Distraught Hans had Gretchen's coffin temporarily entombed in a vault within the lock's stone work until the family could return to Holland together. His young daughter Gretchen pined for the Low Country until, weakened, she contracted malaria and died August 12, 1838, raving about going home. Gill Hans, the engineer who built the lock, brought his family over from Holland. A charming tribute to a family member, one might think, but the place has a macabre history. One of the locks is names "Gretchen's Lock". At Beaver Creek State Park in Columbiana County there survives part of a lock and canal system from 1836. In "Haunted Ohio" she states concerning Gretchen's Ghost, " A network of canals built in the early 1800s opened up the Ohio Territory to commerce and statehood. Whilst these books are popular they are also a good example of how legends change and become entwined with others. In these books she recounts the tales of ghosts and superstition from various areas throughout Ohio.
Gill and Gretchen joined their wife and mother in the waters of the Atlantic.Ĭhris Woodyard has written some very popular books called "Haunted Ohio I, II & III" and "Spooky Ohio". On the trip, a storm at sea took the ship and all were lost.
When Gill resigned during the panic of 1837 and decided to return to Europe Gretchen's casket was removed from the crypt in the lock and taken aboard ship to be returned home for burial. A crypt was prepared in the masonry of the lock and Gretchen was entombed there for a while. At the time the lock above Sprucevale was being built, Gretchen contracted malaria and died. The grief stricken father and his little daughter, Gretchen, completed the journey. Gill, his wife and daughter were traveling from Europe to the United States, his wife died on the way and was buried at sea.
Gill, canal engineer and his daughter Gretchen. Included here are several different versions of the story that persist even today.įrom "The Sandy & Beaver Canal" by William H.Vodrey Jr. Gill has been the focus of a legend at Lock # ? for many years. Gretchen Gill the daughter of Sandy and Beaver Canal engineer E.H.
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