By Benjamin Davis / The Jambar
The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County held an event called “Just How Weird is Ohio?” on Nov. 7, as part of its America 250 program. For the event, the library hosted James Willis, author and paranormal researcher.
Willis gave presentations on alleged hauntings, cryptids and strange folklore that are part of Ohio’s history. When the library first contacted Willis, he said he liked the idea of examining the stranger side of Ohio’s history.
“I thought it was really kind of cool that they were looking to approach it from not necessarily purely historical, but the weird and spooky side of historical things in Ohio,” Willis said.
The presentations cover both historical events in Ohio and cryptids that were reported in the state.
“The one I did at the main library was where I talked about real historical events that happened in Ohio, but there was just a weird spin on them,” Willis said. “The other presentation [was] about Bigfoot and other mythical creatures that have been alleged to have been roaming around Ohio as part of their history.”
Willis said he has been involved in paranormal research for decades. In 1999, he founded his own paranormal research organization called Ghosts of Ohio, after moving to the state.
“I’ve been involved with looking for ghosts and ghost research since the mid 1980s. So, when I moved to Ohio I decided, ‘Okay, I’ll just kind of join a group that is in Ohio,’” Willis said. “They didn’t really … fit my sort of methodology or what I was trying to accomplish so [I] was like, ‘I’ll just start my own group.’”
This fascination with the paranormal comes from Willis’ upbringing in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
“The area that I grew up in, in the Hudson Valley of New York, is a very weird place,” Willis said. “They don’t just have ghost stories up there … they’ve also got UFO reports, and monsters, and cryptids and serial killers, I mean you name it.”
The next event at the library for the America 250 program is “Owls of Ohio: Mask Craft,” which will be held from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Nov. 21.