Here is what we know...​

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In the mid to late 1980's , The Pataskala Lions Club decided to open a haunted attraction to help raise money for the local youth sport program. They decided to open the "Pataskala Lions Haunted Forest" on Refugee Rd in Pataskala, Ohio... Near the same location as the Southwest Licking Youth Football and Baseball teams now play their games.

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Upon entering the wooded area that now houses the Pataskala Haunted Forest, they stumbled upon the remains of a burned-down building that resembled a small house. About 30 feet from this burned-down building they found a grave marker with the name "Murdock" crudely engraved on it. After doing research about this area and finding no information on the history of this land of a family named "Murdock" and no real historical value found about the burned-down building, they began removing the rubble of the building to begin the layout process of the Pataskala Lions Haunted Forest.

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As they were constructing the first building for the haunted attraction strange things began happening... (nails coming out of the wood after just being driven into the boards, light bulbs blowing for no reason, hearing voices off in the distance, feelings of being watched and no one being there, feelings of being touched or grabbed when no one else was around, seeing shadows move inside of the buildings while no one being in that area.) This continued for the next few years as they worked hard to complete the layout of the haunted attraction... but the "strange things" that were happening were getting more and more intense as time went on.

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The Pataskala Haunted Forest is a story of "The Murdock Family" and how the head of the family... Ezekiel Murdock had instructed his family to kill and mutilate anyone who trespasses on their land. To this day, strange things continue to happen in this wooded area that is now the home of the Pataskala Haunted Forest.

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The "Murdock" Family grave marker still remains in the forest where it was originally placed, only a handful of trusted forest employees know its exact location as no one wants it to be disturbed as they don't want any more strange things happening on the Old Murdock Land.