue to fight for the school and see it become useful and protected from further decay.








Photos - Top photo taken in 2020. Additional photos taken in 2007. All photos on this site are property of Melissa Stanley/Ghosts of Guyandotte, unless otherwise noted. Historic information was summarized from information provided by Theresa Racer-Cheshire, former historic research manager for Huntington Paranormal.