The distant wailings of a spectral baby echo from a crypt, a headless horse floats through the grounds, a phantom police officer ushers trespassers from between the headstones. These were the stories Clevelanders heard when they toured Alger Cemetery in West Park on Monday.
West Park Historical Society (WPHS), partnering with West Park Kamms’ Neighborhood Development (WPKND), sponsored another successful cemetery walk this week. This was the 19th year for the event.
Ross Bassett, historian for WPHS led a group of approximately 250 eager participants on a one hour tour over somewhat bumpy terrain. He shared historic highlights as well as spooky tales about Alger Cemetery, the oldest in the original Rockport Village and the second oldest in Cleveland. Rockport included West Park, Lakewood, Rocky River and Fairview Park. The oldest cemetery in Cleveland is Erie Street Cemetery on East Night Street in downtown Cleveland.
Alger Cemetery
- Nathan Alger, one of the first settlers of Rockport, arrived with his family in June, 1812. They settled and built a cabin on the site that is now West Park Station (south side of Lorain). He died in 1813. His family looked for the highest point to bury him. It was a little knoll just a few hundred yards away. His well-worn grave stone reads:
“My friends, I’m here, the first to come and in this place for you there’s room.”
- In 1928, the Alger family gave the cemetery to the city of Cleveland.
- Alger now has almost 6,600 graves, 4,400 with grave markers. Grave sites are rarely sold but there are burials each year. The most people buried in a year was 151 in 1918 during the Great Flu Pandemic.
- Besides early settlers, there are two Civil War veterans, four WWII veterans and West Park’s first mayor.
- Also of note, is the grave of an escaped slave, Henry Wright, who hid in Lakewood until he was captured by John West (for whom West Park is named) and others. West hired Wright with wages and Wright lived out his life in Lakewood where he died and was buried in Alger Cemetery without a gravestone. A grave maker was later commissioned and installed.
Ghost Stories
There are many stories about strange occurrences in Alger, a statue changing directions, a baby crying from a crypt, shadows appearing on a wall, sighting of a flying horse, footsteps and branches cracking.
- Two sisters reported that when they walked through the grounds at night, the temperature quickly lowered. A man in military uniform stared at them but did nothing to them. He disappeared into thin air.
- A ghost police officer has been seen in an older-style uniform and sends trespassers on their way.
Neighborhoods like West Park are made richer by the efforts of hard-working volunteers like WPHS. The walk ended with many saying “See you next year!”
Barb Schumacher, a first time participant said, “What struck me most about the presentation was that the speaker researched those buried. We were told about veterans, a freed slave, police officers, citizens of West Park and other founding families. It was a great crowd.”
For more information, visit the West Park Historical Society’s website, or the West Park Kamm’s Corners website.
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