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Ghost or no ghost? Debate continues over Austin cabin
By christine keeling
austintown
A historical landmark has cobwebs and a creaking floor, but a purported haunting more likely is caused by a piece of history.
Motorists have reported seeing a headless soldier in an upstairs window as they drive on Raccoon Road past the Austin Log Cabin, according to several Internet sites. And though an unnamed curator is used to bolster the account, the president of the Austintown Historical Society says she believes the headless ghost is a mannequin dressed in period clothing.
Carl Parke, president of the Youngstown State Paranormal Society, said he heard rumors about the cabin’s haunting but never looked into it. The group has investigated other local spots, including the B&O Station Banquet Hall in Youngstown, and found anomalous activity, he said.
“Maybe three years ago, I started hearing about the story,” said Joyce Pogany, the historical society’s president. “We had a paranormal group out; they stayed an hour and said it wasn’t haunted.”
The frontier-style cabin was built in the early 1800s on property once owned by prominent residents Calvin and Martha Austin and two members of the Packard family.
It was discovered in 1973 when St. Andrews Episcopal Church began tearing down an abandoned home on the property it purchased adjacent to its worship center. When the siding was removed from the house, log beams were revealed, and demolition was halted.
For three years, Austintown’s community council and historical society raised funds to restore the cabin. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
The cabin’s three floors are filled with artifacts from eras long gone, such as farming tools, furniture and everyday household items. On the main floor between three windows and on the upper level to the side of another window, stand three mannequins without heads. One is dressed in a 1776 soldier’s uniform.
Pogany, who has been involved with the cabin since it was unearthed, said she never has had the feeling the cabin was haunted, nor is there any evidence anyone died in the house. She goes at least three times a week, and has visited as late as 3 a.m.
Parke said his group predominately investigates public areas and commercial buildings because it’s easier to get permission at those locations. He said ghost hunting is gaining popularity, in part because of paranormal television shows.
“People are scheduling vacations to haunted locations,” Parke said. “It used to be they locked you up and threw you in a straitjacket if you talked about the paranormal.”
He said he is a skeptic himself and goes into an investigation wanting to prove there’s nothing there.
Parke said his group has investigated seven or eight locations. Only three, the B&O Station, Old Springfield Church and Beaver Creek State Park turned up unexplainable activity, he said.
“The B&O Station is still an open case,” said Parke. “The kitchen may have an energy form trying to communicate.”
He said a small flashlight would turn on and off in direct response to questions.
“It was pretty spot-on for 98 percent of the questions asked,” he said.
Amy Fobbs, manager at the B&O, said she was present during the group’s investigation and witnessed the flashlight go off and on.
“I saw it and left in the middle of it because it was freaky,” she said.
She said that during her four years of employment, she has experienced many things, such as seeing weird movement on the balcony and having objects change locations.
“I haven’t seen a ghost,” Fobbs said. “But you couldn’t pay me to sleep here.”
The building, she said, is 105 years old and has a lot of history. It once was used as a train station.
The last activity she encountered occurred Oct. 9 after a wedding reception. A shadowy movement also was witnessed by another manager, Sandy Cassile.
Fobbs was apprehensive about sitting in on a second visit by the paranormal group Oct. 12.
The group uses cameras, temperature sensors, electromagnetic-field detectors and digital and tape recorders to try to capture anomalous activity.
They usually visit a location several times before making a determination and follow strict conduct and ethics-based guidelines.
Parke said people interested in ghost hunting need to behave professionally and remain objective.
Haunting claims can help a business, he said.
Pogany is open to letting people visit to see for themselves if the cabin is haunted because it gives her the opportunity to teach them how Austintown got its name.
The historical society offers free tours of the cabin and The Strock Stone House on Mahoning Avenue the first Sunday of each month from 1 to 4 p.m.
Private tours also are available.
Christmas tea is planned Nov. 13 at noon, 2 and 4 p.m. at the Strock Stone House to raise funds for the upkeep of the two locations. The cost is $14 per person and $7 for children under 12.
Advance reservations are needed before Nov. 4 and can be made by calling 330-792-1129.