Walhalla Ravine

My backyard… literally.

This is a beautiful spot of wild nature in the heart of the city. You go down the hills on either side (from either the High Street or Indianola Ave turnoffs) and all the city noise drops away. Very few of the houses have driveways out onto the road, so it’s peaceful with little to no traffic, but bicyclers, be a bit wary: the road isn’t in good repair, and you can easily hit gravel or rubble in the road. I’ve ridden through this ravine numerous times, coming from the Indianola end, and a bike will easily coast most of the way until just past the Calumet Bridge (and a small hill and a bit of exertion puts you onto High Street & within reach of Cup o’ Joe. YAY!).
And autumn in Walhalla Ravine is just GLORIOUS.
Oh, and the so-​called «legend» of the Mansion & the killings & whatnot? Complete bull crap. No killings happened out there at all. If you’re going out there to bother the folks who currently own the so-​called «Mooney Mansion», you will rightly & justly be arrested: after years of being harassed by trespassers & thrill-​seekers, the folks in the ravine have no patience with those who disturb their privacy.

Walhalla is hands down one of my favorite places in the city. It is so beautiful and at some times eerie. It’s a real gem in Clintonville.
I know the legend goes it is haunted, and I swear I had a ghostly experience! Some friends and I were Geocaching down here in July one year… temperature was hovering around 100 degrees. All of a sudden I walk through this incredibly cold spot. I’m sure some scientist could come up with some explanation for why this happened on a very hot day, but whatever. I never did well in science, and I’m choosing to believe I walked through a ghost!
But really, whether you want to walk through your very own ghost or just take in the sights, Walhalla is a must!

What can you say all the legends all the stories when you go down there it’s almost like you’re in a different place and time but be careful don’t go down at night maybe some of the local legends and stories are true i’ve been down there late at night with friends even been up to Mooney’s mansion it was freaky at night definitely want to have a guy with you being up thereit’s almost like being back in the early 1800s it was definitely exciting have fun and just remember don’t go alone

I write this in autumn, that time of year for spooks, zombies, and ghouls. When homes are decked with jack-o’-lanterns and cobwebs, evening orange, arsenic white, rot black; and people are out seeking cheap terror at haunted hoochies, haunted corn fields, or haunted parks. But few dare experience the real thing – and fewer yet the most real of all, walking down where the Mooney’s murder took place, down Walhalla Ravine– in the dead of night.
The macabre of tales, though, do not tarnish the splendid wonder of the place in the day. It is a forest; a lost forest, there among the preplanned homes of Clintonville and the bustle of High street. It attracts many runners, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts. Part of the lower Olentangy watershed, the ravine seems like a park, but is not officially one; a road and a few architecturally interesting residences on the slopes above is all there is minus the trees, flora, and fauna. Walhalla, named after the hall where Norse god Oden received the spirits of dead warriors, (many streets in the area are named after figures of Norse/​German mythology because the developer was a thespian in love with the operas of Wagner) is a treasure too often forgotten about.
Entering it from Indianola, it looks like any of the other streets. But a few steps into it and the city melts away under the thick foliage and underbrush. As you walk deeper and deeper you start to realize how rare a place like this is, as the trees blot out the sun, and animals take dominion. You cannot distinguish it from a road in the hills of Bellfountain. Deeper still, near the Calumet Street Bridge, an eerie feeling may overtake you, especially if alone, as the silence is far from the clangs and car alarms of civilization, yet up a few more meters and you’ve reach High Street.
At night it is a different story; a Steven King story, for this is the area of the Mooney’s Mansion and the murder. According to lore, there was a doctor named Mooney who had a mansion on this road in the ‘20s. No one seems to agree on where the mansion was, but the general idea is that it was near the Calumet Bridge.
The Doctor was a community leader and well respected, but he had a secret, he was going insane. When his wife tried to alert authorities that he was acting nuts and was violent no one believed her. Then came the stock market crash of 1929; he lost everything and went berserk. Brandishing an axe, he chopped off his wife’s head and then kicked it down his outside stairway into the ravine. When his beloved dog tried to defend her severed head, he bludgeoned it too, and threw it into the ravine. After the mayhem, Dr. Mooney calmed down. Realizing the evil he had done made him distraught. So he hung himself off the bridge.
It is said that if you go down Walhalla late in the night you may see the specter of Mooney hanging off the bridge; and if you go up the stairs of the mansion you will see the ghost of Mrs. Mooney’s head rolling down; and if you walk down the road at night, you will be tracked by the poltergeist of the dog, whose growls and barks will haunt you the entire way through.
It’s an urban legend of course; there is no documentation that a murder ever happened here. But like every such legend, it attacks thrill seekers and ghost hunters at night. If you do come here for that, remember this is a neighborhood, so don’t trespass or make noise. Be respectful. And watch out. Who knows what evil is watching you.