Complete History of a Kings Island Ghost

[KIghostguy]

Hello folks, I thought you all would enjoy reading this blog post I wrote. A comprehensive history of Kings Island's cemetery and filled with never-before-heard ghost stories and eyewitness accounts of Missouri Jane Galeener. Enjoy!

https://kingsislandghost.blogspot.com/2022/01/kings-islands-ghastly-girl-in-blue.html

[BlondyRidesOn]

Thanks for the blog post! Nice background history behind the cemetery. It's also nice to see that you incorporated the 1970 construction photo. I've seen that photo before but have not been able to find it in years. I have a question that might have been answered in another post, but wasn't the cemetery used in Arrow-HUSS promo for The Bat in 1981? It's around the beginning of the video before the ride is shown. (Video posted by Sean Flaharty on YouTube)

https://youtu.be/QqOo9ZMrxPM

[KIghostguy]

2 hours ago, BlondyRidesOn said:

 I have a question that might have been answered in another post, but wasn't the cemetery used in Arrow-HUSS promo for The Bat in 1981? It's around the beginning of the video before the ride is shown. (Video posted by Sean Flaharty on YouTube)

https://youtu.be/QqOo9ZMrxPM

Nice catch! Yes, that is definitely the cemetery! I’m glad you found the blog post to be interesting.

[BoddaH1994]

Does it bother anyone else when the kids who run the train and overstay their welcome on the microphone claim that Missouri Jane lived in the house within the fort even though, based on the architecture of the house, she died about 100 years before it was constructed?

[Magenta Lizard]

^yes, I've been known to gripe about that. 

It actually bothers me a bit when they reference her by name at all. It is one thing to tell ghost stories, but Missouri Jane was a real person who died far too young. To me, it feels disrespectful to attribute things to her specifically. Fortunately they often refer to an unnamed "girl in a blue dress" instead. 

[BoddaH1994]

5 hours ago, Magenta Lizard said:

^yes, I've been known to gripe about that. 

It actually bothers me a bit when they reference her by name at all. It is one thing to tell ghost stories, but Missouri Jane was a real person who died far too young. To me, it feels disrespectful to attribute things to her specifically. Fortunately they often refer to an unnamed "girl in a blue dress" instead. 

I’ve heard her referred to as Missouri Jane more often than not.

Nome the less, she likely died of cholera rather than drowning in the WWC reservoir. I don’t think that water naturally ran in there until the park was built.

[Joshua]

I really enjoyed this article! I've never experienced any kind of supernatural activity in my life, so I can't help but wonder what it'd be like to see an actual apparition. 

[chuck norris]

I'm into genealogy... Not so much ghost... So I found the history intro interesting.

Do you have a full picture of the headstone, or a full transcription of the text?

Using genealogy tools/websites, I can find record of Stephen and Nancy galeener (maiden name malsbury), and records for at least two children they had...

The first (i can find) is Nancy Alice (jr), born 1856 in Ohio. This matches, and she would have been 4 when Missouri Jane passed.

The second is Stephen Clifton (jr) , who was born in February 1860, after the family had moved to Illinois.

This matches the statement at the end, of Missouri Jane's parents being buried in Illinois... But seems odd that brother Stephen Clifton would have been born in February of 1860 in Illinois if she was born later that same year, but back in Ohio. I can't find any Ohio birth records for Missouri Jane, but I also can't find birth records for the siblings above... The info I have is from their Illinois marriage certificates later in their lives, or death certificates, or birth certificates of their children (referencing parents birthday)... So likely the Ohio records from that time weren't kept or are not yet digitized.


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[IndyGuy4KI]

Interesting info, thanks @chuck norris

[Joshua]

Very interesting. I can't even fathom how much work went into this research. I believe a picture of the headstone was in the article, but it's rather small. You can make out the name "Missouri Jane" and that she's the daughter of Stephen and Nancy, but I can't make out the last name. It then says she "departed this" what appears to be "life," and then the years. 

[KIghostguy]

Fascinating, @chuck norris. Missouri Jane was born in 1840, 20 years before Stephen was born.

From what I could make out, her headstone reads:

"IN

Memory of 

MISSOURI JANE

daughter of Stephen B. a. Nancy Galeener

who departed this

life March 10 1846

Aged 5 years 8

months a. 11 days."

[chuck norris]

Thanks kighostguy.. I'll go search more. Where did you find the info about a younger brother?


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[KIghostguy]

Just now, chuck norris said:

Thanks kighostguy.. I'll go search more. Where did you find the info about a younger brother?


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There is a William E. Galeener buried with Nancy and Stephen. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17484340/william-e-galeener

[chuck norris]

So this is interesting...
Her brother William was born Oct 30, 1840... Per that headstone.
So you know... Human biology says that Missouri Jane could not have been born June 27, 1840 (only 4 months before her brother)...

According to social security death records for William, he was actually born in 1841... So that would make sense (in terms of Missouri Jane being his biological sister), but it makes his headstone wrong.

Also of interest,
Per the kings mills Ohio Wikipedia page... There was a town in that area named gainsboro that was started in 1815... But it didn't prosper and eventually kings mills was established in 1884.

So it's plausible that Missouri Jane, and her brother William, were born in this Gainsboro area, and then their family left for Illinois after Missouri Jane passed (1846) but before their next sibling (nancy 1856) was born... They possibly left when the town of Gainsboro (now kings mills) disbanded.

Or Gainsboro could have been long gone by 1840...


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[Creed Bratton]

Wow great insight into Missouri Jane! Would love to continue seeing efforts to trace her story! 

[shark6495]

So this is interesting...
Her brother William was born Oct 30, 1840... Per that headstone.
So you know... Human biology says that Missouri Jane could not have been born June 27, 1840 (only 4 months before her brother)...

According to social security death records for William, he was actually born in 1841... So that would make sense (in terms of Missouri Jane being his biological sister), but it makes his headstone wrong.

Also of interest,
Per the kings mills Ohio Wikipedia page... There was a town in that area named gainsboro that was started in 1815... But it didn't prosper and eventually kings mills was established in 1884.

So it's plausible that Missouri Jane, and her brother William, were born in this Gainsboro area, and then their family left for Illinois after Missouri Jane passed (1846) but before their next sibling (nancy 1856) was born... They possibly left when the town of Gainsboro (now kings mills) disbanded.

Or Gainsboro could have been long gone by 1840...


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You probably already have it (and hey fellow genealogy buff) but here’s her link https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15427374/missouri-jane-galeenor




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[Tad ghostal]

I visited this cemetery recently and didn't see her grave...anyone know where it went? Its a small cemetery so I figured it'd be easy to find. Also...anyone know how they determined the ghost was her? There are several young girls buried there and its not like know what any of them looked like.

[Magenta Lizard]

This is just my own speculation, but I believe that people’s stories of a ghost girl made others more aware of the cemetery on the property as a possible “source”.  There are actually only a few girls (that list the birth and death dates so they may be identified as having been children at the time of death https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2157659/memorial-search?page=3#sr-16365972) and only one other who was older than a toddler: Hannah Newcomb, who, like Missouri Jane, was around 6 when she died. Missouri Jane’s name is unusual, interesting, and memorable so I believe that’s why calling the ghost girl that caught on. From the stories I’ve heard it sounds like they are actually describing someone older than a 5-6 year old anyway, but there was no one identifiable in the cemetery as having died around that age.

I haven’t looked at the cemetery recently, but I’m hoping that you just were unable to find the gravestone, rather than it be stolen. However, when I have visited there typically were flowers or other things left behind that made it fairly clear which stone read Missouri Jane, so I’m worried. 

example from August 2015, it was the only grave with any sort of decoration. 

[HandsUp]

Sorry to hijack, but where can I get info on the house inside the fort?

[lifetimecoaster]

3 hours ago, HandsUp said:

Sorry to hijack, but where can I get info on the house inside the fort?

I've gone hunting for that info myself in the past, and there is some info here on the forum, but from what I've heard, there's not really much interestingness in the story. It was a house that was on the property when they took over that property, and they kept it as a storage building that is now starting to collapse in on itself. 

[Tad ghostal]

On 5/20/2019 at 4:21 AM, Magenta Lizard said:

This is just my own speculation, but I believe that people’s stories of a ghost girl made others more aware of the cemetery on the property as a possible “source”.  There are actually only a few girls (that list the birth and death dates so they may be identified as having been children at the time of death https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2157659/memorial-search?page=3#sr-16365972) and only one other who was older than a toddler: Hannah Newcomb, who, like Missouri Jane, was around 6 when she died. Missouri Jane’s name is unusual, interesting, and memorable so I believe that’s why calling the ghost girl that caught on. From the stories I’ve heard it sounds like they are actually describing someone older than a 5-6 year old anyway, but there was no one identifiable in the cemetery as having died around that age.

I haven’t looked at the cemetery recently, but I’m hoping that you just were unable to find the gravestone, rather than it be stolen. However, when I have visited there typically were flowers or other things left behind that made it fairly clear which stone read Missouri Jane, so I’m worried. 

example from August 2015, it was the only grave with any sort of decoration. 

I see....anyway I looked all over the cemetery and couldn't find it, it was the oddest thing, even with a few pics of the headstone already available. Anyway, her name is intrugues me, I've been to numerous 19th century cemetaries around here and I've never seen a quite like Missouri Jane before.

[Jallie79]

Great read.  Love trying to understand the paranormal.   Would love to get the chance to investigate the park. Lol

Also read your post on the Lion mauling and Tower Johnny. both very interesting.   Thanks for posting. 

[Magenta Lizard]

Whew. I was worried from @Tad ghostal‘s post that someone stole her stone, so I went over to check today. Her stone is still there and actually sunken into the ground now rather than just leaning against a broken piece.