Brownella Cottage isn’t a Halloween attraction, though it certainly has a haunting appeal. While spooky stories abound and paranormal hunts are regularly scheduled, maybe it’s eery because the bishop who lived and died there was the first person of any church creed in America to be disposed for heretical teachings. Or, perhaps the greater intrigue was that the house and its contents sat abandoned—and undisturbed—for 50 years.
The home sat empty for 50 years after the last surviving owner Bishop William Brown died. Yet, 99 percent of the household items, furniture, and personal belongs are original. That’s unusual.
“In 50 years, no one broke in,” said Marcia Yunker of the Galion Historical Society.
Yunker said that fact emphasizes how scary the house was. When homes sit abandoned, they are frequently vandalized: windows broken and copper wiring stolen. But not this house. Not only was the house not broken into, it was filled with possessions and furniture that were left undisturbed.
Brown married Ella Scranton Bradford. The Brownella Cottage was constructed between 1885 and 1887 for less than $7,000, and was built as a wedding gift by Ella’s aunt and adoptive mother, Mary Scranton Bradford, a wealthy philanthropist of Cleveland. Mary Scranton Bradford was one of the founders and main benefactors of the Cleveland School of Art.
“They both had terrible childhoods,” said Yunker of William and Ella Brown, “It worked out well for him because she [Mary Scranton Bradford] paid for him to go to college. She lived on ‘Millionaire’s Row’ in Cleveland.” She supported men who chose to pursue the Episcopal ministry and William Brown attended Kenyon College in Gambier from 1880 to 1883. She also provided the couple with a generous allowance.
(Note for more on their childhoods, see the video below.)
The grounds of the home originally was the site of the Galion Union School, and years later, the Galion Junior High or Middle School stood nearby. Yunker attended that school and she remembered the fear the students held for the old house. She also remembers a story that was repeated of an elephant buried on the property.
“We were all scared of the cottage,” said Yunker, “I don’t remember specifics other than the elephant story.”
The large lot consists of the house, located at 132 S. Union St., Galion, a carriage house, and a study interconnected by glass-enclosed walkways (added late in Brown’s life}. The study was originally the St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church and was built in 1866. house, the carriage house, and the study. The property also includes the Grace Episcopal Church, all maintained by the Galion Historical.
Brown had a nervous breakdown in 1911; and after authoring the book “Communism and Christianism” in 1920, heresy charges were brought against him by the church. While waiting for the final verdict of his deposition, of which he was convicted, he was consecrated as an Old Catholic bishop.
Ella Scranton Bradford Brown died in 1935; William Montgomery Brown died in 1937. According to Yunker, hundreds of people attended his funeral.
Brown made arrangement for financial support to several organizations in the area, including a hospital, a home for the aged, and Kenyon College. He also reported left Brownella Cottage to the Communist Party of America.
Is the house haunted?
Yunker said, “I do know that Barry and Cathy [Moneysmith are totally believers. They’re volunteers, and they are in charge of the ghost hunts. They have the dousing rods that if you ask ‘yes’/’no’ questions, they cross. I was with some of my friends that I taught with and I asked, “Alright, are you moving those” [of the Moneysmiths] and they said ‘No.’”
“After our Clue game once, Barry was asking yes/no questions with a little flashlight. He put it on a step and the flashlight was on and he would say, for example, ‘Bishop, if you’re here, turn the flashlight off.’ And I was sitting right there on the step beside it and it went off.”
Yunker said that with the dousing rods, if the Moneysmiths would ask, “Is anyone in the room with us, if so cross,” and the dousing rods would cross. Yunker also heard a dog barking on the property and she said that Ella Brown had a dog. People have smelled incense and felt a sensation like walking through spider webs.
Before Brown died, wrote in “My Heresy: The Autobiography of an Idea” that he never quit believing in God, or the church, but that his purpose was to discern what keeps religious people apart. “I reached the conclusion, rightly or wrongly,” he wrote, “that it was not their religious affiliation. Their denominations did not create their misunderstandings; their misunderstandings created their denominations.”
The Galion Historical Society preserves Bishop William Montgomery Brown’s legacy, and Brownella Cottage is full of his books and his and Ella’s personal effects. It is open to the public and tours are available throughout the year. Call 419-468-9338 for details. And for paranormal tours, call 419-462-5672 or visit their Facebook page.
