Loudonville Ohio
Landoll’s Mohican Castle
The construction of a new building in 2018 sent a spirit into a rage that she
expressed against guests and staff with the intention of scaring them away.Dissension among people can carry over to the afterlife.
Disturbing graves can leave some spirits angry and confused.
DESCRIPTION
From Landoll’s Mohican Castle website: “Landoll’s Mohican Castle is one of America’s most unique lodging, dining, corporate retreats, and wedding destinations. Whether you are looking for a special night out for dinner, romantic weekend getaway, business retreat, or your dream wedding, Landoll’s Mohican Castle will not disappoint.”
Landoll’s Mohican Castle is the result of one man’s love of medieval European Castles. Jim Landoll built each suite to be part of his beautiful medieval castle, with the exception of the new fourteen guest suites found in the building called the Stables.
Wow! Tom and I visited this grand, medieval castle resort and were very impressed with the creative architecture, as rooms have individual turrets with stairs and outside walkways leading down to the ground floor. It is a maze of suites done to the nines in medieval architecture on the outside, with unique decor inside.
It truly was a labor of love. Jim Landoll painted each suite of his castle with its own unique design. Other amenities include mahogany beds with four posters, gas fireplaces, a continental breakfast, an onsite restaurant, The Copper Mug Bar and Grille, a swimming pool, a garden and miles of trails to commune with nature.
There is a price range for everyone, from $169.00 to $281.00 per night, depending if you are staying in the original suites, the Thane or Macbeth Cottages, the 2018 Stables building, or The Highlands building.
Landoll’s Mohican Castle’s website states, “The Castle’s Event Center is optimal for conferences, wedding receptions, banquets and parties for up to 250 guests. Large floor-to-ceiling windows bring the outdoors in. A cathedral ceiling, dance floor, kitchen, and a large outdoor patio allow you to create your perfect event any time of year.”
It is an especially popular place for weddings and receptions. The staff has gotten it down to a fine art and provide a wonderful experience, one to remember fondly.
HISTORY
In the beginning, this property belonged to the Native Americans that lived here, until they were unceremoniously pushed off their homeland by the United States government, possibly because of a treaty signed to end the French and Indian War.
Land plots in Ohio were first given to immigrant soldiers and other patriots who fought in the Revolutionary War and excelled in some way. Plots were also given to other European immigrants later in the 1800s, to encourage settlements in the new lands.
(The Miesse Family and their Westward Trek) During the Revolutionary War, Abraham Miesse was one such German immigrant who completed a dangerous mission assigned to him and seven other men by George Washington himself.
In order to cover a safe military retreat of Washington’s troops across the Delaware River, the eight men stayed behind in the camp to make noise and fool the British who had surrounded the campsite, but could not see them directly. At daylight, the eight men slipped away to safety.
After the Revolutionary War ended, Abraham was given farmland in southern Ohio near Columbus that probably was once Native American land.
In the 1850s, a similar homestead program was available to immigrants and others to settle the new territory in Ohio. A group of French German Lutheran immigrants from Alsace–Lorraine became the new owners of this property. The John Heyde family led this group effort to homestead these wooded acres in such a beautiful spot.
Each family built its own cabin, and as a team they built their own Lutheran Church. However, a major rift in the church arose over whether to have services in German or English, as they didn’t want to have a service for each language.
The church members who disagreed with what Mr. Heyde and his group wanted, were kicked out of the congregation, were forced to dig up their relatives buried in the church cemetery and had to leave this community. Tempers must have been hot. This punishment in my opinion was overkill. The people who were expelled were probably pretty upset with this decree from John Heyde, having to leave their homes and start over.
Soon after this drastic remedy took place, the church burned to the ground. A new church was built in its place, and life continued without the expelled members.
During the Civil War, wounded soldiers found a place to recover from their wounds at the make-shift hospital located here. At least two soldiers died of their wounds, and were buried in the church cemetery.
Sometime in the late 1800s, the church burned down again, and this group of German Lutherans left, giving up homesteading in this spot.
At some point in the 20th century, the Landoll family bought 1000 acres on this forested mountain that rose to 1,200 feet, and used it probably for camping, fishing, hunting and recreation. The land was eventually parceled out to family members who bought 30 acres each.
Young Jim Landsoll was in the military in Europe for two years, and fell in love with all the medieval castles. He vowed that some day he would have the money to build a medieval castle, much like John Hammond did in Massachusetts. (See the Hammond Castle story located on the Massachusetts state page on hauntedhouses.com).
After he got out of the military service in the early 1970s, he had five dollars in his pocket. With the help of his wife Marta and brother Marty, they built a business that printed and published children’s books. In 1996, the Landoll Publishing Company was bringing in 100 million dollars a year, making it the second largest printer and publisher of children’s books in America. They had plenty of business to keep 1000 employees busy.
In 1997, the Landoll family sold this flourishing business, and finally Jim could build his castle in his retirement, which was a surprise to his wife. He started with the old barn to make it look like an elegant medieval castle. In 1999, Marta convinced him to turn this project into a hotel, though neither had any experience in running such an establishment. Without floor plans or blue prints, Jim Landoll had a blast creating his medieval castle one room at a time. He spent a total of six million dollars to complete his creation.
He used building materials that were found on their property. He knew what to do with all the trees that blew down in a 1990 storm. Using the Ross Suite as sawmill, the wood became the hardwood flooring, the cabinets and the doors. He found piles of stones made by the earliest settlers who built the Lutheran Church, which had been by the cemetery.
Landoll’s Mohican Castle opened to the public as a high class inn during 2002, so that they could share their medieval castle with guests. For six years, the hotel was a popular place to vacation.
Disaster struck when the beautiful restaurant mysteriously caught fire and burned to the ground. Unfortunately, the fire insurance that they had bought for it had expired four days beforehand. This fire not only destroyed this building, but the stress of this situation caused a rift in the Landoll marriage, and took all the fun out of running the hotel for Jim Landoll.
Jim and Marta divorced about a year later. Jim retired and moved away, leaving the hotel to be run by Marta, their son Jimmy, and his wife Shayla, and eventually their kids. The restaurant was rebuilt. Jimmy was the manager in name only, and wound up just being a cook who no one took seriously. Uh Oh! They began to struggle, trying to fill the gap that Jim senior had left. The property went from being worth six million to two million dollars. They needed help. Along come British chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsay to the rescue!
The Landoll’s offered themselves up to be examined by Gordon Ramsay on his popular show, Hotel Hell in 2015. Gordon came up with some great suggestions, such as letting Jimmy have more responsibility, as Marta needed to step back and let him be a real manager. Jordan had great suggestions on how to fix the dysfunctional kitchen. The function room was given a make-over as Gordon had them host a wedding, with his help along the way, pointing out what needed to be changed, and how to do it.
The booking steadily increased, the kitchen was reorganized, and they hired a new head chef, so Jimmy could be a full-time manager. He took a three day intensive course to improve his ability to manage the property.
The influx of money allowed them in 2018 to build a new two story building called The Stables with fourteen additional guest suites. This new addition increased business, but may have caused an unhappy, aggressive spirit to activate.
In 2019, spirit activity took a scary turn, with aggressive spectral actions causing the staff to avoid certain rooms, and guests have been known to leave in the middle of the night. Jimmy and Shayla were afraid that this entity would be picking on their kids. When it escalated to turning on fireplaces full blast, which could cause a fire, they began to ask for help from the paranormal community.
Today in 2022, they have taken precautions against fire, and have probably found ways to calm the unhappy spirit who was bent on driving them from the castle or burning it down.
HISTORY OF MANIFESTATION
Spirits who are attached to the land can move into any new building built on it.
Willard Library, IN (A female spirit who killed herself on this property when it was vacant land, moved into the Willard Library after it was built here).
Knolb Farm Development, GA (The spirit of a Civil War soldier who died on the land during a skirmish, moved inside a house in a housing development that was built on this old battlefield).
Landoll’s Mohican Castle, OH (During the Civil War, the people living here opened up their homes to nurse wounded soldiers. Two spirits of soldiers who died of their wounds attached themselves to the land).
People who once lived or were buried near a structure can also become spectral residents.
Grapevine Farms, NY (The spirit of the original farmer who built this farm house is buried in the family cemetery nearby. He has moved back inside to stay in his old bedroom).
Hammond Castle, MA (The grave of Jack Hammond is located in the backyard, near his little pond. He likes to come inside in his castle and interact with visitors and paranormal investigators).
Landoll’s Mohican Castle, OH (At least three or four spirits who are buried in the cemetery love this place including two Civil War soldiers who died of their wounds, and a young girl who died from Typhoid. One of them may be possessive of the land).
Disturbing graves is a known way to upset spirits.
Easton Library, PA (Bodies in the German Cemetery had to be moved in order for the new Carnegie library to be built. Unclaimed bodies, who had no descendants to move them, were unceremoniously dumped into a mass grave that was paved over to become the entrance to the parking lot).
Cincinnati Music Hall, OH (The Cincinnati Music Hall was built right on top of a paupers and epidemic victims graveyard).
Landoll’s Mohican Castle, OH (The bodies of family members of those expelled from the Lutheran Church were disturbed when they were dug up and moved. At least one of them may have returned in spirit to reclaim its property).
Dissension and loss can cause angry people, who become angry spirits looking for payback against anyone in their space. Some say that they are possessive of the land.
Monmouth Plantation, MS (The original master of the house who was mad at the living for letting his forever home slide into a creaky condition, was upset when the new owners began to restore it, as he didn’t know if he could trust them. His attitude changed over time and he became the guardian helper).
Montauk Manor, NY (It was built upon many graves, desecrating the remains for another purpose. A spirit used his restlessness for good; others became angry and tried to start trouble!).
Landoll’s Mohican Castle, OH (One angry spirit did its best to scare people and burn down the castle, because of hurts suffered while alive, and can’t let go of its anger so it lashes out at the living. This aggressive behavior didn’t start until The Stables was built in 2018, which seemed to be the last straw).
MANIFESTATIONS
Spirit of Small Girl
Samantha Carnage’s grave was found in the old church cemetery nearby.
The see-through apparition of Samantha has been seen playing in the cemetery, wearing a blue dress.
Samantha’s Unseen Presence
This young spirit has been heard laughing and talking in the pool area, where the old church once stood.
She likes to play in the pool hut.
In the Heyde Cabin just down the road from Landoll’s Mohican Castle, the spirit of a young girl said “Hello!”
She likes to try to hold hands with the living.
The Spirit of Firebug or Vengeful Spirit
The spirit became aggressively angry after the new rooms were built in a structure called the Stable in 2019.
These recent scary activities could be an act of revenge by a past occupant of this land.
It could be the same angry person that set the fires to both churches, and the Landoll’s Mohican Castle’s original restaurant.
Before help arrived in 2019, this spirit would turn on the restaurant stove after blowing out the flame so gas would fill the restaurant, perhaps trying to burn down this restaurant too.
In the Landoll Suite, it would turn on the fireplace full throttle and turn on the heater as well.
Other fireplaces have also been turned on with no help from the living.
Posible Suspect
The spirit I suspect is the Lady in White because of how she acts in front of the living.
Three witnesses that have seen her gave the same description.
An artist sat with each witness and drew individual portraits of this female spirit on what was shared. All three pictures looked the same.
Her attitude is “Let’s upset living people and make them leave.”
Get Out!
She tried to scare guests by appearing in their rooms at night.
She has floated over their beds, glaring at them.
She has appeared in front of the restaurant and hotel staff, who feel her negativity, and tried to scare them too.
There are certain rooms that the staff were afraid to visit in 2019.
His or her antics apparently had been working as paranormal investigators were invited in to investigate.
Kitchen Fireworks
Items would fly through the air at the staff.
Items were pushed off the shelves.
The Lady in White appeared to the head chef in the kitchen.
He described her as having long gray hair and wearing a white gown.
When his eyes locked with hers, she flew at him and went through his body.
Spirits of Civil War Soldiers
Two or even more spirits of Civil War soldiers feel at home and are happy staying here for free, spending their afterlife in such a posh place. It is their consolation prize for dying before their time.
They enjoy the whole property, inside and out, and have been seen walking around and sitting on chairs, not shy in appearing in front of the living.
I’ll Reside Here
One spectral soldier, who died in another structure built nearby or where the 1890 MacBeth Cottage now sits, has moved into this fine guest accommodation, and shows himself in the mirror.
He also gets his chuckles at the expense of the living by tickling their feet, and appearing at the foot of the bed.
Sometimes he lets the living feel what he experienced while trying to recuperate from his fatal wounds.
PARANORMAL FINDINGS
The full paranormal sports package can be found at Landoll’s Mohican Castle, as the spirits are not shy in showing themselves and interact pleasantly for the most part with staff and guests who have had quite a few personal experiences.
During September and October, paranormal investigations are offered to the public for the price of a ticket. The friendly spirits who reside here have become cooperative partners for the castle’s sponsored ghost investigations.
The angry spirit of the Lady in White also has made her presence clearly known to paranormal investigators like The Ghost Hunters who caught on camera her attempts to fill the restaurant with gas from the stove and the destructive activity in the Landoll Suite. She gave them plenty of material for their Season 12, Episode 6 show entitled, “The Cursed Castle.”
STILL HAUNTED?
A Big Yes Indeed! Precautions have been made to ensure that no fires break out. Perhaps a medium has come and calmed down the Lady in White, because she is not the problem that she once was for guests and staff. This spirit may have finally accepted the new building, The Stables.
Living guests as well as the spectral ones all enjoy the wonderful Landoll’s Mohican Castle, as a place to relax, enjoy a walk in the woods, swim in the pool or enjoy the scenery.
LOCATION
561 Township Road 3352
Loudonville, OH 44842
Landoll’s Mohican Castle is located south of Loudonville, up in a mountain with forests, a perfect retreat. Take Ohio Route 97 exit (165) toward Belville. Travel straight across Ohio Route 3 onto Twp. Road 629. Travel approximately 3 miles to Twp. Road 3352, turn left.
SOURCES INCLUDE
- realitytvrevisited.com
- touringohio.com
- The Miesse Family, Their Westward Trek Volume 1, by Dorthy M Ruble Hudson
- distractify.com
- resnexus.com
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