Ghost of Ceely Rose
Some Haunts Remain on Earth Because of Love; Others, Due to Crime
Tragic woman loved a man, but family forbade any relationship between them. Although she died in an insane asylum, Ceely's ghost is attached to her home.
By July 19th, 1896, the residents of Pleasant Valley, Richland County, Ohio were shocked that all immediate members of the Rose family had died mysteriously, with the exception of 23-year-old Ceely. After her father, David, and brother, Walter, died, mother Rebecca, figured out what happened and tried to protect Ceely from the law. Rebecca’s fatal mistake was to tell her daughter about plans to move from the village.
Portrait of a Murderess
Née Celia Rose, she was a troubled teenager. The girl was a slow learner and had been placed in a school class with much younger children who cruelly teased and mocked her. Cora and Tracy Davis, older and more mature girls, became friends with her. Sometimes they visited Ceely, but soon became uncomfortable with Rebecca’s close hovering and no longer went to the Rose’s home; however, the girls remained friends.
Ceely struggled through school, but never graduated. By the time she was in her early 20s, she had noticed young men and fell in love with a neighbor, Guy Berry.
Murderous Seeds Sown
Guy was kind to her. She visited him every time she could sneak away. There are two versions as to what happened when their friendship was discovered. One is that Ceely began telling people Guy and she would be married. This embarrassed David, so he told her she wasn’t to see him again. The other is that George, Guy’s father, didn’t like her seeing his son, so he asked David to forbid her visiting.
The young woman decided the only way she could see Guy was to kill her family. She laced their breakfast with rat poison. The men died first. When Rebecca realized what happened, she talked about moving. Whether or not she told her daughter this was to protect her isn’t known. Ceely didn’t want to live far from Guy, so she gave her mother a heavier dose of poison.
Autopsies revealed all died of arsenic poisoning.
Confession, Trial and Verdict
People, including Cora Davis’ father, suspected Ceely killed her family. Mr. Davis asked Cora to help prove this. The day the two women met was hot, so they went into the barn, which was cooler than the house. Ceely told her friend that she killed her family with rat poison so she could still see Guy and would marry him. She threw the arsenic into a pepper box in the barnyard, hiding it under weeds. Mr. Davis hid in the barn and heard everything.
There were three trials, one for each of the murders. Many witnesses testified that Ceely was of a weak and unsound mind.
When she was asked if Guy asked her to kill her family, she replied the devil told her to do it.
One source states she was found not guilty by reason of insanity; the other, not guilty due to psychosis. She was remanded to the Toledo State Asylum, then to the one in Lima where she died.
Ceely’s Ghost
The Rose homestead where the family was murdered is now a part of Malabar Farm State Park. Witnesses reported seeing her ghost looking out of the window, especially on the nights of the full moon. Some believe she is looking for Guy to come to her. Others think she is waiting for the sheriff to come and arrest her. Her specter has been sighted when no young women were living in the farmhouse.
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Source:
Historic Haunted America, Michael Norman & Beth Scott, (Tor, 1995)
