Another Hole

The Blue Hole in Castalia Ohio is no longer with us. Well the hole is still there, but it's no longer open as a tourist attraction.

Front

I never visited the Blue Hole, so any "Hole Fans" reading this feel free to call me out, but the Blue Hole was simply a spring fed pond. It looked like a perfectly delightful place to have a picnic, but let's face it, as a tourist attraction it was pretty lame.

Inside

I do admire the showmanship of the Blue Hole owners. In their brochure they make the pond sound as exciting as they possibly can. First they never refer to it as a pond, and play up the "fact" that its depth is unknown - that's a good start. Then they manage to make the pedestrian information seem almost impressive: "48 degrees winter and summer," water flow "7,519 gallons per minute," and it's "not affected by floods or drought."

Unfortunately they didn't invent a legend of a spooky creature or magical being living in the hole. They really dropped the ball here because in their history they do talk about an Indian Village and "large medicine camp" near the Blue Hole, and that's fertile ground for some sort of ancient mystical myth. As I kid I would have gladly stared into a pond for who knows how long if I thought I could catch a glimpse of some monster.

Inside flap and Back

From what I've read online the Blue Hole was in operation from the 1930's to 1990. With Cedar Point so close by the Blue Hole never stood a chance. Cedar Point has been in operation since the late 1800's, and how could a pond ever compete with an amusement park. Maybe they thought they could sorta ride Cedar Point's coattails, and I guess it worked for about 60 years. Eventually time caught up the non-thrill attraction of the Blue Hole, but even a child or adult of the 1930's (or any time period) would rather ride a roller coaster than watch pond water wouldn't they?

PS: It was difficult to write this post and use the words "blue" and "hole" so many times, and not make an X-rated Smurf joke.