Franklin Castle stands at 4308 Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland’s Ohio City district, a Victorian-Romanesque stone mansion completed in 1883 by architects Cudell and Richardson for Johannes Tiedemann, a German immigrant from Süderau. Tiedemann commissioned the castle after tearing down the wooden house he had purchased in 1865 from Alonzo Wolverton — a structure built by brothers who had gone to the Civil War, most of whom did not return. The Tiedemann family’s years in the castle were marked by loss: three children died in infancy, a fifteen-year-old daughter died under mysterious circumstances in January 1881, and Johannes eventually outlived his mother, his first wife, and his surviving children. He died in 1908, the last of his line to have lived in the castle.
What followed was a succession of owners who each encountered the building differently. A German singing society used it during Prohibition and left a whiskey still in a hidden basement room behind a sealed wall. The Romano family, who purchased the castle in 1967, were the first to speak publicly about strange occurrences inside. In January 1975, a partial human skeleton was found concealed within a second-floor wall during renovation work. In 1985, Judy Garland’s last husband bought it. In 1999, an arsonist broke in and set fire to it, explaining afterward only that the castle was pure evil. The fourth-floor ballroom was destroyed. The building sat condemned for over a decade.
Current owners Kitt and Pascal purchased the castle in 2012 when demolition was pending and spent nine years restoring it. It is not open to standard public access — the owners offer Stay the Night experiences, events, and tours by arrangement, but the standard status is private. The documented history of human bones in the walls, the arson, the decades of reported paranormal activity, and the architecture itself make it one of Ohio’s most written-about properties.
Story Source: thefranklincastle.com
Address: 4308 Franklin Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Accessibility Rating: No Public Access — Private property, active restricted site, or location no longer physically accessible to visitors.
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What Others Have Experienced
On a 2012 visit, a paranormal enthusiast recorded what she believed was an EVP of a German-accented voice near the gate, and an owner later let her inside. As she was leaving the house, she felt an invisible force yank her backward by the back of her shirt.
— from HauntedPlaces.org
During an overnight investigation, a writer watched her REM-POD light up the moment the group asked questions of any spirits present, while doors closing and footsteps across the floors carried on through the night. When the team returned to their turret room after dinner, they found a glass broken on the floor of a room that had been sealed off.
— from Yahoo Creators
Another guest on the same overnight stay felt a strong sense of the presence of Emma Tiedemann, the daughter who died at 15, during the investigation. The group was also told that earlier sweepstakes winners who spent the night had seen rooms open on their own in the early morning hours.
— from Yahoo Creators
A visitor who received tour tickets as a birthday gift found the experience well worth it. She heard no voices and felt no touch, but the house itself fascinated her, and she singled out the guided tour as exceptionally well researched and thorough.
— from Yelp
A visitor who had wanted to see Franklin Castle for a long time finally went on the Christmas-season tour. Her guide’s depth of knowledge and obvious passion for the property’s history made the visit for her.
— from Yelp
