Horrors in a Hurry: The Haunting History of Gore Orphanage

Beth: 00:00:08

Welcome to this episode of Horrific History and Hauntings. I'm Beth.

Ramie: 00:00:10

And I'm Ramie. We're your hosts, here to talk about the stories that the history books ignore.

Beth: 00:00:14

From horrific epidemics and ghostly hauntings to the catastrophes and tragic events that have sickened humanity.

Ramie: 00:00:19

We're back. This will be the first episode that comes out after the air power outage and all the floods and the hurricane and all that stuff.

The next episode that comes out on Wednesday, we'll have more details about the area that we live in and how it was hit. Not a lot, just more detail.

Beth: 00:00:31

It'll be out on Wednesday.

Ramie: 00:00:32

Yeah, we will. If there, we can get the local fire department to give us a recommended donation to the spot for the flooding.

We'll leave a link to the description for that. If it isn't down there, it's because we couldn't get a link from them that they trusted. So we don't want to put something nobody trusts.

Appreciate it if you do.

Beth: 00:00:45

Also, Damascus could use it.

Ramie: 00:00:47

Yeah, we lived near Damascus and it got really hit hard. We just lost power and couldn't do anything for a while. But they. They got washed off pretty much. It's bad. Other places got hit really bad, too.

It's just we know about this and more because we're right next to it. Also, I have created a Facebook group for horrific history and hauntings. Also be a Facebook page that is defunct.

Facebook kept taking in all of our links because they were captivate links from our hosting site for the podcast. So the account is just dead. But the group is still open. So there'll be a link in the link tree.

Now that for the Facebook group, I encourage whoever's on Facebook, it wants to follow, go there and follow, and there'll be a community. Hopefully, if we build it up right.

Right now, there's just a few episodes to older podcasts that I've started putting up there to catch up to what we've done so far. I guess that's it. We're recording this episode after we recorded Wednesday's episode.

Beth: 00:01:32

Yeah. So that's why Wednesdays is longer.

Ramie: 00:01:35

That's why. Onwards. Beth, are we gonna do a thing that happened in history?

Beth: 00:01:38

Well, first, our main topic is going to be about Gore orphanage.

Ramie: 00:01:42

That's a horrible name.

Beth: 00:01:43

, they were recording in: 2011

Ramie: 00:01:57

Oh, I just got my new iPad in today.

Beth: 00:02:00

Your piece of paper it's so thin.

Ramie: 00:02:03

I remember his iPhone release. Who doesn't if they watched it? He brought Apple back from the brink of death and now it's a trillion dollar company.

Beth: 00:02:11

Yeah, I enjoy my Apple product.

Ramie: 00:02:13

I do. I also use Samsung and I have two phones. One's for the podcast and for my delivery job and one's for just general use.

Beth: 00:02:20

My iPad is definitely really handy when it comes to taking notes and research for this.

Ramie: 00:02:26

Yeah.

Beth: 00:02:26

Where I have my goodnotes app especially.

Ramie: 00:02:28

I use the MacBook to edit the podcasts and anything else we do, as well as the iPad as well as all my PDF's I read on here, but I have the PC for gaming and the Xbox for gaming. Anything work related or anything serious I gotta do is done on the Macs and apples of the world.

Beth: 00:02:47

Apple is not a sponsor, by the way.

Ramie: 00:02:50

I wish Apple was sponsored.

Beth: 00:02:51

That would be amazing. It just so happened that the day we were recording Steve Jobs, that was our today in history and we just really love Apple products.

Ramie: 00:02:59

Oh, I don't really love them. I do agree. They take something and rename it and say it's the best thing to hit Apple. Not mentioning it's been on Android for years. They do do that.

So.

Beth: 00:03:07

See, I used to be an Android person when Apple first started becoming a big thing and I got one Apple phone iPhone and I hated it. Hated it.

Ramie: 00:03:18

You didn't like them until the X came along all screen. That's when you started liking them.

Beth: 00:03:22

Maybe. I just had so much trouble out of the first one.

Ramie: 00:03:24

You haven't had another Android since we got the XR for you.

Beth: 00:03:27

Yeah.

Ramie: 00:03:28

So that's. That's when you took a liking to him.

Beth: 00:03:30

Yeah. Off topic.

Ramie: 00:03:32

Way off topic. I could do a tech podcast. I would love to do a tech podcast because I get so much tech. I haven't got the camera set up.

Beth: 00:03:37

To do the reviews and I get the hand me downs from you, but you still.

Ramie: 00:03:40

You get an m one iPad pro.

Beth: 00:03:42

I love it.

Ramie: 00:03:42

13 inch.

Beth: 00:03:43

When the first night I took it home, I scribbled on it with my good notes in the pen so much that my wrist. I had to put an ice pack on my wrist. Yeah, it hurts so bad.

Ramie: 00:03:55

That's how we do. When I got the 16 Pro Max iPhone, I gave you the 14 Pro Max and you said, it's great compared to your 13 mini.

Beth: 00:04:03

Yeah.

Ramie: 00:04:03

Did we talk about what happened to, oh, Apple C two?

Beth: 00:04:05

Yeah, that's how we got on that subject, apparently. Don't ever bring up Steve Jobs again.

Ramie: 00:04:10

I don't really idolize the dude.

Beth: 00:04:12

I don't know anything about him except for Apple. Goro orphanage. Over a century ago, in the countryside of vermilion, a massive fire consumed an old orphanage on Gore Road.

Ramie: 00:04:22

I still think it's a weird name.

Beth: 00:04:23

It is.

Ramie: 00:04:24

I would live on Gore Road.

Beth: 00:04:25

Happily, dozens of young children were trapped inside. Helpless onlookers watched in horror. The children's screams eventually faded, only leaving the crackling roar of the fire.

Over 100 children lost their lives, and the building collapsed, leaving behind only its foundation and stone pillars. Light of hope, which apparently was the real name of the orphanage. There was a few different sources, a few different ways this went.

Ramie: 00:04:52

Okay.

Beth: 00:04:52

Yeah. It was founded in: 1902

The orphanage stood on Gore Road, which was a road that had its own strange history. The legend of Gore orphanage, while exaggerated, is rooted in a very real tragedy.

The orphanage did burn down, and it did take the lives of many innocent children with it. Juhan and Catherine Sprunger was a couple with a knack for attracting misfortune. They moved to Vermillion after their orphanage in Bern, Indiana.

Ramie: 00:05:28

Indiana.

Beth: 00:05:30

Indiana burned down. Three little girls died in that fire. Katherina shared the same last name as her husband, even though they weren't siblings.

However, a diary from their Indiana orphanage refers to them as brother and sister Sprunger. So who knows what was happening there, what the deal was. This wasn't the first time the Sprungers business went up in flames.

Oddly enough, before moving to Ohio, they also lost two of their own children, their seven year old daughter and a baby son.

These tragedies seemed to push them even deeper into their religious beliefs, so they packed up their bags and headed to Ohio for a fresh start with the new orphanage just outside of Vermillion, there was a 543 acre chunk of land with old farm buildings and a spooky abandoned mansion. It was built back in the 18 hundreds by a rich farmer named Joseph Swift. Swift's kids died young, and he lost all of his money.

Ramie: 00:06:24

Oh, dear.

Beth: 00:06:24

So the house was sold to Nicholas Wilbur, who was into spiritualism, seances, talking to ghosts, so on and so forth.

Ramie: 00:06:32

As one does.

Beth: 00:06:33

Yeah. People said the mansion was haunted by the ghost of children and that Wilbur's kids were supposedly psychic.

Ramie: 00:06:38

That's a leap all of a sudden, just out of the blue.

Beth: 00:06:40

Yeah, it's strange.

they died somewhere else. By: 1901

He wanted to create a whole new community on the land that focused on faith and hard work. A cult, sounds like it. Or commune, I think commune, but I don't know. He and his team had a chapel built right into the boys schoolhouse.

The orphanage was a big operation which housed up to 120 kids at a time. The boys and the girls lived on separate farms.

Ramie: 00:07:21

They didn't get a church for the girls, a nunnery or something.

Beth: 00:07:25

I'm sure they probably did. Or maybe they made them walk all the way to the boys church. They also had their own printing press to make their own school books.

I highly doubt they were learning anything useful.

Ramie: 00:07:37

That sounds like a religious bias.

Beth: 00:07:41

Newspaper was also called the light of hope.

Ramie: 00:07:44

That's a good one, actually.

Beth: 00:07:45

I like that name, the light of hope. Why does your orphanages keep lighting up in flames?

Ramie: 00:07:52

That does. Very good question behind it.

Beth: 00:07:54

Eventually, talk of something sinister started to spread about the light of hope. Orphanage kids were running away and would sometimes even cross the Vermilion river to get to safety.

In town, they told horrifying tales of being neglected, forced to work like slaves, and being beaten.

They said the food was awful, if there was any food at all, and that the living conditions were terrible, with rats infesting the rooms and very little chance for basic hygiene. Sprunger and his overseers were accused of brutal punishments, such as whipping the children until their skin was raw.

He was even said to rent out the children for to farmers. If any of the kids got sick, they were only offered prayers.

Ramie: 00:08:34

Now, that's thoughts and prayers. That's the thing for today. They need to learn. If it's all you got, then fine. I'd hate to imagine a situation where that's all you have.

Beth: 00:08:43

Medication, doctors.

Ramie: 00:08:45

Yep.

Beth: 00:08:46

in. I'm gonna assume I meant: 1890

ure they definitely didn't in: 1090

Ramie: 00:09:08

Yeah.

Beth: 00:09:09

So nothing could be done. And even worse, the sprunger people admitted to many of the awful accusations against them.

Ramie: 00:09:17

Yeah, we make sure these kids pay their wages. What are you talking about?

Beth: 00:09:20

In: 1908

The place became chaotic as the children tried to escape down the stairs, but the front exit was blocked by flames. In a panic, some tried to push their way back up, only to be forced back down into the fire by those behind them.

The rear exit was locked, and even when rescuers finally opened it, the pressure of the crowd inside made it impossible to escape. The fire spread rapidly while engulfing the children in flames. Their screams were said to be heart wrenching and unforgettable.

Ramie: 00:09:58

I would imagine so, yeah.

Beth: 00:10:00

In the aftermath, the school's janitor was wrongly accused of starting the fire.

Despite losing his own kids in the fire and suffering burns while trying to save others, he was briefly held in protective custody to shield him from an angry mob who wanted to lynch him.

Ramie: 00:10:14

Freddy Krueger.

Beth: 00:10:15

Yep.

Ramie: 00:10:16

Oh, Freddie actually did it.

Beth: 00:10:18

But, yeah, Freddie actually did it.

Ramie: 00:10:20

Yeah.

Beth: 00:10:21

ister Sprunger passed away in: 1911

Ramie: 00:10:27

Looks like if they were treating kids so poorly, they wouldn't need that much money.

Beth: 00:10:30

Yeah.

The property changed hands, and most of the buildings were demolished or destroyed by the fire, leaving only the Hughes house as a reminder of its existence. The children were freed from their nightmares. Some were reunited with family, while others found homes within the community.

Many still remained silent about their traumatic experiences because they were afraid to speak out. A few with nowhere to turn were taken back to Indiana by Miss Brunger.

Meanwhile, the swift mansion, untouched by the orphanage, became a magnet for thrill seeking vandals.

Ramie: 00:11:01

It has so many other places like it do.

Beth: 00:11:04

ccidentally burned it down in: 1923

Ramie: 00:11:08

Accidentally?

Beth: 00:11:09

Yeah. The once grand house is now only graffiti covered sandstone blocks. Over time, the stories surrounding the orphanage and the mansion intertwined.

Early tales suggested that Miss Williber was driven mad by grief and continued to set the table for her lost children, which didn't make sense to me because I didn't see where Miss Wilbur's or Misses Wilbur's children died. I saw where the other person before that owned the mansions died. But she was said to tuck them into bed each night.

And some claim the kids were psychic. So people have made this story so twisted that it's starting to not make sense.

And apparently her kids were capable of communicating with the spirits of deceased children. I'm guessing some say that her children died, but others say that she had children that could communicate with spirits and deceased children.

As the 19 hundreds came about, teenagers started venturing into the abandoned gore orphanage and turned it into their own spooky hangout spot. Remember, the Gore orphanage burned down, so I'm assuming they thought the mansion was part of it.

Although no documented deaths occurred at the orphanage or Swift's hollow, the tales of abuse, neglect, and occult practices went around. So there's another twist.

Ramie: 00:12:26

Of course.

Beth: 00:12:28

Some speculate that the spirits of the Collinwood fire victims found their way to this location. Doesn't make sense, but, okay, possibly they were drowned by the energy of the forgotten children.

Drawn, not drown, or were searching for the Willbird children. So it's all over the place. Are you confused yet?

Ramie: 00:12:45

Yeah.

Beth: 00:12:46

Okay. Yeah, it confused me too, but I had already started taking notes, so. But from what I understand, the mansion burned down.

Collinwood is not even encore Orphanage Road. But all these stories people have managed to mix up and twist together makes a better story. Yeah.

Paranormal experts suggest the ghostly encounters on Gore Orphanage Road could be imprints, which is the echo of past traumas. These imprints, often triggered by violent events, can replay manifesting as sights, sounds, feelings, and smells.

Tragic imprints might even relocate to other places with high paranormal activity. Oh, I'd never heard that part before.

Ramie: 00:13:26

Oh, I didn't either. So just to kind of go down the road a bit, it's a little better place to spook folks, I guess.

Beth: 00:13:32

ina Sprunger left the area in: 1916

Countless visitors to Gore Orphanage Road have reported ghostly figures, orbs of light, screams of children, and visions of fire. Many have claimed to have found dusty, child sized fingerprints on their cars upon returning to them.

And then there's other versions of the story, of course. One night, a fire broke out and burned the whole place down. But it is unknown what exactly happened.

There were a few rumors that the owner did it for insurance money. An angry employee wanted revenge on the owner. A crazy man who lived in the woods started the fire.

It was said that this crazy man just hated all the noise the kids made.

Ramie: 00:14:19

All the wells of torment for orphanage.

Beth: 00:14:21

Yeah, or it was just an accident. Such as? Perhaps maybe someone knocked over a lantern.

Ramie: 00:14:26

No child would admit it if they. I mean, didn't burn already.

Beth: 00:14:29

Yeah. Eventually, eerie tales and unsettling occurrences began being told around the community.

People said they saw ghostly shapes of children, fire, hauntings in the woods. They heard cries for help echoing throughout the night, strange lights dancing among the trees.

Some claimed to feel the presence of the person who started the fire. And that a shadowy figure lingers near the ruins. The swift mansion. The deaths of four young grandchildren within a week, possibly due to diphtheria.

Ramie: 00:14:57

Diphtheria? Yeah.

Beth: 00:14:58

What's that?

Ramie: 00:14:59

I don't remember. I heard about it on Downton Abbey. I think it's like fluid around something. It shouldn't be the heart, probably.

Beth: 00:15:07

Maybe. I don't know. I have to look that one up. This caused the Wilburs to be heartbroken, so they would perform seances and such.

The legend of the Gore orphanage and the tragic death, Wilbur's grandchildren, with the mansion's connection to the orphanage, as well as the mysterious fire, all contributed to this story. And as I said, while the details are exaggerated and twisted all up and fabricated, they are basically on real events. So a fire did happen.

Ramie: 00:15:32

We just don't know much else.

Beth: 00:15:34

And as far as I know, somebody died somewhere.

Ramie: 00:15:39

We could just guess to the rest of it.

Beth: 00:15:41

Yeah, if y'all can figure that one out, let me know.

Ramie: 00:15:45

Surely the local. I don't know, maybe the local ones. The locals?

Beth: 00:15:48

I think the locals are probably the ones that came up with all this twists and turns and craziness.

Ramie: 00:15:53

Is that the end of it?

Beth: 00:15:54

Yeah, that's the end.

Ramie: 00:15:55

Okay. Yeah.

Beth: 00:15:55

I wasn't about to go through all the other story tales. It's supposed to be short.

Ramie: 00:16:01

Okay. Yeah, that was a good one. It was very tragic. Even if the ghostly part wasn't true. Something bad happened. Yeah, children are mistreated for sure.

I never even heard of this place. A great name. They should have known something was going to go wrong as soon as they had that name. Gore.

If you listen to this, look forward to the next episode. Couple days.

Don't forget to check out the Facebook group in the link tree and check out our website at the top link to figure out all of our their podcasts and other episodes we've had.

Please leave a review if you have an app that lets you do that, pocketcast now, let you do that and reach out to us at the emails below the link tree to give us more ideas. If you don't want to join a Facebook group or just say hi.

Also, there's a link below all those links to send us a tip to help keep the podcast hosted, basically. And if we can find the link to the flood relief that we trust for Appalachia in the area here, we'll put that in the description.

If it's not there, then we couldn't find one we truly trust. So disregard all that. Thank you for listening to this episode of horrors in a hurry. Is that what it's called?

Beth: 00:16:57

Yeah.

Ramie: 00:16:57

Yay. I named. I named it something, right? I have been Raimi.

Beth: 00:17:00

And I'm Ben.

Ramie: 00:17:00

And this has been h. H. And h. Bye.