To mark Halloween, here’s a ghost story and, even if you don’t believe in ghosts, it’s quite a scandalous tale.
The Moorish-style Spring House Gazebo in Eden Park was designed by architect Cornelius M. Foster and completed in 1904, making it the oldest structure in the Cincinnati Parks system.
In 1925, popular Cincinnati attorney George Remus was indicted for bootlegging and ordered to serve a 2-year federal prison sentence. While he was serving time, his wife Imogene started an affair with former undercover prohibition agent Franklin Dodge. The pair liquidated her husband’s assets, sold his distillery, attempted to have him deported, and even hired a hit man to try to murder him.
When George returned from prison, Imogene filed for divorce. On 6 Oct 1927, on the way to the courthouse to finalize the divorce, George had his driver run his wife’s car off the road near the gazebo, jumped out and fatally shot her in the stomach.
George represented himself in court and was ultimately acquitted in one of the first successful uses of the insanity defense, having claimed that he’d been driven mad by his wife’s adultery, thievery and betrayal. Legend has it that the ghost of Imogene Remus now haunts the gazebo and nearby Mirror Lake.