Historical Research - Investigation: "Zip Printing" Bethel, Ohio

First, if you haven't yet read the blog for our investigation at Zip Printing in Bethel, Ohio, you should do so before reading the historical research our VOLP Historian, Taryn, dug up between the time we investigated the location and now. 

** Click Here to read that blog! **

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First off, wow! Taryn did an absolutely amazing job finding out the history and some amazing stories about this building, and was able to back up nearly every last thing Garry and myself (Shelly) picked up on intuition alone that night. Incredibly validating for us, and incredibly interesting for all of our investigators, the business owners, and for you to read about as well. 

Amazing job, Taryn!

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Investigation: "Zip Printing" in Bethel, Ohio

Investigation Date: 5.4.13

Historical Research by: Taryn, VOLP Historian

So, I took a trip to the little town of Bethel and met up with Walt, one of the museum curators and a member of the Bethel Historical Society. He was able to give me a lot of little interesting facts about the town because he had lived there his whole life (and he was well into his 70's, I'm guessing). Really nice guy. He didn't know much about the actual building that Zip's is located in, and all he could remember was it being a "Hannah's Hardware" from the time he was born until sometime in the 1970's. I found an old picture that shows the building as Hannah Hardware as far back as 1924. He looked at the oldest atlas they had on record and saw that there was a building located on that plot of land as far back as 1870.

Zip's is located on the S.W corner of Plane and Union streets, and I found a picture that I believe dates back prior to 1924 of a few boys getting water from the village well on the S.W. corner of Plane and Union streets. Did Priscilla ever mention there being a well located there??  It would make sense as to why the building is so active if it were built over an old well......just a thought....

Then I began to discuss with Walt some of the things that our mediums picked up on while doing the investigation. I first mentioned that both mediums (Garry & Shelly) had picked up on a strong, proud, outgoing woman on the second floor who was making it known that she was the "first of something," and that our mediums had thought something along the lines of "first to drive," or "first to own a business. Walt said "That sounds a lot like Mrs. South; Mrs. Edith H. South - Bethel's first and only woman industrialist.

  Founder of the "Sunny South Shoe Factory," making infant's shoes." It was located between Plane St. and Tower Alley, East of Union St.  It was later changed over to a pants factory and was still in operation as such in 1948, with D.R. South as proprietor (Edith's son).  The original factory with its unique product prospered for 16 years.  Mrs. South died in May, 1947, at the age of ninety. 

 Was it Edith that made herself known that night? Maybe.....

Then I told Walt about the two girls that were located on the first floor. I gave him all the details from the blog about the girls; he said there were two girls, the Hildebrand sisters, that caused a bit of a ruckus in town. Few pioneer residents of Bethel admitted that they believe in spirits, signs, and omens or other superstitions, but the Hildebrand's and the Evans family openly declared their belief in evil spirits and witchcraft. It is believed that early in the first decade of 1800, somebody put a hex on one of the grown Hildebrand daughters, and she became possessed of evil spirits, the family said. 

When nightfall came she shrieked and shuddered about the hideous things she saw and heard. The Hildebrand's performed an old ritual used back in those days to "catch a spook" using a Linsey-Woolsey bag, trapping the ghost inside and chopping up the bag into little pieces, then burning it. 

The Hildebrand's did this, but the evil spirit somehow didn't disappear. However, she soon quieted down and then Nancy Evans, the neighbor, became inhabited by an evil spirit, supposedly the same one. (Salem witch trials anyone??) 

That proved it, the Hildebrand's pointed out. The spirit had gone back whence it had come, and Nancy was a witch. The Bethel people did not believe in witchcraft, but they seriously considered running Nancy Evans out of the neighborhood. Bethel's citizens appealed to the Justice of Peace at the time, Houton Clarke. Clarke didn't believe in such stuff, but decided to have a trial in the public square. He weighed Nancy Evans against the Bible; he literally had Nancy step onto the opposite side of a scale from which the Bible sat, and said that "the weight of the Word would outbalance the witch if the accused was guilty." 

Nancy stepped on the scale, fell hard, and was declared innocent. Nancy later moved to Georgetown, Ohio, and died at a ripe old age as a highly respected woman, despite previous witchcraft charges. All this craziness started by the Hildebrand sisters.

Next, I told Walt about the image of the barber shop that Shelly had; he said that many years ago, three doors down, right next to Scott's Drug Store, there used to be a barber shop, dating back as far as 1924. Walt showed me where it would have been located in an old photo. The barber was named George Bowyer, and he was short with curly hair. His son-in-law, Kenny Mason, worked with him for some time in that shop. Kenny is still a barber in Bethel today.....

Then I told him about the wooden chairs on the second floor that brought about the feelings of "mournfulness" and how it was reported they were from an old opera house that burned down. Walt said there used to be a bigger building built by the Knights of Pythias (a fraternal organization, much like the free masons or Knights of Columbus) to which Walt is currently a member, located near the Baptist Church. It was big enough to hold an opera, plays, commencements, lectures, etc. He said he wasn't sure if they ever really held an opera there, but everyone in town referred to it as "the opera house." It was then turned into a movie theatre until 1937, and then bought and torn down by Cincinnati Bell; but he never remembers there being a fire. After describing what they looked like to him, he said he thinks he knows exactly the style of chair I was talking about and they recently had some at the museum but got rid of them...

I also asked about Ulysses S. Grant. He said "we claim Ulysses as being a resident here in Bethel, but the truth is that his parents lived here. He may have been here about 7-8 years in a row at one time, mostly just to visit his folks, and one of his children may have been born here, but he was never really a true resident of Bethel."  However, Grant's father, Jesse, was the first mayor of Bethel.

The Underground Railroad was very active in and came straight through Bethel. Walt reports that it came through Bethel, went up to Williamsburg, and usually ended in Canada. The Bethel Baptist Church built in 1853 was a very active participant in the Underground Railroad and supposedly does have some tunnels underneath the building that are still visible today.

-Taryn, VOLP Historian