Haunted Columbus: The Jury Room
Don’t you love an ol’ nasty ghost story that involves a brothel of yesteryear and to see that said building actually still stands. The Jury Room is that place. Located at 22 E. Mound Street, across the street from the Franklin County Courthouse. The building is said to have been built over the Hopewell Indian burial grounds…of course it was. The Jury Room has gone through many changes over its 190 year existence. Even though it originally had no name when first opened, it has been named the Jury Room since 2010. The operation of the building over the most recent years has been a popular, yet quaint restaurant that I would love going to every now and then. The name has even changed a few times over the years; it has also been called Welde Cafe, Irvin’s Place, and J.F. Gaiser Saloon and Boarding House and The Blind Lady Tavern, which is another story in itself. A few years ago, the spot was renamed The Jury Room, and currently operates as an event space and caterer. According to their website www.juryroomcolumbus.com; they originally operated as a a stagecoach stop, a hotel for visiting judges hearing cases at the county courthouse across the street, a bar and restaurant, and even a bordello in the 1850’s. Bordello is just a cute word for brothel or a whore house which I prefer to call it. We can only imagine who came to visit the “ladies of the night.” During the Civil War it hosted and entertained both Union and Confederate soldiers. The building originally had three stories, but after a fire in the late 19th century only two remain. The last time I visited The Jury Room was probably about 7-8 years ago, I just sat there and admired the pictures hanging on the wall from the good ol’ brothel days. When you first walk in, you are facing another door that is sealed and I’m sure for good reason. That door leads to the upstairs where we know what happened up those steps. Besides the wonderful pictures covering the walls of the restaurant, they also kept with the theme of the times. The tables, chairs, wall coverings, and the bar definitely gives us mid to late 19th century realness. I absolutely love it. If you just sit back and take the ambiance in, I’m sure you can envision what the operation looked like during those days. Throughout the years, there have been numerous reports of strange activity which has been witnessed by patrons and especially the employees. There have been reports of objects moving and falling over, people being pushed about by the nothing there, the staff have reported seeing ghosts, and even hearing the sounds of eerie piano music being played at night. So let’s check out a few of them. The Jury Room was even featured on an episode of The Dead Files from season 3 and there was so much energy picked up from this place.
The Francis Miller homicide case…Frances Miller was the madam of the brothel in the 1850’s. Frances shot and killed Paulus Rupprecht who was drunk and trying to break into the establishment after hours. I mean…the girls gotta get their sleep too. So the story goes a group of very drunk young German men were on their way home from a bar not far from Paulus favorite brothel. He wanted them to all stop by to “visit’ and get some “entertainment” from the ladies of the night. When they got there, they were closed for business. However his horny, drunk ass kept pounding on the door. When asked who was at the door, he refused to say who he was. He continued pounding and threatened to kick the door down. Frances was frightened and thought they were about to get robbed. She opened the door and shot him dead. She should have only been charged with manslaughter, but news kept calling it murder when it was obviously self-defense. Frances Miller was convicted, most likely because she was in the brothel business and they didn’t even care that she was to protecting her home by completely ignoring that. Who wants to bet that the ones who tried and convicted her were some of her best customers. They need to stop! I would’ve been telling EVERYONE’S business. The Dead Files picked up on her spirit and believe that the sad woman ghost they saw was her. Of course, Paulus Ruprecht, was painted by the press as some sweet, young innocent man while Frances Miller was vilified. Let’s completely ignore what he did.
The ghost of Mayor Lorenzo English…Lorenzo English was the 20th Mayor of Columbus from 1850-1861. Now this was the heyday of the brothel operations. Ummmm…sir…Mr. Mayor…what were you doing frequenting…you know what…NEVERMIND! The Dead Files picked up on his as well and named him “The Shadow Man.” See…Creeping…SMDH! There didn’t appear to be anything sinister with him (except probably just creeping). I mean how much time did he spend there for his damn ghost to still be there? NASTY!
Pretty much everything The Dead Files picked up on was dark and negative. However, the worst thing picked up on at The Jury Room was a strong presence of an older man in the back of the basement who was on the verge of committing suicide after his only son died in WWI. This spirit was do evil that one of the investigators didn’t shield himself and collapsed when an aggressive spirit possessed him for a few minutes. Nope…no thank you! Remember in The Wizard of Oz when the Cowardly Lion dove out of that window after he was spooked…yep…that would be me.
For me personally, I have never sensed or “picked up on” anything while at The Jury Room and I have been there quite a few times in the past. But then again, I would probably be oblivious to it anyway, and you know what…I am just fine with that. Have any of you even been to The Jury Room? If so, have you sensed anything? Were you intrigued by the history as I am? I would love to go in there now to see if it still looks the same. I hope that it does. Maybe I’ll book it for a gathering or something. I love the old-fashioned look and it would be perfect. Hopefully while there, no one would get freaked out by anything. It seems like the only sightings so far a from the whore house days, interesting. I’m sure there are many more stories to tell and my nosey ass would like to hear all of them.
Majority of the story came from Nellie Kampmann website www.hauntedhistorycolumbus.blogspot.com and book, “A Haunted History of Columbus, Ohio”
Photo Credit from www.breakfastwithnick.com
