1927 community mausoleum holding stage magician Howard Thurston, whose ghost is said to roam the marble corridors of this restored Columbus landmark.
700 Greenlawn Avenue, Columbus, OH 43223
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Open to the public for scheduled events; check greenlawnabbey.org for tours, Spirits and Spells seasonal programming, and concerts.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored marble mausoleum interior with ground-level entry
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1927 · Beaux-Arts Mausoleum Architecture · Howard Thurston (magician) interment · 21st-Century Preservation Success · Stage-magic History
Green Lawn Abbey opened in 1927 as a community mausoleum on Greenlawn Avenue. Despite its proximity to the much larger Green Lawn Cemetery, the Abbey is a separate institution — a single Beaux-Arts mausoleum building rather than a cemetery — designed in marble and bronze with niches and crypts for roughly 600 interments.
Attendance and operating revenue declined through the late 20th century, and the building was at serious risk of demolition by the 2000s. The Green Lawn Abbey Preservation Association was incorporated in 2008 and has since raised more than $750,000 for restoration. Completed projects include full roof replacement, foundation repair, restoration of the bronze entry doors, repair or replacement of 13 stained-glass windows, and landscape stabilization. As of 2019 the Abbey was again accepting interments — both full-body in remaining vaults and cremated remains in newly installed columbaria.
The Abbey's best-known resident is Howard Thurston (1869-1936), born in Columbus and billed during his lifetime as the most famous American stage magician — his traveling show reportedly required eight train cars to move between cities. Thurston's interment makes the Abbey a destination for magic-history enthusiasts as well as preservation advocates.
Sources
Per the Ohio Exploration Society's structures file and a 2009 piece in The Lantern, Green Lawn Abbey's primary spectral figure is Howard Thurston himself — the early-20th-century magician whose 'Wonder Show of the Universe' once toured the U.S. in eight train cars. Visitors and volunteers describe figures moving in the marble corridors near his interment niche.
A second reported entity is a woman seen on the second floor. The Lantern's 2009 reenactment piece described an organized paranormal-themed event at the Abbey during which volunteers reported sensed-presence experiences and the appearance of figures glimpsed in peripheral vision.
The Preservation Association incorporates the lore into its public-facing Spirits and Spells seasonal programming, but does so primarily as cultural-history programming — an extension of Thurston's stage career and the Abbey's place in Columbus's magic-history record — rather than as a paranormal-investigation venue.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Green Lawn Abbey Preservation Association hosts seasonal Spirits and Spells events that combine guided tours with interpretation of Howard Thurston's career and the Abbey's preservation story. Programming runs primarily in autumn.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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