Cincinnati Forest Road and the Urban Legend of Amy
Cincinnati, OH
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public road within Richardson Forest Preserve; free access.
Access
Limited Access
Paved road with forest preserve surroundings; cul-de-sac at the end
Equipment
Photos OK
Lick Road runs through Richardson Forest Preserve in Hamilton County, outside Cincinnati. The preserve is a Hamilton County Park with wooded terrain and minimal amenities.
The real event underlying the 'Amy' legend is documented: on August 24, 1976, a fifteen-year-old girl named Linda Dyer was hitchhiking on North Bend Road when two men in a Volkswagen offered her a ride. Her body was discovered the following day beneath a bridge at the intersection of Crest and Banks Roads — in the vicinity of Lick Road. The autopsy established that she had been stabbed and strangled, and that she was killed at a separate location before being transported and left under the bridge.
Hamilton County investigators never identified her killers. The case remains officially unsolved.
According to Creepy Cincinnati, the Hamilton County Parks Chief Ranger confirmed that no official records of deaths exist at Richardson Forest Preserve itself — meaning whatever happened to Linda Dyer, it did not occur within the park's documented boundaries.
Sources
The Amy legend is one of southwest Ohio's most persistent urban legends. In its standard form, Amy was a woman — accounts vary her age from teenager to thirty — who was murdered by her boyfriend either at the cul-de-sac or at a bridge within the preserve. She is said to communicate with visitors by writing the word 'Help' or 'Help me' in the condensation on parked car windows.
Other reported experiences include screaming coming from the adjacent field, shadow figures, white mist, and car windows that lock when rolled down. Some accounts add a ritual trigger: headlights flashed three times, similar to the headlight-trigger legends at several other Ohio sites.
Creepy Cincinnati's research established that no woman named Amy is documented as having died at this location. The legend most plausibly derives from the 1976 Linda Dyer murder, which involved a young woman killed near this road by unknown perpetrators who were never caught — a real unsolved case with enough geographic overlap to fuel folklore.
The Ohio Exploration Society notes the road's paranormal reputation separately from the specific 'Amy' narrative, and Creepy Cincinnati's investigation presents the full history including the Dyer case, acknowledging the disconnect between the legend and the documented facts.
Notable Entities
Drive to the dead end of Lick Road within Richardson Forest Preserve near Cincinnati. The cul-de-sac is the focal point of the 'Amy' legend. The Hamilton County Parks Chief Ranger confirmed there are no official records of deaths at Richardson Forest Preserve.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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