An Ohio family claims they’ve avoided one spot on their Ashtabula property since the day they moved in. A very spooky and unsettling backyard shed. From the start, the place gave them the creeps. The building was infested with spiders, mouse droppings scattered everywhere, and a foul stench of motor oil, old air, and something far worse. The rundown outbuilding that had become a no-go zone for the entire family.
This past spring, the homeowner decided to start storing the family’s lawn mower in the shed, though she made it clear she wasn’t about to explore the place. “I just push it in and pull it out maybe twice a week,” she explained. “I usually try to spare myself the heebie-jeebies.”
But then, the family’s rake vanished. Hoping to find a spare buried somewhere in the mess, she hesitantly peeked inside and found something far more disturbing than a missing gardening tool. Standing at the doorway, the Ohio resident noticed what looked like a dirty, crumpled hospital gown lying on the floor. Weirded out, she scanned the shed further and found even more unsettling items. A pair of men’s tighty-whities and a flannel shirt.
Shocked, she called her boyfriend to take a look. He was equally freaked out. Neither had any clue where the items came from, or who they might have belonged to.
Ohio Mystery With No Clear Ending
The couple started brainstorming possible explanations, and one detail stuck out: Ashtabula Medical Center is just two miles from their home. Could a patient have wandered off and taken shelter in their shed? Was it once used by a squatter? A runaway? The longer they thought about it, the less sense it made.
The Ohio family shared their story on Reddit in hopes of getting answers, but the responses were a mixed bag. “Honestly, that’s the only solution to that problem except for burning your shed down, and that seems a little extreme,” one Redditor responds.
“Could just be random stuff older people like to use as rags for oil or misc spills,” another suggests. While some of the responses made sense, others offered a more frightening theory to the Ohio family
“It didn’t start as a shed. The structure in your backyard was once something else. Something forgotten, rebranded by zoning laws and realtors. It may have been an outbuilding owned by the original Ashtabula Sanitarium. That facility predates the Medical Center by decades. It specialized in long-term convalescence, and during its later years, in more shadowy treatments,” one claims.
“Someone escaped the mental hospital and used your shed to change/get naked and run into the forest, one more adds. “This is super creepy. And disappointing. I don’t think I’ll ever get answers,” the freaked-out Ohio family member stated.
Who left their underwear, hospital gown, and flannel in the Ohio shed, and why, remains a mystery. Whether it was a squatter, a runaway patient, or someone hiding from something (or someone), they may never know. But one thing’s for sure in small-town Ohio, even the quietest homes can have the creepiest secrets.
Emma Taylor 
Casey James 
Sofia Bassett 
