The historic building and restaurant in Waverly, Ohio touted as haunted is no more.

Historic Emmitt House destroyed by fire | The Chillicothe Gazette | chillicothegazette.com.

A historic — and believed to be haunted — landmark in downtown Waverly was destroyed by fire Monday night. The historic building, which has gone through several owners over recent years and several openings and closings as well, has gained national attention for its believed paranormal activity. The most recent such exposure came in March 2013 when the restaurant was featured on an episode of the SyFy Network series “Haunted Collector.”

The building, built as a hotel in 1861, was deemed a total loss. It was a mecca of paranormal tourism, hosting events, conferences, ghost hunts and haunted dinners. Rumor is that ghost of James Emmitt, noted by his cigar smoke, still remained in the house along with MANY other “spirits” of slaves, children and former residents. A ghost hunt for 8 people cost $400 – a nice bit of business that is no more. The article notes that bones were found in the basement of the structure in 2012 by paranormal investigators. When I searched for more about this, since no detail was given, I found that WE covered this story back in 2012! It turns out they were animal bones. Funny how that part is not mentioned AT all.

This place was groomed as a haunted location. If anyone knows of any actual solid evidence (no, not lame pictures, EVPs, EMF reports, spooky stories and the like but ACTUAL EVIDENCE) that this place was anything other than an atmospheric old building with lots of added folklore, let me know.

The real shame is that a historic building was lost to the community. But since it was known mainly for paranormal stuff, it’s true value was warped with silly ghostiness long ago.