The Mohican State Park area was once the hunting grounds of the Delaware Indians, whose more famous warriors included Janacake, Bill Montour, Thomas Lyon (reportedly the ugliest man alive!) and James Smith, who was the first white man to come to this area. Smith was captured by the Indians and later adopted into their tribe. Several Delaware villages were located in the Mohican vicinity. Settlement by non-Indians began at the turn of the nineteenth century, but the settlement did not increase until the Indians were driven from the area during the War of 1812. John Chapman, immortalized as Johnny Appleseed, frequented the region during the 1800's, caring for his apple tree nurseries. His name and the date, carved in the wall of Lyons Falls, were an attraction for years. Unfortunately, the etchings have been obliterated with the passage of time.
The ghost of Tom Lyons, known as "the ugliest man who ever lived," is said to roam Mohican State Park in Richland County. Lyons was an Indian who supposedly wore a necklace made up the tongues of 99 white men. He vowed that he would get a hundredth before he died, but his plans were interrupted when he was killed on the stagecoach road and thrown into Killbuck Swamp. Now he roams the paths of the park with his axe, motivated by rage at being deprived of his last tongue.
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