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It was back during the Great Depression that a beloved camp ranger passed away at a small Boy Scout camp in northeastern Ohio.During a hike his heart gave out on him. Unfortunately, the only coffin they had at the time was a small child sized one, they couldn’t afford anything else and the problem was the beloved ranger was a very tall man.
Eventually, someone suggested they dismember the body to make it fit. After a brief debate, the camp director, noting the ranger had no immediate family, said it was up to them to dispose of his remains. A young Eagle Scout drew the short straw, and with a handsaw, he quickly cut off the ranger’s arms, legs, and head. They managed to stuff the torso and limbs into the coffin, but the head wouldn’t fit. No matter how hard they tried, the coffin wouldn’t close.
“What difference does it make?” the camp director said, and the head was discarded. The body was buried by Lake Litchfield, but the head’s fate remains a mystery. Some say it was buried near the coffin, while others claim it was tossed down a latrine. No one knows for sure.
By 1930, campers began seeing red eyes in the woods. At first, they thought it was just a reflection from lanterns on the eyes of a deer or raccoon. But as the eyes drew closer, they saw nothing but a decaying head floating through the trees, searching for something. One boy, terrified, never spoke again.
Over the years, more boys reported seeing “Red Eyes” in the woods. Occasionally, a boy would disappear, and though their bodies were never found, their heads severed.
One story took place in the early 90s, two boys were cleaning the pool’s furnace room. The older boy told the younger of the two about the legend of Red Eyes. Later that night the young boy was getting into his tent, he looked out into the woods to see a pair of red menacing eyes looking right at him. He alerted his friends nearby, they all saw the same thing. They dared each other to run out to it. When one of them finally did, the eyes vanished.
The legend of Red Eyes still lingers at Camp Manatoc, nestled in Cuyahoga Valley National Park of Ohio. The camp’s wooden gate bears a chilling inscription: “To These Things You Must Return.”
Source: It Came From Ohio By James Renner https://www.amazon.com/Came-Ohio-Tales-Weird-Unexplained/dp/1598510630
