Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA family of five buried within days of each other in 1835, now a park trail mystery with reported child apparitions.
Wolfinger Rd, Secor Metropark, Toledo, OH 43617
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free access as part of Metroparks Toledo system
Access
Limited Access
Wooded park trails; cemetery is off a dirt path, uneven terrain
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1835 · 19th-century Lucas County family burial · Cholera-era Ohio mortality · Preserved pioneer-era cemetery within Metroparks Toledo
Wolfinger Cemetery sits inside the boundaries of Secor Metropark on the west side of Toledo, a quiet fenced plot that dates to 1835. The graves belong to two parents and their three children, all of whom died within a short span of days in the same year. The nature of the deaths — whether illness, accident, or some other cause — is not recorded in surviving county documents, and that absence of explanation has fueled speculation for generations.
The cemetery predates the metropark system by more than a century. When the Toledo Metropolitan Park District acquired and developed the surrounding land in the twentieth century, the Wolfinger plot was preserved in place, accessible by a short trail through second-growth forest. It remains a small, marked burial ground — fenced and maintained — that draws hikers curious about its unusual family narrative.
Local historians and walking-tour organizers have noted the cemetery in the context of Lucas County's nineteenth-century settlement history. Family clusters dying together in 1835 most likely reflect the cholera outbreaks that swept Ohio that decade, though no definitive cause has been recorded for the Wolfinger family specifically.
Sources
The paranormal reputation of Wolfinger Cemetery centers on a single figure: the apparition of a young girl, estimated to be around ten years old, seen near the family graves. Multiple accounts from local researchers and visitors describe the same image — a child in period clothing who appears and then vanishes near the fenced perimeter.
The Ohio Exploration Society has documented Wolfinger Cemetery among Lucas County haunted sites, citing the child apparition as the primary reported phenomenon. Local blogger and regional researcher Nick Shamhart documented the legend in detail, noting that the girl is sometimes described as appearing to play near the headstones. The specificity of the reported apparition — consistent age, behavior, and location — distinguishes Wolfinger from sites with more generic haunted reputations.
The family cluster death of 1835 provides the obvious explanatory frame for visitors who encounter the site. Five people buried in rapid succession, including at least three children, leaves a story that a place seems to hold.
Walk the marked trail through Secor Metropark to Wolfinger Cemetery, a small fenced burial ground holding the remains of two parents and their three children who died within days of one another in 1835. The park is free and open during daylight hours.
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