The Buxton Inn

The Buxton Inn in Granville has been operating since 1812 and comes with at least three documented ghosts: former innkeeper Bonnie Bounell (the 'Lady in Blue' in Room 9), a pie-stealing spirit in white breeches, and a 15-pound ghost cat that jumps on beds.

In the mid-1980s, a nurse manager staying in Room 7 at the Buxton Inn woke to a woman in an old-fashioned dress with puffed sleeves standing in her doorway. "You can't sleep, can you?" the woman asked, then turned and walked away. When staff showed the nurse a newspaper photograph of Ethel "Bonnie" Bounell, a former innkeeper who had died in the building in 1960, the nurse identified her immediately.

The Buxton Inn in Granville, Ohio, has been running since 1812, when a pioneer named Orrin Granger built what he simply called "The Tavern." It served as a stagecoach stop between Newark and Columbus, the town's first post office, and a gathering place with a ballroom and dining room. It's one of the oldest continuously operating inns in Ohio, and it has at least three human ghosts and one cat.

Bonnie Bounell is the most active. She lived in Rooms 9 and 10 and died of acute meningitis on May 4, 1960. Guests in Room 9 describe a woman in blue (Bonnie's favorite color) who walks through the locked door, looks at them, and leaves. A couple once reported an intruder in an "old-fashioned blue dress" who entered their room despite the deadbolt. During a 1972-1974 renovation, workers refused to stay in the building after dark because they kept seeing "a lady in blue" on the upper floors.

In 1989, two elderly women staying in Room 9 reported that something "jumped onto the bed" in the middle of the night. The manager found no cat in the room. Staff believe this was Major Buxton, a 15-pound cat who lived at the inn and was featured in the Columbus Dispatch on January 10, 1946. The cat's ghost is most active in Room 9, Bonnie's old quarters.

Major Horton Buxton, a former owner who ran the inn from October 1865 until his death on June 15, 1902, appears in the kitchen and dining areas. Orrin Granger, the original builder, shows up less frequently, usually wearing white breeches. Staff have accused him of making off with freshly baked pies.

During the COVID shutdown, manager Jennifer Valenzuela was alone in the closed building when she heard "clanking mugs and chairs being slid" from the empty tavern downstairs. The inn had been locked and vacant for weeks.

The first written account of a ghost at the Buxton Inn appeared on May 10, 1932, when a student named Fred Sweet published his encounter in the Denison University college newspaper. That's nearly a century of documented sightings in the same building, an unusually long paper trail for a haunted inn.

The Buxton Inn now has 25 rooms spread across five connected houses. If you want the most active room, ask for Room 9. If you want a quieter night, ask for anything on the first floor.