Local writers, artists conjure new ‘Cincinnati Cabinet of Curiosities’

Cincinnati has long been home to ghost stories, legends, tall tales and other "weird history."

Some of the most notable, forgotten and beloved local stories will be memorialized forever in "Cincinnati Cabinet of Curiosities Issue 2: Trails, Trains and Terror." 

The 44-page black and white comic anthology was edited by Kat Klockow and includes nine total artist and writer contributors, including Enquirer librarian and historian Jeff Suess and Enquirer cartoonist Kevin Necessary. 

Klockow also hosts the "Hometown Haunts" podcast, which explores hauntings, strange phenomena, cryptids and urban legends around the Tristate.

A Kickstarter for the anthology is currently active until Nov. 3 and has already surpassed an initial fundraising goal of $6,500. Klockow said the project eventually hopes to raise around $8,000 to pay the advances for the authors and illustrators next year. 

In total, there are six new stories in the second issue: 

• "The Crosswick Monster" and "Cryptids Together": Two retellings of the Crosswick Monster incident, where a strange creature stalked and attempted to spirit off with a young child from Crosswick, a small community outside Waynesville, Ohio, in May 1882. The first story and art provided by Aziza and Inky and the second by Steve Steglin. 
• "Specters of the Sorg," written by Klockow, a telling of her personal encounter with a ghostly resident in the Sorg Opera House in Middletown, Ohio.
• "The Curious Tale of the Price Hill Medium and the Invention of the Magic 8 Ball," written by Suess and illustrated by Christina Wald, tells the story of Laura Pruden, a renowned spiritual medium who gave readings in Price Hill. Her son, Albert Carter, was inspired by his mother's psychic abilities and eventually co-created the Magic 8 Ball in Cincinnati.
• "The Gazette Ghost," a story from Necessary's days working at the Chillicothe Gazette and coming across a previous editor reviewing their work at the newspaper. 

• "The Screaming Bridge at Maud Hughes Road," from Thomas O. Miller. The story of the bridge in Liberty Township where it is rumored 36 people have lost their lives. Ghostly figures have been seen walking on the bridge, along with ghostly mists, lights and even black-hooded figures.

Suess said around the Cincinnati area and the Tristate, there are a "surprising" number of local legends. 

"People are interested in the unknown, the spooky, the Halloween stuff," Suess said. "When we talk about ghosts in Music Hall, people perk up. We're all interested in things we don't completely understand, and it's fun, even if you don't want to fully believe in it."

The first issue came out in 2020, and work on the second issue began in January 2021.

Klockow said she feels there's a local appetite for these kinds of stories because it's one of the best ways to teach history – to talk about the strange stuff first because that's what keeps people's attention. 

"Society has an interesting way of memorializing history that can be traumatic, or sometimes happy, by making ghost stories," Klockow said. "We then get this oral tradition of making ghost stories and can stay within society's zeitgeist for decades. The ghost dies when the stories stop."