A Haunted Life Story - The Cleveland Ghost Guy

It was sometime after midnight. The street was quiet. The air outside was heavy with lake fog, and inside the room, everything was still.

Then, in the corner of the glass door on the old TV cabinet, a strange reflection flickered—a face.

Bill Krejci rolled over in bed, blinking hard, assuming it was the streetlight slipping through the trees. But the angle didn’t track. The color was wrong. The glow was cold. As his eyes adjusted, the reflection sharpened into a man’s face—stern, unfamiliar, with thick 19th-century sideburns.

And then it was gone.

Bill didn’t get out of bed to investigate. He didn’t need to. After all, he’d lived in Franklin Castle long enough to know that some things seen in the depths of night were best ignored.

If you’ve lived in Northeast Ohio long enough, you’ve probably driven past the looming stone mansion on Franklin Boulevard—maybe even rolled your window down for a better look.

But for Bill, it was never just a creepy old house.

He first saw it as a five-year-old boy, sitting in the backseat as his parents took the scenic route through Ohio City. “Hey kid, look,” his dad said, pointing. “That’s a real haunted house.”

That was all it took. Bill was hooked.

And in that moment he made himself a promise—that he would live there one day.

But the years passed by.

Bill grew up, and as he studied to become a historian, Franklin Castle shifted to the back of his mind.

Still, he read everything he came across. Watched every special that aired on the local news over the years. When Franklin Castle caught fire in the 1999, he took photos of the damage and mourned it like a friend.

And then—somehow—he actually moved in.

Bill ended up living in Franklin Castle for six years, serving for a time as its on-site historian. He didn’t own it. He didn’t hit the lottery. But against all odds, he had still kept his promise to himself. 🙏

History can unlock strange doors to those who walk its halls. 😉

And even though he never felt truly scared during his years there, he and many others did experience things they still can’t explain. Voices. Footsteps. Objects moving. Lights flickering. And, just once, the face in the cabinet.

Built in 1881 on Franklin Boulevard by wealthy German immigrant and banker Hannes Tiedemann, Franklin Castle was meant to brighten grief—until it became grief’s reflection.

Tiedemann’s wife, children, and mother all died inside its walls within a few tragic years. Rumors swirled: murder, incest, secret rooms, even human sacrifices.

Every new owner, every burned or gutted renovation, added another layer to the mansion’s mystique. And although the home was wracked with tragedy, Bill says most of the rumors aren’t true.

But the truth of the place is enough without all the extra sensationalized additions. Just take the bones found in a wall by an owner during a renovation.

Bill says that one’s still up in the air. 😱

These days, Bill runs Strange and Spooky Cleveland Tours where he offers mysterious and ghostly walking tours around Cleveland and beyond. As a bred-in-the-bone historian, Bill’s focus is always on the historical accuracy, with a spine-chilling side of real-life spooky.

Recently he’s launched a new side project: a free ‘Adventure Club’ where curious locals hike out to haunted spots around Northeast Ohio. The last one ended with new spooky friends, ghost stories, and wings at the Winking Lizard.

If you’re lucky enough to join a tour with Bill, you’ll get history, humor, and firsthand insight from someone who doesn’t just know about the haunted spots around town—he’s lived in one.

Or if you just want to read about it instead, check out Bill’s books.

But Cleveland's ghost stories span far beyond Franklin Boulevard. Here are a few more haunting gems that really hit different when you stand in their shadows:

Once the city’s tallest building, the Tower holds whispers of workers who were buried alive in the foundation during construction. Some visitors say the quiet hum of machinery below includes distant muffled screams—even in broad daylight.

Back in the early ’70s, threats and violence plagued the theatre’s controversial production of Hair. Afterwards, a suspicious fire broke out in the basement of the adjacent Pick‑Carter Hotel, killing the wives and babies of two cast members. A ghostly Lady in White has also been sighted.

About 90 minutes away, this abandoned railroad tunnel is dark Dickensian magic. Legend tells of a lantern-bearing engineer killed in the 1800s, still wandering the tunnel with fiery eyes. Visitors also speak of a lavender‑scented woman and pebbles mysteriously thrown—classic small-town supernatural.

Don’t be fooled by myth: the orphanage never burned, and maybe never even existed, though tragedies occurred in the area. Still, teens dare each other to drive down Gore Orphanage Road on summer nights, hoping to hear phantom children crying in the distance.

This old Tudor mansion, now part of Cleveland State, is said to harbor voices, footsteps, even childlike laughter. Paranormal investigators swore they heard a child giggling during a 2016 exploration, although the identity of any young children it could potentially have been remains a mystery. One caretaker was even forcibly shoved out of a room.

All of these places—and many more—pull people in with fear, curiosity, and a sense of living history. But for Bill, Franklin Castle was personal: a home, a study, a mystery.

He turned fascination into action—leading spooky walking tours, founding a grassroots “Adventure Club” to trek haunted trails, and hosting behind‑the‑scenes nights in lesser‑known haunted spots.

Over 30 locals showed up to the first public hike in Peninsula.

Countless Ohioans feel that pull. That irresistible tension between wanting explanation and wanting the legend to live on.

And if you too feel that inexplicable draw, then maybe you just found your new best friends. 👇

Learn more about Bill’s Walking Tours here:

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