THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN

The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal hosts hundreds of tourists every day. It is a very recognizable building with great grandeur. Many people visit this family-friendly place, but few know that this building is haunted. At night when the doors are locked, security guards patrol the empty hallways of the former railway, but they don’t keep watch alone. This majestic building is closely guarded by the afterlife.

In the late 1800s, the fastest and most convenient way to travel between cities was by passenger train. In this era, cities that did not have a rail line were left in the dust of the modern world. The city of Cincinnati was becoming a booming town mostly because of the many rail lines that connected throughout the city. The rail cars brought more than just goods to this great city. They brought prosperity, growth and new citizens aboard each car.

There were seven rail companies in Cincinnati: the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O), the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O), the Cleveland Cincinnati Chicago and St. Louis (CCC&StL), Louisville and Nashville (L&N), Norfolk and Western (N&W), Pennsylvania and Southern lines. These seven rail lines all ran train cars out of five different rail stations dispersed throughout the city, and it was quite chaotic. This made it hard on passengers who had to transfer trains at other stations since they were responsible for securing their own transportation in between rail stations before their departure.

In the 1890s, the City of Cincinnati decided that it was time to create a uniform train station for all seven rail lines. This would make transportation a much easier transition in and out of the city. It wasn’t until 1928 that construction would begin on the Union Terminal project. The city had passed a bond for the project with a giant price tag of $41.5 million and had very high hopes for the prosperity it would bring Cincinnati. There was very close attention paid to every aspect and detail of the golden building. The city hired top architects Alfred T. Fellheimer, Steward Wagner, Paul Philippe Cret and Roland Wank to design the largest half dome building in existence. German artist Winold Reiss was brought in to design the giant mosaic murals that still run along the walls of Union Terminal, though some of the murals were relocated to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport in the 1970s. The unique structure lies on 287 acres and has ninety-four miles of tracks. This was one of the largest projects that the city had ever taken on and took five years to complete.

On March 31, 1933, Cincinnati’s Union Terminal had its dedication ceremonies and opened for business. Unfortunately, as soon as the doors were open, it seemed the business encountered more problems than it would have imagined; the project was destined to fail. The 1930s were a time of decline for traveling by train, and Union Terminal was no different. The stock market crash and the Great Depression were mostly to blame. The rail yard was used less and less throughout the years. By the late 1930s, it had already become referred to as a “white elephant,” with train travel slowing and nearly stopping.

The terminal gasped for a breath of life through the early 1940s, when it finally found its opportunity to rise again. America had involved itself in the Second World War, and the cheapest way to ship newly enlisted soldiers was by train. Train cars loaded up as many as twenty thousand soldiers per day, and the train whistles sounded off in triumph. The railroad was pushing out cars as fast as it could drive them in. Cincinnati became a major transport point for soldiers during the war.

As quickly as it found its new life, though, it faded away. After the war ended, there just wasn’t the need for trains. Cars had become a popular commodity, and people found better ways to travel than by train. It looked like a bleak future for the railway. Business for the terminal continued to wither away through another decade. In 1958, the last passenger train pulled out of the terminal. Cargo trains continued to run until October 28, 1972, when the last train car left the abandoned station. In an effort to save the train station from total demolishment, the city declared it a historic landmark. During development projects a lot of the original structure and artwork were damaged or moved.

Winold Reiss was hired to paint the beautiful artistry inside Union Terminal. Courtesy Built in America Collection, Library of Congress.

The station sat empty for quite a few years until it was eventually developed into the Land of Oz, a classy shopping mall. Vendors leased storefronts inside the terminal and sold clothes, shoes, food and souvenirs. The plan was never really successful and only lasted a few years, though some vendors would stay behind and use it as a flea market for several more years. There were high hopes for restoring the building and bringing it new life.

In 1986, Cincinnatians decided to give the old Union Terminal a new purpose. Voters passed a $33 million bond issue to restore the building, and turn it into what is now the Cincinnati Museum Center. The project also received another $11 million to help with the restoration project from the City of Cincinnati, the State of Ohio and from private funding.

The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal finally opened in 1990. It is host to several different museums and special exhibits. The Museum of Natural History will guide you through all things nature. The Cincinnati History Museum has the largest World War II homefront exhibit in the nation. The Robert D. Linder Family Omnimax Theatre plays hourly special features. The dome theatre is five stories high and seventy-two feet in diameter. This is one of the most successful Omnimax theaters in the world. The Cincinnati Historical Society Museum and Library has one of the most significant regional history collections in America. The year 1991 saw the grand return of the passenger trains, when Amtrak established a schedule for the Museum Center. Soon to follow was the opening of the Duke Energy Children’s Museum in 1998. The Children’s Museum brought in over 450,000 visitors in its first year. Since it opened, it has been consistently ranked in the top ten children’s museums in the world.

Union Terminal train station is now the Cincinnati Museum Center. Courtesy Built in America Collection, Library of Congress.

A phantom pilot takes flight at night in this World War II replica plane at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. Authors’ collection.

The museum center has had great success since opening up in 1990 and continues to promise more. People now constantly flow through the once empty hallways of the former major railway. Millions of people have visited the Cincinnati Museum Center over the years, and some of the guests have decided to stay forever. The Cincinnati History Museum, known for its World War II exhibit, has spent great time and energy to gather as many relics from the war as possible. One notable piece is the World War II replica plane that hangs high above the front entrance of the museum. This aircraft cannot even fly, but a seat is still left open for its lonely ghost pilot. A young World War II soldier appears to pilot the plane in full uniform consistently in the evenings. Night guards see this pilot on a regular basis. Visitors have often been known to catch a glimpse of the lost soldier. It’s rather mysterious why the soldier has taken up residence in a replica plane, but it might be his way of trying to find his way home. This may have been his last stop before being shipped off to his death in World War II.

Union Terminal was at its prime during the Second World War. In back of the old rail yard, cries of joy and the welcoming back of soldiers can be heard. There don’t seem to be any actual ghosts here. Instead, the event had such an emotional impact that it is imprinted on the environment and is destined to repeat forever. The soldiers and families would have been so desperate to see their loved ones again that it was just emotional chaos, and those moments of joy led to the reoccurrence as a residual haunting today.

Another paranormal phenomenon involves a woman named Shirley. Legend has it that she was a dedicated night guard in the early 1990s who was hired to catch a ring of thieves that had been stealing computers at the newly opened Museum Center. Shirley was the only one to catch the thieves in action. She caught up with them on the fourth floor, a struggle ensued and the thieves subsequently shot and killed her. She has sworn to protect the halls even in her death. Her footsteps can be heard as she patrols the halls. She will close and lock doors behind her, as if securing the building. Flashlights have been seen making the rounds through the corridors where the halls are empty. Shirley takes her job very seriously and is still the museum’s most dedicated worker. Her job now is to keep this old train station safe for all of the visitors.

Since its completion in 1933, this old building has endured a lot. Not only does it have some great ghost stories, but it also has become a landmark of Cincinnati. The half-dome building is one of the most recognizable places in this city. The knowledge and hands-on activities that you can learn here are endless, and there is no doubt that you will leave the Cincinnati Museum Center with a smile on your face and memories for a lifetime.

HAUNTING ACTIVITY SCALE

Frequency**

Intensity**

Type: residual imprint, apparition