Rumors of Cults, Haunted Houses : Ohio Ghost Town Has Real Ghosts, Some Say

NORTH BALTIMORE, Ohio — At dusk, the narrow roads and footpaths leading to the settlement of Galatea are disturbed only by barking dogs and shadows of tree limbs dancing in the steady wind.

It’s a far cry from the traffic of a century ago, when the small settlement just north of this Wood County village was a thriving oil town.

From the late 1880s until the early 1900s, hundreds of people worked at an oil refinery. The town had a glass factory, a railroad station and a Main Street complete with a general store and other shops.

No One Stops

Now, Galatea is a ghost town. No more than 10 houses dot Galatea Road, which runs through the center of the village. No one stops here anymore except for the few residents.

But there is a mysterious side to Galatea. Some people say the settlement is haunted, claiming that spirits rise from the ground at night, and cause ghostly mischief and vandalism. Others say religious cults meet in the woods surrounding the settlement.

Iris Holloway has lived in Galatea since she was born 68 years ago. She said she had heard rumors about cults and ghosts. She has seen the words “Enter If You Dare” and “Haunted House” spray painted on an abandoned church.

But Holloway says she is not superstitious.

“There’s nothing to the rumors. That little church is where I grew up and got my best knowledge of church. In fact, my grandfather was one of the ones who helped to build it and was one of the ministers there.

‘Everything Has Changed’

“It was quite a town, a long time ago of course. Everything has been changed since I was a child. There’s nothing here anymore. It isn’t Galatea anymore. It’s really sad,” she said.

Wood County Sheriff’s Deputy Gary Hager said he did not believe rumors of cults, Satan worshipers or that the area was haunted.

“I think a bunch of kids get their head together and rumors get started. I don’t take much stock in what they say. I think a bunch of kids (are) seeing things that aren’t there,” he said.

The Sheriff’s Department frequently handles reports of vandalism, suspicious people and vehicles in Galatea, he said.

Clair Blackall, whose father worked in Galatea at the turn of the century, said the oil business got started there in the late 1800s.

First Oil Refinery

According to an 1886 story in the Buckeye Monitor, the Buckeye Pipeline Co.’s newspaper, the first oil refinery in Bloom Township was at the junction of the B&O; and T&OC; railroads.

“This great refinery was the Standard Oil Co.’s Manhattan plant,” Blackall said.

Oil production was pretty much over by the early 1900s. When the oil boom died in northwest Ohio, the town slowly faded, as people moved away and businesses closed.

“A great amount of people moved West, although this was a viable oil well until 1930,” he said.

Blackall owns some of the land where the refinery was located. It employed about 600 workers.

‘A Saloon or Two’

“Like all boom towns, there was a saloon or two. Traveling ball teams used to come and and play games because it was an oil boom town with lots of money,” he said.

Blackall says he has heard rumors about the ghosts of dead workers rising from their graves to haunt the area. He also has heard about the cults and devil worshipers.