Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA hidden 1811 pioneer burial ground up a wooded hillside in Valley View, where settler graves, canal-worker dead, and Ottawa tribal history fuel persistent legends of shadow figures and children's laughter.
11400 Tinkers Creek Rd, Valley View, OH 44125
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free; parking at Terra Vista Nature Study Area turnoff on Tinkers Creek Rd.
Access
Limited Access
Steep wooded hillside trail; dirt/gravel path, uneven footing.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1811 · One of Cuyahoga County's earliest pioneer cemeteries (est. 1811) · Possible resting place of Ottawa people and Moravian-era settlers · Holds graves of Mayflower descendants (Silence Alden) · Likely contains unmarked graves of Ohio & Erie Canal laborers · Records maintained by Bedford Historical Society and Western Reserve Historical Society
The land along Tinker's Creek in what is now Valley View, Ohio has a layered human history stretching back well before European settlement. The Ottawa people established a settlement on the flattened hillside before 1786, when Moravian missionaries David Zeisberger and John Heckewelder arrived and named the site 'Pilgerruh' (German for Pilgrim's Rest) after finding only remnants of the Ottawa village.
In 1797 the land was surveyed and opened to settlers from New England. The creek—and subsequently the cemetery on the hill above it—was named after Joseph Tinker, although Tinker himself was never buried there. The earliest confirmed burial is Fitch Comstock (born 1770–1771), and the cemetery holds graves of the Comstock, Moses, and Hathaway families, including Silence Alden, documented as a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers John and Priscilla Alden.
The cemetery is widely believed to hold the unmarked graves of Ohio & Erie Canal workers who perished during canal construction through the valley in the 1820s–1840s. The most recent documented burial is thought to have taken place around the 1920s. Records are maintained by the Bedford Historical Society and the Western Reserve Historical Society.
The site sits about halfway up the wooded hillside above Tinker's Creek Road. Its hidden position—invisible from the road—contributed to both its preservation and its eerie reputation. The cemetery is also known by several names: Terra Vista Cemetery, Hillside Cemetery, and Old Indian Cemetery, reflecting different eras of its history.
Sources
Tinker's Creek Cemetery has accumulated a range of paranormal folklore tied to its layered history. According to accounts collected by Found in Ohio (2023) and Ohio Forgotten, visitors regularly report hearing the faint laughter and giggles of children near the older sections of the cemetery—an experience some attribute to the high child mortality rates of the 1800s, when many settler families lost young children to frontier hardships.
Shadow figures have been reported moving among the headstones, and unexplained cold spots have been noted in the open field clearing at the top of the hill. One account from the late 1970s describes a visitor discovering a freshly disturbed grave, fueling theories about the site's history of vandalism and, some claimed, cult activity.
The most persistent legends attribute the supernatural activity to three possible sources: the spirits of Ottawa people whose settlement predated European arrival; the unquiet dead among the canal laborers buried in unmarked graves; or a general 'unknown evil' that, according to Ohio Forgotten, had already driven the earlier Ottawa inhabitants away before the Moravian missionaries arrived. The cemetery's isolated hillside position—reached only by a rough trail—amplifies its atmosphere of abandonment.
Notable Entities
Follow the gravel track up the wooded hillside to the clearing where over 66 pioneers are buried. Explore weathered 19th-century stones, the early Comstock graves, and the atmospheric isolation of one of Cuyahoga County's oldest burial grounds.
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