Your Neighborhood Haunted House

[David In Indy]

It's Halloween! So I thought it would be fun to discuss haunted houses in our cities and neighborhoods. We could even talk about that creepy old house down the street when we were kids.

Did you have such a house in your neighborhood when you were growing up? Do you have a haunted house in your city or in your neighborhood now? What are some of the rumors about the house? Did you ever sneek inside to investigate it? If so, what did you see or hear?

Let's talk about scary haunted houses!

[David In Indy]

I posted this in another thread, but I'll re-post it here.

The House of Blue Lights - Indianapolis, Indiana





It was built by Skiles Test a big real estate tycoon here in Indianapolis back in the early 1900s. He owned much of the land that now makes up northeast Indianapolis, including the neighborhood I grew up in. In addition to being extremely wealthy, he was also a bit eccentric. And it was because so many people viewed him as a crazy old man that so many rumors were sparked. He did do some rather odd things though. One year back in the late 1940s he hung blue Christmas lights along the all the eaves of his house and in the trees. He enjoyed them so much he decided to leave them up permanently and turned them on every night for decades. It was the blue Christmas lights that gave the house its nickname.

He also had a three story guest cottage with an elevator and a two story bath house with a diving board attached to the top  level of the building. The diving board hung over an olympic size solar heated swimming pool. He was a huge animal lover and owned dozens of cats. I believe he once owned 150 of them. I remember seeing the cat cemetery out in his back yard. There was also a series of tunnels running from the house to various locations on the property. Two I can think of is the tunnel entrance just off Sycamore Hill (the road that leads up to my childhood home) which was built into a hill side. This tunnel led to the cellar of the mansion. Another tunnel connected the mansion's cellar to the detatched garage and care taker's house about 200 yards away.

The legends of the house included his wife being buried in a glass coffin and buried under the swimming pool. The legend goes that when his wife died, he placed her in a glass coffin and kept her in his living room with blue lights surrounding it. Then after a period of time, he buried her in the back yard and installed the pool over her grave. This of course is false. I believe both Mr. and Mrs. Test are buried at Crown Hill Cemetery.

Also supposedly a curse was attached to the property. If you trespassed, Mr. Test's spirit would haunt you until the day you died. I have never seen his ghost though and I went up there plenty of times! At least I don't THINK I've seen him. Sometimes when I'm at Dad's house I can hear strange noises coming from the location where the mansion once stood, but I think those noises are probably coyotes and other animals. It does sound very creepy though.

Another legend was the appearance of blue lights in the windows of the mansion even after it was abandoned. Now I do remember seeing those blue lights. Or at least I THOUGHT I'd seen the blue lights several times. It looked very odd, almost like a blue candle flame glimmering in some of the windows. But it could have been my imagination.

Anyhow it was a very interesting place and I was sorry to see it torn down. 

[David In Indy]

The Hannah House - Indianapolis, Indiana



We also have the Hannah House here in town. It's still standing. The home was built by an abolitionist family back in the 1840s and it was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Legend says that one night while a large number of slaves were hiding down in a remote part of the basement, a lantern tipped over and the slaves burned to death. And now from time to time you can smell the scent of burning flesh and the sounds of screams coming from the basement. Also doors are known to slam on their own, furniture moves of its own accord and shadow people are seen moving throughout the house.

They sometimes hold "murder mystery" dinners at Hannah House which are very popular. Also each Halloween a large haunted house is created (yes! a Halloween haunted house in a REAL haunted house) which takes you through several rooms of the house and also the basement. I've been there during Halloween and I remember feeling "presences" there on a few occasions!

[David In Indy]

Willard Library - Evansville, Indiana





And then there's the old Willard Library in Evansville which is supposedly haunted by "The Gray Lady". Willard Library was the closest library to my house in Evansville and I went in there all the time. It's a beautiful building and I must admit a bit creepy but I never saw anything unusual.

Many others HAVE though. So many people in fact that the Sci-Fi channel's Ghost Hunters (TAPS) made a special trip to Evansville to investigate the ghostly activity. They really didn't find much though.

The Discovery Channel was also there, but I can't remember what they said they found, if anything. Web cams have been installed at the library and people all across the world watch them to see if they can spot the Gray Lady. Several convincing image captures have been posted on the library's website, so who knows really?

http://www.willardghost.com/?content=ghostcams

[Marge_Innavera]

I voted "other."  Don't remember any haunted houses in our neighborhood when I was a kid but I've worked in haunted buildings -- twice -- and for a few years when I was a student, I lived in a pre-Civil War neighborhood where haunted houses were quite common.  People basically just got used to it.

One thing I can say, that I'll bet not many people can, is that I once spent the night in a haunted building by myself.  It was a log cabin at the Living History museum where I was working, my usual work station in fact; and once in awhile we'd do a project where we actually lived there for a little while, anywhere from a weekend to a full week.  On one of the weekends, the other people who were to sleep in the cabin cancelled and I stayed in it alone.  It wasn't actually scary, as I'd had a number of incidents there and none of them were frightening but I definitely did sleep lighter than usual. 

At dusk, people would often see lights in the attic of the cabin and find nothing there, but a strong smell of candle wax.  I'd often hear someone walking up behind me and turn around to find nobody there, and once on a cold day when the door was locked some invisible person knocked on it.  A few of the volunteers and Parks Department staff people wouldn't go into that building, but most of us were used to it.  It had a great setting for a haunted building -- right on the edge of "town" and surrounded by big old shade trees whose branches sometimes cast spooky shadows during the full moon.

[Brown Eyes]

I voted yes, but I'll add that it's not in my current neighborhood.  There were several haunted locations at my college (Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts).  Some of the stories about the hauntings are many generations old and at least on is taken quite seriously.  I'm at work at the moment... so I'll come back later this evening to tell the stories!


p.s. I adore good ghost stories.

[Brown Eyes]

Heya!

So, I'm back to tell the most famous ghost story associated with my undergrad alma mater, Mount Holyoke College.  It's a very old college so there are lots of ghost stories actually.  But, this is the most credible by far.  And, this story has gotten even spookier in recent years.

One of the oldest and most beautiful historic dorms on campus is called Wilder Hall.  And, there's a story that goes back to the 1950s about a girl hanging herself in one of the corner rooms on the 4th (top) floor in a room located near the staircase (apparently this part of the story is true and verifiable... that someone did commit suicide).  It's the only room on the 4th floor with a crystal/glass door knob.  And, the room has been unassigned for a longtime because the rumors and stories about it are so pervasive, that it's unlikely that anyone would want that for a dorm room these days.  When I was a student at MHC, there were tons of stories from people in Wilder about faucets turning themselves off and on by themselves and there was a rumor that it was impossible to hang posters or anything on the wall in the dorm room that was adjacent to the "haunted room."  Frequently, people also talked about feeling the sensation of being pushed as they tried to walk up or down the stairs near the room.  The room was "closed" as a dorm room by an old dean, who was also an alum of MHC (well familiar with the Wilder stories).  So, apparently in years previous to my enrollment, she volunteered to sleep overnight in the haunted room.  The story goes that she left in the middle of the night from the room and declared that it would not be assigned as a dorm room from that point on.

Previous to the dorm room being "closed" as a functioning dorm room, the scariest rumor was that anyone who was assigned to live in that room was injured somehow or other in "random" violent accidents (beginning with the roommate of the girl who hung herself).

I recall the building being truly creepy (if beautiful)... I hated even going in there (to visit friends, go to parties or eat in the old dining hall there, etc.).  I'm creeping myself out even retelling this story.  You couldn't have paid me enough money to take dorm a room in Wilder.

So a few years ago, in 2006, there was a violent wind storm on campus which knocked over a giant, very old beech tree near Wilder (I remember the beautiful tree well).  The tree fell on the dorm and apparently did the most damage to the haunted room and to the porch!!!
 

I'm attaching a link to an article about tree falling.  And, I also found this nice succinct story about the ghost story combined with the recent tree story in a recent student's blog.  So, I'm including a quote from that here. 


An article from Feb. 2006:
http://www.themhnews.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=649835a6-2a29-4287-88f9-76bca85f7198
High Winds Cause Extensive Damage to Wilder
One of the Oldest Trees on Campus to be Cut Down

A related comment from a blog:
www.opacity.us/forum/index.php?
"As some of you know I am a freshman at Mount Holyoke College. There is a very old dorm hall called Wilder near the center of campus. On the top floor (4th) of Wilder, there is a room across from the kitchenette right as you reach the top of the stairs with a very strange story attached to it. Back in the 1950's (some say earlier) a girl hung herself in that room (I forgot why, but I think it was over a boy). Shortly after her death, her roommate broke her leg. Nobody thought anything of it, until a pattern emerged. Ever since, any girl assigned to the room has been seriously injured. Since the 70s or 80s when the Dean of Students couldn't even bear to spend an entire night in the room, it has been locked. The room # is 403, but what is creepy is that according to the official layouts of Wilder Hall on the MHC website, there IS no room 403, just a space where the room is and a little rectangle symbol in the middle of it. Anyway, the latest incident involving this room occured last Friday, Feb. 17th at around lunch time. A HUGE tree that was probably 150 years old broke apart and landed right on top of Wilder hall, hitting the EXACT spot where the room is. It was the ONLY room damaged. The tree apparently had rotted through and broken, so they just cut the rest down. Another portion of a tree also crushed a porch flat on the side of the building. A girl was exiting the building at the time, but amazingly she wasn't seriously injured. Many people ore saying that because the window of 403 was broken, the spirit of the girl is free. I don't know if I believe this stuff, but if the school boards up a room, something's up. Apparently, the room is old and worn, hadn't been refinished since it was closed, and there is lots of exposed piping. it is also the only door in the building with one of those old-fashoned glass doorknobs."



Here are two historic views of Wilder Hall

<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/5722063-822.jpg" border="0" /> <img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/5722064-b86.jpeg" border="0" />

The "haunted room" is in the front of the building under the pointed gable at the upper left in these pictures.


Here are several pictures of the 2006 tree damage. (Sorry they're so tiny! They're tiny in the article where I found the images).

<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/5722065-203.jpg" border="0" />
This is a detail of the "haunted room's" window and gable after the damage. Note that the window is indeed open as the blog writer describes.


<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/5722066-487.jpg" border="0" /> <img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/5722067-9d6.jpg" border="0" /> <img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/5722387-f8a.jpg" border="0" />

[David In Indy]

Thanks Marge and Amanda for your contributions to this thread. I love reading about real haunted houses.

Amanda, that building (Wilder Hall) looks amazing! What a gorgeous building! And that room sounds really creepy and scary! That's weird how there is no room #403 on the map/diagram, isn't it? I wonder why they didn't put it on there? It almost seems as if they are trying to hide something, or deny the room even exists. And it is also very strange how the tree fell and only affected that one room... well that one room and the porch. Thank goodness the lady down below wasn't seriously hurt. Thanks so much for posting this very intersting information.

I've heard about Eastern State Penitentiary too. Sci-Fi channel's TAPS (Ghost Hunters) went there and did a couple of investigations. They were very impressed. Great Britain's Most Haunted paranormal team also went there and did a live investigation too (I think it was a two day investigation, but I"m not certain of that) and they were also very impressed. TAPS caught a very strange figure on their FLIR heat sensor and infra-red cameras. It was some sort of "creature" and it was padding up and down one of the corridors. They couldn't see it with their eyes, but it showed up on the heat sensor as clear as a bell. It was very spooky looking.

[Brown Eyes]

Thanks Marge and Amanda for your contributions to this thread. I love reading about real haunted houses.

Amanda, that building (Wilder Hall) looks amazing! What a gorgeous building! And that room sounds really creepy and scary! That's weird how there is no room #403 on the map/diagram, isn't it? I wonder why they didn't put it on there? It almost seems as if they are trying to hide something, or deny the room even exists. And it is also very strange how the tree fell and only affected that one room... well that one room and the porch. Thank goodness the lady down below wasn't seriously hurt. Thanks so much for posting this very intersting information.

I think they removed the room number 403 when they decided to stop using the room for a dorm room.  I don't really know what that blogger means by "official layouts" or how old the floor plans are that she might have been looking at it.  But, her description of the story is more or less exactly how I remember it.  LOL, I don't know if they can hide that the room exists... the "haunted dorm" stories about Wilder are some of the first things you learn about the various dorm options when you enter as a first year.  I remember knowing about it at least by the time orientation started my first year (or maybe even before I entered).  People also tell the Wilder ghost story a lot at Halloween events (among some of the other campus and local ghost stories).


I also should add that the recent story about the tree damaging the room blows my mind.  Of all the rooms on campus to be damaged in such a way... it's truly remarkable that it would be that one! 


Thanks for posting all those stories about buildings in Indiana.  Real life ghost stories are by far the scariest!! 

[David In Indy]

I'll be going over to my Dad's house tomorrow. I'll try to remember to take a picture of that tunnel entrance built in the hillside which used to lead to the House of blue Lights. The house is gone, but the tunnel entrance is still there. That tunnel is very creepy looking too!

[David In Indy]

As promised, here is a picture of that tunnel I was telling you all about. I took these about an hour ago. It was dark out there, but I got close enough for the camera's flash to illuminate the tunnel.

This is the last remaining structure from the House of Blue Lights. It used to connect to the basement of the house which was located about a quarter of a mile away from this entrance. The tunnel was bricked up years ago.

it's quite spooky looking, especially at night. I often wonder if there are any ghosts lingering in that tunnel just behind the brick wall.

[ednbarby]

My childhood house always gave me the creeps.  And not just because lots of creepy things went on in there (which is absolutely true), but because it had a creepy unfinished basement and attic.

The really weird thing about the attic was that it went between my brothers' any my "Jack and Jill" bedrooms on the second floor.  You could get into it from a door in each bedroom.  But that was not all - you could also get into it by pulling a built-in drawer out of another wall in each room, and at the back of it was a crawl space in which you could tunnel under part of the bedroom and back up into the attic.  Why in the world did someone design it that way?  Did he think people living there would have reason to hide?  It was built in the 50s.  Maybe something to do with the Cold War, or the Holocaust, or who knows what...

I was scared to death of going in the attic.  There wasn't much in there, but it was just very dark and dank and creepy.  So was the basement.  The washer and dryer were down there, and as I got to be six or seven, I started having to do my own laundry or else it wouldn't get done.  I hated going down there with a passion.  The steps were wooden (and creaked), the floor was bare concrete, and the walls were cinder blocks.  I swear, they probably filmed "The Silence of the Lambs" in that basement.  All they had to do was add a well.

I still dream about that house regularly.  Sometimes they're disturbing dreams.  Sometimes the house is just the backdrop for a fairly mild, non-meaningful dream.

The more I think about it, the more I understand why I liked going to school so much.   

[Lynne]

"Aside from the Headless Gownsman, there is a more disturbing tale on campus. This involves Tuckaway Hall, and a room on the third floor. Campus legend tells that three students who have lived in this room have committed suicide. Now their ghosts haunt Tuckaway Hall, causing mayhem for residents today. Almost anyone who knows the tale will reject any assignment to this room, but there is the occasional student who does not know the history of this room. If you ever attend the University of the South, and are assigned to a room on the third floor of Tuckaway Hall, be careful. You might meet the same fate as three other former residents."

http://www.johnnorrisbrown.com/paranormal-tn/sewanee/index.htm

***shiver***

[David In Indy]

Eww. That attic sounds very creepy Barb. I can understand why you would be afraid of it.

Like you I was also very afraid of our basement. The first house I lived in (until I was 11) was a one floor ranch style house (brick) with a full basement. Like your house, it was also built in the 1950s. The basement was as big as the upstairs part of the house. It was perfect for when tornadoes came, and we had a family room type area down there, a bar, game room, utility room where the washer and dryer were located, a playroom and also a small office area for Dad. For some reason I didn't like being down there alone. Mom and Dad often made me go down there at night to turn the lights off. I hated that. I'd start at the back of the basement and start turning off lights as I made my way back to the stairs. I was always certain I would see a ghost down there, or maybe even a walking skeleton! Sometimes my sister would stand at the top of the stairs and just a soon as I got the final light turned off, she'd switch off the lights by the stairs and slam the door closed and lock it. I remember several times sitting at the top of the stairs literally crying and banging on the door for someone would let me out.

THEN! We had this mean babysitter who used to tell me that a monster called the "suds" lived in our basement. She said the suds looked like soap suds, but they were shaped like a giant man. She said they would come up through the heat vents in my bedroom floor and snatch me if I was bad. Then they would drag me back down to the basement and tie me up and torture me. I'm sure that was probably part of my fear of the basement too, but I remember being most afraid of any ghosts.

[ednbarby]

Oh, geez.  Your babysitter sounds like a real nutcase.  Sorry you were subjected to such a horrible story.

My brothers used to lock me in the basement or attic just to freak me out, too.  Damn older siblings.  Sometimes being 'the baby' wasn't such a great thing.

[David In Indy]

"Aside from the Headless Gownsman, there is a more disturbing tale on campus. This involves Tuckaway Hall, and a room on the third floor. Campus legend tells that three students who have lived in this room have committed suicide. Now their ghosts haunt Tuckaway Hall, causing mayhem for residents today. Almost anyone who knows the tale will reject any assignment to this room, but there is the occasional student who does not know the history of this room. If you ever attend the University of the South, and are assigned to a room on the third floor of Tuckaway Hall, be careful. You might meet the same fate as three other former residents."

http://www.johnnorrisbrown.com/paranormal-tn/sewanee/index.htm

***shiver***

Lynne, that story is creepy!! I wonder if anyone there recently has seen the gownsman? I think I would probably lose my sanity permanently if I ever saw a spirit walk past me with his head cut off!

That really does look like a beautiful campus, and it's very historic too!

[Lynne]

Lynne, that story is creepy!! I wonder if anyone there recently has seen the gownsman? I think I would probably lose my sanity permanently if I ever saw a spirit walk past me with his head cut off!

That really does look like a beautiful campus, and it's very historic too!

 

Yep...creepy is right.  Some of these stories are featured in Ghost Stories of the American South:  http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Stories-American-South-McNeil/dp/061398952X.

It is truly a beautiful campus.  I never saw the Headless Gownsman myself, but I know others who say they did.  My history professor sophomore year (Dr. Cushman) had his office on the fourth floor of Walsh-Ellett hall - had to climb a spiral staircase up almost into the bell tower.  Our papers were always due at midnight, so there were frequent trips up there to provide opportunity for contact!

[Jeff Wrangler]

The really weird thing about the attic was that it went between my brothers' any my "Jack and Jill" bedrooms on the second floor.  You could get into it from a door in each bedroom.

My maternal grandparent's house had a feature like that. The house was built in the 1870s, and there was a doorway in two of the bedrooms that led to the stairs to the attic. What really creeped me out was that in the room where I always had to sleep when we stayed over, the attic door was blocked by a large a chest of drawers, almost like it was barricading the door closed. I always more than half suspected that the chest actually was placed where it was to keep something trapped in the attic. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

THEN! We had this mean babysitter who used to tell me that a monster called the "suds" lived in our basement. She said the suds looked like soap suds, but they were shaped like a giant man. She said they would come up through the heat vents in my bedroom floor and snatch me if I was bad. Then they would drag me back down to the basement and tie me up and torture me. I'm sure that was probably part of my fear of the basement too, but I remember being most afraid of any ghosts.

   Aw, David, that's awful!