By Jeremy D. Wells
Ohio is regarded by many students of Forteana as ground zero for strange and spooky occurrences. But one county in Ohio might just be the weirdest. Nestled between the Ohio River to the south and the rolling farmland of central Ohio to the north, and on the edge of Ohio’s Appalachian foothills, Adams County is probably best known for the Serpent Mound. This massive effigy mound, in the shape of the eponymous serpent, with curled tail and open mouth – according to some interpretations – swallowing an egg, is among the best preserved examples of these ancient earthworks, believed to have been built by the prehistoric Adena culture.
The county is also chock-full of geological anomalies, with three different physiographic regions (the Dissected Illinoian Till Plain, the unglaciated Outer Bluegrass Region, and the Shawnee-Mississippian Plateau) represented and numerous exposed rock outcroppings displaying a variety of marine fossils. These include abundant examples of horn coral and crinoids.
These geological and historical points of interest may be what draws folks to the mound, and the nearby city of Peebles. But down the road a little ways, back toward the county seat of West Union, lies the small unincorporated community of Dunkinsville.
Those with an interest in cryptozoology may recognize the community from the Devil Monkey stories associated with the 1997 report from Debbie Cross, as recorded by researcher Kenny Young and later cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, who gave the creatures their name. Coleman compared the baboon-like entities to other reports he’d collected across the Midwest, including those that he had previously labeled as out-of-place or phantom kangaroos and that some have associated with reports of Dogmen.
Devil Monkeys and the Serpent Mound alone would be enough to put the county on any paranormal road trip shortlist. But that isn’t all the county has to offer. Peach Mountain, which bordered the Cross family’s land, is also in the heart of the county’s Amish community, and long been the location of whispered tales of everything from alien black cats and Bigfoot to Satanic occult rituals.
But one of the county’s best kept secrets might be the story of the angel who visited the sickly child at the Dunkinsville Methodist Church; leaving behind a ghostly image that couldn’t be removed or even painted over.
According to the story the child, a young girl, was present for either a church service or a choir practice when she became overheated and flushed. She stepped outside, through the side entrance, for a breath of fresh air. In most accounts the unnamed young girl was sick with a serious illness, with some claiming it was an uncurable, terminal illness. Regardless of the back story, what happened next is consistent in every tale. An angel appeared to the young girl, touching her and curing her of her illness. When she went back inside to tell her story, the others rushed out to see for themselves.
Unfortunately, and as most would expect, there was no angel there for them to see. That didn’t mean there was no evidence left, however. There, burnt into the side entrance door, was the outline of what appeared to be a robed figure. The church reportedly tried to paint over the miraculous image at different times with no success. After each fresh coat dried, however, the image would allegedly bleed back through.
The door remained on the side of the church house throughout the late 1980s, becoming a draw for the faithful and curiosity seekers until eventually the church, fed up with trespassers and graffiti – and unable to paint over the image – removed and replaced the door.
Visitors to Dunkinsville today can still visit the church, and other strange sights around the county (the GE plant on the edge of the county is allegedly a hotspot for UFOs), but if you want to see the door you’d better hope you can find someone with a photograph. The church does not answer or return messages left about the door. Even the local newspaper, which ran a story on the anomaly at the time, no longer has that original photo available. The only evidence they were able to provide was a photocopied clipping from a scrapbook.
None of that stops the story from being shared, though, of the day an angel came to Dunkinsville.