The Ghosts Of Beaver Creek

First I want it to be known that I’m an  amateur photographer and not a ghost hunter. Ghost hunting intrigues me but my interest in ghosts lies in visually reproducing images that can be associated with ghosts and legends.

Being born and raised in Lisbon, Ohio I was brought up hearing the stories of Gretchen Gill, Esther Hale and Pretty Boy Floyd and a few others whose ghosts surrounds the haunts on Beaver Creek.

The middle fork of Beaver Creek runs through the village of Lisbon and meets with the west fork above Beaver Creek State Park. The park area and the canal locks are one of the most haunted sites in the State of Ohio. Sprucevale, abandoned in 1870 after the failure of the Sandy Beaver canal is located on the creek and a grist mill was built there in 1837 called Hambelton Mill. The mill and one of the canal locks is all that remains.

My last blog depicts Gretchen’s Lock and Hambelton Mill both having ghosts associated with these structures. Chris Woodyard of the Haunted Ohio book series notes that Esther was due to be married on August 12, 1838. (The same anniversary date as that of Gretchen). As with Gretchen's lock, many variations of this story exist. In another version, Esther Hale was actually a "stern Quaker preacher" who haunts the Hambleton Mill. Esther is also mistaken for the ghost at Gretchen's Lock.
Sprucevale bride-to-be, Esther Hale, was stood up on her wedding day. Broken-hearted, she never took her wedding gown off, and would wander the city and the bridge in the hopes that her groom would return. When townsfolk noticed that she stopped coming around, they went to her house only to find that she had been dead for several days. And still wearing her wedding veil and gown.It is believed poor Esther's ghost still haunts this bridge and the nearby Hambleton Mill. Some say that she appears as a "hideous apparition." If she touches you, you will die and she will become young and beautiful again.

Assignment: The Haunting of Esther Hale, I call it an assignment simply because I assigned my self to do it.

Previsualization- After reading the story of Esther Hale I thought it would be interesting to try and capture visually the emotions and despair that Esther felt after she was stood up at the alter. I didn’t want to portray a ghost that haunts the bridge, but the person whose life ended on the day of her wedding.
I picked Lusk Lock for the location because it has spiral staircases in stone that leads down from the top the lock. The huge sandstone blocks that make up the locks are covered with vegetation and moss that gives off a green patina that somewhat glows in low light. I also wanted to portray her in a surreal setting, bringing forth the feeling of loneliness and despair as she searches for her husband to be.

Here are my visual portrayals of  Esther Hale and Gretchen Gill as they might be seen in real life and as ghosts.

Esther Hale, as a ghost wanting to regain her beauty and her youth.

Esther, ascending from the depths of Hell to find another victim on the Sprucevale Bridge.

Esther, searching for her husband to be that never showed at the her wedding.

Esther, being called back to the bridge.

Esther, losing all hope of finding her husband to be and dying of a broken heart.

Gretchen, at the lock named after her

The Ghost of Gretchen Gill