My Haunted Travel Blog! By Rosella C. Rowe

The Gill House:

Eight years ago several volunteers got together to save The Gill House in Galion, Ohio. Brenda Treisch and Jane Baker, who I interviewed during my recent visit to The Gill House, told me about their passion for saving the beautiful house that once was an elite home in Galion.

While the two women spoke, I could truly hear the emotion in their voices and passion for saving the property. With several other volunteers they bought The Gill House and now hold paranormal investigations and historical tours to fund its renovation. Their hope is to restore it to its original glory and even put the large four-pillared porch, which was destroyed by a past owner, back on the front of the house.

“How did you know the house was haunted?” I asked Brenda during my visit.

“Actually, a man we knew who was interested in the paranormal offered right away to come over stating, ‘We’ll come in and see if you’re haunted!’” Brenda thought: “Okay, and if there is a public interest, maybe this could fund the house.

“Luckily, the man found some ghosts in the lovely home, so we have been taking paranormal groups through the house ever since.” However, the group is really careful about guests being respectful of their resident ghosts in The Gill House by requiring guests to sign a waiver and by keeping a close eye on visitors during investigations.

“Have you ever had a paranormal experience here?” I asked Brenda. “Yes, she said. “I saw a dustball-looking entity that you could see through that was three feet off the floor move from the Sitting Room into the hallway. I also have heard things in the house a lot.”

Brenda’s husband, Brian Treisch, has also had similar experiences in the house but upstairs on the second floor, saw a man on the back stairs, and felt like he was touched while in the attic! One time, when Brian was in the attic with a paranormal group at night, he was standing near the large Christmas tree that was in storage there when he felt something scratch him. He thought he may have run into the tree; however, the paranormal group was using equipment that shed enough light for him to see that he was not close enough to the tree to be rubbing against it. That’s when Brain realized he must have been scratched by something else – something unseen. After Brian’s experience, the staff decided to just leave the tree in parlor after the next holiday. Now the Christmas tree stands in the parlor on the first floor all year long.

“Jane,” I asked the other volunteer sitting on a large Victorian armed chair, “have you experienced anything paranormal in the house?”

“Oh yes! I have experienced the most activity because I am the one who gives the paranormal group tours. I saw an Indian in the basement when I was with a paranormal group. I went upstairs and described him to another volunteer … and was told that it sounded like I saw Soloman Jahnwcoke (also known as Johnny Cake), who is a well-known Indian, (who) was last seen stopping at the property on his way out of town. Then he rode into the sunset never to be seen again. I remember him well,” Jane said, “He looked me straight in the eyes.”

As Jane related her story, I could definitely tell she was emotional about what she had seen. Jane says that she saw the man in the far back room in the basement.

Brenda and Jan also claim that while in the basement, paranormal investigators regularly ask the spirits there: “Is Jahnwcoke here with us?” While reviewing voice recordings, those investigators often hear a “Yes” response.

Jane and Brenda claim that all volunteers at the house have experienced some form of paranormal activity.

The property itself has an interesting past. A cemetery used to be next to the property and when the home was being built, workers found graves that needed to be moved. Today, the volunteers claim that some of the paranormal groups that have visited often get the names of children sprits from the cemetery during their paranormal investigations. The volunteers think these children spirits also reside in The Gill House.

What’s also interesting is there have been three homes all owned and built by the Gill family on the same land! The original structure was a log home that was later torn down. Next, a Federal Style plain house with two stories was built on the site. Years later, Bloomer Gill married Nellie Stewart and came into some inheritance money. The couple picked the second house up off its foundation, moved it down the street, and built a new home, The Gill House, which is what you see today. Bloomer and Nellie had four children: Mary, Isabelle, Mina, and Jimmy.

Bloomer was known to hide from his wife in a corner of the attic while drinking. He even went blind because of his drinking problem. Today, that corner in the attic is called The Grumpy Corner, and it is a hotspot for paranormal activity. When interviewing Jane, she told me that she was called “A Bitch” by Bloomer on a ghost box during a night investigation while observing a paranormal group.

Unfortunately, none of the four children wanted the home after their father, Bloomer, died so Nellie, Bloomer’s wife, moved back into the Federal Style home that had been moved down the street and which she still owned.

Bloomer and Nellie Gill's Four Children

Nellie then sold The Gill House to Dean and Bonnie Talbott. Dean moved his elderly mother in with the couple, but Dean’s wife, Bonnie, didn’t get along with his mother, so the mother built a wall between them. The wall divided the upstairs where Ava, the mother, lived, from the downstairs, where her son and daughter-in-law lived.

Dean’s mother died in the home and years later Dean died of a heart attack at an Ohio State football game. Ava remarried a shipman and no longer wanted the house. She convinced a high-society couple, Phillip and Jean Hesby, to move to Galion and buy the home. But the couple was unhappy in the town and let the home fall into disrepair.

Other deaths occurred on the property throughout the years when it was a log home and Federal Style home as well.

The Gill House has several paranormal hotspots, including the fireplace that a volunteer was restoring. The volunteer said she felt a presence behind her. She turned and saw a translucent woman in white, wearing an old fashion dress looking at her, as if the apparition wondered what the volunteer was doing to the fireplace. The volunteer believes the woman was Nellie Gill, the wife of the former owner of The Gill House. She thinks Nellie was just making sure that the volunteer wasn’t hurting the property but restoring it. Then the vision slipped around the corner and was gone.

Jimmy is often spotted in the house in a child form and is known to be the prankster of the house, a role he reportedly filled in life. “So it makes sense,” says Jane, The Gill House volunteer.

Other areas of paranormal activity are:

• the back stairs where Brian Treisch saw an apparition of a man;

• the master bedroom on the second floor;

• the library;

• the dining room;

• the parlor, where a figure was spotted in the window. Other people passing by have also seen figures in the windows in the home while the volunteers are gone.

So did I experience anything at the Gill House? Good question!

While giving me a tour, Brenda Triesch took me to the basement and began showing me around; however, a light that normally comes on automatically wasn’t turned on. As we moved closer and moved around to see if it would come on it still didn’t. Then poor Brenda stepped out into the darkness and fell into the mud and as soon as she fell, letting out a small shriek, the light turned on! So that was my first experience at The Gill House.

Brenda's Footprint

Basement Light

I started in the attic after interviewing Jane and asking her where she thought the most paranormal activity in house took place? Her answer was intriguing. “The attic.”

Why, I asked her. To which she answered, “You’ll see when you get up there!” Hmmm…this I had to check out.

Grumpy Corner

My friend and fellow paranormal investigator, Evan, sat on the attic floor while I sat on a large, red bucket asking questions. We didn’t get any response until I asked Bloomer to show us he was really there by making a loud knock or stomping sound. Then I picked up my right foot and stomped it really hard on the attic floor. Suddenly a huge vibrating stomp came from underneath my tennis shoe. I looked at Evan and was so surprised to get a sound that loud I could hardly form the words fast enough saying, “Did you...?” as my mouth gaped open and eyes widened. “Oh yeah I did!” he said, “right under my tuchis,” as he smiled. We both had felt the floor vibrate and as a paranormal investigator I have never gotten a sound that loud nor felt something with so much power! We didn’t get any other response, but now I know the rumors are definitely accurate. Bloomer was certainly in his Grumpy Corner.

The second place we went was the second floor where Dean Talbott’s mother, Ava, lived. Remember, Ava didn’t like her daughter-in-law, Bonnie. We were walking around the hallway as Evan asked, “You don’t want me to be here? Do you want me to leave?” When my EMF-Reader lit up. I also heard a voice at the same time that was female say, “GO AWAY!” It was really loud! The air in the hallway seemed to change after that.

2nd Floor Hallway

Soon we entered the room that the original owners used as their master bedroom. There are three windows in the room, which is shaped like the oval office in the White House. The windows are evenly spaced apart around the outside wall of the room. The main, front window, in the middle of the three, is the focal point of the room. I walked up to the middle window and looked out while saying to Evan, “I wonder if I can see the second house built on this property down the street from here.” That was when we heard tapping on the outside of the glass of the window toward my right. Evan and I both stopped short and looked at each other. I asked him if he had heard it, too, and he said he had.

Middle window I looked out of. Window to the right we heard the tapping on from outside (we were on the 2nd floor).

After that we moved back to the basement where Jane saw the Indian, Soloman Johnwcoke. We started an EMF sweep around the basement and were asking questions when Evan would suddenly get swift EMF spikes but they would vanish then come back again. However, my EMF-reader wasn’t going off at all which was strange. This happened again for several minutes in the same area where Brenda had stepped into the mud and the light swiftly turned on.

Then we decided to go into the library on the first floor and put our EMF readers on the large dining table that is in the room and asked, “Is anyone here with us?” Evan and I both told the spirits in the room who we were. Then we asked if someone was with us and if so, could they please make a sound? We demonstrated a noise by tapping on the table two times. In response, we heard two taps on the wall near the bottom of the windowsill. Then the EMF-reader lit up two times in a row. We stopped and said, “Hello” then it lit up fully for two minutes without stopping as we heard what sounded like a conversation from really far away between a male and female. The odd thing was it sounded like it was coming from the ceiling!

Library Fireplace

Lastly, we investigated the stairs but didn’t get a response so we walked upstairs again to the second floor where we simply sat down in the middle of the floor and began talking. Fifteen minutes in we were laughing and telling jokes when we heard tapping on the wall behind me. Soon the tapping started to move around the oval room tapping between the windows as it moved around the room, until it reached the bathroom behind Evan where it tapped once. The tap seemed like it was at the same height as it was in the master bedroom. As this was happening, Evan and I stopped laughing and looked right at each other hearing the sounds. When it stopped, Evan said, “I heard that!” The room went silent so we began speaking again and after a few minutes the tapping happened again the same as it had before.

So would I suggest a visit to The Gill House? HECK YEAH, I WOULD! If you love the paranormal or ghost stories this house won’t disappoint! You can book a paranormal tour and do an investigation by yourself or with a group.

Even if you don’t like the paranormal, you can go for an historical tour of the house! The house is so beautiful and there is so much history! Thomas Edison’s wife was friends with Nellie Gill, and the Edison couple visited the house often.

Henry Ford

Also, Henry Ford was noted as stopping in for lunch with his black Ford automobile! In addition, Harvey Firestone and Warren G. Harding also visited The Gill House. There is so much awesome history to love about this gorgeous property. Visit and enjoy