Case file · Haunting
Gore Orphanage Road
Near Vermilion, Ohio, the ruins of the Swift Mansion, which burned on 6 December 1923 with no one hurt, are said to be haunted by children who died in an orphanage fire.
1923 CE · 41.35, -82.32 · status: legend
The account
The Light of Hope orphanage operated nearby before 1908 and was reported closing in 1916. The Wilber family, who once lived in the mansion, held séances there.
The sceptical view
No orphanage fire killed children. Historians think the story borrowed from the 1908 Collinwood school fire in Cleveland, which killed 172 children, and the 'cries' heard at night are truck noise on the highway.