Indiana ghostlore
Indiana, a US State in the Midwest, is the location of numerous ghost sightings, and there are many locations that are considered to be haunted by locals. Some of the hauntings are celebrated in festivals, and most have some truth behind them.
Angola theatre
The town of Angola, Indiana has several locations where residents have claimed to have sighted ghosts. An old theatre sits on the town circle, and some residents claim that at midnight a man with a long red beard appears on the roof of the building pacing back and forth and cries aloud "Marie please come back to me, please." Movie goers also say that sometimes during movies you can hear a man sobbing in the back of the theatre, but when you look, no one is there.
Haunted bridge
In the town of Avon, Indiana there is a bridge that is thought to be haunted. The railroad bridge was constructed across the White Lick Creek in the 1850s by immigrant Irish workers. Cement was mixed in large narrow vats and hardened into the form of a pylon. One afternoon while working on the bridge, a platform collapsed and a worker fell into the cement vat. As he slowly sank down into the vat, his fellow workers could not reach him in time and they had no way to save him. They could hear him knocking from the inside of the vat. The company decided to continue building rather than tear down the pylon to extract his body.[1]
While the men finished the work on the bridge, and for years afterward, many claimed to hear knocks and screams from inside the pylon. Decades later, when the bridge was torn down, there were a number of sightings of a man wandering along the tracks trying to flag down trains.[1]
Dianne of the Dunes
One of the most well known, and most celebrated ghost legends in Indiana is that of Diana of the Dunes.[2] Near Chesterton, Indiana, in the Indiana Dunes, there is a legend that fisherman around Lake Michigan would occasionally sight a naked woman swimming in the lake. The legend dates back to at least1915, and goes on to say that a beautiful woman was living as a hermit near the lake. Because no one knew her name they began to refer to her as Dianne, because of her beauty. In actuality, she was Alice Marble Gray, the daughter of a wealthy Chicago family, who had come to live on the dunes after she began to lose her eyesight. She had grown up near the dunes, and sought to enjoy the remainder of her life there. In 1920 a man named Paul Wilson moved into the cabin with her. He was an unemployed boat maker, and a suspected murderer. The two eventually married, but he began to treat her badly, and was abusive. She died shortly after the birth of their second child from being poisoned.[3][2]
The local legend claims that Alice's ghost still returns to the beach at the dunes to relive her happier days. For decades there have been sightings of a naked ghostly looking woman running along the beach and disappearing into the lake. The legend is commonly referred to as Diana of the Dunes. The story is commemorated in an annual Diana of the Dunes Festival and Pagent.[3][2]
Culbertson Mansion
In New Albany, Indiana there is a large mansion from the town's boom days as a ship building center. The Culbertson Mansion is open to public tours, and visitors and the curators have claimed to have seen a ghostly figure in the building. They believe her to be the ghost of the owner's first wife who returned to protect her children from her husband's second wife.[4] The mansion's carriage barn is turned into a haunted house during Halloween, and many tour the building then in hopes of sighting the ghost.[5]
Nearby the mansion is the carriage house. In the 1933 it was sold to a Dr. Harold Webb who moved in with his family. He setup a practice in the home and began to gain a number of patients. Over time, several patients went missing and his family began to notice strange noises and smells coming from the basement. In 1934, after a patient found the home locked at the time of their appointment and called the police, an investigation took place. Upon entering the home, the police found the entire family dead, each by torturous means of death. After further searching the home, the basement was found to have secret passage ways where the the doctor had kept the missing patients and preformed gruesome experiments on them. After the cleanup, the building was locked up, but finally sold to the American Legion who restored the building. When it was finally reopened in the, visitors noted unusual electrical problem, missing items, and other unexplained occurrences. The carriage house now serves as a haunted house during Halloween and the proceeds benefit the restoration and maintenance of the mansion of the estate.[4]
Whitcomb's library
Former Indiana Governor James Whitcomb donated his vast library to Ashubry University—now DePauw University—in his will after his death in 1852. Whitcomb was an avid reader had amassed a large collection of books in his lifetime, and kept most every book he had ever read.[6] During the years his library was in public use there were numerous sighting of Whitcomb's ghost trying to protect his books. In one notable incident, a boy had supposedly borrowed The Poems of Ossian from the library. That night, Whitcomb's ghost appeared in his room wailing, "'Ossian! Who stole the Ossian". The next day the boy immediately returned the book to the library and told about the experience. The collection of now rare books is now protected, but there are still occasional sightings of Whitcomb's ghost.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b Baker, p. 66
- ^ a b c Baker, p. 15
- ^ a b "Alice Mabel Gray". United States Naval Observatory. Aug. 26, 1997. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Historian Steve Lockea. "The Culbertson Mansion History". Retrieved 2008-10-22.
- ^ Historian Steve Lockea. "The Haunted Culbertson Mansion". Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ Woollen, p. 90
- ^ "Library Legend". Rushville Republican. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
Sources
- Baker, Ronald (1984). Hoosier Folk Legends. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253203341.
- Woollen, William Wesley (1975). Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana. Ayer Publishing. ISBN 0405068964.