Numerous newspapers both in Ohio and abroad picked up the general story of Frank Lerman's (sometimes given as "Lernan") indictment for the death of his farmhand Henry Lipenstick (also given in article as Henry Lifenstick and Harry Kipenstick), who had gone missing some years prior. The ghost story aspect of it made it an appropriate item for the associate press, so it got rather wider coverage than it might have otherwise.

The confusion of details is not uncommon in this kind of story. The Sacramento Union article, for example, gives the location as "Hainesville Hollow" - no such town or village exists in the state of Ohio; but more local papers like Chillicothe Gazette mark it accurately as Paines Hollow which is near Cleveland.

If you trawl through the newspaper archives, there are many general small points of divergence and embellishment like that. This is the kind of telephone game which can happen sometimes in the papers, especially in the early 20th century when you can't fact-check every piece that comes in over the wire.

The story itself has become a small piece of local lore, and the Cleveland Ghost Hunter Guide unapologetically just repeats the newspaper articles verbatim, same with the Travel Channel special and other pop-culture sources. I have not been able to find any newspaper accounts of the actual disappearance of Lipenstick, which might well have gone unreported; the supposed ghostly visitations were not part of the original story as far as I can find evidence, so that part of it might have been an exaggeration of a genuine dream or feeling of haunting, dressed up by a nameless reporter to sell a story. However, the bones of the story (literally) appear to be based on fact. The Leroy Historical Association has dug up local articles about the discovery of a body in a well, which led to the arrest of the former owner, and name figures like Sheriff Ora Spink, who was active at that time and in that place. I have not been able to find a census record for "Henry Lipenstick," and I suspect that the name might have been mangled beyond immediate recognition.

What I haven't been able to find out is what happened next! I don't have access to legal cases going back to the 1920s in Lake County, Ohio. I haven't been able to find any follow-up newspaper accounts on the indictment. So whether or not there was a trial, I can't tell you. There are several graves for a Frank Lerman on find-a-grave, some even in Ohio, but no indication as to whether any of them are the Frank Lerman in question.

So...it looks like a body was found in a well, and that the local sheriff did investigate and suspect murder. Beyond that, it's hard to say.