Elmore, Ohio
Many ghost hunters will often speak bravely of confronting a ghost but often find excuses as to why they cannot... but perhaps one of the bravest ghost hunters that I have ever come across was a man named Richard Gill, who attempted to track down the phantom motorcyclist of Elmore, Ohio in 1968.
This motorcyclist is linked to a ghost light that has been said to appear on March 21 every year in a small town called Elmore, Ohio. The story claims that this rider met an untimely death shortly after World War I. He had been mustered out of the army and with his pay, bought a brand new motorcycle. He came home to Elmore in hopes of seeing his best girl, whom he had not seen in some time. When he arrived at her family's farm, he learned that she had become engaged to another man. Angry and hurt, he roared off on the motorcycle. A few yards from the girl's driveway, the road curved and crossed a bridge. Somehow, the young soldier lost control of the bike and crashed into a ravine. His body and motorcycle were later found in pieces... the bike had been torn apart and the young man had been decapitated.
Every year after, on the anniversary of the young man's death, visitors who stood on the bridge reported seeing the light of the motorcycle as it left the farm, rounded the curve and then vanished halfway across the bridge.
Richard Gill was a student at nearby Bowling Green University and had an avid interest in the paranormal. As March 21 neared, he and a friend decided to stake out the haunted bridge. They brought along a movie camera, a still camera and a tape recorder. They parked their car on the far side of the bridge and then followed the procedure that, legend had it, caused the ghost light to appear. He blinked his car lights three times and then honked his horn three times. Suddenly, the light appeared near the farm house and flew toward the bridge, where it vanished.
Excited now, they repeated the experiment, this time crossing the bridge with a string. This way, they would learn if it was a physical object that crossed the bridge rather than a supernatural one. They repeated the summoning procedure and the light appeared again, following the same course. The string remained where they had left it!
Now it was time for the next step... one of them would stand in the middle of the bridge as the light approached. The light appeared again and Gill was puzzled when his friend did not return to the car. He went to check on him and found him in a ditch by the side of the road... badly beaten! He had not idea what had hit him and recalled nothing other than watching the light approach.
Somehow, Gill convinced his friend to try one last experiment. They parked on the same side of the bridge from the direction the light came from and pointed their car in the opposite direction. This time after summoning the light, they started moving away from it. The light overtook them, passed through the car and vanished.... and Gill and his friend kept right on driving!
What did the cameras and recorder pick up? The movie film was totally blank, the still camera picked up only a light source and the recorder picked up some sort of high-pitched noise. Was it the ghost light? there was no way to tell.
In the years that have followed, the ghost light continues to return to the bridge. Is the phenomena really caused by the ghost of an dead motorcyclist... or is he a convenient legend like the decapitated railroad men who haunt crossings where ghost lights are seen? No one really knows for sure, but on March 21, you can bet that there will be people on the Elmore bridge who hope to find out!
Elmore, Ohio is located about fifteen miles southeast of Toledo along Highway 51. The bridge where the light appears is across the middle branch of the Portage River east of the town.
by Troy Taylor
Showing posts with label Ghost Stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghost Stories. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Ghostly Tales of Abraham Lincoln part 2
The Oldest Lincoln Haunting
The oldest actual haunting connected to Abraham Lincoln is the alleged haunting of his tomb in Springfield. Tales of his ghost here have been around since the time his body actually arrived in Springfield from Washington. However, there are many reasons why the sight might be haunted from grave robbery to the posthumous wanderings of his corpse, and an ongoing mystery, may be more than enough to explain this haunting.
Following his assassination in April 1865, the President’s body was returned to Springfield and to a grave in a remote, wooded cemetery called Oak Ridge. The cemetery had been started around 1860 and it mostly consisted of woods and unbroken forest. In fact, not until after Lincoln was buried there was much done in the way of improvement, adding roads, iron gates and a caretaker’s residence.
Lincoln was taken to the receiving vault of the cemetery and placed there with his sons, Willie, who had died during the presidency and Eddie, Lincoln‘s son who had died many years before. A short time later, a temporary vault was built for Lincoln and in seven months, on December 21, he was placed inside. Six of Lincoln’s friends wanted to be sure the body was safe, so a plumber’s assistant named Leon P. Hopkins made an opening in the lead box for them to peer inside. All was well and Lincoln and his sons were allowed a temporary rest.
The new construction on a permanent tomb would last for more than five years and it was during this time that strange things began to be reported in the vicinity of Lincoln’s resting place. A few days after the body was placed in the receiving vault, Springfield residents and curiosity seekers began to tell of sighting a spectral image of Lincoln himself wandering about near the crypt. The legends say that he was taking walks to investigate the broken ground where his tomb would someday stand. And the stories didn’t end there either.... after the bodies were moved to the monument tomb, strange sobbing noises and sounds like footsteps were often heard at the site.
On September 19, 1871, the caskets of Lincoln and his sons were removed from the hillside crypt and taken to the catacomb. The tomb was not quite finished yet, but the completed portion was a suitable place for them to be moved to. The plumber, Leon P. Hopkins, opened the coffin once more and the same six friends peered again at the president’s face. The dead president was laid to rest again, for another three years, while the workmen toiled away outside.
On October 9, 1874, Lincoln was moved again. This time, his body was placed inside of a marble sarcophagus, which had been placed in the center of the semi-circular catacomb. A few days later, the monument was finally dedicated. Money had been raised for the groups of statues that were situated outside and the citizens of Springfield seemed content with the final resting place of their beloved Abraham Lincoln.
But then a new threat arose from a direction that no one could have ever predicted... In 1876, a band of thieves broken into the tomb and almost made off with the president’s remains. They had planned to hold the body for ransom and only failed because one of the men in their ranks was a spy for the Secret Service.
It did not take long before the story of the Lincoln grave robbery became a hotly denied rumor, or at best, a fading legend. The custodians of the site simply decided that it was something they did not wish to talk about. Of course, as the story began to be denied, the people who had some recollection of the tale created their own truth in myths and conspiracies. Hundreds of people came to see the Lincoln burial site and many of them were not afraid to ask about the stories that were being spread about the tomb. From 1876 to 1878, custodian John C. Power gave rather evasive answers to anyone who prodded him for details about the grave robbery. He was terrified of one question in particular and it seemed to be the one most often asked... was he sure that Lincoln’s body had been returned safely to the sarcophagus after the grave robbers took it out?
Power was terrified of that question for one reason.... because at that time, Lincoln’s grave was completely empty!
On the morning of November 1876, when John T. Stuart of the Lincoln National Monument Association, learned what had occurred in the tomb with the would-be robbers, he rushed out to the site. He was not able to rest after the incident, fearing that the grave robbers, who had not been caught at that time, would return and finish their ghoulish handiwork. So, he made a decision. He notified the custodian and told him that they must take the body from the crypt and hide it elsewhere in the building. Together, they decided the best place to store it would be in the cavern of passages which lay between the Memorial Hall and the catacomb.
That afternoon, Adam Johnson, a Springfield marble-worker, took some of his men and they lifted Lincoln’s casket from the sarcophagus. They covered it over with a blanket and then cemented the lid back into place. Later that night, Johnson, Power and three members of the Memorial Association stole out to the monument and carried the 500-pound coffin around the base of the obelisk, through Memorial Hall and into the dark labyrinth. They placed the coffin near some boards that had been left behind in the construction. The following day, Johnson built a new outer coffin while Power set to work digging a grave below the dirt floor. It was slow work, because it had to be done between visitors to the site, and he also had a problem with water seeping into the hole. Finally, he gave up and simply covered the coffin with the leftover boards and wood.
For the next two years, Lincoln lay beneath a pile of wood in the labyrinth, while visitors from all over the world wept and mourned over the sarcophagus at the other end of the monument. More and more of these visitors asked questions about the theft... questions full of suspicion, as if they knew something they really had no way of knowing.
In the summer and fall of 1877, the legend took another turn. Workmen arrived at the monument to erect the naval and infantry groups of statuary on the corners of the upper deck. Their work would take them into the labyrinth, where Power feared they would discover the coffin. The scandal would be incredible, so Power made a quick decision. He called the workmen together and swearing them to secrecy, showed them the coffin. They promised to keep the secret, but within days everyone in Springfield seemed to know that Lincoln’s body was not where it was supposed to be. Soon, the story was spreading all over the country.
Power was now in a panic. The body had to be more securely hidden and to do this, he needed more help. He contacted two of his friends, Major Gustavas Dana and General Jasper Reece and explained the situation. These men brought three others to meet with Power, Edward Johnson, Joseph Lindley and James McNeill, all of Springfield.
On the night of November 18, the six men began digging a grave for Lincoln at the far end of the labyrinth. Cramped and cold, and stifled by stale air, they gave up around midnight with the coffin just barely covered and traces of their activity very evident. Power promised to finish the work the next day. These six men, sobered by the responsibility that faced them, decided to form a brotherhood to guard the secret of the tomb. They brought in three younger men, Noble Wiggins, Horace Chapin and Clinton Conkling, to help in the task. They called themselves the Lincoln Guard of Honor and had badges made for their lapels.
After the funeral of Mary Lincoln, John T. Stuart told the Guard that Robert Lincoln wanted to have his mother’s body hidden away with his father’s. So, late on the night of July 21, the men slipped into the monument and moved Mary’s double-leaded casket, burying it in the labyrinth next to Lincoln’s.
Visitors to the tomb increased as the years went by, all of them paying their respects to the two empty crypts. Finally, in 1886, the Lincoln National Monument Association decided that it was time to provide a new tomb for Lincoln in the catacomb. A new and stronger crypt of brick and mortar was designed and made ready.
The press was kept outside as the Guard, and others who shared the secret of the tomb, brought the Lincoln caskets out of the labyrinth. Eighteen persons who had known Lincoln in life filed past the casket, looking into a square hole that had been cut into the lead coffin.
Strangely, Lincoln had changed very little. His face was darker after 22 years but they were still the same sad features these people had always known. The last man to identify the corpse was Leon P. Hopkins, the same man who had closed the casket years before. He soldered the square back over the hole, thinking that he would be the last person to ever look upon the face of Abraham Lincoln.
The Guard of Honor lifted the casket and placed it next to Mary’s smaller one. The two of them were taken into the catacomb and lowered into the new brick and mortar vault. Here, they would sleep for all time.....
"All time" lasted for about 13 more years. In 1899, Illinois legislators decided the monument was to be torn down and a new one built from the foundations. It seemed that the present structure was settling unevenly, cracking around the "eternal" vault of the president.
There was once again the question of what to do with the bodies of the Lincoln family. The Guard of Honor (who was still around) came up with a clever plan. During the 15 months needed for construction, the Lincoln’s would be secretly buried in a multiple grave a few feet away from the foundations of the tomb. As the old structure was torn down, tons of stone and dirt would be heaped onto the grave site both to disguise and protect it. When the new monument was finished, the grave would be uncovered again.
When the new building was completed, the bodies were exhumed once again. In the top section of the grave were the coffins belonging to the Lincoln sons and to a grandson, also named Abraham. The former president and Mary were buried on the bottom level and so safely hidden that one side of the temporary vault had to be battered away to reach them.
Lincoln’s coffin was the last to be moved and it was close to sunset when a steam engine finally hoisted it up out of the ground. The protective outer box was removed and six construction workers lifted the coffin onto their shoulders and took it into the catacomb. The other members of the family had been placed in their crypts and Lincoln’s was placed into a white, marble sarcophagus.
The group dispersed after switching on the new electric burglar alarm. This device connected the monument to the caretaker’s house, which was a few hundred feet away. As up-to-date as this device was, it still did not satisfy the fears of Robert Lincoln, who was sure that his father’s body would be snatched again if they were not careful. He stayed in constant contact with the Guard of Honor, who were still working to insure the safety of the Lincoln’s remains, and made a trip to Springfield every month or so after the new monument was completed. Something just wasn’t right.... even though the alarm worked perfectly, he could not give up the idea that the robbery might be repeated.
He journeyed to Springfield and brought with him his own set of security plans. He met with officials and gave them explicit directions on what he wanted done. The construction company was to break a hole in the tile floor of the monument and place his father’s casket at a depth of 10 feet. The coffin would then be encased in a cage of steel bars and the hole would be filled with concrete, making the president’s final resting place into a solid block of stone.
On September 26, 1901, a group assembled to make the final arrangements for Lincoln’s last burial. A discussion quickly turned into a heated debate. The question that concerned them was whether or not Lincoln’s coffin should be opened and the body viewed one last time? Most felt this would be a wise precaution, especially in light of the continuing stories about Lincoln not being in the tomb. The men of the Honor Guard were all for laying the tales to rest at last, but Robert was decidedly against opening the casket again, feeling that there was no need to further invade his father’s privacy.
In the end, practicality won out and Leon P. Hopkins was sent for to chisel out an opening in the lead coffin. The casket was placed on two sawhorses in the still unfinished Memorial Hall. The room was described as hot and poorly lighted, as newspapers had been pasted over the windows to keep out the stares of the curious.
What actually took place in that room is unknown except from the reports of the select few who were present. Most likely, they were the same people who had been present several years before when the body had been placed in the brick and mortar vault.
A piece of the coffin was cut out and lifted away. According to diaries, a "strong and reeking odor" filled the room, but the group pressed close to the opening anyway. The face of the president was covered with a fine powder made from white chalk. It had been applied in 1865 before the last burial service. It seemed that Lincoln’s face had turned inexplicably black in Pennsylvania and after that, a constant covering of chalk was kept on his face.
Lincoln’s features were said to be completely recognizable. The casket’s headrest had fallen away and his head was thrown back slightly, revealing his still perfectly trimmed beard. His small black tie and dark hair were still as they were in life, although his eyebrows had vanished. The broadcloth suit that he had worn to his second inauguration was covered with small patches of yellow mold and the American flag that was clutched in his lifeless hands was now in tatters.
There was no question, according to those present, that this was Abraham Lincoln and that he was placed in the underground vault. The casket was sealed back up again by Leon Hopkins, making his claim of years ago to be true.... he really was the last person to look upon the face of Lincoln.
The casket was then lowered down into the cage of steel and two tons of cement was poured over it, forever encasing the president’s body in stone.
You would think that would be the end of it, but as with all lingering mysteries, a few questions still remain. The strangest are perhaps these: does the body of Abraham Lincoln really lie beneath the concrete in the catacomb? Or was the last visit from Robert Lincoln part of some elaborate ruse to throw off any further attempts to steal the president’s body? And did, as some rumors have suggested, Robert arrange with the Guard of Honor to have his father’s body hidden in a different location entirely?
Most historians would agree that Lincoln’s body is safely encased in the concrete of the crypt, but let’s look at this with a conspiratorial eye for a moment. Whose word do we have for the fact that Lincoln’s body is where it is said to be? We only have the statement of Lincoln’s son, Robert, his friends and of course, the Guard of Honor.... but weren’t these the same individuals who left visitors to the monument to grieve before an empty sarcophagus while the president was actually hidden in the labyrinth, beneath a few inches of dirt?
And what of the stories that claim that Lincoln’s ghost still walks the tomb?
Many have reported that he, or some other spirit here, does not rest in peace. Many tourists, staff members and historians have had some unsettling impressions here that aren’t easily laughed away. Usually these encounters have been reported as the sound of ceaseless pacing, tapping footsteps on the tile floors, whispers and quiet voices, and the sounds of someone crying or weeping in the corridors.
Do the events of the past merely echo here in this lonely tomb? Or does the phantom of Abraham Lincoln still linger behind, wondering where his body might now be buried?
by Troy Taylor.
The oldest actual haunting connected to Abraham Lincoln is the alleged haunting of his tomb in Springfield. Tales of his ghost here have been around since the time his body actually arrived in Springfield from Washington. However, there are many reasons why the sight might be haunted from grave robbery to the posthumous wanderings of his corpse, and an ongoing mystery, may be more than enough to explain this haunting.
Following his assassination in April 1865, the President’s body was returned to Springfield and to a grave in a remote, wooded cemetery called Oak Ridge. The cemetery had been started around 1860 and it mostly consisted of woods and unbroken forest. In fact, not until after Lincoln was buried there was much done in the way of improvement, adding roads, iron gates and a caretaker’s residence.
Lincoln was taken to the receiving vault of the cemetery and placed there with his sons, Willie, who had died during the presidency and Eddie, Lincoln‘s son who had died many years before. A short time later, a temporary vault was built for Lincoln and in seven months, on December 21, he was placed inside. Six of Lincoln’s friends wanted to be sure the body was safe, so a plumber’s assistant named Leon P. Hopkins made an opening in the lead box for them to peer inside. All was well and Lincoln and his sons were allowed a temporary rest.
The new construction on a permanent tomb would last for more than five years and it was during this time that strange things began to be reported in the vicinity of Lincoln’s resting place. A few days after the body was placed in the receiving vault, Springfield residents and curiosity seekers began to tell of sighting a spectral image of Lincoln himself wandering about near the crypt. The legends say that he was taking walks to investigate the broken ground where his tomb would someday stand. And the stories didn’t end there either.... after the bodies were moved to the monument tomb, strange sobbing noises and sounds like footsteps were often heard at the site.
On September 19, 1871, the caskets of Lincoln and his sons were removed from the hillside crypt and taken to the catacomb. The tomb was not quite finished yet, but the completed portion was a suitable place for them to be moved to. The plumber, Leon P. Hopkins, opened the coffin once more and the same six friends peered again at the president’s face. The dead president was laid to rest again, for another three years, while the workmen toiled away outside.
On October 9, 1874, Lincoln was moved again. This time, his body was placed inside of a marble sarcophagus, which had been placed in the center of the semi-circular catacomb. A few days later, the monument was finally dedicated. Money had been raised for the groups of statues that were situated outside and the citizens of Springfield seemed content with the final resting place of their beloved Abraham Lincoln.
But then a new threat arose from a direction that no one could have ever predicted... In 1876, a band of thieves broken into the tomb and almost made off with the president’s remains. They had planned to hold the body for ransom and only failed because one of the men in their ranks was a spy for the Secret Service.
It did not take long before the story of the Lincoln grave robbery became a hotly denied rumor, or at best, a fading legend. The custodians of the site simply decided that it was something they did not wish to talk about. Of course, as the story began to be denied, the people who had some recollection of the tale created their own truth in myths and conspiracies. Hundreds of people came to see the Lincoln burial site and many of them were not afraid to ask about the stories that were being spread about the tomb. From 1876 to 1878, custodian John C. Power gave rather evasive answers to anyone who prodded him for details about the grave robbery. He was terrified of one question in particular and it seemed to be the one most often asked... was he sure that Lincoln’s body had been returned safely to the sarcophagus after the grave robbers took it out?
Power was terrified of that question for one reason.... because at that time, Lincoln’s grave was completely empty!
On the morning of November 1876, when John T. Stuart of the Lincoln National Monument Association, learned what had occurred in the tomb with the would-be robbers, he rushed out to the site. He was not able to rest after the incident, fearing that the grave robbers, who had not been caught at that time, would return and finish their ghoulish handiwork. So, he made a decision. He notified the custodian and told him that they must take the body from the crypt and hide it elsewhere in the building. Together, they decided the best place to store it would be in the cavern of passages which lay between the Memorial Hall and the catacomb.
That afternoon, Adam Johnson, a Springfield marble-worker, took some of his men and they lifted Lincoln’s casket from the sarcophagus. They covered it over with a blanket and then cemented the lid back into place. Later that night, Johnson, Power and three members of the Memorial Association stole out to the monument and carried the 500-pound coffin around the base of the obelisk, through Memorial Hall and into the dark labyrinth. They placed the coffin near some boards that had been left behind in the construction. The following day, Johnson built a new outer coffin while Power set to work digging a grave below the dirt floor. It was slow work, because it had to be done between visitors to the site, and he also had a problem with water seeping into the hole. Finally, he gave up and simply covered the coffin with the leftover boards and wood.
For the next two years, Lincoln lay beneath a pile of wood in the labyrinth, while visitors from all over the world wept and mourned over the sarcophagus at the other end of the monument. More and more of these visitors asked questions about the theft... questions full of suspicion, as if they knew something they really had no way of knowing.
In the summer and fall of 1877, the legend took another turn. Workmen arrived at the monument to erect the naval and infantry groups of statuary on the corners of the upper deck. Their work would take them into the labyrinth, where Power feared they would discover the coffin. The scandal would be incredible, so Power made a quick decision. He called the workmen together and swearing them to secrecy, showed them the coffin. They promised to keep the secret, but within days everyone in Springfield seemed to know that Lincoln’s body was not where it was supposed to be. Soon, the story was spreading all over the country.
Power was now in a panic. The body had to be more securely hidden and to do this, he needed more help. He contacted two of his friends, Major Gustavas Dana and General Jasper Reece and explained the situation. These men brought three others to meet with Power, Edward Johnson, Joseph Lindley and James McNeill, all of Springfield.
On the night of November 18, the six men began digging a grave for Lincoln at the far end of the labyrinth. Cramped and cold, and stifled by stale air, they gave up around midnight with the coffin just barely covered and traces of their activity very evident. Power promised to finish the work the next day. These six men, sobered by the responsibility that faced them, decided to form a brotherhood to guard the secret of the tomb. They brought in three younger men, Noble Wiggins, Horace Chapin and Clinton Conkling, to help in the task. They called themselves the Lincoln Guard of Honor and had badges made for their lapels.
After the funeral of Mary Lincoln, John T. Stuart told the Guard that Robert Lincoln wanted to have his mother’s body hidden away with his father’s. So, late on the night of July 21, the men slipped into the monument and moved Mary’s double-leaded casket, burying it in the labyrinth next to Lincoln’s.
Visitors to the tomb increased as the years went by, all of them paying their respects to the two empty crypts. Finally, in 1886, the Lincoln National Monument Association decided that it was time to provide a new tomb for Lincoln in the catacomb. A new and stronger crypt of brick and mortar was designed and made ready.
The press was kept outside as the Guard, and others who shared the secret of the tomb, brought the Lincoln caskets out of the labyrinth. Eighteen persons who had known Lincoln in life filed past the casket, looking into a square hole that had been cut into the lead coffin.
Strangely, Lincoln had changed very little. His face was darker after 22 years but they were still the same sad features these people had always known. The last man to identify the corpse was Leon P. Hopkins, the same man who had closed the casket years before. He soldered the square back over the hole, thinking that he would be the last person to ever look upon the face of Abraham Lincoln.
The Guard of Honor lifted the casket and placed it next to Mary’s smaller one. The two of them were taken into the catacomb and lowered into the new brick and mortar vault. Here, they would sleep for all time.....
"All time" lasted for about 13 more years. In 1899, Illinois legislators decided the monument was to be torn down and a new one built from the foundations. It seemed that the present structure was settling unevenly, cracking around the "eternal" vault of the president.
There was once again the question of what to do with the bodies of the Lincoln family. The Guard of Honor (who was still around) came up with a clever plan. During the 15 months needed for construction, the Lincoln’s would be secretly buried in a multiple grave a few feet away from the foundations of the tomb. As the old structure was torn down, tons of stone and dirt would be heaped onto the grave site both to disguise and protect it. When the new monument was finished, the grave would be uncovered again.
When the new building was completed, the bodies were exhumed once again. In the top section of the grave were the coffins belonging to the Lincoln sons and to a grandson, also named Abraham. The former president and Mary were buried on the bottom level and so safely hidden that one side of the temporary vault had to be battered away to reach them.
Lincoln’s coffin was the last to be moved and it was close to sunset when a steam engine finally hoisted it up out of the ground. The protective outer box was removed and six construction workers lifted the coffin onto their shoulders and took it into the catacomb. The other members of the family had been placed in their crypts and Lincoln’s was placed into a white, marble sarcophagus.
The group dispersed after switching on the new electric burglar alarm. This device connected the monument to the caretaker’s house, which was a few hundred feet away. As up-to-date as this device was, it still did not satisfy the fears of Robert Lincoln, who was sure that his father’s body would be snatched again if they were not careful. He stayed in constant contact with the Guard of Honor, who were still working to insure the safety of the Lincoln’s remains, and made a trip to Springfield every month or so after the new monument was completed. Something just wasn’t right.... even though the alarm worked perfectly, he could not give up the idea that the robbery might be repeated.
He journeyed to Springfield and brought with him his own set of security plans. He met with officials and gave them explicit directions on what he wanted done. The construction company was to break a hole in the tile floor of the monument and place his father’s casket at a depth of 10 feet. The coffin would then be encased in a cage of steel bars and the hole would be filled with concrete, making the president’s final resting place into a solid block of stone.
On September 26, 1901, a group assembled to make the final arrangements for Lincoln’s last burial. A discussion quickly turned into a heated debate. The question that concerned them was whether or not Lincoln’s coffin should be opened and the body viewed one last time? Most felt this would be a wise precaution, especially in light of the continuing stories about Lincoln not being in the tomb. The men of the Honor Guard were all for laying the tales to rest at last, but Robert was decidedly against opening the casket again, feeling that there was no need to further invade his father’s privacy.
In the end, practicality won out and Leon P. Hopkins was sent for to chisel out an opening in the lead coffin. The casket was placed on two sawhorses in the still unfinished Memorial Hall. The room was described as hot and poorly lighted, as newspapers had been pasted over the windows to keep out the stares of the curious.
What actually took place in that room is unknown except from the reports of the select few who were present. Most likely, they were the same people who had been present several years before when the body had been placed in the brick and mortar vault.
A piece of the coffin was cut out and lifted away. According to diaries, a "strong and reeking odor" filled the room, but the group pressed close to the opening anyway. The face of the president was covered with a fine powder made from white chalk. It had been applied in 1865 before the last burial service. It seemed that Lincoln’s face had turned inexplicably black in Pennsylvania and after that, a constant covering of chalk was kept on his face.
Lincoln’s features were said to be completely recognizable. The casket’s headrest had fallen away and his head was thrown back slightly, revealing his still perfectly trimmed beard. His small black tie and dark hair were still as they were in life, although his eyebrows had vanished. The broadcloth suit that he had worn to his second inauguration was covered with small patches of yellow mold and the American flag that was clutched in his lifeless hands was now in tatters.
There was no question, according to those present, that this was Abraham Lincoln and that he was placed in the underground vault. The casket was sealed back up again by Leon Hopkins, making his claim of years ago to be true.... he really was the last person to look upon the face of Lincoln.
The casket was then lowered down into the cage of steel and two tons of cement was poured over it, forever encasing the president’s body in stone.
You would think that would be the end of it, but as with all lingering mysteries, a few questions still remain. The strangest are perhaps these: does the body of Abraham Lincoln really lie beneath the concrete in the catacomb? Or was the last visit from Robert Lincoln part of some elaborate ruse to throw off any further attempts to steal the president’s body? And did, as some rumors have suggested, Robert arrange with the Guard of Honor to have his father’s body hidden in a different location entirely?
Most historians would agree that Lincoln’s body is safely encased in the concrete of the crypt, but let’s look at this with a conspiratorial eye for a moment. Whose word do we have for the fact that Lincoln’s body is where it is said to be? We only have the statement of Lincoln’s son, Robert, his friends and of course, the Guard of Honor.... but weren’t these the same individuals who left visitors to the monument to grieve before an empty sarcophagus while the president was actually hidden in the labyrinth, beneath a few inches of dirt?
And what of the stories that claim that Lincoln’s ghost still walks the tomb?
Many have reported that he, or some other spirit here, does not rest in peace. Many tourists, staff members and historians have had some unsettling impressions here that aren’t easily laughed away. Usually these encounters have been reported as the sound of ceaseless pacing, tapping footsteps on the tile floors, whispers and quiet voices, and the sounds of someone crying or weeping in the corridors.
Do the events of the past merely echo here in this lonely tomb? Or does the phantom of Abraham Lincoln still linger behind, wondering where his body might now be buried?
by Troy Taylor.
THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE
The story of the Winchester House began in September 1839 with the birth of a baby girl to Leonard and Sarah Pardee of New Haven, Connecticut. The baby’s name was also Sarah and as she reached maturity, she became the belle of the city. She was well-received at all social events, thanks to her musical skills, her fluency in various foreign languages and her sparkling charm. Her beauty was also well-known by the young men about town, despite her diminutive size. Although she was petite and stood only four feet, ten inches, she made up for this in personality and loveliness.
At the same time that Sarah was growing up, a young man was also maturing in another prominent New Haven family. The young man’s name was William Wirt Winchester and he was the son of Oliver Winchester, a shirt manufacturer and businessman. In 1857, he took over the assets of a firm which made the Volcanic Repeater, a rifle that used a lever mechanism to load bullets into the breech.
Obviously, this type of gun was a vast improvement over the muzzle-loading rifles of recent times, but Winchester still saw room for advance. In 1860, the company developed the Henry Rifle, which had a tubular magazine located under the barrel. Because it was easy to reload and could fire rapidly, the Henry was said to average one shot every three seconds. It became the first true repeating rifle and a favorite among the Northern troops at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Money began to pour in and Oliver Winchester soon amassed a large fortune from government contracts and private sales. He re-organized the company and changed the name to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The family prospered and on September 30, 1862, at the height of the Civil War, William Wirt Winchester and Sarah Pardee were married in an elaborate ceremony in New Haven.
Four years later, on July 15, 1866, Sarah gave birth to a daughter named Annie Pardee Winchester. Just a short time later, the first disaster struck for Sarah, as her daughter contracted an illness known as "marasmus", a children’s disease in which the body wastes away. The infant died on July 24. Sarah was so shattered by this event that she withdrew into herself and teetered on the edge of madness for some time. In the end, it would be nearly a decade before she returned to her normal self but she and William would never have a another child.
Not long after Sarah returned to her family and home, another tragedy struck. William, now heir to the Winchester empire, was struck down with pulmonary tuberculosis. He died on March 7, 1881. As a result of his death, Sarah inherited over $20 million dollars, an incredible sum, especially in those days. She also received 48.9 percent of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and an income of about $1000 per day, which was not taxable until 1913.
But her new-found wealth could do nothing to ease her pain. Sarah grieved deeply, not only for her husband, but also for her lost child. A short time later, a friend suggested that Sarah might speak to a Spiritualist medium about her loss. "Your husband is here," the medium told her and then went on to provide a description of William Winchester. "He says for me to tell you that there is a curse on your family, which took the life of he and your child. It will soon take you too. It is a curse that has resulted from the terrible weapon created by the Winchester family. Thousands of persons have died because of it and their spirits are now seeking vengeance."
Sarah was then told that she must sell her property in New Haven and head towards the setting sun. She would be guided by her husband and when she found her new home in the west, she would recognize it. "You must start a new life," said the medium, "and build a home for yourself and for the spirits who have fallen from this terrible weapon too. You can never stop building the house. If you continue building, you will live. Stop and you will die."
Shortly after the seance, Sarah sold her home in New Haven and with a vast fortune at her disposal, moved west to California. She believed that she was guided by the hand of her dead husband and she did not stop traveling until she reached the Santa Clara Valley in 1884. Here, she found a six room home under construction which belonged to a Dr. Caldwell. She entered into negotiations with him and soon convinced him to sell her the house and the 162 acres which it rested on. She tossed away any previous plans for the house and started building whatever she chose to. She had her pick of local workers and craftsmen and for the next 36 years, they built and rebuilt, altered and changed and constructed and demolished one section of the house after another. She kept 22 carpenters at work, year around, 24 hours each day. The sounds of hammers and saws sounded throughout the day and night.
As the house grew to include 26 rooms, railroad cars were switched onto a nearby line to bring building materials and imported furnishings to the house. The house was rapidly growing and expanding and while Sarah claimed to have no master plan for the structure, she met each morning with her foreman and they would go over the her hand-sketched plans for the day’s work. The plans were often chaotic but showed a real flair for building. Sometimes though, they would not work out the right way, but Sarah always had a quick solution. If this happened, they would just build another room around an existing one.
As the days, weeks and months passed, the house continued to grow. Rooms were added to rooms and then turned into entire wings, doors were joined to windows, levels turned into towers and peaks and the place eventually grew to a height of seven stories. Inside of the house, three elevators were installed as were 47 fireplaces. There were countless staircases which led nowhere; a blind chimney that stops short of the ceiling; closets that opened to blank walls; trap doors; double-back hallways; skylights that were located one above another; doors that opened to steep drops to the lawn below; and dozens of other oddities. Even all of the stair posts were installed upside-down and many of the bathrooms had glass doors on them.
It was also obvious that Sarah was intrigued by the number "13". Nearly all of the windows contained 13 panes of glass; the walls had 13 panels; the greenhouse had 13 cupolas; many of the wooden floors contained 13 sections; some of the rooms had 13 windows and every staircase but one had 13 steps. This exception is unique in its own right.... it is a winding staircase with 42 steps, which would normally be enough to take a climber up three stories. In this case, however, the steps only rise nine feet because each step is only two inches high.
While all of this seems like madness to us, it all made sense to Sarah. In this way, she could control the spirits who came to the house for evil purposes, or who were outlaws or vengeful people in their past life. These bad men, killed by Winchester rifles, could wreak havoc on Sarah’s life. The house had been designed into a maze to confuse and discourage the bad spirits.
The house continued to grow and by 1906, it had reached a towering seven stories tall. Sarah continued her occupancy, and expansion, of the house, living in melancholy solitude with no one other than her servants, the workmen and, of course, the spirits. It was said that on sleepless nights, when she was not communing with the spirit world about the designs for the house, Sarah would play her grand piano into the early hours of the morning. According to legend, the piano would be admired by passers-by on the street outside, despite the fact that two of the keys were badly out of tune.
The most tragic event occurred within the house when the great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 struck. When it was all over, portions of the Winchester Mansion were nearly in ruins. The top three floors of the house had collapsed into the gardens and would never be rebuilt. In addition, the fireplace that was located in the Daisy Room (where Mrs. Winchester was sleeping on the night of the earthquake) collapsed, shifting the room and trapping Sarah inside. She became convinced that the earthquake had been a sign from the spirits who were furious that she had nearly completed the house. In order to insure that the house would never be finished, she decided to board up the front 30 rooms of the mansion so that the construction would not be complete - and also so that the spirits who fell when portion of the house collapsed would be trapped inside forever.
For the next several months, the workmen toiled to repair the damage done by the earthquake, although actually the mammoth structure had fared far better than most of the buildings in the area. Only a few of the rooms had been badly harmed, although it had lost the highest floors and several cupolas and towers had toppled over. The expansion on the house began once more. The number of bedrooms increased from 15 to 20 and then to 25. Chimneys were installed all over the place, although strangely, they served no purpose. Some believe that perhaps they were added because the old stories say that ghosts like to appear and disappear through them. On a related note, it has also been documented that only 2 mirrors were installed in the house.... Sarah believed that ghosts were afraid of their own reflection.
On September 4, 1922, after a conference session with the spirits in the seance room, Sarah went to her bedroom for the night. At some point in the early morning hours, she died in her sleep at the age of 83. She left all of her possessions to her niece, Frances Marriot, who had been handling most of Sarah’s business affairs for some time. Little did anyone know, but by this time, Sarah’s large bank account had dwindled considerably. Rumor had it that somewhere in the house was hidden a safe containing a fortune in jewelry and a solid-gold dinner service with which Sarah had entertained her ghostly guests. Her relatives forced open a number of safes but found only old fishlines, socks, newspaper clippings about her daughter’s and her husband’s deaths, a lock of baby hair, and a suit of woolen underwear. No solid gold dinner service was ever discovered.
The furnishings, personal belongings and surplus construction and decorative materials were removed from the house and the structure itself was sold to a group of investors who planned to use it as a tourist attraction. One of the first to see the place when it opened to the public was Robert L. Ripley, who featured the house in his popular column, "Believe it or Not." The house was initially advertised as being 148 rooms, but so confusing was the floor plan that every time a room count was taken, a different total came up. The place was so puzzling that it was said that the workmen took more than six weeks just to get the furniture out of it. The moving men became so lost because it was a "labyrinth", they told the magazine, American Weekly, in 1928. It was a house "where downstairs leads neither to the cellar nor upstairs to the roof." The rooms of the house were counted over and over again and five years later, it was estimated that 160 rooms existed..... although no one is really sure if even that is correct.
Today, the house has been declared a California Historical Landmark and is registered with the National Park Service as "a large, odd dwelling with an unknown number of rooms."
Most would say that such a place must still harbor at least a few of the ghosts who came to reside there at the invitation of Sarah Winchester. The question is though, do they really haunt the place? Some would say that perhaps no ghosts ever walked there at all.... that the Winchester mansion is nothing more than the product of an eccentric woman’s mind and too much wealth being allowed into the wrong hands.
There is no question that we can regard the place as one of the world’s "largest haunted houses", based on nothing more than the legend of the place alone. Is this a case where we need to draw the line between what is a real haunted spot .... and what is a really great story?
Is the Winchester Mansion really haunted? You will have to decide that for yourself, although some people have already made up their minds.
There have been a number of strange events reported at the Winchester House for many years and they continue to be reported today. Dozens of psychics have visited the house over the years and most have come away convinced, or claim to be convinced, that spirits still wander the place. In addition to the ghost of Sarah Winchester, there have also been many other sightings throughout the years.
In the years that the house has been open to the public, employees and visitors alike have had unusual encounters here. There have been footsteps; banging doors; mysterious voices; windows that bang so hard they shatter; cold spots; strange moving lights; doorknobs that turn by themselves.... and don’t forget the scores of psychics who have their own claims of phenomena to report.
Obviously, these are all of the standard reports of a haunted house... but are the stories merely wishful thinking? Reports of ghosts and spirits to continue the tradition of Sarah Winchester’s bizarre legacy? Or could the stories be true? Was the house really built as a monument to the dead? Do phantoms still lurk in the maze-like corridors of the Winchester Mystery House?
I urge you to visit the house if you should ever get the chance. Perhaps that would be the best time to answer the questions that I have just posed to you. I can promise that you will find not another piece of American architecture like the Winchester mansion....
And who knows what else you might find while you’re there?
by Troy Taylor
At the same time that Sarah was growing up, a young man was also maturing in another prominent New Haven family. The young man’s name was William Wirt Winchester and he was the son of Oliver Winchester, a shirt manufacturer and businessman. In 1857, he took over the assets of a firm which made the Volcanic Repeater, a rifle that used a lever mechanism to load bullets into the breech.
Obviously, this type of gun was a vast improvement over the muzzle-loading rifles of recent times, but Winchester still saw room for advance. In 1860, the company developed the Henry Rifle, which had a tubular magazine located under the barrel. Because it was easy to reload and could fire rapidly, the Henry was said to average one shot every three seconds. It became the first true repeating rifle and a favorite among the Northern troops at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Money began to pour in and Oliver Winchester soon amassed a large fortune from government contracts and private sales. He re-organized the company and changed the name to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The family prospered and on September 30, 1862, at the height of the Civil War, William Wirt Winchester and Sarah Pardee were married in an elaborate ceremony in New Haven.
Four years later, on July 15, 1866, Sarah gave birth to a daughter named Annie Pardee Winchester. Just a short time later, the first disaster struck for Sarah, as her daughter contracted an illness known as "marasmus", a children’s disease in which the body wastes away. The infant died on July 24. Sarah was so shattered by this event that she withdrew into herself and teetered on the edge of madness for some time. In the end, it would be nearly a decade before she returned to her normal self but she and William would never have a another child.
Not long after Sarah returned to her family and home, another tragedy struck. William, now heir to the Winchester empire, was struck down with pulmonary tuberculosis. He died on March 7, 1881. As a result of his death, Sarah inherited over $20 million dollars, an incredible sum, especially in those days. She also received 48.9 percent of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and an income of about $1000 per day, which was not taxable until 1913.
But her new-found wealth could do nothing to ease her pain. Sarah grieved deeply, not only for her husband, but also for her lost child. A short time later, a friend suggested that Sarah might speak to a Spiritualist medium about her loss. "Your husband is here," the medium told her and then went on to provide a description of William Winchester. "He says for me to tell you that there is a curse on your family, which took the life of he and your child. It will soon take you too. It is a curse that has resulted from the terrible weapon created by the Winchester family. Thousands of persons have died because of it and their spirits are now seeking vengeance."
Sarah was then told that she must sell her property in New Haven and head towards the setting sun. She would be guided by her husband and when she found her new home in the west, she would recognize it. "You must start a new life," said the medium, "and build a home for yourself and for the spirits who have fallen from this terrible weapon too. You can never stop building the house. If you continue building, you will live. Stop and you will die."
Shortly after the seance, Sarah sold her home in New Haven and with a vast fortune at her disposal, moved west to California. She believed that she was guided by the hand of her dead husband and she did not stop traveling until she reached the Santa Clara Valley in 1884. Here, she found a six room home under construction which belonged to a Dr. Caldwell. She entered into negotiations with him and soon convinced him to sell her the house and the 162 acres which it rested on. She tossed away any previous plans for the house and started building whatever she chose to. She had her pick of local workers and craftsmen and for the next 36 years, they built and rebuilt, altered and changed and constructed and demolished one section of the house after another. She kept 22 carpenters at work, year around, 24 hours each day. The sounds of hammers and saws sounded throughout the day and night.
As the house grew to include 26 rooms, railroad cars were switched onto a nearby line to bring building materials and imported furnishings to the house. The house was rapidly growing and expanding and while Sarah claimed to have no master plan for the structure, she met each morning with her foreman and they would go over the her hand-sketched plans for the day’s work. The plans were often chaotic but showed a real flair for building. Sometimes though, they would not work out the right way, but Sarah always had a quick solution. If this happened, they would just build another room around an existing one.
As the days, weeks and months passed, the house continued to grow. Rooms were added to rooms and then turned into entire wings, doors were joined to windows, levels turned into towers and peaks and the place eventually grew to a height of seven stories. Inside of the house, three elevators were installed as were 47 fireplaces. There were countless staircases which led nowhere; a blind chimney that stops short of the ceiling; closets that opened to blank walls; trap doors; double-back hallways; skylights that were located one above another; doors that opened to steep drops to the lawn below; and dozens of other oddities. Even all of the stair posts were installed upside-down and many of the bathrooms had glass doors on them.
It was also obvious that Sarah was intrigued by the number "13". Nearly all of the windows contained 13 panes of glass; the walls had 13 panels; the greenhouse had 13 cupolas; many of the wooden floors contained 13 sections; some of the rooms had 13 windows and every staircase but one had 13 steps. This exception is unique in its own right.... it is a winding staircase with 42 steps, which would normally be enough to take a climber up three stories. In this case, however, the steps only rise nine feet because each step is only two inches high.
While all of this seems like madness to us, it all made sense to Sarah. In this way, she could control the spirits who came to the house for evil purposes, or who were outlaws or vengeful people in their past life. These bad men, killed by Winchester rifles, could wreak havoc on Sarah’s life. The house had been designed into a maze to confuse and discourage the bad spirits.
The house continued to grow and by 1906, it had reached a towering seven stories tall. Sarah continued her occupancy, and expansion, of the house, living in melancholy solitude with no one other than her servants, the workmen and, of course, the spirits. It was said that on sleepless nights, when she was not communing with the spirit world about the designs for the house, Sarah would play her grand piano into the early hours of the morning. According to legend, the piano would be admired by passers-by on the street outside, despite the fact that two of the keys were badly out of tune.
The most tragic event occurred within the house when the great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 struck. When it was all over, portions of the Winchester Mansion were nearly in ruins. The top three floors of the house had collapsed into the gardens and would never be rebuilt. In addition, the fireplace that was located in the Daisy Room (where Mrs. Winchester was sleeping on the night of the earthquake) collapsed, shifting the room and trapping Sarah inside. She became convinced that the earthquake had been a sign from the spirits who were furious that she had nearly completed the house. In order to insure that the house would never be finished, she decided to board up the front 30 rooms of the mansion so that the construction would not be complete - and also so that the spirits who fell when portion of the house collapsed would be trapped inside forever.
For the next several months, the workmen toiled to repair the damage done by the earthquake, although actually the mammoth structure had fared far better than most of the buildings in the area. Only a few of the rooms had been badly harmed, although it had lost the highest floors and several cupolas and towers had toppled over. The expansion on the house began once more. The number of bedrooms increased from 15 to 20 and then to 25. Chimneys were installed all over the place, although strangely, they served no purpose. Some believe that perhaps they were added because the old stories say that ghosts like to appear and disappear through them. On a related note, it has also been documented that only 2 mirrors were installed in the house.... Sarah believed that ghosts were afraid of their own reflection.
On September 4, 1922, after a conference session with the spirits in the seance room, Sarah went to her bedroom for the night. At some point in the early morning hours, she died in her sleep at the age of 83. She left all of her possessions to her niece, Frances Marriot, who had been handling most of Sarah’s business affairs for some time. Little did anyone know, but by this time, Sarah’s large bank account had dwindled considerably. Rumor had it that somewhere in the house was hidden a safe containing a fortune in jewelry and a solid-gold dinner service with which Sarah had entertained her ghostly guests. Her relatives forced open a number of safes but found only old fishlines, socks, newspaper clippings about her daughter’s and her husband’s deaths, a lock of baby hair, and a suit of woolen underwear. No solid gold dinner service was ever discovered.
The furnishings, personal belongings and surplus construction and decorative materials were removed from the house and the structure itself was sold to a group of investors who planned to use it as a tourist attraction. One of the first to see the place when it opened to the public was Robert L. Ripley, who featured the house in his popular column, "Believe it or Not." The house was initially advertised as being 148 rooms, but so confusing was the floor plan that every time a room count was taken, a different total came up. The place was so puzzling that it was said that the workmen took more than six weeks just to get the furniture out of it. The moving men became so lost because it was a "labyrinth", they told the magazine, American Weekly, in 1928. It was a house "where downstairs leads neither to the cellar nor upstairs to the roof." The rooms of the house were counted over and over again and five years later, it was estimated that 160 rooms existed..... although no one is really sure if even that is correct.
Today, the house has been declared a California Historical Landmark and is registered with the National Park Service as "a large, odd dwelling with an unknown number of rooms."
Most would say that such a place must still harbor at least a few of the ghosts who came to reside there at the invitation of Sarah Winchester. The question is though, do they really haunt the place? Some would say that perhaps no ghosts ever walked there at all.... that the Winchester mansion is nothing more than the product of an eccentric woman’s mind and too much wealth being allowed into the wrong hands.
There is no question that we can regard the place as one of the world’s "largest haunted houses", based on nothing more than the legend of the place alone. Is this a case where we need to draw the line between what is a real haunted spot .... and what is a really great story?
Is the Winchester Mansion really haunted? You will have to decide that for yourself, although some people have already made up their minds.
There have been a number of strange events reported at the Winchester House for many years and they continue to be reported today. Dozens of psychics have visited the house over the years and most have come away convinced, or claim to be convinced, that spirits still wander the place. In addition to the ghost of Sarah Winchester, there have also been many other sightings throughout the years.
In the years that the house has been open to the public, employees and visitors alike have had unusual encounters here. There have been footsteps; banging doors; mysterious voices; windows that bang so hard they shatter; cold spots; strange moving lights; doorknobs that turn by themselves.... and don’t forget the scores of psychics who have their own claims of phenomena to report.
Obviously, these are all of the standard reports of a haunted house... but are the stories merely wishful thinking? Reports of ghosts and spirits to continue the tradition of Sarah Winchester’s bizarre legacy? Or could the stories be true? Was the house really built as a monument to the dead? Do phantoms still lurk in the maze-like corridors of the Winchester Mystery House?
I urge you to visit the house if you should ever get the chance. Perhaps that would be the best time to answer the questions that I have just posed to you. I can promise that you will find not another piece of American architecture like the Winchester mansion....
And who knows what else you might find while you’re there?
by Troy Taylor
THE HANNAH HOUSE
Indianapolis, Indiana
Far removed from the slave-holding plantations of the south is a historic home in Indianapolis, Indiana called the Hannah House. But even here, in the northern states, the specter of slavery, and of the Underground Railroad, still manages to make itself known.
The house was built in 1858 by Alexander Moore Hannah, a prominent figure in Indiana history. Originally, the house had been constructed to house Hannah and his staff but at age 51, he married Elizabeth Jackson and another wing was added on for the servants.
Hannah was well-known in Indiana for his stand against slavery. It was a time of coming change in America where political opponents fiercely debated the question of slavery and President James Buchanan openly supported it. Hannah was a firm abolitionist and this is the reason his former home has such a reputation for being haunted.
The Hannah House
(Photo Courtesy of Robert Wilson)
The source of the haunting remained a mystery for some time. The stately mansion had seen few owners over the years and unlike most haunted houses, had seen little in the way of trauma or death... or so most people believed.
Hannah himself had owned the home until 1899, when his heirs sold the place to another family. Since that time, there have been reports of many strange things in the house, moving objects, phantom sounds -- and the unexplainable smell of death. Apparently, the Hannah House held a dark secret and one that would not be easily explained away by saying that one of the Hannah’s had returned to haunt the house. This secret was much darker -- and much more terrible.
The legends of the house say that prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, Hannah’s staunch abolitionist views had led him to allow the house to be used as a station on the Underground Railroad. Escaped slaves were brought into the house at night and given shelter until the following nightfall. Then, the Hannah’s would load the slaves into a wagon and they would be transported to the next station. We have to remember how dangerous this was, especially to a person of Hannah’s standing. This was a time when even assisting an injured runaway slave could be punishable by law.
Legend has it that one night, a lantern was overturned in the basement of the house and a number of slaves were trapped by the flames. Several of them burned to death. The fire did extensive damage to the basement and the lower floors of the house. While the fire was being put out, the source of the blaze had to be kept hidden and the fact that the house was an Underground Railroad station had to be covered up. Many believe that this this is the reason that no one knew the source of the haunting for so long. Or so it's thought. Like many other legends, no one has been able to verify that this event actually occurred. As with other alleged locations on the Underground Railroad, hard facts are difficult to find. Due to the secretive nature of the operation as a whole, no written records were kept and so we have only oral tales to pass along. If the fire never took place then the house has been haunted for decades for unknown reasons but one this is sure, it has a long history of being haunted.
For many years, investigators and past owners claimed that one of the upstairs rooms of the house would sometimes smell like gangrene and decay and this odor was attributed to the death of the slaves in the house. Many years ago, this earned the house the nickname of "the house that reeks of death" but according to current owners, the smell no longer manifests here. Was this simply a part of the lore of the house or did it really occur? According to past reports, the smell was unexplainably genuine but at least this part of the haunting seems to have faded away.
However, continuing phenomena includes the sounds of moaning and whining and it has also been said that doors in the house suddenly open and close by themselves. Cold drafts are also sometimes felt when no windows are open to cause them.
The secrets that remain at Hannah House are certainly dark ones, and be the haunting a conscious or a residual one, it still continues to plague the curators of this historic mansion today.
Indianapolis is located in the center of the state and the Hannah House can be found at the comer of National and Madison Avenue.
by Troy Taylor
Far removed from the slave-holding plantations of the south is a historic home in Indianapolis, Indiana called the Hannah House. But even here, in the northern states, the specter of slavery, and of the Underground Railroad, still manages to make itself known.
The house was built in 1858 by Alexander Moore Hannah, a prominent figure in Indiana history. Originally, the house had been constructed to house Hannah and his staff but at age 51, he married Elizabeth Jackson and another wing was added on for the servants.
Hannah was well-known in Indiana for his stand against slavery. It was a time of coming change in America where political opponents fiercely debated the question of slavery and President James Buchanan openly supported it. Hannah was a firm abolitionist and this is the reason his former home has such a reputation for being haunted.
The Hannah House
(Photo Courtesy of Robert Wilson)
The source of the haunting remained a mystery for some time. The stately mansion had seen few owners over the years and unlike most haunted houses, had seen little in the way of trauma or death... or so most people believed.
Hannah himself had owned the home until 1899, when his heirs sold the place to another family. Since that time, there have been reports of many strange things in the house, moving objects, phantom sounds -- and the unexplainable smell of death. Apparently, the Hannah House held a dark secret and one that would not be easily explained away by saying that one of the Hannah’s had returned to haunt the house. This secret was much darker -- and much more terrible.
The legends of the house say that prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, Hannah’s staunch abolitionist views had led him to allow the house to be used as a station on the Underground Railroad. Escaped slaves were brought into the house at night and given shelter until the following nightfall. Then, the Hannah’s would load the slaves into a wagon and they would be transported to the next station. We have to remember how dangerous this was, especially to a person of Hannah’s standing. This was a time when even assisting an injured runaway slave could be punishable by law.
Legend has it that one night, a lantern was overturned in the basement of the house and a number of slaves were trapped by the flames. Several of them burned to death. The fire did extensive damage to the basement and the lower floors of the house. While the fire was being put out, the source of the blaze had to be kept hidden and the fact that the house was an Underground Railroad station had to be covered up. Many believe that this this is the reason that no one knew the source of the haunting for so long. Or so it's thought. Like many other legends, no one has been able to verify that this event actually occurred. As with other alleged locations on the Underground Railroad, hard facts are difficult to find. Due to the secretive nature of the operation as a whole, no written records were kept and so we have only oral tales to pass along. If the fire never took place then the house has been haunted for decades for unknown reasons but one this is sure, it has a long history of being haunted.
For many years, investigators and past owners claimed that one of the upstairs rooms of the house would sometimes smell like gangrene and decay and this odor was attributed to the death of the slaves in the house. Many years ago, this earned the house the nickname of "the house that reeks of death" but according to current owners, the smell no longer manifests here. Was this simply a part of the lore of the house or did it really occur? According to past reports, the smell was unexplainably genuine but at least this part of the haunting seems to have faded away.
However, continuing phenomena includes the sounds of moaning and whining and it has also been said that doors in the house suddenly open and close by themselves. Cold drafts are also sometimes felt when no windows are open to cause them.
The secrets that remain at Hannah House are certainly dark ones, and be the haunting a conscious or a residual one, it still continues to plague the curators of this historic mansion today.
Indianapolis is located in the center of the state and the Hannah House can be found at the comer of National and Madison Avenue.
by Troy Taylor
THE HAUNTING OF HURRICANE MILLS
HOME OF LORETTA LYNN
Legendary country performer Loretta Lynn is no stranger to ghosts and in fact, has spent her entire life in their presence. While her encounters with the supernatural have never received the kind of attention that her performing career have.. Lynn is said to be a bonafide psychic and when asked about this, she is always willing to talk about it.
She first became aware of her uncanny gifts soon after marrying her childhood sweetheart. She and her husband moved some distance away from her parents and she was very homesick. At the time, she was 14 years-old, pregnant and living away from home for the very first time. She soon began to know just when her mother was expecting a letter from her and she would also get a premonition as to when letters from her mother would come. She would often predict this to the very day.
Legendary country performer Loretta Lynn
Over the years, she has had many premonitions that have come true, such as the detailed vision of her father in his coffin. She would learn the following morning that he had died from a massive stroke. Years later, she returned to the house where she had grown up and encountered the ghost of her father, sitting contentedly on the front porch.
In 1967, after achieving success in the music business, Lynn and her husband decided to find a larger house for their family. One day, while driving in the country west of Nashville, they got lost on a back road after taking a wrong turn. Suddenly, they found the perfect house, a plantation house near the tiny town of Hurricane Mills. Instantly, Loretta knew this was the house she wanted! Even though they didn't even know if the house was for sale at the time, it later turned out to be... along with the entire town of Hurricane Mills!
Soon after moving in, the family began to notice some odd things about the house. For one, Loretta began to notice that the adjoining door between her room and her twin daughter's room would open and close by itself. The twins often spoke of seeping people in their bedroom, like women in old-fashioned clothing with their hair piled high on their heads.
Not long after, the family also learned that a skirmish had been fought on the property during the Civil War and that 19 Confederate soldiers had been buried on the grounds. A few years after moving in, Loretta's oldest son woke to find a soldier standing at the foot of his bed!
Another bizarre feature of the house was the "slave pit" , a cramped, dark, cellar with iron bars over the top. It was located under the front porch and years before, it had been used as a place of punishment for disobedient slaves. One night, Lynn and a friend were watching television and heard the sound of someone walking across the front porch. They looked outside but saw no one, even after turning on the porch light. They went back to watching television and the sound came again, although this time it sounded as though someone were walking and pulling a chain along behind them. They tried to ignore the sounds but then realized that they were coming directly from the slave pit.
On other occasions, Loretta has been alone in the house and has felt cold, electric shocks as if someone (or something) has passed right through her. Things have also been heard going up and and down the stairs and pictures on the walls, no matter how many times they are straightened, always seem to end up crooked again.
Eventually, Loretta decided to try and make contact with the spirits in the house. On one occasion during a séance, a table moved all the way across the room under its own power. Another time, Lynn and several friends make contact with a ghost who called himself Anderson. The group tried to communicate with him further and asked a series of questions. Reportedly, the ghost became angry and began shaking the large wooden table very violently. Suddenly, it jumped off the floor and into the air and then came crashing down so hard that it literally broke in two!
The next day, Loretta spoke to some of the locals in Hurricane Mills to see if they had ever heard of a man named "Anderson". It turned out that the original owner of the house had been James Anderson and he had been buried on the property, close to the mansion.
Needless to say, Loretta never tried to contact that particular spirit again.
by Troy Taylor
Legendary country performer Loretta Lynn is no stranger to ghosts and in fact, has spent her entire life in their presence. While her encounters with the supernatural have never received the kind of attention that her performing career have.. Lynn is said to be a bonafide psychic and when asked about this, she is always willing to talk about it.
She first became aware of her uncanny gifts soon after marrying her childhood sweetheart. She and her husband moved some distance away from her parents and she was very homesick. At the time, she was 14 years-old, pregnant and living away from home for the very first time. She soon began to know just when her mother was expecting a letter from her and she would also get a premonition as to when letters from her mother would come. She would often predict this to the very day.
Legendary country performer Loretta Lynn
Over the years, she has had many premonitions that have come true, such as the detailed vision of her father in his coffin. She would learn the following morning that he had died from a massive stroke. Years later, she returned to the house where she had grown up and encountered the ghost of her father, sitting contentedly on the front porch.
In 1967, after achieving success in the music business, Lynn and her husband decided to find a larger house for their family. One day, while driving in the country west of Nashville, they got lost on a back road after taking a wrong turn. Suddenly, they found the perfect house, a plantation house near the tiny town of Hurricane Mills. Instantly, Loretta knew this was the house she wanted! Even though they didn't even know if the house was for sale at the time, it later turned out to be... along with the entire town of Hurricane Mills!
Soon after moving in, the family began to notice some odd things about the house. For one, Loretta began to notice that the adjoining door between her room and her twin daughter's room would open and close by itself. The twins often spoke of seeping people in their bedroom, like women in old-fashioned clothing with their hair piled high on their heads.
Not long after, the family also learned that a skirmish had been fought on the property during the Civil War and that 19 Confederate soldiers had been buried on the grounds. A few years after moving in, Loretta's oldest son woke to find a soldier standing at the foot of his bed!
Another bizarre feature of the house was the "slave pit" , a cramped, dark, cellar with iron bars over the top. It was located under the front porch and years before, it had been used as a place of punishment for disobedient slaves. One night, Lynn and a friend were watching television and heard the sound of someone walking across the front porch. They looked outside but saw no one, even after turning on the porch light. They went back to watching television and the sound came again, although this time it sounded as though someone were walking and pulling a chain along behind them. They tried to ignore the sounds but then realized that they were coming directly from the slave pit.
On other occasions, Loretta has been alone in the house and has felt cold, electric shocks as if someone (or something) has passed right through her. Things have also been heard going up and and down the stairs and pictures on the walls, no matter how many times they are straightened, always seem to end up crooked again.
Eventually, Loretta decided to try and make contact with the spirits in the house. On one occasion during a séance, a table moved all the way across the room under its own power. Another time, Lynn and several friends make contact with a ghost who called himself Anderson. The group tried to communicate with him further and asked a series of questions. Reportedly, the ghost became angry and began shaking the large wooden table very violently. Suddenly, it jumped off the floor and into the air and then came crashing down so hard that it literally broke in two!
The next day, Loretta spoke to some of the locals in Hurricane Mills to see if they had ever heard of a man named "Anderson". It turned out that the original owner of the house had been James Anderson and he had been buried on the property, close to the mansion.
Needless to say, Loretta never tried to contact that particular spirit again.
by Troy Taylor
GHOSTS OF THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
The building that we know today as the Ryman Auditorium actually opened in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle. It was the work of a man named Captain Tom Ryman, a steamboat captain and hellraiser who was known for his hard drinking and carousing on the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
One day, however, Captain Ryman found God and after hearing an evangelist speak, decided to give up his old ways and soon banned liquor and gambling on his steamboats and closed down a tavern that he owned in Nashville. He also began a project that would be dedicated solely to religious revivals and activities.
Ryman Auditorium
The Union Gospel Tabernacle opened in 1892, just a short distance from the city's notorious Black Bottoms District, as a place where people of all faiths could join together in worship. It was also used as a public meeting hall and in 1897, it hosted a large reunion of Confederate veterans. The gathering was so large that a balcony had to be added to the structure to accommodate the crowd. The Confederates were so pleased that the hall had been made available to them that they donated the money for the balcony project and it was later named the Confederate Gallery in their honor. In later years, as crowds began to come to the auditorium for entertainment, the folks who sat in the gallery were known for their rowdy behavior... and for the fact that one of them has never left!
Over the years, one of the Gallery visitors, a mysterious man in gray, has been sighted from time to time. He had never been seen during performances, but late at night, after the audience has gone home. At times when only maintenance workers and security guards are in the building, the Gray Man has been spotted sitting in the balcony. Others say that he has been seen during rehearsals as well. However, when anyone goes up to the Gallery to send him on his way, the balcony is always found to be deserted. Often when they return downstairs, they will once again see him in the same seat... a seat that was empty moments before.
No one knows who this strange figure may be, whether a past patron to a forgotten show or a long dead Confederate soldier, but whoever he is, he does not haunt the Ryman alone!
Legend has it that the building's original owner, Captain Ryman, has also chosen to remain behind in this world to watch over his beloved building. He passed away in 1904 and was so well thought of that over 4,000 people packed into the auditorium to bid him farewell. It was during the funeral that a change of name was proposed for the place and it became the Ryman Auditorium.
The stories have it that Captain Ryman's ghost first made his presence known in the early 1900's, during a production of Carmen at the theater. The show had a rather risqué reputation and it was certain that Captain Ryman would not have approved of the material. It was said that his ghost made so much noise during the show that patrons complained about not being able to hear what was going on. Unfortunately, this particular story seems to be mere legend though as Carmen played at the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1901... three years before Ryman's death! And while his ghost could not have disrupted this show, it has been said that strange occurrences took place in the years afterward. It seems that each time a show played that did not meet with the Captain's standards, he would interfere and try to disrupt the show.
From 1943 to 1974, the Ryman became the home of the Grand Ole Opry and throughout the 1960's, a live radio show was taped there. There were also many live tapings of the "Jimmy Dean Show" and other specials filmed there.
For one show, a crew from New York had come in and were talking with a local crew after the show had wrapped. They were told about the ghost of Captain Ryman and that he still haunted the place. Needless to say, the New Yorkers scoffed at the idea but decided to hang around that evening and see if anything strange would happen. The evening was completely uneventful until around midnight, when they heard the sound of footsteps in the empty theater. Looking up, the crew could see dust floating down between the edges of the ceiling panels beneath the Gallery. With each footstep they heard, another bit of dust would trickle through. The production crew hastily fled the building and returned to New York!
Another ghost said to haunt the building is the spirit of performer Hank Williams, who died tragically in the back seat of his car in 1953. One Saturday afternoon, singer "Whispering" Bill Anderson was rehearsing on the Ryman stage for an Opry show that evening. As he was checking levels for sound, he strummed a tune on his guitar. It was a tune that was a personal favorite of Hank Williams. Suddenly, in the middle of the song, everything in the building went dead... the sound, lights, house lights, even the emergency exit lights! No cause for the blackout was ever found and Anderson described the incident as "eerie" and remarked that he felt the mechanical failure was somehow related to his performance of the Hank Williams song.
In the early 1990's, the Ryman was closed to the public for a period while it was undergoing renovations. During the construction, one of the workers was accidentally locked into the place overnight. Alone inside, the worker later claimed to come face to face with Hank Williams himself. As the old adage says... legends never die, they simply fade away!
The Grand Ole Opry Curse?
The Ryman opened again in 1993 but was almost torn down when the Grand Ole Opry was moved to Opryland for a time. In fact, many people have remarked that Opry officials seemed especially eager to tear the old building down.. something they say was motivated by what has been called "The Opry Curse".
Most people who work with the Opry are naturally reluctant to discuss the idea of whether or not the curse actually exists and many will go as far as to deny it, They claim that it is nothing more than something concocted by sensationalistic writers back in the 1970's. In spite of this, the rumors and legends persist and no one can deny that up until 1973, more than 35 people closely associated with the Opry had met with untimely deaths. These country stars have been burned to death, have been beaten, robbed and shot, have been victims of car and plane crashes and have perished from alcohol and drugs. Some would say that these deaths are an unfortunate part of working in the entertainment industry.. but others have come to feel that such a curse may exist after all!
You be the judge... but consider these past tragedies:
- Stringbean Akeman, the Hee-Haw comic was murdered (along with his wife) by thieves in 1973.
- Ira Louvin, along with his wife, two friends and the occupants of another car, were killed in a head-on auto accident in 1965.
- Jim Reeves perished in a plane crash in 1964.
- In 1964, another plane crash took the lives of stars Cowboy Copas, Randy Hayes, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Patsy Cline. It has also been said that Patsy Cline had a psychic premonition of her death, but this remains unknown.
- Shortly after the death of Patsy Cline, former Grand Ole Opry singer "Texas Ruby" Fox died of smoke inhalation when her home burned down.
- Jack Greene (known as the "Jolly Greene Giant") almost perished from what he believed was the "Opry Jinx" when he was narrowly missed by two semi-trucks on a highway.
- Hank Williams Jr. was almost killed in 1975 when he took a fall from a Montana mountain. His gruesome injuries eventually healed after years of surgery and therapy.
- And there have been others... over a three-year period, 14 people perished at Opryland. Their only connections where their work in country music and the Grand Ole Opry!
by Troy Taylor
The building that we know today as the Ryman Auditorium actually opened in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle. It was the work of a man named Captain Tom Ryman, a steamboat captain and hellraiser who was known for his hard drinking and carousing on the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
One day, however, Captain Ryman found God and after hearing an evangelist speak, decided to give up his old ways and soon banned liquor and gambling on his steamboats and closed down a tavern that he owned in Nashville. He also began a project that would be dedicated solely to religious revivals and activities.
Ryman Auditorium
The Union Gospel Tabernacle opened in 1892, just a short distance from the city's notorious Black Bottoms District, as a place where people of all faiths could join together in worship. It was also used as a public meeting hall and in 1897, it hosted a large reunion of Confederate veterans. The gathering was so large that a balcony had to be added to the structure to accommodate the crowd. The Confederates were so pleased that the hall had been made available to them that they donated the money for the balcony project and it was later named the Confederate Gallery in their honor. In later years, as crowds began to come to the auditorium for entertainment, the folks who sat in the gallery were known for their rowdy behavior... and for the fact that one of them has never left!
Over the years, one of the Gallery visitors, a mysterious man in gray, has been sighted from time to time. He had never been seen during performances, but late at night, after the audience has gone home. At times when only maintenance workers and security guards are in the building, the Gray Man has been spotted sitting in the balcony. Others say that he has been seen during rehearsals as well. However, when anyone goes up to the Gallery to send him on his way, the balcony is always found to be deserted. Often when they return downstairs, they will once again see him in the same seat... a seat that was empty moments before.
No one knows who this strange figure may be, whether a past patron to a forgotten show or a long dead Confederate soldier, but whoever he is, he does not haunt the Ryman alone!
Legend has it that the building's original owner, Captain Ryman, has also chosen to remain behind in this world to watch over his beloved building. He passed away in 1904 and was so well thought of that over 4,000 people packed into the auditorium to bid him farewell. It was during the funeral that a change of name was proposed for the place and it became the Ryman Auditorium.
The stories have it that Captain Ryman's ghost first made his presence known in the early 1900's, during a production of Carmen at the theater. The show had a rather risqué reputation and it was certain that Captain Ryman would not have approved of the material. It was said that his ghost made so much noise during the show that patrons complained about not being able to hear what was going on. Unfortunately, this particular story seems to be mere legend though as Carmen played at the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1901... three years before Ryman's death! And while his ghost could not have disrupted this show, it has been said that strange occurrences took place in the years afterward. It seems that each time a show played that did not meet with the Captain's standards, he would interfere and try to disrupt the show.
From 1943 to 1974, the Ryman became the home of the Grand Ole Opry and throughout the 1960's, a live radio show was taped there. There were also many live tapings of the "Jimmy Dean Show" and other specials filmed there.
For one show, a crew from New York had come in and were talking with a local crew after the show had wrapped. They were told about the ghost of Captain Ryman and that he still haunted the place. Needless to say, the New Yorkers scoffed at the idea but decided to hang around that evening and see if anything strange would happen. The evening was completely uneventful until around midnight, when they heard the sound of footsteps in the empty theater. Looking up, the crew could see dust floating down between the edges of the ceiling panels beneath the Gallery. With each footstep they heard, another bit of dust would trickle through. The production crew hastily fled the building and returned to New York!
Another ghost said to haunt the building is the spirit of performer Hank Williams, who died tragically in the back seat of his car in 1953. One Saturday afternoon, singer "Whispering" Bill Anderson was rehearsing on the Ryman stage for an Opry show that evening. As he was checking levels for sound, he strummed a tune on his guitar. It was a tune that was a personal favorite of Hank Williams. Suddenly, in the middle of the song, everything in the building went dead... the sound, lights, house lights, even the emergency exit lights! No cause for the blackout was ever found and Anderson described the incident as "eerie" and remarked that he felt the mechanical failure was somehow related to his performance of the Hank Williams song.
In the early 1990's, the Ryman was closed to the public for a period while it was undergoing renovations. During the construction, one of the workers was accidentally locked into the place overnight. Alone inside, the worker later claimed to come face to face with Hank Williams himself. As the old adage says... legends never die, they simply fade away!
The Grand Ole Opry Curse?
The Ryman opened again in 1993 but was almost torn down when the Grand Ole Opry was moved to Opryland for a time. In fact, many people have remarked that Opry officials seemed especially eager to tear the old building down.. something they say was motivated by what has been called "The Opry Curse".
Most people who work with the Opry are naturally reluctant to discuss the idea of whether or not the curse actually exists and many will go as far as to deny it, They claim that it is nothing more than something concocted by sensationalistic writers back in the 1970's. In spite of this, the rumors and legends persist and no one can deny that up until 1973, more than 35 people closely associated with the Opry had met with untimely deaths. These country stars have been burned to death, have been beaten, robbed and shot, have been victims of car and plane crashes and have perished from alcohol and drugs. Some would say that these deaths are an unfortunate part of working in the entertainment industry.. but others have come to feel that such a curse may exist after all!
You be the judge... but consider these past tragedies:
- Stringbean Akeman, the Hee-Haw comic was murdered (along with his wife) by thieves in 1973.
- Ira Louvin, along with his wife, two friends and the occupants of another car, were killed in a head-on auto accident in 1965.
- Jim Reeves perished in a plane crash in 1964.
- In 1964, another plane crash took the lives of stars Cowboy Copas, Randy Hayes, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Patsy Cline. It has also been said that Patsy Cline had a psychic premonition of her death, but this remains unknown.
- Shortly after the death of Patsy Cline, former Grand Ole Opry singer "Texas Ruby" Fox died of smoke inhalation when her home burned down.
- Jack Greene (known as the "Jolly Greene Giant") almost perished from what he believed was the "Opry Jinx" when he was narrowly missed by two semi-trucks on a highway.
- Hank Williams Jr. was almost killed in 1975 when he took a fall from a Montana mountain. His gruesome injuries eventually healed after years of surgery and therapy.
- And there have been others... over a three-year period, 14 people perished at Opryland. Their only connections where their work in country music and the Grand Ole Opry!
by Troy Taylor
POINT LOOKOUT PARK
Located at the southern tip of St. Mary's County is Point Lookout State Park, a popular recreation and historic area where thousands come every summer to enjoy the weather and the outdoors. It is hard to imagine that this place was once a camp where thousands of Confederate soldiers were imprisoned and where more than 4,000 of them died.
But those facts are true.... and just as true are the stories which say that many of those soldiers are still lingering here.
The area known as Point Lookout had its beginning in the mid-1800's as a pleasure resort. When the Civil War broke out, the owner sold the property to the government as a site that could be used as a military hospital. The Hammond General Hospital was soon built, but it was quickly decided that the area would best be served as a prison camp.
Officially, the place was known as Camp Hoffman. There were never any barracks built and the prisoners had to sleep in tents. Later, when the place became overcrowded, they were not even afforded that luxury. The low, marshy land of the area bred disease among the prisoners and men soon started to die from smallpox, dysentery and scurvy. The place was a hellhole and instead of the 10,000 prisoners it was supposed to hold, more than 20,000 were crowded in at one time, making it the largest prison camp of the Civil War.
The Confederates tried several times to take the camp and free the prisoners. Finally, an airtight plan was formulated but the Union troops got wind of it and Fort Lincoln was built nearby to stop any future plans of freeing the prisoners.
In 1862, a hospital was built in the camp so that doctors could minister to the soldiers. It consisted of many buildings, arranged in a circle like spokes on a wheel. There were fifteen buildings used as wards.
After the war, Camp Hoffman was dismantled, although many of the buildings still stand today as reminders of the past..... and some say that many of the soldiers imprisoned here stay also. It is not only the buildings here that are haunted, but the very land the camp stood on also.
There have been many people over the years who have had strange experiences in the park, from staff members to visitors. They claim to have seen apparitions of soldiers appear in front of their vehicles and have seen and heard things which they cannot explain.
Most frightening are the strange voices that have been heard and captured on audio tape in the park.... voices that seem to belong to prisoners from the past. Ghost investigations and even seances have turned up all sorts of odd phenomena and hundreds of reports are documented every year.
In the 1970's, a park manager saw the ghostly figure of a young man outside the window of his residence and then vanish, while another employee saw a ghostly woman standing at the top of a stairway. The sounds of phantom footsteps, slamming doors and windows and even ghostly snoring have been reported and recorded in a duplex dwelling in the park. It had served as a functioning lighthouse until 1965.
There have also been reports of ghostly sightings by fishermen and tourists on the roads and pathways in the park. Unlike many of our national parks, the rangers here keep track of strange sightings and reports and even conduct a ghost tour each October.
It remains perhaps one of the most haunted places in the state of Maryland.
Point Lookout Park is located at the extreme southern tip of Maryland, at the end of a peninsula where the Potomac River meets Chesapeake Bay.
by Troy Taylor
But those facts are true.... and just as true are the stories which say that many of those soldiers are still lingering here.
The area known as Point Lookout had its beginning in the mid-1800's as a pleasure resort. When the Civil War broke out, the owner sold the property to the government as a site that could be used as a military hospital. The Hammond General Hospital was soon built, but it was quickly decided that the area would best be served as a prison camp.
Officially, the place was known as Camp Hoffman. There were never any barracks built and the prisoners had to sleep in tents. Later, when the place became overcrowded, they were not even afforded that luxury. The low, marshy land of the area bred disease among the prisoners and men soon started to die from smallpox, dysentery and scurvy. The place was a hellhole and instead of the 10,000 prisoners it was supposed to hold, more than 20,000 were crowded in at one time, making it the largest prison camp of the Civil War.
The Confederates tried several times to take the camp and free the prisoners. Finally, an airtight plan was formulated but the Union troops got wind of it and Fort Lincoln was built nearby to stop any future plans of freeing the prisoners.
In 1862, a hospital was built in the camp so that doctors could minister to the soldiers. It consisted of many buildings, arranged in a circle like spokes on a wheel. There were fifteen buildings used as wards.
After the war, Camp Hoffman was dismantled, although many of the buildings still stand today as reminders of the past..... and some say that many of the soldiers imprisoned here stay also. It is not only the buildings here that are haunted, but the very land the camp stood on also.
There have been many people over the years who have had strange experiences in the park, from staff members to visitors. They claim to have seen apparitions of soldiers appear in front of their vehicles and have seen and heard things which they cannot explain.
Most frightening are the strange voices that have been heard and captured on audio tape in the park.... voices that seem to belong to prisoners from the past. Ghost investigations and even seances have turned up all sorts of odd phenomena and hundreds of reports are documented every year.
In the 1970's, a park manager saw the ghostly figure of a young man outside the window of his residence and then vanish, while another employee saw a ghostly woman standing at the top of a stairway. The sounds of phantom footsteps, slamming doors and windows and even ghostly snoring have been reported and recorded in a duplex dwelling in the park. It had served as a functioning lighthouse until 1965.
There have also been reports of ghostly sightings by fishermen and tourists on the roads and pathways in the park. Unlike many of our national parks, the rangers here keep track of strange sightings and reports and even conduct a ghost tour each October.
It remains perhaps one of the most haunted places in the state of Maryland.
Point Lookout Park is located at the extreme southern tip of Maryland, at the end of a peninsula where the Potomac River meets Chesapeake Bay.
by Troy Taylor
DELL HOUSE
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Dells region is perhaps one of the most popular vacation spots in the state of Wisconsin. Unfortunately, many of the area's more scenic spots like the towering bluffs and steep ravines of the Dells themselves, have been overshadowed by gaudy commercial enterprises.... but there do remain a few secrets here. Get away by traveling outside of town and you are likely to discover the beautiful forests and natural wonders of the region.... and you might discover some ghosts too.
The infamous Dell House was built in 1837 by a man named Allen. It stood near a place called the Narrows in a shady glen that was close to both a sandy river beach and a fresh water spring. The Dell House was not a classy establishment. It catered to the basic needs of the rough river men who came there... food, a place to sleep, bad whiskey, gambling and women. Violence was not uncommon here and it is believed that a number of unlucky patrons probably found their final resting place to be the muddy bottom of the nearby river.
The days of the river traffic eventually faded and the Dell House closed down. By 1900, the ramshackle building had been abandoned. Adventurous tourists and local residents occasionally camped out near the site and so began the tales of ghosts and phantoms who were said to walk the ruins of the house. Campers spread tales of ghosts and mysterious sounds like cursing, laughter, breaking glass and pounding footsteps coming from the old structure.
The house came to an end in 1910 when a fire burned the empty building to the ground. All that remained were the foundations of the inn, the fireplace and the towering brick chimney. Eventually, the ruins were engulfed by the surrounding forest. The forest glen near the Narrows still remains, although the Dell House is gone.
There are still many who believe that it's ghostly legacy lives on however. Those who have ventured out near the site after dark still claim that unusual sounds can be heard in that area of the forest and that shadowy figures still slip past the trees and disappear.
Do the ghosts of past still haunt the site of the Dell House? We dare you to find out.....
The Wisconsin Dells are in central Wisconsin, about fifty miles northwest of Madison. Dell House once stood on a sandy glen near the Narrows. Today the ruins are covered by forest but the location can be learned by contacting the local tourist board or the Chamber of Commerce.
by Troy Taylor
The Wisconsin Dells region is perhaps one of the most popular vacation spots in the state of Wisconsin. Unfortunately, many of the area's more scenic spots like the towering bluffs and steep ravines of the Dells themselves, have been overshadowed by gaudy commercial enterprises.... but there do remain a few secrets here. Get away by traveling outside of town and you are likely to discover the beautiful forests and natural wonders of the region.... and you might discover some ghosts too.
The infamous Dell House was built in 1837 by a man named Allen. It stood near a place called the Narrows in a shady glen that was close to both a sandy river beach and a fresh water spring. The Dell House was not a classy establishment. It catered to the basic needs of the rough river men who came there... food, a place to sleep, bad whiskey, gambling and women. Violence was not uncommon here and it is believed that a number of unlucky patrons probably found their final resting place to be the muddy bottom of the nearby river.
The days of the river traffic eventually faded and the Dell House closed down. By 1900, the ramshackle building had been abandoned. Adventurous tourists and local residents occasionally camped out near the site and so began the tales of ghosts and phantoms who were said to walk the ruins of the house. Campers spread tales of ghosts and mysterious sounds like cursing, laughter, breaking glass and pounding footsteps coming from the old structure.
The house came to an end in 1910 when a fire burned the empty building to the ground. All that remained were the foundations of the inn, the fireplace and the towering brick chimney. Eventually, the ruins were engulfed by the surrounding forest. The forest glen near the Narrows still remains, although the Dell House is gone.
There are still many who believe that it's ghostly legacy lives on however. Those who have ventured out near the site after dark still claim that unusual sounds can be heard in that area of the forest and that shadowy figures still slip past the trees and disappear.
Do the ghosts of past still haunt the site of the Dell House? We dare you to find out.....
The Wisconsin Dells are in central Wisconsin, about fifty miles northwest of Madison. Dell House once stood on a sandy glen near the Narrows. Today the ruins are covered by forest but the location can be learned by contacting the local tourist board or the Chamber of Commerce.
by Troy Taylor
DEAD WOMAN'S CROSSING
WEATHERFORD, OKLAHOMA
This story was sent to me by an Oklahoma website visitor named "Rex", who recounts a popular tale from the Weatherford area about a haunted location. This story here is presented in his own words.
This is a ghost story based on an event that actually happened. I'll try and give a brief telling of the story, as printed in my Campus newspaper, and then tell what I know about it. This is the story of Dead Woman's Crossing.
I first heard about this place in a class I was taking at school. They called it "dead woman's bridge", and said that a lady had fallen and broken her neck at this bridge, and you could still hear wagon wheels if you went there at night. This was a rather uninformed account of the story.
The real story is that on July 7, 1905 a lady named Katy DeWitt James, 29, and her baby, 14 months. She was a member of the Custer County community, and was well known and liked. She got on a train this day, to go visit a cousin in Payne county. She had filed for divorce from her husband the day before on grounds of cruelty. Her father Henry saw them off from the train station, and that was that.
Usually Henry received letters from his daughter frequently, but when he hadn't received one for weeks, he hired a detective named Sam Bartell to find out what was up. He searched through Clinton, a town close to Weatherford, but turned up nothing. When he came to Weatherford, to continue the search, he found that a woman who matched Katie's description had stayed with a woman she met on the train. The woman's name was Fannie Norton, a prostitute known to the Weatherford people as Mrs. Ham, from Clinton.
They stayed with Norton's Brother in Law William Moore, and Katie was introduced to Mrs. Moore as "Mrs. Smith". The next morning, July 8th, the two women and the baby left in a buggy, saying they would be back in 3 hours. Norton returned 2 hours and fifteen minutes later, leaving the buggy at the barn she got it from, and returned to Clinton. Henry, the detective, later found that Norton told Katie she was going to Hydro, another close town, and convinced her to go with her. Witnesses said that a buggy with two women and a child had disappeared into a field near Deer Creek for 45 minutes.
Norton came out of the field alone in the buggy, with the child. She drove the buggy to a nearby farm and left the baby with a small boy, telling him to give the baby to his mother to care for till she returned. 100 yards from the farm, she tossed out a bundle of baby clothes. The baby's dress was covered in blood, there was blood on the wheels of the buggy. Norton fled across the state to Guthrie, enrolled her kids in a private school, then went on to Shawnee. She mentioned to a friend that she didn't want anyone to know where she was.
Henry Bartell, the detective, followed her trail to Shawnee, where local police found her at the local butcher's home. She was very nervous when found. She told a rambling far-fetched tale of Katie meeting a man on the buggy ride, and leaving with him. Bartell was not convinced. Norton vehemently denied murdering Katie, and wept bitterly. Later that night, when Bartell was out in the hall talking to a reporter, Norton began to vomit.
It was determined that she had taken some sort of poison, and she would die soon. She died shortly after, the death was ruled a suicide, her body was unclaimed and she was buried in the Shawnee city cemetery. Various rewards were posted by Katie's father, Henry, and by the territorial governor, Gov. Ferguson. On August 31, a Weatherford resident, G. W. Cornell, claimed he and his sons had found the body while fishing, and wanted the reward. Only the skeleton remained. However, the clothing was still worn and recognizable. A $5 gold ring was on the skeleton's hand. The skull was not attached to the body, two feet away and upright. The hat and hair were beside it, but separate.
There was a bullet hole in the back of the right ear, and a .38 caliber revolver was also found near the skull. Norton's lawyer positively identified it as belonging to Norton. Norton had shot Katie while she was in the buggy, and Katie had fallen out onto the ground. The body was identified as hers by the clothes and accessories. Katie's Husband, Martin Luther James was called in as a witness for the coroner's jury. He was suspected by Weatherford populace, because of his lack of sorrow or concern, but he had alibis for his whereabouts at the time of the murder. Norton however was found guilty of murder, the motive being robbery.
Mr. James became administrator of Katie's Estate, as the divorce never went through. He petitioned for the custody of his daughter, and was granted it. The estate was split up between himself and his daughter. He sold the farm, and then disappeared. There are many little mysteries left over from this case. From this person's perspective, I would warrant that Mr. James hired Norton to kill Katie, to keep the divorce from happening, and to attain her estate. He probably paid Norton fairly well, and she then fled from the Weatherford area. These links were never brought up, but so many facts are flimsy, after all, why would Norton rob Katie, and yet not take the $5 gold ring on her finger? All in all, it doesn't add up. However, on to the ghost story.
Supposedly (and I know this sounds so cliché) but at midnight, one can hear a woman calling for her baby. Undoubtedly Katie calling for her 14 month old daughter. Also, it is said that one can stand on or under the bridge and hear wagon wheels rolling across, probably the sounds of Norton's buggy. It is a rather spooky place, and the bridge that once was there has been replaced by a huge concrete structure, and subsequently has been covered by much graffiti. It is a popular hang out for partying students from the campus.
I myself went out there at about 3 in the morning with 3 friends, and we experienced nothing whatsoever paranormal. There were several noisy cows that scared the bejesus out of us though. It is spooky, but from what I have been able to ascertain so far, not haunted. I have been there several times in the daylight, before I realized what is was in local history, and I can say that in the daytime, it still is a bit eerie. But all in all, not a bad place to visit. That is just a little bit of haunted Oklahoma I wanted to drop on you!
Note: As it turns out, this story was originally uncovered and researched by a student at the University in Weatherford, Oklahoma named Susan Woolf Brenner. She wrote an article on "Dead Woman's Crossing" (as well as some speculation on the killer of Katy James) that appeared in the Chronicles of Oklahoma: Volume LX (Fall 1982) and was called "Dead Woman's Crossing: The Legacy of a Territorial Murder". She began her research after finding a file on the case and going to the location - only to actually encounter the ghost! Try and track down this article if you can, I think you'll enjoy it!
by Troy Taylor.
This story was sent to me by an Oklahoma website visitor named "Rex", who recounts a popular tale from the Weatherford area about a haunted location. This story here is presented in his own words.
This is a ghost story based on an event that actually happened. I'll try and give a brief telling of the story, as printed in my Campus newspaper, and then tell what I know about it. This is the story of Dead Woman's Crossing.
I first heard about this place in a class I was taking at school. They called it "dead woman's bridge", and said that a lady had fallen and broken her neck at this bridge, and you could still hear wagon wheels if you went there at night. This was a rather uninformed account of the story.
The real story is that on July 7, 1905 a lady named Katy DeWitt James, 29, and her baby, 14 months. She was a member of the Custer County community, and was well known and liked. She got on a train this day, to go visit a cousin in Payne county. She had filed for divorce from her husband the day before on grounds of cruelty. Her father Henry saw them off from the train station, and that was that.
Usually Henry received letters from his daughter frequently, but when he hadn't received one for weeks, he hired a detective named Sam Bartell to find out what was up. He searched through Clinton, a town close to Weatherford, but turned up nothing. When he came to Weatherford, to continue the search, he found that a woman who matched Katie's description had stayed with a woman she met on the train. The woman's name was Fannie Norton, a prostitute known to the Weatherford people as Mrs. Ham, from Clinton.
They stayed with Norton's Brother in Law William Moore, and Katie was introduced to Mrs. Moore as "Mrs. Smith". The next morning, July 8th, the two women and the baby left in a buggy, saying they would be back in 3 hours. Norton returned 2 hours and fifteen minutes later, leaving the buggy at the barn she got it from, and returned to Clinton. Henry, the detective, later found that Norton told Katie she was going to Hydro, another close town, and convinced her to go with her. Witnesses said that a buggy with two women and a child had disappeared into a field near Deer Creek for 45 minutes.
Norton came out of the field alone in the buggy, with the child. She drove the buggy to a nearby farm and left the baby with a small boy, telling him to give the baby to his mother to care for till she returned. 100 yards from the farm, she tossed out a bundle of baby clothes. The baby's dress was covered in blood, there was blood on the wheels of the buggy. Norton fled across the state to Guthrie, enrolled her kids in a private school, then went on to Shawnee. She mentioned to a friend that she didn't want anyone to know where she was.
Henry Bartell, the detective, followed her trail to Shawnee, where local police found her at the local butcher's home. She was very nervous when found. She told a rambling far-fetched tale of Katie meeting a man on the buggy ride, and leaving with him. Bartell was not convinced. Norton vehemently denied murdering Katie, and wept bitterly. Later that night, when Bartell was out in the hall talking to a reporter, Norton began to vomit.
It was determined that she had taken some sort of poison, and she would die soon. She died shortly after, the death was ruled a suicide, her body was unclaimed and she was buried in the Shawnee city cemetery. Various rewards were posted by Katie's father, Henry, and by the territorial governor, Gov. Ferguson. On August 31, a Weatherford resident, G. W. Cornell, claimed he and his sons had found the body while fishing, and wanted the reward. Only the skeleton remained. However, the clothing was still worn and recognizable. A $5 gold ring was on the skeleton's hand. The skull was not attached to the body, two feet away and upright. The hat and hair were beside it, but separate.
There was a bullet hole in the back of the right ear, and a .38 caliber revolver was also found near the skull. Norton's lawyer positively identified it as belonging to Norton. Norton had shot Katie while she was in the buggy, and Katie had fallen out onto the ground. The body was identified as hers by the clothes and accessories. Katie's Husband, Martin Luther James was called in as a witness for the coroner's jury. He was suspected by Weatherford populace, because of his lack of sorrow or concern, but he had alibis for his whereabouts at the time of the murder. Norton however was found guilty of murder, the motive being robbery.
Mr. James became administrator of Katie's Estate, as the divorce never went through. He petitioned for the custody of his daughter, and was granted it. The estate was split up between himself and his daughter. He sold the farm, and then disappeared. There are many little mysteries left over from this case. From this person's perspective, I would warrant that Mr. James hired Norton to kill Katie, to keep the divorce from happening, and to attain her estate. He probably paid Norton fairly well, and she then fled from the Weatherford area. These links were never brought up, but so many facts are flimsy, after all, why would Norton rob Katie, and yet not take the $5 gold ring on her finger? All in all, it doesn't add up. However, on to the ghost story.
Supposedly (and I know this sounds so cliché) but at midnight, one can hear a woman calling for her baby. Undoubtedly Katie calling for her 14 month old daughter. Also, it is said that one can stand on or under the bridge and hear wagon wheels rolling across, probably the sounds of Norton's buggy. It is a rather spooky place, and the bridge that once was there has been replaced by a huge concrete structure, and subsequently has been covered by much graffiti. It is a popular hang out for partying students from the campus.
I myself went out there at about 3 in the morning with 3 friends, and we experienced nothing whatsoever paranormal. There were several noisy cows that scared the bejesus out of us though. It is spooky, but from what I have been able to ascertain so far, not haunted. I have been there several times in the daylight, before I realized what is was in local history, and I can say that in the daytime, it still is a bit eerie. But all in all, not a bad place to visit. That is just a little bit of haunted Oklahoma I wanted to drop on you!
Note: As it turns out, this story was originally uncovered and researched by a student at the University in Weatherford, Oklahoma named Susan Woolf Brenner. She wrote an article on "Dead Woman's Crossing" (as well as some speculation on the killer of Katy James) that appeared in the Chronicles of Oklahoma: Volume LX (Fall 1982) and was called "Dead Woman's Crossing: The Legacy of a Territorial Murder". She began her research after finding a file on the case and going to the location - only to actually encounter the ghost! Try and track down this article if you can, I think you'll enjoy it!
by Troy Taylor.
THE STONE LION INN
GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA
Located in Guthrie, Oklahoma is an old mansion that has been converted into a charming bed and breakfast inn called the Stone Lion Inn. Although formerly used as a funeral home, the mansion now offers luxurious accommodations, fine dining and even murder mystery weekends. Soon after opening, the owners became aware that they were playing host to more than just overnight guests!
In 1986, the house was purchased by Becky Luker, who with the help of her two sons, converted the house into an inn. Soon after moving in, the family began hearing the sounds of feet padding up and down a stairway at night and the sound of a door being somehow opened and closed. After calling the police several times and finding nothing, the family began to realize that the answer to what was going on was a little stranger than they first imagined.
The most haunted areas of the house, or at least the ones which seemed to be affected the most, were the back staircase of the house, where the footsteps were heard between the hours of ten and midnight, and the large closet on the third floor, where Mrs. Luker's youngest son stored his toys. The toys and games would be neatly put away each night and the door locked, then the next morning, they would be found scattered all over the floor.
After living in the house for some time, the Lukers were visited by some former occupants of the house. Their father, F.E. Houghton, had built the place in 1907 and had lived there with his family. Although they had many good memories of the house, they had also had a sister who had died there. Augusta Houghton had been 8 years old and had contracted whooping cough. Apparently, a maid had given her the wrong kind of medicine and she had died.
The elderly Houghton siblings believed the ghost in the house could be that of their sister. Could the sound of the footsteps going up the back stairs to the third floor toy room be those of Augusta? They explained that the toy chest in the closet had been the same one they had used many years ago and before Augusta had become ill, they had had climbed the back stairs to play, between ten and midnight, after the grown-ups had fallen asleep.
The Stone Lion Inn is located in Guthrie, Oklahoma, which is in the central part of the state and about thirty minutes north of Oklahoma City.
by Troy Taylor
Located in Guthrie, Oklahoma is an old mansion that has been converted into a charming bed and breakfast inn called the Stone Lion Inn. Although formerly used as a funeral home, the mansion now offers luxurious accommodations, fine dining and even murder mystery weekends. Soon after opening, the owners became aware that they were playing host to more than just overnight guests!
In 1986, the house was purchased by Becky Luker, who with the help of her two sons, converted the house into an inn. Soon after moving in, the family began hearing the sounds of feet padding up and down a stairway at night and the sound of a door being somehow opened and closed. After calling the police several times and finding nothing, the family began to realize that the answer to what was going on was a little stranger than they first imagined.
The most haunted areas of the house, or at least the ones which seemed to be affected the most, were the back staircase of the house, where the footsteps were heard between the hours of ten and midnight, and the large closet on the third floor, where Mrs. Luker's youngest son stored his toys. The toys and games would be neatly put away each night and the door locked, then the next morning, they would be found scattered all over the floor.
After living in the house for some time, the Lukers were visited by some former occupants of the house. Their father, F.E. Houghton, had built the place in 1907 and had lived there with his family. Although they had many good memories of the house, they had also had a sister who had died there. Augusta Houghton had been 8 years old and had contracted whooping cough. Apparently, a maid had given her the wrong kind of medicine and she had died.
The elderly Houghton siblings believed the ghost in the house could be that of their sister. Could the sound of the footsteps going up the back stairs to the third floor toy room be those of Augusta? They explained that the toy chest in the closet had been the same one they had used many years ago and before Augusta had become ill, they had had climbed the back stairs to play, between ten and midnight, after the grown-ups had fallen asleep.
The Stone Lion Inn is located in Guthrie, Oklahoma, which is in the central part of the state and about thirty minutes north of Oklahoma City.
by Troy Taylor
THEOROSA'S BRIDGE
There is a small town, located just north of Wichita, called Valley Center. Several miles outside of town, along and old country road is a plain and forgettable concrete bridge. While the bridge has an official name it is known more commonly in the area as Theorosa's Bridge. To many of our readers, this story of the bridge will be common one -- as story that we often refer to as a "Crybaby Bridge" -- but the reported phenomena here, as in so many other cases, appears to be so credible that it becomes hard to separate the fiction from the fact.
So, I will let you decide for yourself.
There have been a number of stories circulating over the years which attempt to chronicle the events of this bridge. The oldest setting for the story in Kansas in the late 1800's when settlers were passing through the area. According to one story, a wagon train was passing through when Indians attacked and a settler's baby, named Theorosa, was stolen. Her mother, grief-stricken, left the wagon train to search for her daughter. Legend has it that her ghost still roams the creek near the site of the bridge, her mournful voice still crying out.... "Theorosa".
Another story has Theorosa as the main character. In this version, she is a young woman who has an illegitimate baby and to hide her shame, she throws the baby into a nearby and drowns it. Then, overcome by guilt, she also drowns herself. In another close version, Theorosa is standing on the banks of the creek when she is stabbed by the baby's father. The baby falls into the water and is carried away and Theorosa dies a short time later, then returns to haunt the creek, searching for the lost child.
A more contemporary version of the story has Theorosa as a local farm wife who has an illegitimate child and who throws the baby from the bridge. She follows the child into the river and then returns to haunt the place. The story also maintains that those who stand on the bridge and speak aloud that they are Theorosa's child will be attacked by the ghost as she rushes up from the river and tries to throw the person into the water below.
Regardless of how the bridge came to be haunted, many people will assure you that it is certainly a ghostly place. There have been many reports over the years of eerie shapes, an apparition of a woman, floating balls of light, autos which mysteriously stall, cold breezes from nowhere, mournful voices in the darkness.... and of course, the sound of a baby crying on the wind.
The original wood and iron bridge, which spanned the river for decades, burned down in 1974, was rebuilt, and then burned again two years later. The bridge was closed for nearly fifteen years but this never stopped the stories and encounters from being told. The bridge became a popular site, as many haunted places do, for parties and gatherings of teenagers... all hoping to experience the phantom. And if you believe the tales... many of them did!
In 1991, the road was opened again a concrete bridge was built to span the river. Stories continue to be told of Theorosa's ghost shaking cars, pushing them off the bridge and frightening those who dare to enter her domain. Are the stories really genuine? Many people who live in the Wichita area believe they are -- but who really knows?
As with any haunted place that is open to the public, visitors are encouraged to visit the place for themselves. However, if you do, we implore you to treat the site with respect. Theorosa's Bridge was once a beautiful and scenic location that is now covered in graffiti and garbage that has been left behind by ignorant vandals and trespassers. If you do visit the area, we hope that you will leave nothing behind and if you get a chance, bring along a garbage bag when you come and maybe pick up a little of what some idiot's have left behind. If everyone can do a small part, perhaps we can restore some dignity to what was once both a beautiful and mysterious spot.
Valley Center, Kansas is located just northwest of Wichita in the central region of the state. Theorosa's Bridge can be found a few miles outside of town.
by Troy Taylor
So, I will let you decide for yourself.
There have been a number of stories circulating over the years which attempt to chronicle the events of this bridge. The oldest setting for the story in Kansas in the late 1800's when settlers were passing through the area. According to one story, a wagon train was passing through when Indians attacked and a settler's baby, named Theorosa, was stolen. Her mother, grief-stricken, left the wagon train to search for her daughter. Legend has it that her ghost still roams the creek near the site of the bridge, her mournful voice still crying out.... "Theorosa".
Another story has Theorosa as the main character. In this version, she is a young woman who has an illegitimate baby and to hide her shame, she throws the baby into a nearby and drowns it. Then, overcome by guilt, she also drowns herself. In another close version, Theorosa is standing on the banks of the creek when she is stabbed by the baby's father. The baby falls into the water and is carried away and Theorosa dies a short time later, then returns to haunt the creek, searching for the lost child.
A more contemporary version of the story has Theorosa as a local farm wife who has an illegitimate child and who throws the baby from the bridge. She follows the child into the river and then returns to haunt the place. The story also maintains that those who stand on the bridge and speak aloud that they are Theorosa's child will be attacked by the ghost as she rushes up from the river and tries to throw the person into the water below.
Regardless of how the bridge came to be haunted, many people will assure you that it is certainly a ghostly place. There have been many reports over the years of eerie shapes, an apparition of a woman, floating balls of light, autos which mysteriously stall, cold breezes from nowhere, mournful voices in the darkness.... and of course, the sound of a baby crying on the wind.
The original wood and iron bridge, which spanned the river for decades, burned down in 1974, was rebuilt, and then burned again two years later. The bridge was closed for nearly fifteen years but this never stopped the stories and encounters from being told. The bridge became a popular site, as many haunted places do, for parties and gatherings of teenagers... all hoping to experience the phantom. And if you believe the tales... many of them did!
In 1991, the road was opened again a concrete bridge was built to span the river. Stories continue to be told of Theorosa's ghost shaking cars, pushing them off the bridge and frightening those who dare to enter her domain. Are the stories really genuine? Many people who live in the Wichita area believe they are -- but who really knows?
As with any haunted place that is open to the public, visitors are encouraged to visit the place for themselves. However, if you do, we implore you to treat the site with respect. Theorosa's Bridge was once a beautiful and scenic location that is now covered in graffiti and garbage that has been left behind by ignorant vandals and trespassers. If you do visit the area, we hope that you will leave nothing behind and if you get a chance, bring along a garbage bag when you come and maybe pick up a little of what some idiot's have left behind. If everyone can do a small part, perhaps we can restore some dignity to what was once both a beautiful and mysterious spot.
Valley Center, Kansas is located just northwest of Wichita in the central region of the state. Theorosa's Bridge can be found a few miles outside of town.
by Troy Taylor
OAK ALLEY PLANTATION
The haunted plantation house known as Oak Alley fits every idea that we might have
about the grand old homes of the south.
There is a ghost who haunts Oak Alley Plantation..... although who it might be is still unknown. Some say that it might be the ghost of a young girl whose life was destroyed here many years ago and some claim that the spirit is that of her mother.
But regardless, it is a legend that has been told many times over the years. But is it just another ghost story? Not according to the tourists who captured this ghost on film?
The Bernard's were just a couple of tourists who had stopped to visit Oak Alley plantation one afternoon. They took a number of photos in and around the house, never expecting to uncover proof that the legendary ghost of the plantation actually existed. When they had their film developed, they sent a copy of one particular photo back to the staff members of the house. In the photo appeared the image of a slender young woman with long, dark hair.... a woman who had not been present when the photo was taken.
The staff members were so impressed with the photo that they even sell picture postcards of the image today....
But who is this ghost and why does she haunt Oak Alley?
The house was built by Jacques Telesphore Roman III and the structure was originally called Bon Sejour (Pleasant Sojourn) and would later come to be known as "Oak Alley", thanks to the line of oak trees which were planted in the 1690's. The house was begun in 1832 and took four years to complete. When it was finished, it was the finest home in Louisiana.
The house had been built to suit the tastes of Roman's wife, Josephine Pile, who was every inch the proud Creole. The word, Creole, comes from the Spanish of "criollo" meaning "native born" but it was used to describe the children born in this country from European parents. French Creoles looked down on the Americans, who lacked the manners and refinements possessed by the Creoles. They clung to their old language and ways and created an insulated community of their own.
Some believe that the ghost who haunts the house may be that of Josephine Roman, who loved the place and gave the house its original name. The apparition has frequently been seen on the "widow's walk" of the house where the woman once stood to watch for her husband's boat when he returned on the river from New Orleans.
Other believe that it may be that of her daughter... a young woman whose life was ruined by an incident at the house.
Louise Roman held just as closely to the ways of Creole manners and honor as her family did. This was why she was so enraged when she was called upon by a drunken suitor one evening. He attempted to kiss her and she fled in anger. Unfortunately, Louise was wearing a hoop skirt with an iron frame at the time and she fell down, cutting her leg open.
After a few days, the terrible cut refused to heal and gangrene set in. The leg had to be amputated and Louise considered herself scarred for life. She never really recovered mentally from the wound and left the plantation. She journeyed to St. Louis, where she entered a Carmelite convent. She would later miss the south and would move to New Orleans, where she would start a new convent.
The amputated leg was put away in the family tomb so that when Louise died, it could be buried with her and indeed it was.
Jacques died of tuberculosis in 1848 and the management of the plantation fell to his only son, Henri. The Civil War and Reconstruction would ruin the Roman family, as it did so many others. They managed to hang onto the house for some time, but it was finally abandoned and left to the elements. The house was nearly destroyed by years of neglect but in 1914, the house was purchased and restored by several different owners throughout the 1920's.
In 1925, it became part of a non-profit organization which still manages the place, keeping it open for tours and even renting out bed and breakfast rooms in the cottages near the mansion.
Over the years, the house has become one of the most famous haunted houses in the state and visitors are always encouraged to bring their camera when they come to visit... you never know what you might capture on film!
Oak Alley is open daily for tours and is located in southeast Louisiana in St. James Parish.
by Troy Taylor
about the grand old homes of the south.
There is a ghost who haunts Oak Alley Plantation..... although who it might be is still unknown. Some say that it might be the ghost of a young girl whose life was destroyed here many years ago and some claim that the spirit is that of her mother.
But regardless, it is a legend that has been told many times over the years. But is it just another ghost story? Not according to the tourists who captured this ghost on film?
The Bernard's were just a couple of tourists who had stopped to visit Oak Alley plantation one afternoon. They took a number of photos in and around the house, never expecting to uncover proof that the legendary ghost of the plantation actually existed. When they had their film developed, they sent a copy of one particular photo back to the staff members of the house. In the photo appeared the image of a slender young woman with long, dark hair.... a woman who had not been present when the photo was taken.
The staff members were so impressed with the photo that they even sell picture postcards of the image today....
But who is this ghost and why does she haunt Oak Alley?
The house was built by Jacques Telesphore Roman III and the structure was originally called Bon Sejour (Pleasant Sojourn) and would later come to be known as "Oak Alley", thanks to the line of oak trees which were planted in the 1690's. The house was begun in 1832 and took four years to complete. When it was finished, it was the finest home in Louisiana.
The house had been built to suit the tastes of Roman's wife, Josephine Pile, who was every inch the proud Creole. The word, Creole, comes from the Spanish of "criollo" meaning "native born" but it was used to describe the children born in this country from European parents. French Creoles looked down on the Americans, who lacked the manners and refinements possessed by the Creoles. They clung to their old language and ways and created an insulated community of their own.
Some believe that the ghost who haunts the house may be that of Josephine Roman, who loved the place and gave the house its original name. The apparition has frequently been seen on the "widow's walk" of the house where the woman once stood to watch for her husband's boat when he returned on the river from New Orleans.
Other believe that it may be that of her daughter... a young woman whose life was ruined by an incident at the house.
Louise Roman held just as closely to the ways of Creole manners and honor as her family did. This was why she was so enraged when she was called upon by a drunken suitor one evening. He attempted to kiss her and she fled in anger. Unfortunately, Louise was wearing a hoop skirt with an iron frame at the time and she fell down, cutting her leg open.
After a few days, the terrible cut refused to heal and gangrene set in. The leg had to be amputated and Louise considered herself scarred for life. She never really recovered mentally from the wound and left the plantation. She journeyed to St. Louis, where she entered a Carmelite convent. She would later miss the south and would move to New Orleans, where she would start a new convent.
The amputated leg was put away in the family tomb so that when Louise died, it could be buried with her and indeed it was.
Jacques died of tuberculosis in 1848 and the management of the plantation fell to his only son, Henri. The Civil War and Reconstruction would ruin the Roman family, as it did so many others. They managed to hang onto the house for some time, but it was finally abandoned and left to the elements. The house was nearly destroyed by years of neglect but in 1914, the house was purchased and restored by several different owners throughout the 1920's.
In 1925, it became part of a non-profit organization which still manages the place, keeping it open for tours and even renting out bed and breakfast rooms in the cottages near the mansion.
Over the years, the house has become one of the most famous haunted houses in the state and visitors are always encouraged to bring their camera when they come to visit... you never know what you might capture on film!
Oak Alley is open daily for tours and is located in southeast Louisiana in St. James Parish.
by Troy Taylor
The Devil's Tramping Ground
Near Siler City, North Carolina
Another North Carolina mystery can be found near the town of Siler City. It is a perfect enigma for which many explanations have been attempted and yet none exist. It is in a wooded grove near the small town where the Devil is said to have come and walked the earth, creating a perfect circle that is exactly forty feet in diameter.
No plant or tree will grow inside of this circle. The surrounding brush only grows up to its edges and then no further. Animals do not come here, for no grass will grow and they seem to shy away from the area, as if it were somehow tainted.
There is a path which leads to the circle which is also barren and persons who visit the spot will sometimes place sticks or stones inside the circle, only to have them removed by morning.
And the Tramping Ground is not a recent addition to North Carolina lore. The area has apparently existed for many, many years. The first settlers who came here attributed the strange spot to the Indians holding their tribal ceremonies here.... and yet the circle has remained long after the Indians departed.
Some have suggested that perhaps the ground may be sterile because of everything from UFO landings to ancient crop circles. Others have suggested more mundane solutions. A few years ago, testing on the ground revealed a high level of salt in the soil. This would certainly cause the land to be barren.
But the question remains... what could have caused this? And why does the area exist in a perfect circle? We may never know.
The Devil’s Tramping Ground can be found just outside of Siler City, in central North Carolina. Take Highway 421 south, nine miles to County Road 902. Go six miles west to Harper’s Crossroads, then turn north on County Road 1100. In two miles, a signpost indicates the area.
by Troy Taylor
Another North Carolina mystery can be found near the town of Siler City. It is a perfect enigma for which many explanations have been attempted and yet none exist. It is in a wooded grove near the small town where the Devil is said to have come and walked the earth, creating a perfect circle that is exactly forty feet in diameter.
No plant or tree will grow inside of this circle. The surrounding brush only grows up to its edges and then no further. Animals do not come here, for no grass will grow and they seem to shy away from the area, as if it were somehow tainted.
There is a path which leads to the circle which is also barren and persons who visit the spot will sometimes place sticks or stones inside the circle, only to have them removed by morning.
And the Tramping Ground is not a recent addition to North Carolina lore. The area has apparently existed for many, many years. The first settlers who came here attributed the strange spot to the Indians holding their tribal ceremonies here.... and yet the circle has remained long after the Indians departed.
Some have suggested that perhaps the ground may be sterile because of everything from UFO landings to ancient crop circles. Others have suggested more mundane solutions. A few years ago, testing on the ground revealed a high level of salt in the soil. This would certainly cause the land to be barren.
But the question remains... what could have caused this? And why does the area exist in a perfect circle? We may never know.
The Devil’s Tramping Ground can be found just outside of Siler City, in central North Carolina. Take Highway 421 south, nine miles to County Road 902. Go six miles west to Harper’s Crossroads, then turn north on County Road 1100. In two miles, a signpost indicates the area.
by Troy Taylor
THE RUSSELLVILLE GIRL
Russellville, Kentucky is located in the far southwest corner of the state, but the story of the "Russellville Girl" has been told in every corner of Kentucky.
The story goes that a young girl was waiting for her lover to come pick her up one night for a dance. It was a terribly stormy and dangerous night as lightning illuminated the sky and rain fell in sheets. She was very anxious about her boyfriend driving in such weather and she stood near the front window of the house, anxiously watching the dark road outside and hoping for some sign of his oncoming headlights. Just then, a bolt of lightning struck the house and somehow passed through the front window. The girl was killed instantly by the lightning.
In a different of the story, passed along to me by a website visitor, the girl was killed because she cursed God for causing it to rain on the night of the dance. She was angry because she would ruin her party dress when she went out into the inclement weather. The curse caused her spirit to be trapped in the glass forever!
Over the years, no one seems able to remember just what this girl's name many have been.... but they didn't have any trouble remembering what she had looked like. By some freak of nature, the lightning created a photographic imprint of the girl on the pane of glass in the front window.
For many years, on every occasion when it rained, the girl's image would appear on the glass. The story became famous and people came from miles around to see the image. No matter how hard the owners cleaned the window, they could not erase the image. As years passed, owners of the house desperately boarded over the window to keep away the curiosity-seekers and more recently, the window has been painted over.
Russellville is located in the southwest portion of the state, a short distance north of the Tennessee border. The house where the girl's image was imprinted on the window is a private residence on the Clarksville Road. It now serves as the residence for the caretaker of Maple Grove Cemetery in Russellville.
by Troy Taylor
The story goes that a young girl was waiting for her lover to come pick her up one night for a dance. It was a terribly stormy and dangerous night as lightning illuminated the sky and rain fell in sheets. She was very anxious about her boyfriend driving in such weather and she stood near the front window of the house, anxiously watching the dark road outside and hoping for some sign of his oncoming headlights. Just then, a bolt of lightning struck the house and somehow passed through the front window. The girl was killed instantly by the lightning.
In a different of the story, passed along to me by a website visitor, the girl was killed because she cursed God for causing it to rain on the night of the dance. She was angry because she would ruin her party dress when she went out into the inclement weather. The curse caused her spirit to be trapped in the glass forever!
Over the years, no one seems able to remember just what this girl's name many have been.... but they didn't have any trouble remembering what she had looked like. By some freak of nature, the lightning created a photographic imprint of the girl on the pane of glass in the front window.
For many years, on every occasion when it rained, the girl's image would appear on the glass. The story became famous and people came from miles around to see the image. No matter how hard the owners cleaned the window, they could not erase the image. As years passed, owners of the house desperately boarded over the window to keep away the curiosity-seekers and more recently, the window has been painted over.
Russellville is located in the southwest portion of the state, a short distance north of the Tennessee border. The house where the girl's image was imprinted on the window is a private residence on the Clarksville Road. It now serves as the residence for the caretaker of Maple Grove Cemetery in Russellville.
by Troy Taylor
MATHIAS HAM HOUSE
Dubuque, Iowa
The Ham House is a gothic mansion that is located on the north end of Dubuque. It looks out over the Mississippi River, standing as a historic reminder of days gone by. But everything in the house may not be quite what it seems.... because as the years have passed, visitors to the house report that a strange presence lurks here, manifesting itself in unexplainable lights and in cold chills that seem to originate from nowhere.
The mansion began as a stone cottage in 1840 and shipping tycoon, Mathias Ham, lived there with his wife in five children. His first wife died in 1856 and he married again four years later. At the same time, he started to expand the house into the twenty-three room mansion that can be seen today.
The family was one of the most socially prominent in the city and Ham had a tower added onto the house to watch the movements of his ships on the river below. His wife, Margaret, passed away in 1874 and Mathias Ham himself died several years later in 1889. Two of the Ham daughters, May and Sarah, still lived at home but May died in the 1890's, leaving Sarah alone in the rambling mansion.
Late one night, an intruder broke into the house and when he approached Sarah's door, she fired two shots into it with a pistol. A blood trail was found leading from the door to the river outside. The body of a river pirate was found near the muddy banks. Some say that a mysterious light, which has been observed near the house, is that of a ghostly lamp which is carried by this old pirate as he seeks his revenge.
Since 1964, the Ham house has been operated as a museum by the Dubuque County Historical Society. The staff members here regularly report strange incidents like opening windows, phantom footsteps and odd electrical problems.
The Mathias Ham House can be found in Dubuque, Iowa at the junctions of the Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin borders. The house is located along Lincoln Street on the north side of the city.
by Troy Taylor
The Ham House is a gothic mansion that is located on the north end of Dubuque. It looks out over the Mississippi River, standing as a historic reminder of days gone by. But everything in the house may not be quite what it seems.... because as the years have passed, visitors to the house report that a strange presence lurks here, manifesting itself in unexplainable lights and in cold chills that seem to originate from nowhere.
The mansion began as a stone cottage in 1840 and shipping tycoon, Mathias Ham, lived there with his wife in five children. His first wife died in 1856 and he married again four years later. At the same time, he started to expand the house into the twenty-three room mansion that can be seen today.
The family was one of the most socially prominent in the city and Ham had a tower added onto the house to watch the movements of his ships on the river below. His wife, Margaret, passed away in 1874 and Mathias Ham himself died several years later in 1889. Two of the Ham daughters, May and Sarah, still lived at home but May died in the 1890's, leaving Sarah alone in the rambling mansion.
Late one night, an intruder broke into the house and when he approached Sarah's door, she fired two shots into it with a pistol. A blood trail was found leading from the door to the river outside. The body of a river pirate was found near the muddy banks. Some say that a mysterious light, which has been observed near the house, is that of a ghostly lamp which is carried by this old pirate as he seeks his revenge.
Since 1964, the Ham house has been operated as a museum by the Dubuque County Historical Society. The staff members here regularly report strange incidents like opening windows, phantom footsteps and odd electrical problems.
The Mathias Ham House can be found in Dubuque, Iowa at the junctions of the Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin borders. The house is located along Lincoln Street on the north side of the city.
by Troy Taylor
EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
Johnson City, Tennessee
If there is an award for the most haunted school in Tennessee, then without a doubt, that award would go to the East Tennessee State University. There may be more ghosts here than in any other college in the south.
One of the most famous ghosts resides in Gilbreath Hall, named for Sidney Gilbreath, the founding president of the University in 191 1 and the resident specter of the building. Gilbreath's ghost apparently watches over the place, closing doors and windows left open by mistake and turning off unnecessary lights. One student even claimed that she saw an apparition of the former president framed in an upper window of the hall one night.
Mathes Hall is another reportedly haunted spot on the campus. The spirit here, whoever it might be, tends to follow around the maintenance workers while they are cleaning at night. Many of them have reported being followed by disembodied footsteps that stop whenever the staff member does. Another worker claimed that she heard mysterious crashing sounds from an upper floor while she was otherwise alone in the building.
The ghost of Burleson Hall seems to be connected to Christine Burleson, a popular professor who taught Shakespeare for decades. Late in life, she came down with a debilitating disease that ran in her family. She ended up in a wheelchair and in the early 1970's committed suicide.
Her ghost has been blamed for a variety of phenomena in the building from a woman's moaning, to voices and other strange sounds. Many believe though that her ghost has inhabited a portrait of her father, David Sinclair Burleson. It has eyes that seem to follow you when you look at it and according to campus tradition, the eyes in the photo are not David Burleson's at all..... but Christine's!
Of all of the hauntings on the campus though, none is as well remembered as the "screaming ghost" of Cooper Hall. The ghost was said to be a very sad young woman, the daughter of wealthy businessman George Carter, who had donated the land on which ETSU was built. Alice, as the students call her, fell in love with a young man but her parents refused to let them marry and she committed suicide by ingesting a lethal dose of rat poison.
Carter was grief-stricken over the loss of this daughter and he immortalized her image in a stained glass window that was installed in the family home. When Carter died in 1936, the college purchased the house and named it Cooper Hall. It was then opened as a dormitory for senior women. It was then that the haunting began.
A female voice was heard singing in the halls and unearthly screams sometimes filled the night. Objects disappeared, turning up in other places. Some of the girls complained that they felt as if they were being watched. Most of these strange events took place in the vicinity of the stained glass window. Later,
When the house was abandoned, the window was removed. It has since been lost. The stories of the haunting of Cooper Hall continued for years and even after the building was no longer used, the strange tales continued. A Johnson City historian named Ray Stahl was writing a story about the haunting and made an amazing discovery about the history of the house and the Carter family.... George Carter had no daughter!
The only child of the Carter's had been James Walter Carter, although from photos of the time, he was a beautiful child with long, flowing hair like a girl's. Apparently, his parents had never gotten over the fact that he had been a boy. Stahl believes that Jimmy was the model for the stained glass window...but he cannot argue the fact that generations of students and maintenance workers have had contact with some sort of spirit in the building.
After Cooper Hall was closed as a dormitory, the building became office space and a campus radio station. Several students and janitors encountered the ghost during this time period also.
The building was finally torn down in 1984 and while university officials claimed that it was because the old building would cost too much to renovate.... many of the staff believed that knew the real reason the building was destroyed. According to them, they could find no one who was brave enough to inhabit the place with the ghosts.
Johnson City, Tennessee is in the extreme eastern region of the state, not far from the North Carolina border.
by Troy Taylor
If there is an award for the most haunted school in Tennessee, then without a doubt, that award would go to the East Tennessee State University. There may be more ghosts here than in any other college in the south.
One of the most famous ghosts resides in Gilbreath Hall, named for Sidney Gilbreath, the founding president of the University in 191 1 and the resident specter of the building. Gilbreath's ghost apparently watches over the place, closing doors and windows left open by mistake and turning off unnecessary lights. One student even claimed that she saw an apparition of the former president framed in an upper window of the hall one night.
Mathes Hall is another reportedly haunted spot on the campus. The spirit here, whoever it might be, tends to follow around the maintenance workers while they are cleaning at night. Many of them have reported being followed by disembodied footsteps that stop whenever the staff member does. Another worker claimed that she heard mysterious crashing sounds from an upper floor while she was otherwise alone in the building.
The ghost of Burleson Hall seems to be connected to Christine Burleson, a popular professor who taught Shakespeare for decades. Late in life, she came down with a debilitating disease that ran in her family. She ended up in a wheelchair and in the early 1970's committed suicide.
Her ghost has been blamed for a variety of phenomena in the building from a woman's moaning, to voices and other strange sounds. Many believe though that her ghost has inhabited a portrait of her father, David Sinclair Burleson. It has eyes that seem to follow you when you look at it and according to campus tradition, the eyes in the photo are not David Burleson's at all..... but Christine's!
Of all of the hauntings on the campus though, none is as well remembered as the "screaming ghost" of Cooper Hall. The ghost was said to be a very sad young woman, the daughter of wealthy businessman George Carter, who had donated the land on which ETSU was built. Alice, as the students call her, fell in love with a young man but her parents refused to let them marry and she committed suicide by ingesting a lethal dose of rat poison.
Carter was grief-stricken over the loss of this daughter and he immortalized her image in a stained glass window that was installed in the family home. When Carter died in 1936, the college purchased the house and named it Cooper Hall. It was then opened as a dormitory for senior women. It was then that the haunting began.
A female voice was heard singing in the halls and unearthly screams sometimes filled the night. Objects disappeared, turning up in other places. Some of the girls complained that they felt as if they were being watched. Most of these strange events took place in the vicinity of the stained glass window. Later,
When the house was abandoned, the window was removed. It has since been lost. The stories of the haunting of Cooper Hall continued for years and even after the building was no longer used, the strange tales continued. A Johnson City historian named Ray Stahl was writing a story about the haunting and made an amazing discovery about the history of the house and the Carter family.... George Carter had no daughter!
The only child of the Carter's had been James Walter Carter, although from photos of the time, he was a beautiful child with long, flowing hair like a girl's. Apparently, his parents had never gotten over the fact that he had been a boy. Stahl believes that Jimmy was the model for the stained glass window...but he cannot argue the fact that generations of students and maintenance workers have had contact with some sort of spirit in the building.
After Cooper Hall was closed as a dormitory, the building became office space and a campus radio station. Several students and janitors encountered the ghost during this time period also.
The building was finally torn down in 1984 and while university officials claimed that it was because the old building would cost too much to renovate.... many of the staff believed that knew the real reason the building was destroyed. According to them, they could find no one who was brave enough to inhabit the place with the ghosts.
Johnson City, Tennessee is in the extreme eastern region of the state, not far from the North Carolina border.
by Troy Taylor
RESIDUAL HAUNTING CASE EXAMPLE
Woman who faces domestic violence from her husband
The husband and wife move out of the apartment and the new renters see residual haunting activity in which the previous owners are involved in a domestic dispute, they appear to be specters. The new renters are able to identify the faces of the specters. When they go to a neighborhood barbecue, they see a neighborhood get-together photograph and identify a man and woman as being the specters they see in their apartment. They discover that their specters are still living, but are now divorced. Their specters were the previous renters who were always quarreling in that apartment.
Residual haunting activity can be caused by agitated nervousness, such as a new politician that is nervous about talking in front of a crowd of people. The speech by this politician is played back over and over again as a residual haunting effect.
The husband and wife move out of the apartment and the new renters see residual haunting activity in which the previous owners are involved in a domestic dispute, they appear to be specters. The new renters are able to identify the faces of the specters. When they go to a neighborhood barbecue, they see a neighborhood get-together photograph and identify a man and woman as being the specters they see in their apartment. They discover that their specters are still living, but are now divorced. Their specters were the previous renters who were always quarreling in that apartment.
Residual haunting activity can be caused by agitated nervousness, such as a new politician that is nervous about talking in front of a crowd of people. The speech by this politician is played back over and over again as a residual haunting effect.
POLTERGEIST CASE EXAMPLE
Walter B. Gibson, The Shadow
Walter B. Gibson, writer of the pulp series The Shadow thought about his character The Shadow so much, that his projected thoughts would actually create a hologram image of The Shadow, that would lurk in his apartment. When he had guests over, his guests were frightened by a man dressed all in black, with fedora hat and red scarf covering his face. They were describing the fictional character The Shadow. The Shadow was Walter B. Gibson's poltergeist, an entity projected from his mind. With this case example, not all poltergeist activity is created from adolescent teenage girls.
Walter B. Gibson, writer of the pulp series The Shadow thought about his character The Shadow so much, that his projected thoughts would actually create a hologram image of The Shadow, that would lurk in his apartment. When he had guests over, his guests were frightened by a man dressed all in black, with fedora hat and red scarf covering his face. They were describing the fictional character The Shadow. The Shadow was Walter B. Gibson's poltergeist, an entity projected from his mind. With this case example, not all poltergeist activity is created from adolescent teenage girls.
HIGHWAY 365
Near Little Rock, Arkansas
Highway 365 in Arkansas is an ordinary stretch of American highway that runs near the central part of the state. However, like many other roadways in the country, it boasts its share of strangeness - or perhaps some would say more than it's share!
Highway 365 is home to a number of "Vanishing Hitchhiker" stories. Many witnesses claim over the years to have picked up a young woman, usually wearing a white dress. She mysteriously vanishes from their cars while they are taking her home.
One story that took place near Woodson, Arkansas had a driver giving a lift to a young woman one rainy night and driving her to a house in Redfield. He got out of the car and walked around to her side of the vehicle to open the door...only to find the girl had disappeared. Bewildered, he went up to the house and was told by the man who answered the door that his daughter had been killed on that night four years ago. On each anniversary of her death, she found an unwitting driver to bring her home.
Another similar story involved a man who gave a lift to a young girl that he picked up on a bridge one night. She asked to be taken to a house, again in Woodson, and when they arrived, she asked the driver to go knock on the door because the house looked dark. A woman answered the door and he told her that he had brought her daughter home. The horrified woman stated that her daughter had died one year before on that very night. The driver went back to the car and found it empty....except for a coat. The woman from the house stated that the coat had belonged to the dead girl.
Another tale involves a bridge near Batesville and a driver who picked up a girl there on a night in 1973. The girl was bruised and battered, with a cut above her eye, and she told the driver she had been in an accident. He gave her a ride home and when he turned to speak to her, she had vanished from his car. He went to the door of the house and the man who answered claimed to be the girl's father. He said that his daughter had died one month before in an accident at the bridge near Batesville. He said that other people had also brought her home before. The story goes that drivers are still bringing the girl home today.
Skeptical? Intrigued? Or simply curious? Want to put your curiosity to rest? Try driving along Highway 365 some dark and stormy night and keep your eyes open for a girl in a white dress who might be looking for a ride...
Just don't be surprised if she doesn't make it all of the way to your destination!
The haunted area of Highway 365 is said to run just south of Little Rock and past the towns of Woodson, Redfield and as far as Pine Bluff.
by Troy Taylor
Highway 365 in Arkansas is an ordinary stretch of American highway that runs near the central part of the state. However, like many other roadways in the country, it boasts its share of strangeness - or perhaps some would say more than it's share!
Highway 365 is home to a number of "Vanishing Hitchhiker" stories. Many witnesses claim over the years to have picked up a young woman, usually wearing a white dress. She mysteriously vanishes from their cars while they are taking her home.
One story that took place near Woodson, Arkansas had a driver giving a lift to a young woman one rainy night and driving her to a house in Redfield. He got out of the car and walked around to her side of the vehicle to open the door...only to find the girl had disappeared. Bewildered, he went up to the house and was told by the man who answered the door that his daughter had been killed on that night four years ago. On each anniversary of her death, she found an unwitting driver to bring her home.
Another similar story involved a man who gave a lift to a young girl that he picked up on a bridge one night. She asked to be taken to a house, again in Woodson, and when they arrived, she asked the driver to go knock on the door because the house looked dark. A woman answered the door and he told her that he had brought her daughter home. The horrified woman stated that her daughter had died one year before on that very night. The driver went back to the car and found it empty....except for a coat. The woman from the house stated that the coat had belonged to the dead girl.
Another tale involves a bridge near Batesville and a driver who picked up a girl there on a night in 1973. The girl was bruised and battered, with a cut above her eye, and she told the driver she had been in an accident. He gave her a ride home and when he turned to speak to her, she had vanished from his car. He went to the door of the house and the man who answered claimed to be the girl's father. He said that his daughter had died one month before in an accident at the bridge near Batesville. He said that other people had also brought her home before. The story goes that drivers are still bringing the girl home today.
Skeptical? Intrigued? Or simply curious? Want to put your curiosity to rest? Try driving along Highway 365 some dark and stormy night and keep your eyes open for a girl in a white dress who might be looking for a ride...
Just don't be surprised if she doesn't make it all of the way to your destination!
The haunted area of Highway 365 is said to run just south of Little Rock and past the towns of Woodson, Redfield and as far as Pine Bluff.
by Troy Taylor
OLD POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY JAIL
Council Bluff, Iowa
This unique and historic old jail house was known as the Squirrel Cage jail for many years because of it's strange three-story rotary jail. Prisoners were housed in pie-shaped cells. These cells were accessed by turned a hand crank until the cells lined up with a single door on each floor of the building. The jail closed to prisoners in 1969 but it is said that some of them, or at least one superintendent, has lingered on...despite the fact that he is dead.
There were only two prisoners who died in the jail during its years of operation, one of a heart attack and the other by an injury that he sustained while climbing up to write his name on the ceiling of his cell. But experts don't feel that the ghost here is one of the prisoners...but of an early jailer instead.
J.M. Carter was the first superintendent of the jail and spent more time here than any of the prisoners the place held. He oversaw construction of the place back in 1884 and lived in an apartment on the fourth floor.
His presence has been felt here for many years by staff and prisoners alike and while the place no longer holds the convicted, the ghost of J.M. Carter is reported to be still linked to strange incidents today. Complaints about the noises and eerie feelings have been heard many times over the years.
Council Bluffs is located just east of Omaha, Nebraska in the southwestern part of Iowa.
by Troy Taylor
This unique and historic old jail house was known as the Squirrel Cage jail for many years because of it's strange three-story rotary jail. Prisoners were housed in pie-shaped cells. These cells were accessed by turned a hand crank until the cells lined up with a single door on each floor of the building. The jail closed to prisoners in 1969 but it is said that some of them, or at least one superintendent, has lingered on...despite the fact that he is dead.
There were only two prisoners who died in the jail during its years of operation, one of a heart attack and the other by an injury that he sustained while climbing up to write his name on the ceiling of his cell. But experts don't feel that the ghost here is one of the prisoners...but of an early jailer instead.
J.M. Carter was the first superintendent of the jail and spent more time here than any of the prisoners the place held. He oversaw construction of the place back in 1884 and lived in an apartment on the fourth floor.
His presence has been felt here for many years by staff and prisoners alike and while the place no longer holds the convicted, the ghost of J.M. Carter is reported to be still linked to strange incidents today. Complaints about the noises and eerie feelings have been heard many times over the years.
Council Bluffs is located just east of Omaha, Nebraska in the southwestern part of Iowa.
by Troy Taylor
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