THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Malabar Farm is associated with reports of ghostly apparitions and unexplained activity connected to its historic estate. Visitors have described phantom footsteps, mysterious voices, shadow figures, and sudden cold spots inside the farmhouse. The property has become one of Ohio's better-known haunted historic sites.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield built Malabar Farm in 1939, and the historic homesite is open for tours and wagon rides. It is said to be haunted by Ceely Rose. According to her story, she was in love with a boy who didn’t feel the same. In order to spare her feelings, he told her he couldn’t marry her because her family didn’t approve of him. So, in 1896, Ceela poisoned her family by soaking and then dripping arsenic-laced flypaper onto their cottage cheese. She was placed in a mental hospital for the rest of her life when folks learned what she had done. Local playhouses have put on plays here about the life of Ceely Rose, during which witnesses have experienced unexplained quirks in the lighting and sound systems, felt a sad presence in the restrooms, and heard laughter. Some folks have had strange experiences with cameras and caught eerie images. The place was featured on TV’s Ghost Hunters in February of 2014.