Over the past 14 years Cleveland graphic artist Ben Small and his sister, Betsy Allen, have been periodically working on a novella based on a ghost story Small developed while walking in Bratenahl years ago.

While the project was picked up and put down over the years, Allen and Small recently released “Mary Sticks,” a graphic novel that centers around mystery, legends, and reckoning.

“‘Mary Sticks’ is an atmospheric ghost story, a perfect slice of suspense for the fall season,” explains Suzanne DeGaetano, owner of Mac’s Backs in Cleveland Heights. “Mary Clarence disappears from a Bratenahl holiday party in 1910 and is never seen again—or is she? I won't be able to drive through Bratenahl again without thinking of this chilling tale.”

Small and his wife, Beth, enjoy taking evening walks around nearby Bratenahl. They’ve lived in the area since 1994, and Small says the natural surroundings are inspiring.

Mary Sticks“I love walking in Bratenahl,” he says. “It’s just fantastic, with the mansions and deep wooded areas.”

One night, about 14 years ago, those deep wooded areas sparked Small’s imagination. “My wife and I were walking, and I invented a little critter who was watching us,” he recalls. I called her Mary sticks. Like we were being watched from the woods—just for fun. It just kind of hit my brain. So I thought of a story for it and wrote something.”

Small gave the story to Allen, who is an adjunct English composition professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and the two collaborated on fleshing the idea into a novella.

The two produced what would ultimately become “Mary Sticks,” a 48-page graphic novella that spans 50 years in Bratenahl. “It was a pretty simple story, and Betsy just added some much needed depth to it,” Small explains. “She’s a very good writer.”

Small says he named the ghost Mary Sticks to depict the mysterious element of some areas of Bratenahl after dark. “I just came up with the name Mary Sticks myself while we were walking—the old witch in the woods watching us thing,” he says. “There are parts of Bratenahl where the woods get surprisingly deep, and it is pretty creepy at night.”

“Mary Sticks” tells the tragic tale of Mary Clarence, a young girl who mysteriously disappears and her ghost haunts Bratenahl.

During the winter of 1910, Mary Clarence vanishes from her family home before the family Christmas party. “Mary Clarence discovers Carl, her boyfriend from next door, canoodling with the housemaid in their home in a dark kitchen,” Small says. “She runs out into the cold and disappears, and her boyfriend is suspected of murdering her.”

Despite an exhaustive search by police, Mary Clarence is never found. But a legend builds up around a mysterious presence in the woods of Bratenahl—one that will haunt its residents for decades and lead to a terrible reckoning for the man whose actions led to Mary’s disappearance.

“She leaves little stick dolls for children,” Small explains of the plot, “so she gets her the name from the Bratenahl people who call her ‘Mary Sticks.’”

Artwork by Ben SmallIn the end, Small says, Mary’s ghost is released when Carl returns to Bratenahl in 1964. Carl is exonerated and Mary becomes an angel. “So it had kind of a happy ending,” he says.

Small says the basis for the story centers around the typical ghost stories that many small towns have. “In my hometown of Defiance, Ohio, we have a werewolf,” he cites as an example.

However, Small says the eerie mystery took more than a decade to become a reality.

“We kind of wrote a story, and then I just didn't know what to do with it,” he recalls. “So I shelved it for 13 years. Then last year, [Betsy] brought it up again and I thought, ‘well, I wonder if I could tackle a graphic novel.”

Small, who specializes in large format pen and ink poster art, is also a graphic designer for Live Publishing, designs for Ohio Light Opera, and former art director for Northern Ohio Live,

decided the graphic novel was the right approach to reviving their book, adding, “I did comic books back in the day, so I thought, ‘why not?’”

Now that “Mary Sticks” is finished, Small says he finds he enjoys the impendence and satisfaction of working on the book. “I enjoy it quite a bit, my thing on my own,” he says. “I guess I'm semi-retired, but the drawing is what I really love to do.”

Small and Allen will be at Mac’s Backs, 1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights, on Saturday, Sept. 7 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. to discuss and sign copies of “Mary Sticks.”

The novella is also available on Amazon and Small has various items with his Mary Sticks artworks for sale on Redbubble.