The Haunted Dent Schoolhouse

What makes this attraction so scary? The locals claim that the school closed after dozens of children went missing from 1942 to 1955.

According to lore, the Janitor of the school, Charlie McFree is said to have killed a large number of the student body over a period of 10-20 years. Hiding their bodies within the basement, the smell became too much and alerted the town of Dent… discovery of the hellish scene has made a permanent residence in the basement.

The old schoolhouse was then closed.

The building is said to be haunted by both the lost children… and the janitor.

Maybe it’s just a legend as the schools’ history records are inconclusive.

Either way it’s one on Cincinnati’s most popular Halloween attractions, with people waiting in long lines for the chance to be scared out of their wits by costumed ghosts and ghouls.

It’s also been named one of the scariest haunted houses in the nation by the likes of “Oprah Magazine.”

The spooky red brick building at 5963 Harrison Ave. was once the Dent Public School.

What’s cool about the schoolhouse is that it offers a variety of shows and events. From kid friendly to ghosts to Christmas, there’s a bit of everything. They have lights on and lights off tours, ghost tours, behind the scenes, and a Christmas Nightmare.

One owner said

“We set Dent Schoolhouse up to be like a movie,” Bud Stross says. “You, the audience member, relive the horror of the schoolhouse and what Charlie McFee did to the students. From start to finish, out customers are engulfed by the building and its history. Before you even buy a ticket, guests are met by actors playing locals who are crazed by the grisly landmark in their town.”

There’s a splendid amount of blood and body parts to go with the atmospheric creep factor, and Dent has been called the most detailed haunted attraction out there. “We try to touch on everything people love about horror movies,” Stross explains. For gore fanatics who enjoy the most explicit violence and brutality, there are plenty of gutted parents and children, a cafeteria of human remains and at least a few scenes of horrific torture. “Then there is the paranormal factor,” he adds; the Dent Schoolhouse, he insists, may truly be haunted. “Just walking in the building, guests may actually see or be touched by real ghosts—though that’s not guaranteed, of course.” But there are helpful haunters who create spirits when real ones don’t happen to appear; ghostly children, floating librarians and the eerie ambiance of a long-gone era tend to creep people out just fine.

Some creepy characters one meets in the Schoolhouse include Charlie McFee himself; the crowds would be understandably disappointed if they didn’t get to see the legendary maniac. Charlie is lovingly referred to as the “Mickey Mouse of Horror” when it comes to Cincinnati and the Tri-State area, and visitors run into him several times throughout the attraction, engaging in various activities such as killing a student, roaming his creepy sleeping quarters and cleaning a dirty bathroom (after all, he is a janitor, and he takes his custodial arts very seriously). Fittingly, he’s portrayed as a hunched-over, gnarled old man who snarls at anyone who looks at him and stares right into the eyes of his victims.

The Schoolhouse recently added a side attraction called Queen City Slaughter Yard. You see, Cincinnati, also known as the Queen City, has a long history as a major center of pork processing. So imagine a huge slaughterhouse with blood, chainsaws, dirt and … well, you can guess the rest. Beginning at the pig stalls, guests are chased through winding aisles as mad butchers wearing the faces of pigs and human victims pursue them. Meat-cleaning, meat-smoking, processing and freezing rooms offer many varieties of nausea-inducing horror, and a chain saw chase for your life ends the experience. “At last count,” Stross says, “it has anywhere between six and twelve chainsaws at one time.” A visit to the Slaughter Yard is included with every regular Schoolhouse ticket.

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