Investigating Haunted Schneider Park in Akron
On March 25, 2026, we spent the day exploring several locations around Akron, Ohio, searching for history, unusual stories, and, of course, a little paranormal activity. One of the locations we wanted to visit was a place that looks surprisingly ordinary when you first arrive. It is a neighborhood park surrounded by homes, with open grassy areas that appear no different from countless other small parks throughout Ohio. However, once you know what lies beneath the grass at Schneider Park, your entire perspective of the place changes.
Schneider Park is not simply a neighborhood recreation area. Beneath portions of the park are hundreds of unmarked graves connected to the former Summit County Infirmary. Many of the people buried here were among the poorest and most vulnerable residents of Summit County. Some were residents of the infirmary, while others were people who died elsewhere and whose bodies were never claimed.
Knowing that history, we decided Schneider Park was a location that deserved a visit during our trip to Akron. We weren't coming simply to hunt for ghosts. We wanted to see the location for ourselves, document it for Our Haunted Travels, pay our respects to those buried there, and conduct a small paranormal investigation to see if we experienced anything unusual.
The Summit County Infirmary
The story of Schneider Park really begins long before the park existed.
In 1849, Summit County purchased approximately 150 acres of farmland to establish what was originally known as the county poorhouse. Institutions like this existed throughout the United States during the nineteenth century. They became homes for people who had nowhere else to go, including the poor, elderly, sick, disabled, orphaned, and others who could not support themselves.
The original farm buildings were adapted to house residents, but the facility continued to expand. In 1865, construction began on a much larger Summit County Infirmary building. The institution eventually became part of a large working farm where residents helped grow crops, raise livestock, and perform other work necessary to support the facility.
Life inside nineteenth-century poorhouses and infirmaries could be extremely difficult. These weren't hospitals or nursing facilities in the modern sense. They were institutions created during an era when society often had very different attitudes toward poverty, disability, mental illness, and people who required public assistance.
There were also troubling allegations connected with the Summit County Infirmary. During the late nineteenth century, questions arose concerning the handling of bodies after residents died, including allegations that corpses were being sold to medical schools. Whatever happened during those years, the history adds another disturbing chapter to an already somber location.
The Cemetery Beneath Schneider Park
When someone at the infirmary died and there was no family willing or able to claim the body, burial could take place on the property.
The cemetery essentially became a potter's field.
These were not elaborate Victorian burials surrounded by carved monuments and family memorials. Many people were placed into simple graves with little or no permanent identification.
Research has identified records for more than 300 people associated with burials at the cemetery, but the actual number may never be known. The people buried here included infirmary residents as well as unclaimed individuals from elsewhere in Akron. Records also tell heartbreaking stories involving infants, children, immigrants, and people whose families either could not be located or could not afford burial elsewhere.
Eventually, the Summit County Infirmary moved to a new facility in Munroe Falls. The former Akron property was purchased by developer Philip Schneider, who developed much of the surrounding land for housing.
The cemetery area remained.
After Schneider's death in 1935, the property became associated with the City of Akron and eventually became the neighborhood park that bears his name.
Over time, however, knowledge of what was underneath the park seems to have faded from public awareness.
People walked their dogs here.
Children played here.
Families used the park.
Sports were played on the grass.
All the while, hundreds of people remained beneath the ground in graves that had no individual headstones identifying who they were.
Rediscovering the Forgotten Graves
Interest in the cemetery eventually returned as historians and researchers began piecing together the story of the old Summit County Infirmary.
One of the most significant investigations occurred in 2017 when University of Akron archaeology students, led by archaeology professor Tim Matney, conducted a geophysical survey of portions of Schneider Park.
They didn't need to excavate the graves.
Instead, archaeological equipment allowed researchers to examine what was underneath the surface without disturbing the burials.
The results helped document more than 300 probable grave locations.
Once you know what you are looking at, signs of the cemetery can sometimes even be noticed in the landscape. Subtle differences in the ground and vegetation can reveal rectangular patterns and depressions associated with graves.
Standing there knowing what those patterns represent is a completely different experience than simply walking through a city park.
These aren't archaeological curiosities.
Each one represents a person.
They were men, women, and children who lived in Akron and Summit County more than a century ago. Many simply had the misfortune of dying without the money or family connections necessary to receive the type of burial that might have preserved their names for future generations.
Is Schneider Park Haunted?
With hundreds of people buried beneath an otherwise ordinary neighborhood park, it probably isn't surprising that paranormal stories have become associated with Schneider Park.
One of the most frequently repeated claims involves strange sounds heard around the park, particularly crying or voices when nobody else appears to be nearby.
Others have described an unusual atmosphere surrounding the property, especially after learning about the cemetery beneath their feet. Stories involving unexplained mist and fog have also circulated among people familiar with the area.
As paranormal investigators, however, we constantly try to separate the documented history from the legends.
We know people are buried here.
That part isn't folklore.
Exactly what paranormal activity occurs here is much more difficult to determine.
That is why we wanted to conduct our own investigation.
Our March 25, 2026 Visit
When we arrived at Schneider Park on March 25, 2026, one of the strangest things about the location was just how normal everything appeared.
If you drove past without knowing the history, you probably wouldn't give the property a second thought.
There isn't a massive cemetery gate.
There aren't rows of Victorian monuments.
There aren't mausoleums or towering statues.
There is grass.
There are soccer fields.
There are trees.
There are homes nearby.
And underneath that peaceful landscape are hundreds of graves.
That contrast is what makes Schneider Park such an unusual place to investigate.
We walked around the property while discussing its history and examining the areas associated with the former cemetery. Knowing that we were essentially walking through an unmarked burial ground gave the entire visit a much more solemn feeling.
We also brought along some of our paranormal investigation equipment.
Rather than conducting the type of overnight investigation we might perform inside a historic building, this was more of an exploratory investigation. We wanted to document the location, attempt some communication, and see whether anything unusual occurred while we were there.
Trying to Communicate With the Forgotten Dead
One of the challenges with investigating Schneider Park is that we don't necessarily know who we might be attempting to contact.
At a traditional cemetery, investigators can stand beside a headstone and address someone by name. You might know when that person was born, when they died, who their family members were, and sometimes even details about their life.
At Schneider Park, most of those visual connections are gone.
There are no rows of stones telling their stories.
That makes attempting paranormal communication here very different.
Our approach was simply to acknowledge the people buried beneath the property and provide an opportunity for anyone who might still be present to communicate with us.
We asked questions.
We listened.
We watched our equipment.
And we allowed time for responses.
As always, we don't automatically consider every strange sound or unusual reading paranormal. Outdoor investigations are especially difficult because there are countless environmental factors that can interfere with equipment and audio recordings.
But sometimes the investigation isn't only about obtaining dramatic evidence.
Sometimes simply being there is important.
More Than a Haunted Location
Schneider Park reminded us of something we have encountered many times during Our Haunted Travels.
Paranormal history frequently leads us to forgotten history.
We may originally hear about a location because someone claims to have seen a ghost, heard a voice, or experienced something they couldn't explain. Once we begin researching the story, however, we often discover something far more interesting.
We discover people.
The individuals buried beneath Schneider Park weren't historical celebrities. Presidents and generals aren't buried here beneath giant monuments. Most of these people never had biographies written about them.
Many disappeared into history almost completely.
And perhaps that is the most powerful part of Schneider Park's story.
For generations, people walked directly over their graves without knowing they were there.
Remembering the People Beneath the Park
Thankfully, that is beginning to change.
Research into the Summit County Infirmary cemetery has helped restore some of the identities of the people buried there. Archaeological work has demonstrated the extent of the burial ground, while historians and members of the Akron community have worked to make sure the people beneath Schneider Park are no longer completely forgotten.
In 2026, efforts were also underway to give the location greater recognition as a memorial site, including a push to rename it Schneider Memorial Park.
That seems appropriate.
A park can still serve the living while respecting the dead.
People don't necessarily need to fear Schneider Park or avoid it because graves are located beneath the property. Instead, understanding the history gives visitors an opportunity to recognize that the landscape served a very different purpose long before it became a neighborhood park.
For us, visiting Schneider Park was another example of why we continue doing Our Haunted Travels.
Yes, we enjoy investigating paranormal claims.
Yes, we enjoy experimenting with equipment and attempting spirit communication.
But we also enjoy uncovering the stories behind these locations.
Sometimes those stories deserve to be remembered even more than the ghosts.
Final Thoughts
Our March 25, 2026, investigation of Schneider Park was certainly different from investigating an abandoned asylum, historic mansion, old jail, or supposedly haunted hotel.
There were no dark hallways to explore.
There were no doors mysteriously closing.
There were no rooms where infamous tragedies occurred.
Instead, we stood in an ordinary patch of green space in Akron, knowing that beneath us were hundreds of people whose final resting places had nearly disappeared from public memory, and we just sat in our vehicle next to the park.
Whether their spirits remain at Schneider Park is something each person will have to decide for themselves.
But one thing isn't paranormal speculation.
They are still there.
And after more than a century of being largely forgotten, their story is finally being told again.
For us, that alone made Schneider Park a location worth visiting.
If you enjoy paranormal investigations, forgotten history, cemeteries, unusual locations, and traveling with us to places with fascinating stories, be sure to follow Our Haunted Travels as we continue documenting locations throughout Ohio and beyond.
And the next time you walk through an ordinary neighborhood park, remember this investigation.
You never know what history might be hiding directly beneath your feet.
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