Cincinnati's Hilltop Park and the Site of Imogene Remus's 1927 Murder
950 Eden Park Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45202
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public-park access during posted hours. Cincinnati Art Museum (within the park) has its own free admission policy.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved park roads, sidewalks, and landscaped grounds with some hill terrain
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1859 · Cincinnati Civic Park · Imogene Remus Murder Site · Prohibition-Era History · Cincinnati Art Museum and Krohn Conservatory Grounds
Eden Park is a 186-acre Cincinnati city park established in 1859 on hilltop land east of downtown. The park includes the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Krohn Conservatory, the Ohio River overlook at Twin Lakes, Mirror Lake, and the small classical pavilion known as the Spring House Gazebo.
On the morning of October 6, 1927, George Remus — the Prohibition-era bootlegger known nationally as the King of the Bootleggers — instructed his driver to pursue the taxi carrying his estranged wife Imogene Holmes Remus and her daughter Ruth as they traveled through Eden Park to a final divorce hearing. Remus had his driver force the cab off the road near the Spring House Gazebo. He jumped out, pursued his wife as she fled from the taxi, and shot her once in the abdomen in full view of multiple park witnesses. Imogene died shortly afterward at a nearby hospital. Imogene was wearing a black dress at the time of her death — a detail corroborated by period reporting.
The trial that followed became national news. Remus, a former defense attorney, represented himself and pleaded temporary insanity, citing his wife's affair with Prohibition agent Franklin Dodge and the dissipation of his fortune. The jury deliberated only nineteen minutes before acquitting him. The case is widely credited as a real-world inspiration for elements of The Great Gatsby, and was the subject of Karen Abbott's 2019 narrative history The Ghosts of Eden Park. Imogene's daughter Ruth lived through her mother's murder and never reconciled with Remus.
Sources
Unlike most haunted-park folklore, Eden Park's central ghost story rests on a verified historical incident. The figure of a woman in a black silk dress has been reported near the Spring House Gazebo for decades. The connection to the documented Remus murder is direct: Imogene Remus was wearing a black dress when she was shot at this exact spot on October 6, 1927.
A paranormal investigation group received permission from the Cincinnati park board to conduct an on-site investigation on May 6, 2008. The group's published findings, referenced in updates to the original Shadowlands listing, included no photographic or video evidence of an apparition but did include audio recordings that the investigators interpreted as electronic voice phenomena, with one segment reading as 'help me' to listeners.
The park appears in regional ghost-tour content and in Karen Abbott's nonfiction account of the Remus case, The Ghosts of Eden Park (2019), which centers on the documented murder rather than supernatural claims. The historical foundation makes Eden Park unusual among public-park haunting reports: the lore here is downstream of a real event, with named participants, court records, and contemporary news coverage all available as primary documentation.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Walk the paths to the Spring House Gazebo — the small classical pavilion where George Remus shot his wife Imogene on October 6, 1927. The gazebo remains in place and is part of the park's recognized historic structures. The park also includes the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Krohn Conservatory, and excellent Ohio River overlooks.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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