Remember the allure of ghost stories when you were a kid? Trying to scare yourself? Remember being a kid and there was a house in town that everyone told stories about? Stories that it was a haunted house. Or the people who lived there were "different" or spooky or scary? Remember ..you'd creep up to the front door on a dare? Knock on the front door? Ring the bell? Play 'ding dong, ditch"? The really 'wild kids' threw rocks at the windows or pulled other pranks? In August 2006 I'd never heard the kids in Worthington considered a house on the south end of town as "haunted." I don't have children. I wonder how many parents knew of their children's curiosity about the house at the edge of the Walnut Grove cemetery and the occupants. When I heard the story in the breaking news on TV, they showed downtown Worthington and said a teenager had been shot. I assumed a boy teenager.
When I heard the neighborhood was on the south end of Worthington, west of High StreetI thought "that house isn't old enough to be haunted." It's in a post World War II neighborhood. I think all the homes in the neighborhood are cape cods.
There are some great old houses in Worthington...yet none are haunted as far as I know. There are old houses in Old Worthigton. There are haunted "places" in Central Ohio... including Thurber House in downtown Columbus, the childhood home of James Thurber.
A carload of high school girls went to the Worthington "haunted house" one night in August 2006 and one of the five girls was shot, twice, Rachel Barezinsky was a cheer leader at the local high school, ready to start her senior year. Barezinsky has recovered from the shooting. Allen Davis is in jail. His trial may be reopened though.
Back to 2006 Haunted house, cheerleader, back to school time, it all made an interesting story. The headlines about the incident were all over the board and from all over the world:
"Prank gone awry stuns Worthington" - Columbus Dispatch
"Teen Shot While Ghost-Hunting Was Having Harmless Fun, Father Says" - Fox News
"Ghost-hunting US teen shot in the head" -Toronto Star
"Shot in head in hunt for 'ghosts' " -Electric New Paper Singapore
"Loitering teen shot" - South Africa
"Teen shot in head at 'haunted' house" - Seattle Intelligencer
"Teen shot in head when looking for ghosts" - Sydney Morning Herald
"Dad laments daughter shot ghost hunting" - Leading The Charge, Australia
"Cheerleader Shows Signs Of Progress In Days After Shooting" - NBC4i.com,
"Haunted house dare gets cheerleader shot" - CNN International
"Uncle Of Shooting Victim Asks For Prayers" - Wheeling Intelligencer, WV
The story before "The Story" from the Columbus Dispatch- "Family long considered outsiders by neighbors" about Allen Davis and his mother, is in a link below.
Blight can be frustrating for neighbors.
One of my favorite movies growing up was "To Kill a Mockingbird" from the novel by the same name written by Harper Lee. It is the story of three children in a small town in Alabama during the Depression. Part of the story is about their curiosity about their reclusive neighbor, Boo Radley. The children, Jem, Dill, and Scout go out one night to try to peak into Boo Radley's back window. As Jem is sneaking up on the house a gun shot rings out from inside the house. No one is shot in 'Two Kill a Mockingbird.'
I'm not blaming the victim...in the August 2006 Worthington tragedy. Kids trespass on "spooky houses." Or houses like the Davis home. I Know I did as a kid. I believe most kids did. Did you?
As the Columbus Dispatch story shows the Davis family, including Allen Davis was at odds with their neighbors and the city for years. "Family long considered outsiders by neighbors" says: A neighbor, who refused to give her name because she feared retribution for speaking out, called the shooting a tragedy for everyone. "I feel terrible for the high school student. I feel bad for Allen and his mother."
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Contributor's Note
This was originally published on ActiveRain a Real Estate Network just after it happened. The "Prank gone awry stuns Worthington" - Columbus Dispatch was written by Theodore Decker, Kevin Kidder and Encarnacion Pyle. "Family long considered outsiders by neighbors" in the Columbus Dispatch was written by Encarnacion Pyle, Kevin Mayhood and Dean Narciso, linked below.
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