Do Ghosts Roam Franklin Castle?

A recent photo of historic Franklin Castle
(Copyright 2022 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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The photographs below, never before published, show rare interior views of Franklin Castle, purportedly Cleveland's most haunted house. I took them in January 1980 while guided by a "ghost hunter" who claimed to sense paranormal activity there. We started in the dank basement and worked our way upward through every floor to the top (fourth) floor, a ballroom. Whenever my guide sensed something unusual and pointed, I quickly shot a picture.

Using two 35mm cameras, I exposed two rolls of Kodak film — one black-and-white and one infrared. The special infrared film was our attempt to record supernatural phenomena outside the spectrum of normal human vision. I developed the film myself in 1980 and recently digitized the 43-year-old negatives to create this web page.

My guide, the ghost hunter, appears in these photos. Alas, I cannot remember her name. At that time, the house had been divided into apartments and we met several other tenants during our tour. All were interested in our venture.

Do my photos reveal any supernatural phenomena? Not that I can see. Some appear to have translucent ropelike streaks, but I believe they are reflections or agitation defects from the film developer. Could they be ghostly images of supernatural ectoplasm? Whatever, I'm posting some of my photos here because people are fascinated by Franklin Castle — and because no one else has pictures like these from 1980!

In 1982, the U.S. government added Franklin Castle to the National Registry of Historic Places. You can find lots of information elsewhere on the Internet, but here's a brief backgrounder:

In 1881–1883, Cleveland businessman Hannes Tiedemann built a mansion at 4308 Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland, Ohio. Soon his mother and four of his children died. When his wife Louise died in 1895 at age 57, Tiedemann sold the house. By 1908 he was dead, too, leaving no heirs.

Franklin Castle changed hands several times in the following years and attracted strange rumors. Did the ghosts of the Tiedemann family haunt the old mansion? Did bootleggers operate there during Prohibition? Was it once a secret meeting place for American Nazis? Was treasure buried in the backyard? Were human bones found behind a wall? Did someone commit suicide in the coatroom of the ballroom? Were the current tenants reporting odd experiences?

All these rumors and more came to my attention in 1980 when a former owner showed me a stack of snapshots that supposedly revealed mysterious apparitions. At that time I was a staff writer at Cleveland Magazine, always looking for a good local story. But I'm also a photographer, and I proposed natural explanations for the "supernatural" images. Blood dripping from a ceiling? Nope, it looked much like a red pull-cord hanging from a ceiling light. An apparition hovering over a fireplace? Nope, it looked like a camera flash reflection from an oval mirror. And so on...

But the rumors and ghost stories were intriguing. When the former owner offered to introduce me to a woman who claimed to sense paranormal activity, I accepted. She was the ghost hunter who guided my photographic tour on that cold dark night in January 1980.

My ghost hunter points to the fireplace and oval mirror where the previous owner photographed a hovering apparition. I think it was a mirror reflection from his camera flash. I bounced my flash off the ceiling to prevent the same result. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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My infrared photograph of the same fireplace and mirror. Normal room light (incandescent) — no flash. It looks spookier, but nothing unusual is apparent. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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My ghost hunter points to a corner where she sensed something odd. My camera seems to reveal nothing unusual. The white orb on the window is glare from my bounce flash. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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Here is another room where my ghost hunter sensed something otherworldly. Again, my camera seems to reveal nothing unusual. My bounce flash overexposed the white ceiling. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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This bedroom was supposedly haunted. The wall mural was likely an original feature of the 1881 house. Close examination reveals a faint ropelike image on the ceiling. I think it's either a reflection from the shiny chandelier or a defect caused by uneven agitation in the film developer. Others may claim it's supernatural ectoplasm! (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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This ballroom spans the top (fourth) floor of Franklin Castle. Ballrooms were a common feature of mansions from the 1800s. This one is allegedly haunted by someone who committed suicide in the adjoining coatroom. The story is probably untrue. The two women in this photo are my ghost hunter and a tenant. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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I shot this wider-angle view of the haunted ballroom on infrared film. Notice the faint ropelike image below the folding stepladder. Is it a reflection from the shiny chandelier, or a film defect, or supernatural ectoplasm? You be the judge! (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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Here is the ballroom's coatroom where a person allegedly committed suicide. Someone hung this rope from the ceiling to embellish the story; it's not original. My ghost hunter felt spooked here, but my camera was unaffected. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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This painting of Jesus Christ was supposedly a source of supernatural visions. Rumors claimed that blood sometimes dripped from the heart. This infrared photo reveals nothing unusual. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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Wow, infrared film makes my ghost hunter look like a ghost! She's standing at another fireplace where some people have experienced paranormal phenomena. I see nothing unusual. The wall portrait resembles Elvis Presley, but it isn't. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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This infrared photo shows a Franklin Castle bedroom converted into an apartment. The man sitting on the sofa is a tenant, not a ghost. Notice the steam-heat radiator mounted on the ceiling; I've never seen this arrangement anywhere else. (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)

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Another infrared view of the same room. The antique furniture looks original. On the right, my ghostly ghost hunter sits at her desk, lighting a cigarette. This room was in her apartment. Yes, she dared to live in Franklin Castle! (Copyright 1980 by Tom R. Halfhill)