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A Glassy Eyed Gaze in Spring Grove Cemetery

The largest nonprofit private cemetery in the United States, Spring Grove Cemetery is beautiful and visually stunning, complete with a wonderful cross-section of statuary (including a sphinx), several ponds and even waterfalls. It is also home to one of Ohio's strangest legends––the statue with human eyes.

Give My Eyes to the Stone

As the story goes, one of the tombstones in Spring Grove Cemetery is decorated with a unique bust done in the likeness of the gentleman buried below.

What makes this bust stand out among all the others in Spring Grove is that according to legend, the man buried here had a rather strange final request. According to the man's will, after his death the man wanted his eyes removed and placed into the sockets of the bust on his tombstone. No one is sure why he wanted this done, but the popular belief is that he wanted to keep watch over his grave for all eternity.

I'm Watching You

As if the idea of human eyes being shoved inside a granite bust isn't disturbing enough, there is another variation of the story in which those human eyes actually follow you as you walk around the cemetery. No matter where you stand, if you can see the bust, it will appear as though it is watching you. Of course, sometimes it's darn near impossible to follow someone with just your eyes, so in certain situations, the statue comes to life and will turn its entire head in order to see you better. And if you're really lucky, some people say the bust will even speak to you.

Who's Watching Whom?

So are the stories true? Well…sort of. There is indeed a tombstone in Spring Grove Cemetery that features the bust of a man. And the eyes of that bust do appear quite human-like. In all honesty, seeing the bust for the first time is a bit eerie, as from afar the eyes do appear to be real. However, on closer inspection, it's quite easy to tell that they are clearly glass. One only has to imagine the unsettling results if someone placed human eyes in a statue and left them exposed to the elements for decades. But do the bust's eyes seem to follow you wherever you go? Somewhat. But they do so in much the same manner as the eyes of a friend's velvet Elvis painting do. And personally, we find the Elvis painting more unnerving.

Still, it is very hard to deny that the eyes do appear to be following you as you walk among the tombstones.

So if you try to sneak into Spring Grove Cemetery late one night don't be surprised if you get the feeling that someone is watching your every move. Of course, it might just be cemetery security coming to arrest you for trespassing. 

Weird Ohio

 

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