Ohio Cemetery Safari

Joc-O-Sot/Walking Bear (1810-1844)
gravestone

Joc-O-Sot was of the band Bear, tribe Osauckee of the Algonquin nation, according to the memorial marker, but was he a Sauk? Perhaps a Sauk is of the Osauckee. But was he the chief of the Meskwaki/Fox tribe? The Sauks and Meskwaki were closely allied and fought together in the Black Hawk War of 1831/1832, where Joc-O-Sot was wounded. After the war he came to Cleveland, working as a fishing and hunting guide. He later toured with a theatrical troupe run by Dan Marble, which supposedly showed Native American life. Traveling in England, he performed for Queen Victoria, who was impressed enough to commission a portrait of him. Joc-O-Sot became ill and returned to the United States, apparently wanting to return to his homeland (he was born in Iowa, but his people may have been buried in Wisconsin of Minnesota). He made it to Cleveland before he died, and was buried in the Erie Street Cemetery.
It is reported that vandals damaged his headstone in 1907, but legend says Joc-O-Sot was angry with being buried here, and broke it himself. It is also said that his spirit crosses the street to haunt what is now Progressive Field, either because it was built on an old Indian burial site, or because he is insulted by Chief Wahoo.
This is one of the cemeteries where the state of Ohio buried the residents of the mental hospital whose families either didn't claim them or were too poor to afford to do it themselves. The gravestones are all the same size and shape, and most are simply a name with a birth and death date. It's a sad place.



But the creepiest thing about the asylum cemetery is the presence of two gravestones marked simply SPECIMENS. What the hell are specimens? They must have been human at one time, or they wouldn't have bothered with interment. Maybe they had medical school labs at the old hospital. Whatever the reason, the specimens gravestones are just plain bizarre.


Aside from the big blocky tombstones, on a later trip we discovered some small, flat stones flush with the grass. They were buried in the snow the first time I found the asylum cemetery at TICO. I wonder if this one is haunted. So many people had such miserable existences at the old asylum, and these were the ones who had no one to alleviate their pain. It seems very possible. It also wouldn't surprise me if the ODOT workers saw some strange things in their shiny new building. I just wish I'd had the opportunity to explore the original structure before they dismantled it. 


The Garfield Memorial has limited visitation hours – from 9 to 4, April through mid-November. There’s no charge to visit the cemetery or the monument.
A short walk from the Garfield Memorial are the graves of billionaire philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and several members of his family. The family obelisk is one of the tallest in the cemetery. Many visitors leave dimes at the site, in honor of Rockefeller’s habit of giving dimes to children.

The Merchant ball is said to rotate on it's own. Notice the light spot? It is said that is where the bottom of the ball was when it was set on the pedestal. The sphere weighs about 5200 pounds. It is said the ball moves 2 inches a year. The ball was featured in Ripley's Believe It Or Not in 1929.