Clearing up Tower Johnny

[presto123]

I ain't 'fraid of no ghost.

Who YOU gonna call?

 

 I so miss the 80's. Yeah there was some cheese, but the 80's ruled for pop music and it was pop musicians who could actually play and not fake it.

[The Interpreter]

Sometimes -- though ' might or might not be N Sync--so to sing.

[Browntggrr]

I ain't 'fraid of no ghost.

Who YOU gonna call?

Apparently someone with glaucoma.

[KIghostguy]

Sine you all wanted to hear the White Water Canyon story, here it is. This was told to me by Lee Allen, who is a member of the Paravizionz ghosthunting group who has investigated the park three times. If this sounds familiar, Jim Wilson, another Paravizionz member, told this on the disappointing Ghost Hunters episode, but skipped a lot of the details that Lee told me.

Lee and his group were having an EVP session up in Tower 2 at White Water Canyon. EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomona-paranormal investigators ask the ghosts questions, hoping that the ghosts will respond on their tape recorders. Anyways, they were up in the tower doing an EVP session and heard the voice of the ghostly little girl talking on the other side of the closed door to the stairs leading from the tower. Eventually, they wrapped it up and Lee reached out to grab the door.

But the door wouldn't move. Lee said it felt like someone was standing on the other side of the door holding it closed. But of course, no one was. Meanwhile, they could hear the sound of a little girl laughing. Lee kept on asking her to open the door, and then finally the laughing stopped. The group could hear the sound of someone walking down the stairs, then they heard three footsteps in the gravel path, and then silence. At this moment, the door popped open, revealing no one outside or on the path.

[The Interpreter]

No bent spoons, Edgar?

[Magenta Lizard]

And of course, they still have the recording that proves the existence of ghosts and we've all heard it.

Oh, wait...

[presto123]

Sine you all wanted to hear the White Water Canyon story, here it is. This was told to me by Lee Allen, who is a member of the Paravizionz ghosthunting group who has investigated the park three times. If this sounds familiar, Jim Wilson, another Paravizionz member, told this on the disappointing Ghost Hunters episode, but skipped a lot of the details that Lee told me.

Lee and his group were having an EVP session up in Tower 2 at White Water Canyon. EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomona-paranormal investigators ask the ghosts questions, hoping that the ghosts will respond on their tape recorders. Anyways, they were up in the tower doing an EVP session and heard the voice of the ghostly little girl talking on the other side of the closed door to the stairs leading from the tower. Eventually, they wrapped it up and Lee reached out to grab the door.

But the door wouldn't move. Lee said it felt like someone was standing on the other side of the door holding it closed. But of course, no one was. Meanwhile, they could hear the sound of a little girl laughing. Lee kept on asking her to open the door, and then finally the laughing stopped. The group could hear the sound of someone walking down the stairs, then they heard three footsteps in the gravel path, and then silence. At this moment, the door popped open, revealing no one outside or on the path.

 

 

 Thanks for sharing. Fuddy duddy's can't have fun with these stories. I personally think stories and legends give the park more mystique. Not saying I believe in ghosts , but I'm willing to keep on open mind and it's a fun subject to talk about. I think it's all these ridiculous ghost hunter shows all over TV that have people rolling their eyes more than anything.

 

Not sure I believe in individual spirits, but I do believe that we are all energy that is a part of the collective unconscious or creative force of the universe. What happens to our energy when we die? That is the big question, but given the capacity and still unmapped and under-utilized areas of brain function, it's not out of the realm of possibility that certain people could pick up on energy. Pretty certain that people have experienced "ghosts", but what are they? Visual hallucinations caused by electromagnetic fields, psychic ability picking up on leftover energy, spirits of the dead or something else. People get upset because it doesn't fit in with what their view of the world should be.

 

 

With that being said, here is April Adams actual post about what happened to her when she worked at PKI. Don't know if there is a way to verify that she actually worked there. This was in 1996-97:

 

 

 

I just felt compelled to reply to this post. I was getting goose bumps while I was reading it because I used to work at PKI on the White Water Canyon. It was 1996-1997, I was 16 at the time (I am 23 now). To this day, the most terrifying moment of my life was when I was working at WWC. I didn't realize this "haunting" was so well known. It's actually really nice to know that other people have had similar experiences and I was not just loosing my mind.

One night I was closing in tower 2 on the WWC. The protocol for closing this ride was when the last person got off the ride, the boats were ran through empty one time. This could take about 10 minutes or so.

So, I'm sitting in the tower, looking out the big front window when all of a sudden, I hear laughing. It sounded like children coming from right around my tower. I couldn't tell if it was male or female, but I called back to the control station to ask them if there were still people on the ride and they told me that the last people had already gotten off and the empty boats were cycling.

Now, if anyone has ever worked WWC, they would know that tower 2 is WAAAYYYY out in the woods, a pretty lengthy stroll from the rest of the park. You have to walk down a very poorly lit trail through the woods to get out there. There are no "trashmen" out there, no reason for ANYONE to be out there. It is literally the end of the road.

Back to the story... I hung up the phone and waited for the boats to finish so I could go back in. All of a sudden, little rocks started tapping up against my side window. I got on my loud speaker and told whoever it was to stop. I looked out the window and there was no one there... but the rocks kept coming. Then, they started hitting the window on the other side too at the same time. I'm feeling a bit bold (I'm the girl in the movie about to open the door the killer is hiding behind and your yelling "Don't open the door you idiot!!")... So I get up and walk out the door to look to see who is playing this "prank" on me....

There's no one there. But I look and I see the rocks coming directly from the ground up to the window with no one there to throw them. I was so scared. I ran back in and got on the phone with the control station and told my supervisor what had happened. She said when the boats were done she would send someone out to walk me in since I was so shaken up.

Just then, I hear this loud BANG coming from behind me, and I turned around just in time to see a large rock (about 10 inches in diameter)slam up against the side of the door and fall to the ground. I ran out the door and looked down the steps. The rock was too big for any person to throw from the bottom of the staircase, but there was no one there at all and definately not enough time for anyone to run back down the steps without me seeing them.

That was the climax of the evening. Imagine being in this tower alone out in the middle of the woods with no people anywhere near, very little lighting... and having something like this happen. Needless to say, I refused to close tower 2 ever again.

This is exactly what happened to me, told as accurately as I can remember it. The stories are true.

 

 

[KIghostguy]

Yes, I've seen that post before, I think it was on Theme Park Expert? Or something like that.

[shark6495]

Anyone remember the ghost story of the 2 kids who snuck into KI and encountered some spooky things aRound a Lovely beaST of a ride IN maybE the mid 80s?

A true Fear Street even...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jcgoble3]

^ I checked those two books out from the library quite some time ago and read them. Interesting stories.

[Creed Bratton]

I've had similar experience with pebbles.

[presto123]

I've had similar experience with pebbles.

 

 

 What area or are you still saving that story   You don't have to tell, just wondering where at.

[Creed Bratton]

Tower 2, still saving the story for when I have time to actually type it out.

[KIBeast]

I had never seen this post, so thanks for sharing the story and pictures of Johnny. it's nice to finally put a face to a person that I had only heard of. 

[Spectrum91]

He was not decapitated during the fall, the Warren County Coroner was quoted as saying in the Columbus Dispatch as saying that the cause of death was "skull fractures and several broken bones". 

 

Bumping this thread a little bit...

 

Do you have a link to that Columbus Dispatch article? I ask because I just stumbled upon this article (http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/14/A-high-school-senior-was-decapitated-in-moving-elevator/9788421732800/), from United Press International, that states John was decapitated.

 

From The Bryan Times article you linked (https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=799&dat=19630510&id=eZJPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mVEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4078,4112870&hl=en):  "Authorities said he died instantly, suffering a skull fracture and several broken bones." It doesn't specify that was the cause of death though, although it'd be odd to specify those injuries and not the decapitation.

[KIghostguy]

 

He was not decapitated during the fall, the Warren County Coroner was quoted as saying in the Columbus Dispatch as saying that the cause of death was "skull fractures and several broken bones". 

 

Bumping this thread a little bit...

 

Do you have a link to that Columbus Dispatch article? I ask because I just stumbled upon this article (http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/14/A-high-school-senior-was-decapitated-in-moving-elevator/9788421732800/), from United Press International, that states John was decapitated.

 

From The Bryan Times article you linked (https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=799&dat=19630510&id=eZJPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mVEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4078,4112870&hl=en):  "Authorities said he died instantly, suffering a skull fracture and several broken bones." It doesn't specify that was the cause of death though, although it'd be odd to specify those injuries and not the decapitation.

 

I have two articles from the Columbus Dispatch, one from the Columbus Citizen-Journal, and four from the Cincinnati Enquirer, all of which say that he had suffered skull fractures and broken bones and died from the fall.

I unfortunately don't have the link for the Dispatch and Citizen-Journal as I had those personally e-mailed to me from the Columbus Public Library. The Cincinnati Enquirer articles, however, can easily be found on newspapers.com . 

[KIghostguy]

Did some research at the Delaware, Ohio Public Library a few days ago. Only two articles ran in the Delaware Gazette about the incident. Thought you folks might find them interesting. They ran in the May 16, 1983 and May 19, 1983 editions, respectively.

 

[whengodsaysgo]

On ‎7‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 11:30 AM, chugh43 said:

Tower 2, still saving the story for when I have time to actually type it out.

Double bump.  Looking at you, @chugh43!!!! 

[Creed Bratton]

On 12/26/2017 at 8:45 PM, whengodsaysgo said:

Double bump.  Looking at you, @chugh43!!!! 

Lol...the time isn't now though.

[shark6495]

Let’s not forget this man was someone’s son. Someone’s friend. Etc. Every time this gets rebrought back up someone’s family or friend may come across it. And any posts you publish reflect directly on the type of person you are and the type of people we have on this site.


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[Creed Bratton]

What exactly is that supposed to mean? 

[IndyGuy4KI]

5 hours ago, shark6495 said:

Let’s not forget this man was someone’s son. Someone’s friend. Etc. Every time this gets rebrought back up someone’s family or friend may come across it. And any posts you publish reflect directly on the type of person you are and the type of people we have on this site.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agree with the first part of your post, but we can talk and discuss the accident and its impact on the park without being disrespectful.  Learning about the tragedy and discussing factual information is being respectful of his life.

We as admin will not tolerate anyone disrespecting or judging John or his family.

[shark6495]

4 hours ago, chugh43 said:

What exactly is that supposed to mean? 

It means that we should treat the subject with respect.  Nothing more nothing less.  While it is a part of park history, it helps to be reminded that this is a person who actually lived and was loved in this area.  Just lets not judge the dead or the living.  

2 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Agree with the first part of your post, but we can talk and discuss the accident and its impact on the park without being disrespectful.  Learning about the tragedy and discussing factual information is being respectful of his life.

We as admin will not tolerate anyone disrespecting or judging John or his family.

Agreed and thank you.  I just dont like that on here, we all can get a bit carried away and forget that we are talking about someone with a family.  

[BeeastFarmer]

I, for one, appreciate this thread.  I was in 8th grade when the incident occurred and it was the talk of the school with wild and graphic details/rumors being presented.  Someone made a tragic mistake.  The information that KIghostguy has made available makes John Harter more real and less of an urban legend.

[KIghostguy]

6 hours ago, jtro223 said:

I, for one, appreciate this thread.  I was in 8th grade when the incident occurred and it was the talk of the school with wild and graphic details/rumors being presented.  Someone made a tragic mistake.  The information that KIghostguy has made available makes John Harter more real and less of an urban legend.

Thanks, but almost all of the info in the original post is wrong.

[Novie]

On 9/9/2015 at 9:46 PM, KIghostguy said:

For all the people reading this post-I am so glad I can clear this up. Exaggarating and making up details on John's death really angers me, not only because it's historically inaccurate, but also because I find embellishing/making up stuff very disrespectful and rude to John's memory.

UH HUH....

 

[Number5IsAlive]

OP could have came up with a better thread title. At first glance it appears as "Cleaning up Tower Johnny", which someone had to sadly.

[KIghostguy]

On 5/29/2019 at 5:58 PM, Novie said:

UH HUH....

 

Um, okay? Not really sure what you are getting at.

For all those coming because of the thread bump, this post came when I did not have as much information as I have now. A much, much better, more accurate account is here: http://kingsislandghosts.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-truth-behind-tower-johnny.html?m=1

[Phantom Theater]

15 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

Um, okay? Not really sure what you are getting at.

For all those coming because of the thread bump, this post came when I did not have as much information as I have now. A much, much better, more accurate account is here: http://kingsislandghosts.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-truth-behind-tower-johnny.html?m=1

This is a great blog post. Thank you for sharing!

[Joshua]

9 hours ago, KIghostguy said:

Um, okay? Not really sure what you are getting at.

I found that confusing, as well. This in their only post and they haven't logged back on since. So their sole purpose was to post a snarky, nondescript comment over your Tower Johnny article? Strange.