by Shenandoah Fontaine

Created on: January 23, 2009   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

Along the banks of the Ohio River in Ironton, Ohio is Woodland Cemetery, also known as the City of the Dead. Founded in 1871, it presently contains more than 8,000 graves. The cemetery entrance is beautifully gated and the cemetery itself is beautifully landscaped. Its departed residents include veterans from the American Civil War, celebrated local persons, and its share of ghost stories and local legends.

If you happen to be in the cemetery after dark, you might catch a glimpse of ballerina Antoinette Peters, also known as Teenie. It has been reported that on nights when the moon is full her ghost can be seen dancing outside her mausoleum where her body is entombed. Antoinette Peters was a dancer with the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Chicago Opera. She met and married a local industrialist and settled in Ironton, Ohio. Sadly, she was unfortunately killed in a car crash in Illinois. Not long after her funeral, her mausoleum was broken into by vandals. Aside from breaking part of the top of her glass coffin, they stole a brooch she received from a Russian Czar which was a valued possession of her. They also heartlessly off two of her fingers to steal her rings. A ceramic photograph attached to the outside of her mausoleum depicts her youth and beauty, but sadly, another vandal has shot at it with a BB gun, breaking part of the photograph off. Despite the unkind acts by callous vandals, "Teenie" continues to dance happily in the moonlight for anyone who is fortunate enough to notice.

One of the more elaborate and beautiful statues in the cemetery is of a woman descending the stairs. The expressionless woman's statue belongs to Osa Wilson, also known as the Slapped Lady. Osa was born in 1877 and died a terrible death in 1911 at the age of 34. The commonly told story is that her husband was very abusive towards her, both verbally and physically. One evening he arrived home drunk, but had brought her flowers. An quarrel arose and in an anger, Osa's husband slapped her across the face causing her to fall down a flight of stairs. The fall fatally injured her and the unborn child she was carrying. Standing in front of the statue, one will notice the right cheek is different than her left cheek. Looking more closely, a red mark is noticeable, resembling a hand print. Several efforts have been made to sandblast it and repair it, but all have been unsuccessful. The red mark always returns. The hands of the figure have been broken off but it is said that at one time,

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