A very clear unease settles on any wayfarer to the home of the dead. Perhaps the place's associated grief or the embedded lore of spectral orbs is the cause? Most of the living world avoids the cemetery, but it is the one inescapable culmination of all journeys: the destination of both sages and fools whether lavish or impoverished, shared equally by the mighty and the meek. Being such a vital constant of the human experience, it is impossible for our graveyards not to develop their own individual personalities, each with a unique story to tell.

In a tour through some of the most interesting cemeteries in the Toledo area, we dig into the archives of these hallowed grounds and hear words from Tom Vernor of Waterville, who helped design the Tombstone Bicycle Tour, hosted by the Toledo Area Council of Hostelling International . The annual event, which took place earlier this month, draws in over two hundred cyclists to follow a course past ten cemeteries in western Lucas County.

Toledo's First Cemetery

Madison Avenue & 17th Street, Toledo

Located in the now urbanized Downtown district, this now nonexistent graveyard built in 1830 was the first collective cemetery established by settlers of the Great Black Swamp. Prior to its construction, pioneers buried their dead along the roadside with a crudely built barrier against wild animals as their only marker. In 1838, those resting at the intersection were pulled from their subterranean beds and brought to the newly purchased one hundred and fifty-four acre plot of land located on Mulberry Street now known as Forest Cemetery.

Forest Cemetery

1701 Mulberry Street, Toledo

This massive park is Toledo's oldest city-owned cemetery. At first a tiny core of eight acres purchased by Major Benjamin F. Stickney, Forest Cemetery quickly ballooned to contain the 50-60,000 plots visible today. With the site expanding so rapidly, much of the cemetery's older infrastructure had turned to broken ruins by the 20th Century. Under President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, the 1930s breathed renewed life into the cemetery with over twenty-five years' worth of renovations. Among the graveyard's inhabitants, there is Two Stickney, one of Major Stickney's famous sons, One and Two. The large spire just inside the entrance is dedicated to Robert Talbot who laid the first tie on the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad. Forest's oldest grave belongs to John B. Mason who died in October, 1834 at the young age of 23. Whether Mr. Mason was one of those early pioneers evicted from the original Toledo cemetery is unknown.

The Pauper's Cemetery

13660 County Home Road, Bowling Green

The Wood County Historical Museum was once a county group home that collected the down-and-out together with the mentally ill and handicapped. When residents died, oftentimes they had no family or too little money to afford a burial plot, so many of the deceased ended up nameless under a small, plain stone inscribed with only a single number. At one time there existed a ledger matching names with the numbers, but as to its location no one knows. In the 1950s, groundskeepers removed the stones for ease of upkeep, and while they were in storage offsite, area residents began taking the stones for use as patio rocks or driveway liners. Almost forty years later, the museum issued a public call for their return and was able to reconvene several throughout the '90s. The Pauper's Cemetery currently has about half of the stones for its suspected 800 graves.

Fort Meigs

29100 W. River Road, Perrysburg

The historic fort which withstood two sieges in the War of 1812 from the combined forces of the British and the Indians is also the home of three military cemeteries. One hundred and fifty to three hundred soldiers stationed at Fort Meigs now lie entombed below its palisades. Joining them are the reinforcing units of the Pennsylvania Militia as well as the Kentucky Militia which suffered tremendous casualties in the failed defensive known as Dudley's Massacre. To this day historians still do not know the exact number of soldiers buried at the site, but recent scans with ground penetrating radar indicate the number could be over five hundred. Fort Meigs hosts an annual Ghostwalk in which an 1812 guide leads a lantern lit tour through the fort, sharing eerie tales as well as the its history.

Eagle Point Hebrew Cemetery

515 Eagle Point Road, Rossford

The familiar model of tombstones bearing the cross of Christ and the deceased's existence summarized in the dash between two dates does not apply here. Eagle Point Hebrew Cemetery exists to serve specifically those of the Jewish faith. Many of its markers are engraved in ancient Hebrew script and several dates are given in Jewish reckoning. This particular resting place bears the very enviable reputation of granting any Jew a plot of land regardless of whether or not they could afford it. One 1906 publication wrote of Eagle Point Hebrew Cemetery, "For if the deceased has been poor, he is buried just the same and his expense is added to the more favored families to keep up the cemetery."

Mennonite Cemetery

Finzel Road, Whitehouse

Another resting place exclusive to those of a specific faith is denoted by a simple wooden sign reading, "Mennonite Cemetery" in Whitehouse. Some of the older stones that are still legible date back to the 1850s. "A lot of the names on the stones are the names you still recognize around here like Bucher. You can see the name Rupp right there, and we're about to turn on Rupp Road," says Verner as we follow the route for the Tombstone Bicycle Tour.

Whitehouse Cemeteries

Cemetery Road, Whitehouse

Appropriately named, Whitehouse's Cemetery Road bears a cemetery on both its North and South ends. "That is how they named things back then. It's a great name for the road just outside of town that led to the local graveyard," Vernor explains. The southerly cemetery is the larger of the two and still in use while the tiny collection of faded headstones on the other end appears long abandoned.

Winslow Cemetery

Winslow Road, Whitehouse

According to Vernor this is about the most unusual cemetery in Lucas County. These dozen tombstones lie in a fenced off municipal lot right in front of a residence. The tiny, quaint cemetery exists very nearly in the home's front yard. Vernor says, "You often hear about people backing up to a cemetery, but these people are fronting up to one."

Byrd Family Cemetery

The Girdham Road entrance to Oak Openings, Swanton

A six-foot by six-foot chain link enclosure located a stone's throw from the Oak Openings Metropark contains Lucas County's smallest cemetery. Three headstones long since defeated by the elements belong to the Byrd Family. In barely legible type, the engravings on the rightmost marker indicate a year of passing as 1870.

Burchfield Family Cemetery

Garden Road, Holland

"It's easy to miss the Burchfield Family Cemetery due to its reclusive location in a grove behind a cornfield," says Vernor. In order to pay respects at this tiny burial ground, one must travel through MacQueen's Orchard, crossing a creek and following a path through the apple trees. This cemetery also consists of only three markers: two flat head stones and one towering obelisk. The obelisk, however, commemorates three names. The site still shows signs of use with the most recent addition being from 1981.

Wolfinger Cemetery

Secor Metropark, Lucas County

Wolfinger Cemetery lies secluded inside the forested depths of Secor Metropark. Some of the oldest grave markers which date back to the middle of the 19th Century are now worn into illegibility and moss covered. "I think this is the most picturesque cemetery on the tour," says Verner. "It just fits the traditional idea of a cemetery: hundred-year-old headstones walled by a forest on one side and a wrought iron fence on the other." Quite uniquely among all the cemeteries on the Tour, Wolfinger Cemetery has the reputation of being haunted. Legend maintains that a husband and wife along with their three children died within weeks of each other and were buried where the graveyard meets the woods. Over the years, numerous people have reported seeing children playing in the cemetery near dusk only to disappear into the woods or into the tombstones themselves.

For more information on The Tombstone Bicycle Tour, call 419-861-0220 or visit www.hitoledo.org.

Garrison Ghostwalk

The Fort Meigs Garrison Ghostwalk will be on October 24 and 25. Hour long tours leave every 15 min. starting at 7 p.m. Proceeds go to the volunteers of the Old Northwest Military History Association. Reservations required. 419-874-4121

Northwest Ohio's Most Haunted

Historically, All Hallow's Eve was a time of remembrance for those relegated to eternal slumber, but the modern Halloween holiday has become most known for the belief in those who did not find peace beyond Death's threshold. Some of the ghost stories passed between generations across campfires under moon-lit skies have rooted themselves so deeply that they become a part of America's history. Of those creepy tales, Northwest Ohio its share.

Alice

Brown and Saint Theaters at Bowling Green State University

Campus lore maintains that during the 1920s a young woman studying theatre at the University was killed by a falling light while onstage playing the role of Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello. In the time since, a ghost dubbed as "Alice" has made its presence well known to the BGSU theatre department. The current tradition requires that for every show, the stage manager must stand on center stage and invite Alice to the upcoming performance where the cast usually reserves a seat for her. If this is not done, it is said mysterious interruptions will cause the show to go awry.

The Headless Motorcyclist

The Faught Road Bridge, Elmore

This tale of heart crushing loss remains one of the most popular urban legends in Ohio. Shortly after World War I, an airman returning home to his waiting bride found her in the arms of another man. He took off in a rage and sped down the country roads on his motorcycle. He lost control over the Faught Road Bridge, skidding into a barbed wire fence where he lost his head. It has since become the practice of paranormal thrill seekers and teenagers to park away from the bridge on the night of the event's anniversary, March 21st, and to honk their horn and flash their lights three times. Lore says the motorcycle's single headlight will appear and repeat the motorcyclist's fatal crash. Some have even reported receiving injuries from the light when attempting the tradition while standing on the bridge.

Collingwood Arts Center

2413 Collingwood Boulevard, Toledo

Chris Woodyard, author of the popular Haunted Ohio series, has called this former nunnery, liberal arts college, retirement home, and present day refuge for artists one of the most frightening places she has ever been. Residents of the complex fear the basement which they say possesses some kind of inhuman entity - a faceless, black-hooded, dwarfed creature that glides across the cement toward those who approach. The Center's beautiful Victorian parlor occasionally produces the wispy apparition of a young bride who passersby have also witnessed gazing out the window. Finally, the very malevolent ghost of a nun is thought to have taken up residence in the building's theater. She appears occasionally in theater seats with a blanched face consumed with unbridled hatred.

Oliver House

27 Broadway Street, Toledo

The Oliver House, overlooking the Maumee River, has been a part of the city's nightlife for well over a century. Built on an Indian burial ground and serving as a medical center for the wounded during the Spanish-American War, this historic hotel is not without its own haunted reputation. Numerous apparitions have appeared to guests and diners, but the most common is that of a soldier who has come to be known as "The Captain." He is said to show up most frequently in the Pool Room dressed formally in full uniform.

The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library: Main Library

325 N. Michigan Street, Toledo

Downtown has had the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library's Main Library location as a fixture for the last sixty-eight years. Patrons have reported for many of those years sightings of a man in 1930s attire roaming the endless stacks of books. Library staff members working in the local history and rare book department on the building's third floor have also claimed to have heard the unidentifiable clicking of a woman's heels, and other occasions they have even seen a matronly woman in an early 20th Century dress perusing the old documents.

Gibbs Bridge

Gibbs Road, Sylvania

Once the site of a deadly car accident, Gibbs Bridge lies between Sylvania and Berkey and is supposedly home to a collection of malevolent spirits. Those walking across swear they have heard the sound of squealing tires, crunching metal, and laughter emanating from the embankments. Several people have even reported being followed and even chased by shadowy figures when crossing the bridge after dark.

Old Plantation Inn

301 River Road, Maumee

This three-story building built in 1836 is the second oldest commercial building in Lucas County and has served as some kind of hotel, tavern, or restaurant ever since. Coincidentally, Tom Verner once owned the historic building. "I had always heard the ghost stories, but I never put much stock into them. I'm a believer now. One day when I was alone in the building, I came out of the tavern area and as clear as a bell I heard a little girl's voice say, 'Hi.' So I did the polite thing and said, 'Hi.' back."