Tinker's Hollow -- a creepy urban legend? Or not?
Oct. 13—MONROE — Of all the remote, creepy, spooky places in Ashtabula County, few are as eerie as Tinker's Hollow.
The privately owned, remote property sits along Conneaut Creek, where Horton Road dead ends at a barricaded bridge. It is about a 20-minute drive from Ashtabula.
Searching the Internet for "Tinker's Hollow" turns up several paranormal websites that mention the legends and namesake family.
Essentially, they center upon the Dec. 16, 1839 death of Silas Tinker, a moody old curmudgeon who, to this day, doesn't take kindly to folks snooping around his land.
Silas was allegedly thrown from his carriage as he traveled through the hollow. A more plausible explanation for Silas' death is old age.
Silas was 91 when he died, whether the cause of his passing was his carriage hitting a pothole, a misbehaving horse or the Grim Reaper, no one knows for sure.
Nevertheless, legends state that his ghost continues to haunt the hollow — just look for his glowing green eyes in the darkness. Some say they've heard old Silas saying "Go away."
Strangely, another similar fatal accident happened in Tinker's Hollow a few years after Silas Tinker's demise.
Bert Brydle was found dead on the road under suspicious circumstances. This upset area residents, who believed Brydle was murdered by bandits or the victim of an other-worldly being.
Authorities later determined Brydle died as a result of a fall from his horse-drawn carriage.
More recently, in 2015, there have been reports of orbs, flashing lights and sounds of a horse and a man walking the bridge, but when checked no one was there.
In 2006, a motorist reported car engine trouble as he passed through the hollow.
Later that year, two boys looking for paranormal activity, reported seeing flickering lights and their flashlight quit working.
With Halloween only a little more than two weeks away, you decide — fact or fiction?
"Hidden History of Ashtabula County," by Carl E. Feather; the Unexplained Mysteries website, and the Paranormal Activity Network Investigation Center website contributed to this story.
