Something spooky is brewing beneath Cincinnati
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A ghostly goodbye? This figure allegedly guards one tunnel's exit so visitors have to walk past it to get out. Photos: Courtesy of American Legacy Tours
Cincinnati's streets hide a network of 19th century brewery tunnels, once used to keep beer cool before modern refrigeration. Some now think there's more than just brewing history lurking underground.
Why it matters: We've got a spirited past and the folks at American Legacy Tours know where the bodies are buried. Figuratively, of course. We hope.
Driving the boos: Just in time for Halloween, we're digging into the Queen City's underground haunts with Miranda McGee, director of tour operations.
Things that go bump: McGee says guides and guests have reported some unexplained experiences of their own.
- While venturing underground, visitors have described hearing footsteps, whispers and laughter and feeling their clothes or hair being tugged.
- McGee recalls one tour group that reported seeing a mysterious man in a hat who appeared to vanish.
- "Someone got their jacket ripped ... it was three slits like something had clawed it," McGee says. "From one of the tunnels we hear whispers, we hear our names called and we hear growling."
Above ground: The spooky stories don't stop at the tunnels. At a historic Clifton home, McGee says, guides reported swinging chandeliers, children's laughter and even a lamp that seemingly flew across a room.
The bottom line: You don't have to believe in ghosts to enjoy a good ghost story.
- "They're not fear tours — they are haunted historical walking tours," McGee says.
- Even skeptics, she adds, get to experience Cincinnati's "cool, crazy, bizarre history."
If you go: American Legacy Tours offers several ghost tours around town.