HGB Ep. 425 - Hannah House

Moment in Oddity - Oldest Drawing of a Ghost in Babylon (Suggested by: John Michaels)

In one of the vaults at the British Museum, one can find the oldest drawing of a ghost. The curator of the Middle Eastern department at the museum and a world authority on cuneiform, Dr. Irving Finkel, said that the artifact had been overlooked until now. Part of the problem is that it has never been on display and the other reason is that it needed to be viewed in the proper lighting. Under the right lighting, a faint outline of a figure appears on the Babylonian cuneiform tablet. Dr. Finkel thinks the tablet has been misinterpreted since being acquired by the museum in the 19th century. He describes the carving as showing "a male ghost and he’s miserable. You can imagine a tall, thin, bearded ghost hanging about the house did get on people’s nerves. The final analysis was that what this ghost needed was a lover. You can’t help but imagine what happened before. ‘Oh God, Uncle Henry’s back.’ Maybe Uncle Henry’s lost three wives. Something that everybody knew was that the way to get rid of the old bugger was to marry him off. It’s not fanciful to read this into it. It’s a kind of explicit message. There’s very high-quality writing there and immaculate draughtsmanship. That somebody thinks they can get rid of a ghost by giving them a bedfellow is quite comic." The tablet was created about 3,500 years ago and is believed to have been part of a library of magic. The palm-sized tablet also contains directions on the back for exorcising an unwanted ghost and that, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - OK Enters National Vernacular

In the month of March, on the 23rd, in 1839, OK enters the national vernacular. Apparently, the young people of the late 1830s liked to misspell words on purpose and then abbreviate them, which doesn't seem much different than today. For example, "no use" would be spelled "know yuse" and then abbreviated to KY. "No go" was similar being spelled "know go" and abbreviated to KG. "All correct" became "oll korrect" and this was abbreviated to OK. On that day in March, OK made it into the limelight when it was printed in the Boston Morning Post as part of a joke. It gained even more popularity when it became part of Martin Van Buren's re-election campaign. People called him "Old Kinderhook" because that was the name of his hometown in New York. He had a group of thugs helping to convince people to re-elect him and the group was called the OK Club for both Van Buren's nickname and the now popular term OK. American linguist Allen Walker Read was the man to figure out where OK originated and now you know!

Hannah House (Suggested by Ed Jones and Sarah Silver) 

The Hannah House in Indianapolis, Indiana was the family home of Alexander Hannah. This home was meant to be a place of refuge for runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad. Tragedy struck when a lantern that a group of the formerly enslaved people were using tipped over. A fire erupted and they were trapped in their hiding place and none survived. Their bodies were more than likely buried on the property. This event has led to hauntings in what is now a museum. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Hannah House.

The Hannah House is located in Indianapolis, Indiana at 3801 Madison Avenue in Marion County. The county had originally been home to the Lenape tribe. The county was organized in 1822 and named in honor of American Revolutionary General Francis Marion. Alexander Ralston had assisted in laying out Washington, D.C. and he assisted laying out Indianapolis, which is why it has a circular common in the center of town that is known today as Monument Circle. Indianapolis became a major stopping point in the 1830s and the capital of Indiana. The city eventually became a major manufacturer of automobiles and this connection to vehicles continues today with the Brickyard 400 and Indy 500.

Alexander Hannah was the man who had the Hannah House built. He was born in the southern part of Indiana in Wayne County in 1821. He learned the trade of harness making, but when the California Gold Rush started, he decided to find his fortune. Hannah did manage to find some gold and bought a ranch while he was in California. When the rush died down, he chose to return to Indiana and decided to live in Indianapolis where he worked for the Indiana Central Railroad. His father Samuel was president of the company and owned hundreds of acres in the area. Hannah eventually bought 240 acres for himself, just south of Indianapolis. He decided to build his mansion on that land in 1858.

The Hannah House was built in the Italianate architectural design with elements of Greek Revival. The exterior was constructed from red brick. The house was two-and-a-half stories tall with a smaller two-story wing connected to the main block house. The roof was a low hip style with wide eaves and had four chimneys. The central doorway is pretty plain with a rectangular transom, so this element is clearly Greek Revival. The windows were tall and thin and had shutters. The second floor had taller windows that opened onto an uncovered balcony that no longer exists. The original porch no longer exists either, but there had been porches on the north and south facades.

The interior featured 24 rooms with a wide central hall floored with poplar, laid in 8-inch boards, at the entrance of the house. There were two formal rooms on either side of the hallway with fireplaces. One was a double parlor and the other was a sitting room and dining room. The connected wing had the kitchen and a pantry. The kitchen had its own fireplace, which is the largest in the house. The kitchen also has a cool secret passage that is concealed in a dining room cupboard that passes from the pantry to the dining room. The doors and windows were decorated with acanthus forms, which are like ornamental foliage. There was a main staircase that led up to the second floor with four bedrooms and a sitting room. Three of the bedrooms had fireplaces.

Hannah came up with another line of revenue after buying his land. The first toll road to be built in Marion County crossed his land. This was the Indianapolis-Southport Toll Road that stretched from Indianapolis to Madison. That street still reflects this history in its name, Hannah Avenue. Alexander collected tolls from people who used this section of road. He also got into farming and raising livestock. The property grew hay, wheat, corn and oats. Cattle sheep and pigs were raised on the land too. Hannah also served the Indianapolis Southside as postmaster, sheriff, Circuit Court Clerk and a member of the Indiana General Assembly. 

Alexander married late in life. He was fifty-one when he married Elizabeth Jackson in 1872. She had been born in 1835 and was 37 years old. The couple had wanted children. There are claims that Elizabeth did become pregnant, but that she either miscarried or the baby was stillborn. There are no records for either of these, but there is a small unmarked gravestone at the family burial, which seems to indicate an infant burial. The couple added onto the property with a service building that included a summer kitchen, smoke house, wash house, milk cooling room and servant's quarters. The couple were very active in civil events, especially since Alexander had his fingers in many political arenas. They loved to entertain and often opened up the parlors to celebrate. 

But the couple had a secret that would have brought ruin to their social lives. They were staunch abolitionists and their property was located in such a place that it worked well for the Underground Railroad. There were acres and acres of wooded area and not many people living in close proximity. Our research claimed that Alexander was a conductor, but that term doesn't seem to be accurate. Conductors were people like Harriet Tubman who actually guided people personally along the tracks, which was the term for the routes. Station Masters hid escaped slaves in their homes, which were referred to as stations, and that is what the Hannahs did. They hid these enslaved people in their cellar, which had lots of room.

The cellar obviously would have been chilly and dark and oil lamps would have been supplied to the fugitives. A devastating story connected to the mansion claims that one of these lamps got knocked over and the cellar was quickly set ablaze. The fugitives were unable to get out as the room filled with smoke and flames. They were all killed. The Hannahs clearly would have been very upset about this development. They would have wanted to give these people a Christian burial, but doing anything public would reveal their secret and they both could have been jailed. They also needed this station along the railroad. The house servants decided to bury the bodies in the floor of the cellar. We have no proof of this story, but it certainly was something that would be kept tight-lipped within the house and family. And a partially-collapsed tunnel leading towards the Hannah property seems to lend credence to the home being a station. 

Elizabeth died in 1888 at the age of 53. Alexander did not remarry and he died in 1895 at the age of 73 and joined Elizabeth at Crown Hill Cemetery. His monument is a large obelisk. The house sat abandoned for four years and then a German immigrant named Roman Oehler bought the house and 21 acres in 1899. He owned a jewelry business in Indianapolis. He built some outbuildings for the property and put a new porch on the mansion. The house stayed in the family with his daughter, Romena Oehler Elder, being the last. She was in the house until 1962, but the house stayed in the family for another six years, although it was vacant. From 1968 to 1978, a couple by the name of O'Brien, lived in part of the house and ran an antique shop out of the rest of it. The house was placed on the Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 1980, the house was used to host a haunted house-themed fundraiser, which seems fitting since the house is reputed to be haunted. It was a museum for a while and then a private home again and now today, it is a museum again that offers tours and hosts weddings.

Alexander and his wife Elizabeth have been seen in the house and there are even claims that there is a foul smell that is connected to the stillborn baby. We're not sure why that would be the case since there is a grave for the baby, so it wasn't holed up in the house somewhere. And with the story of burying the fire victims in the cellar, we would think that any smell of decay would be linked to that event. The house even has the nickname "The House That Reeks of Death." Elizabeth wears a variety of clothing. Sometimes she is seen wearing a black dress and other times a peach dress. She likes to peek out of an upstairs window. Alexander once told a guest to go back downstairs and mind their own business.

There are claims of cold spots, disembodied voices, flying utensils, electrical equipment going haywire, pictures flying off walls, doors opening and closing on their own and strange noises. The staircase leading to the second floor has carpet, but that doesn't stop people from hearing the sound of footsteps of varying loudness moving up and down the stairs. Rustling clothing is also heard on the stairs. The house has been investigated by many paranormal investigators and the mansion embraces this by offering ghost hunts. It's very reasonable running $500 for a group up to ten people. News crews have come through as have psychics. They have all reported unexplained occurrences in the house. The ghosts of the formerly enslaved people have been seen as well. Their wailing and moaning has been heard in the cellar and whispers have also been heard. Bad smells aren't the only phantom scents. The scent of roses and lavender have also been detected, as has the scent of burning wood.

A woman named Agatha claimed to see a spirit looking out of a window when she drove by one day. A woman named Tiara attended a ghost hunt and they captured a recording of a child saying, "Save me, save me!" up in the attic. This is said to be the ghost of a boy named Tommy. Richard said, "I went on a tour of this house many years ago in the summer, hot as the devil. I was with my wife and daughter and was getting ready to descend the steps from the attic! I decided to venture around while they went down the steps. It is then the temperature in that steaming hot attic turned into a refrigerator, and the most horrible smell I ever encountered filled the attic. I never moved so fast in my life getting out of that house. My wife and daughter said I looked like all the blood left my face, they said I was white as a ghost. Needless to say I will never venture back into the Hanna House, I won't even look in that direction when I drive by it! God is my witness that house is definitely haunted, they say a ghost can't hurt you but a ghost can definitely make you hurt yourself!"

Cali said, "We went one year when it was a haunted house. It was like 5 of us and we started in what I think was the attic and worked our way down. At one point we heard some one say Kisha, Kisha. We were spooked because we're like who is saying my friends name we never told anyone her name. I was pretty much running at this point. Trying to get the hell out of there. I didn't care who I ran over. I have never been to another haunted house since that day."

A review in 2019 said, "I attended a tour and haunted house at this location years ago. While in one of the upstairs rooms on the tour, I was touched by what felt like a child running past and bumping into me. In the basement I was grabbed on the forearm by an unseen hand. There is definite activity here."

A review in April 2020 of the house claimed, "I visited the Hannah House with my family back in the late 60s when I was maybe 6 years old. It must have been an open-house because there were many people there touring the house. It was a sunny day as I recall. Two things I remember. I have a memory of a rocking chair on the porch, rocking it's self. The second is that I was in a line of people going down the stairs into the basement and I remember becoming hysterical with fright, even though I was surrounded by adults. I had to be taken out of line and calmed down. I never set foot in that house again until about 5 years ago when the H.House hosted the Indiana Paranormal Meet and Greet. I toured the house and finally made it into that scary basement, but had no experiences. I did find out, that the rocking chair is one of the reported phenomena at this house, so that was a "real" memory. I will say that as a historical home, it is worth taking a tour."

Daywalkers Paranormal Investigations investigated the mansion in June of 2012. They captured several EVP. There was a female saying "You're welcome" and a male voice that said "want help." Diane also thought one sounded like a child saying "come on." And there was one that sounded like "I don't like her." One group was at the house when they heard a crashing in the cellar. There were old canning jars that stood along a wall down there and they thought that is sounded like those had gone crashing, but when they got to the cellar, they found nothing amiss. 

A TV crew came through the haunted house hosted by the Jaycees in 1981. The camera man commented that it would be creepy if the chandelier started swinging in the room he was filming and the chandelier suddenly started swinging in a six-inch arc. They could find no reason for the light to be doing that. Later, they caught a picture falling off the wall. The nail was still in the wall and pointing upward. The string on the back of the picture was intact. The only way for the picture to fall would be if something lifted it up off the nail.

In the 1970s, an older couple lived in the house and sold antiques out of it. A man named Dan went shopping there once and shared the following experience, "The old couple who lived there sold 'Antiques'- more like accumulated house stuff. They let me roam all over the house looking for used furniture and usable things. Went up to the attic- the roof had caved in and though there were piles of furniture- all weather ruined. There was an old woman up there who asked what I was doing there. 'Looking for a bookcase,' I said. 'Well it ain't here,' she said. I went downstairs, having found one in a bedroom, and commented about other customer in the attic. The Mrs. laughed and explained thay she
was not a customer and thought that  still owned the house and did not like anyone upstairs. She was a house spirit and harmless. The old man was in an antique wooden wheelchair and they never went upstairs anyway. The Mrs. saw her sometimes and asked that I not go to the attic as the floor may not be safe from the weather coming in. Definitely a house ghost who had loved her life there and had not moved on. The old couple were used to the spirits there."

There definitely was a supervisor spirit while the O'Briens lived in the house. They hired a painter and he eventually left the job, but who could blame him once you hear what he went through. Doors would swing open as he walked by and pictures would slide on the wall when he passed as well. He heard an audible voice say, "You will not paint my house!" and "Do a good job painting my house!" The final straw for him was when a spoon flew across the room at him. Mrs. O’Brien’s son volunteered to finish the paint job. From his first night working, he could feel that someone was watching him and that unnerving feeling continued until he finished. Something else weird happened while he worked. On the second night, he brought his family with him, which included his wife and two daughters. Three of them worked on painting while the littlest girl played on the stairs. They heard her talking to someone and so Mrs. O'Brien's son went out to see who she was talking to. He saw no one, but she claimed to be able to see an elderly man. They all watched as she continued to carry on a conversation until she said the man went back up the stairs.

Mrs. O’Brien once looked up at the second floor and saw a man standing there in a black suit and she watched as he walked across the upstairs hallway. She thought maybe he was a customer, so she went up to help him, but when she got up there, she could find him nowhere. Mr. O’Brien saw something similar. He saw a transparent man, dressed in a period black suit standing at the top of the stairs on the second floor. He faded away slowly. 

The Hannah House sounds like an interesting place to investigate. Is it haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 400 - The Whispers Estate

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Moment in Oddity - Pharaoh Covers Servants in Honey to Attract Flies (Suggested by: Scott Booker)

Pepi II Neferkare was pharaoh over Egypt in the Sixth Dynasty. He came to the throne at the age of six, so his mother Ankhesenmeryre II served as regent. According to some historians, Pepi II was the longest serving pharaoh of all, holding his position for 90 years. Others say that was a misreading of numbers. Whatever the case, he served a long time with his reign serving as the decline of the Old Kingdom. Pharaohs would lose their dominant central power at this time. One reason Pharaohs had been able to maintain so much authority was because a special ceremony was held for each in which they were imbued with the spirit of Osiris and thus the people considered the pharaoh to be a god. Pepi II's name was Neferkare meaning "Beautiful is the Ka of Re," which literally means beautiful is the soul of the sun god. With a name like that and believing you were a god, it's not surprising that you would do some crazy things. Pepi II hated flies, so he was never without several naked servants around him, covered in honey so that they would attract the flies away from him. And that, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Squeaky Fromme Tries to Assassinate President Ford

In the month of September, on the 5th, in 1975, President Gerald Ford survives an assassination attempt. President Ford was walking near the California state capitol when he was approached by a little red-haired woman who was carrying a .45 caliber handgun. As she raised the gun, Secret Service agents tackled her and wrestled the gun from her hands. This woman was Lynette Fromme, but most people know her by her nickname Squeaky. Yep, THAT Squeaky Fromme who hung out with Charlie Manson and his family. She was so desperate to receive his approval that she hatched the assassination plot and tried to carry it out. Fromme was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison. She didn't serve for life. She was released in 2009. As for President Ford, he was unflappable and continued on to the capitol where he spoke before the California legislature. Ironically, the subject of his speech was crime.

The Whispers Estate (Suggested by: Paranormal Crew from the 502)

The Whispers Estate is located in Mitchell, Indiana and is thought to have been built in 1894 by Dr. George White and his wife Sarah. The estate was then bought by Dr. John Gibbons and his wife Jessie. Dr. Gibbons had his office in the house and ran that practice for twenty-six years. Many adults and children are thought to have died in the house including the doctor's wife Jessie. The house has so much activity, it is thought to be one of the most haunted locations in America and is open for ghost hunting. It's name comes from the fact that so many disembodied voices are heard whispering there. We are joined on this episode by members of the Paranormal Crew from the 502 - Shannon, Eva, Stacy and Dan - to share their experiences investigating the house.

So let's meet the 502 Crew. They introduce themselves and share about some haunting experiences they had that got them started on this path and how they go about investigating locations. (502 Intro)

We asked them about their favorite piece of equipment and in telling us the answer, we hear about the Gates of Hell Cemetery. (502 Equip)

We asked about places they have investigated. It's hard to understand some of this, but the first place mentioned is Bardstown, Kentucky and the Old Talbott Tavern there. (502 Places) We need to do an episode on Bardstown!

Then we started unwrapping the Whispers Estate. (502 Whispers 1) So I wanted to stop there because that is fascinating to me that Dan was drawn to a place that was special to this child spirit that is believed to be autistic, Gary, and Dan has a child who is autistic. There something happening here on a different level. And how did that spirit know there was this kinship? It's like Cedric who joined us a couple episodes ago, revealing that a spirit comforted him on the Gettysburg Battlefield when he was having a PTSD moment. (502 Int)

Jarret Marshall had owned the house in 2007 and he was interviewed by WTHR News about the hauntings. Marshall thinks that his renovating of the house into a bed and breakfast stirred things up. He said, "The house really is two houses. In the daytime it's just a beautiful house and in the nighttime, it wakes up kind-of. I heard footsteps on the stairs and we've actually heard her [Rachel] sing, 'Ring Around the Rosey' in the middle of the night. There was a couple in here that woke up in the middle of the night and there was something standing by their bed. Things standing in the doorways, doors open and close, things tap on the walls, move the bed. We've had two people that actually left in the middle of the night because it was just too much for them. I think she's definitely still here. You actually hear a child singing. We all were sitting downstairs one night and we heard 'mommy'." 

There is a video up on the Whispers Estate website that features some interesting evidence caught using the phone app Spiritus. They caught some interesting EVP and words with the app. Seemed to be talking to a male who was trapped by something evil. https://whispersestate.godaddysites.com/guest-evidence The investigators names were Eric and Laura. Eric handed the phone to Laura and she asked if the spirit could tell them his name. It said "I can." Eric asked if the spirit knew Laura's name and it said "Duncan," which is apparently her last name. That would have creeped us out a bit because she hadn't said her full name. Supposedly the last name of the man who died in the bathtub was Henderson and that name came across the app. They turned off the light and it said "The lights stopped working."

These sound like some folks we would enjoy doing a ghost hunt with and the Whispers Estate sounds like an interesting place, especially that Oculus Room. Is the Whispers Estate haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 337 - French Lick and West Baden Springs Resorts

Moment in Oddity - Fake Hero Dog
Suggested by: Darren Koch

Dogs are great aren't they? They are loyal companions and smart too! Maybe too smart sometimes. Back in the early 1900s in Paris, there was a really clever Newfoundland. These are really big dogs, so it's not hard to believe that a Newfoundland could pluck a child from a river to save him or her from drowning. And that's just what happened on a particular day in 1908. This dog heard the cries of a child who had fallen into the Seine and was drowning. He jumped a hedge and plunged into the water and pulled the child to the shore. The child's grateful parents rewarded the dog with a nice juicy beefsteak. Two days after this amazing rescue, another child had fallen into the river and was drowning. The Newfoundland was off to the rescue once again and was rewarded with another beefsteak. A few days later, another child had fallen into the river and thankfully, the brave dog conducted another rescue. The people of the town were concerned at this point. This was not normal to have so many children falling into the river this close together. They assumed that a criminal was pushing the children, so they set up a sting to catch the culprit and they were shocked when they caught him. It was the dog! He figured out after the first rescue that a drowning child pulled from the river equaled a beefsteak. When he saw a child near the river, he would push the child in and then promptly rescue him or her. A hero dog that turns out to be a fake because he is causing the emergency, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - American Airlines Flight 191 Crashes

In the month of May, on the 25th, in 1979, the worst domestic air crash in U.S. history occurred. This was American Airlines Flight 191 that had taken off from Chicago-O’Hare International airport heading for its destination in Los Angeles. The plane was a DC-10 with 271 souls aboard. Flight 191 took off in its usual way and was banking into its takeoff rotation when the left engine separated from the left wing. This separation sliced into hydraulic fluid lines and as the engine flew over the top of the wing and back down to the runway, it damaged the left wing. This caused the plane to be unbalanced and it inverted with the wings past the vertical position and the nose dipped below the horizon. The plane crashed down into a field about a half-mile from the runway. This killed on 271 people on board the plane and also two people in a nearby trailer park. An investigation revealed that the engine had undergone some recent maintenance and the use of forklift to hold the engine and then return it back to its position on the wing had caused damage that resulted in the engine breaking away during takeoff. It took 32 years before a permanent memorial was made and a sixth grade class from Decatur Classical School in Chicago raised the money in 2009. The memorial was dedicated in 2011 and features the names of the victims on interlocking bricks on a 2-foot high concave wall. Last year, 2019, a special remembrance ceremony was held because it was the 40th anniversary of this tragic crash.

French Lick and West Baden Springs Resorts (Suggested by: Danielle Daniels)

When it comes to gorgeous hotels, the French Lick Springs Resort is at the top of the list and is one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Indiana. Just a mile away is an even more impressive resort, the West Baden Springs Resort. This hotel was once considered one of the eighth wonders of the world. Both of these resorts shared mineral springs that were believed to have healing qualities and they both are considered two of the most haunted locations in Indiana. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the French Lick and West Baden Springs Resorts!

French Lick is a town in southern Indiana that became well known for its mineral springs. The town was originally called Salt Spring and it started as a French trading post. The name eventually changed to French Lick most likely because this had started out as a French property and there were mineral licks nearby. Apparently, back at that time, French Lick didn't have the same giggle-inducing effect. *Fun Fact: This is Larry Bird's home town* Just as was the case for Manitou Springs that was the topic of our last episode, a doctor came through the area and realized the money-making...ahem...health benefits of the mineral springs there. His name was Dr. William Bowles and in 1845, he built the French Lick Springs Hotel. This original hotel was made from wood and stood three stories. He attracted hundreds of people to come from all around to partake of the healing waters of the nearby springs. In 1897, everything almost went bust when the springs dried up in a drought. Then a fire burned down the Hotel Windsor on the property.

The French Lick Hotel that stands today was built by Mayor Tom Taggart. He bought the property with a small group of investors in 1901. He put yellow French Lick brick over the wood frame. There are several architectural styles represented here with the main hotel being the Free Classic subtype of Queen Anne Victorian. There are also 19th and 20th century Revival Italian Renaissance stylings and the golf shop is a Craftsman bungalow. Architect W. Homer Floyd designed the hotel. The foundation is limestone with brick, wood, asphalt, terra cotta and metal for the walls and roof. The main building is built in a T-shape with 471 rooms. One step inside the two-story lobby and you are mesmerized. The word "gorgeous" barely does it justice. There were originally Victorian influences, but these were exchanged for the Italian Renaissance and the floors are Italian marble mosaic. There are several structural pillars and pilasters that are painted either white or painted to look like marble. There are ceiling beams embellished with dentils and modillions. Much of this dates back to a renovation done in 1911.

There is so much to the property with the main hotel building and other outbuildings and gardens, that it took 95 pages for the National Park Service to describe everything. The hotel also has a golf course that was originally designed by Donald Ross. There was a wood framed casino and bowling alley that have been demolished. Taggart was able to bring more people to the resort after convincing the Monon Railroad to build a track that made daily runs from Chicago right to the hotel. There was also a trolley line added and Taggart is responsible for bringing electricity to French Lick. He also started his own mineral springs water bottling company he called Pluto Spring and began distributing the French Lick spring water nationally. They were shipping 450 car loads on the rail lines every year. One of the taglines of the Pluto water as "When Nature Won't...Pluto Will" describing its laxative affect. There are several springs in the area and each seems to have its own mix of elements reflected in its name. For example, the Lithia Spring contains lithium oxide. *Fun Fact: Chef Louis Perrin created the first tomato juice drink in 1917 when the resort ran out of oranges and couldn't serve orange juice.*

Diane has never golfed, but Kelly used to go with her dad many times. One of the things that French Lick became well-known for is golf. Taggart hired golf course architect Tom Bendelow to design the resort's first championship golf course. They named it Springs Valley Golf Links Course and it was completed in 1910. Seven years later, golf architect Donald Ross built the second course here and it was called French Lick Springs Golf Course. This is most commonly referred to as The Hill Course. In 1924, the PGA Championship was held at this course.

We like to talk about the Roaring Twenties, at least until Covid -19 hit, and the hotel had it's own roaring feel during that decade with guests like the Rockefellers, the Studebakers sports legends, the Vanderbilts, movie stars like Lana Turner and gangsters all staying at the hotel. Before there was a Las Vegas, illegal gambling was going on in the Springs area. Taggart didn't like gambling, but he enjoyed the benefits he received from it and he protected it. Taggart died in 1929 and his son Thomas D. Taggart, Jr. took over and kept things going. The French Lick Springs Hotel rose to prominence in the 1930s when Taggart Jr. became the Democratic National Chairman and in 1931, the hotel hosted the Democratic Governor’s Conference. It would be here that Franklin Delano Roosevelt would drum up support for the party’s presidential nomination and he was elected in 1932. Taggart Jr. also hosted President Truman and his wife at the hotel.

The French Lick Hotel was sold on Nov. 29, 1946 to a syndicate out of New York City. Not long after this, the police raided the hotel and shut down the illegal gambling. This was called the Derby Weekend Raid on illegal gambling. The derby part referred to the Kentucky Derby and guests arrived back to the hotel after the festivities to find the hotel chained and padlocked. The Sheraton Corporation bought French Lick in 1955 and they remodeled, so they could target convention business. The changes they made were ugly to say the least as they covered the beautiful mosaic floors with black and white linoleum square tiles and carpet. The ornate plaster cornices were covered up too. Sheraton sold the property in 1979 to the Cox Hotel Corporation of New York. And this would be the case for years with the hotel changing ownership over and over. There would be a time in the 1980s when villas were added as part of timeshare packages.

Thankfully, Luther James had the winning bid at an auction of French Lick in 1991. He launched a restoration shortly thereafter to return the hotel to its glory days and updated all the guest rooms. When he was nearly done, he sold it to the Boykin Lodging Group in 1997 and they finished the refurbishment. The next ownership would begin in 2005, but we'll wait to tell you about that because this same person bought the West Baden Springs Resort at the same time and we haven't told you about that hotel yet. This hotel was built in 1850 by Dr. John Lane and is about a mile away from the French Lick Resort. The West Baden was originally called the Mile Lick Inn and it served the same purpose of bringing people to come bathe in and drink the healing mineral water of the springs. The name was later changed to West Baden Springs after the famous mineral springs in Wiesbaden, Germany. Dr. Lane sold the property to Lee W. Sinclair in 1888. Sinclair made several additions including a couple of golf courses, ball field, a church, opera house and double-decker horse and bicycle track. On the inner part of the track, Sinclair added a baseball field and tennis courts.

The grand hotel that stands today with the world's largest free-span dome was not the original hotel. That burned to the ground in 1901, so Sinclair built this better one and modeled it after spas found in Europe with the help of architect Harrison Albright of West Virginia. Because of that spectacular dome, this has been called the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Incredibly, the hotel and dome were built in less than a year using techniques that were used to build suspension bridges. That dome wasn't the only big thing about the West Baden. The fireplace in the lobby could burn 14-foot logs inside and there was a 220-foot diameter atrium. *Fun Fact: That atrium was large enough to host the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus one year.* (1918 train fire in Hammond, Indiana.) The hotel opened for business in 1902. Major league baseball teams would train here and the Chicago Cubs did that on their two runs to winning the World Series in 1907 and 1908. And my, how long it took to get back to that. Perhaps they should've trained there all along.

Lee Sinclair died in 1916 and the business passed on to his daughter, Lillian, and her husband . The hotel was leased to the military as a hospital during World War I. Lillian and her husband did some renovations after this that cost more than they expected and in 1923 they sold the hotel to Ed Ballard. And while the French Lick Resort was maneuvered deftly by Taggart Jr. through the Great Depression, the same would not happen for the West Baden. When the Stock Market crashed in 1929, the hotel emptied out almost overnight. Ballard was draining money fast and wanted to unload the property, which is just what he did. He sold the grand hotel to the Jesuits, the Society for Jesus, for...$1. The turned the hotel into a seminary and removed many of the elegant embellishments, including the four Moorish towers. They called the seminary the West Baden College and it would stay that way until 1962 when the Jesuits abandoned the property and it sat empty until 1966 when a Michigan couple bought the property and donated it to the Northwood Institute, a private college. They operated until 1985 and sold to a real estate developer who shortly thereafter declared bankruptcy and this left the property in limbo for years with litigation.

Even though the West Baden Resort managed to get listed on the National Historic Landmark register, there was no one taking care of it and the elements hit it hard. Things became so unsafe that the public was banned from entering starting in 1989 and by 1991, a portion of the exterior wall had collapsed. There was a real danger of demolition, but Indiana Landmarks stepped in to save the property and they managed to stabilize it enough to attract buyers. Minnesota Investment Partners would be that next buyer in 1994 and they optioned it to Grand Casinos Inc. But it wouldn't be until 2005, that the French Lick and West Baden would come together under joint ownership and both be developed back into the gorgeous properties that they are today. Bill and Gayle Cook and their son Carl under their partnership Cook Group, Inc. bought both properties and they invested multi-millions of dollars to renovate. This endeavor had actually started earlier when Indiana Landmarks initially started the stabilization. The Cooks funded that with $2 million.

Gambling was legal at this point and the French Lick got the last casino license in the state of Indiana. The French Lick reopened in 2006 with the addition of the French Lick Casino. The Hill Course was also refurbished and reopened and in 2007, the restoration of the West Baden Resort was completed. In 2014, trolley service was brought back and runs between the two hotels. After $600 million, the hotels are back to their former glory and it would seem that several of the spirits from that glorious past are still hanging around the property. Both of these resorts are reputedly haunted.

Before we get into that though, you know we like to talk about legends and there is one connected to the West Baden that is a bit of a mystery. The story goes that the giant medallion that is at the center of the dome when you look up, is not just a pretty embellishment. This was actually a bandstand that could go up and down. At least, that is according to some older folks who claimed to have witnessed the medallion going up and down with the help of cables and that indeed, there would be a band that was playing on that bandstand. The Springs Valley Herald looked into the claims of this descending bandstand in 1981 and they concluded that there was no way that this medallion could function that way. So what's the truth to this mystery? Did the medallion at the center of the world's eighth wonder have the ability to go up and down? There is no photographic evidence. Carl Cook investigated the claims during renovations and he found a lot of steel that was very solidily attached. There are mirrors that go all around the inner part of the medallion that are part of a light show that dates back to 1917. Before renovations, those mirrors had turned black and so it's possible that people thought they were chairs for a bandstand. But what about the eyewitnesses. Diane listened to their stories and they seemed pretty certain of what they had seen. So I guess we'll just have to leave that mystery up to you guys to decide. One thing we know for sure though is that there are angels painted up above the medallion and they watch over the atrium even though nobody can actually see them. We think they are pretty creepy. We have several pictures of them up on Instagram.

Now for the ghosts! We'll start at the French Lick Hotel. Hellanormal Investigations did an investigation at the French Lick Resort about three months ago. They had an EMF detector like ours and a spirit box that did have a few words and phrases, but it's so hard to tell if this is legit or just words and songs coming over the radio. They also had something that looked similar to a REM pod that would light green for yes, red for no and pulse blue while it waited for EMF flares. Twice when they asked if Thomas Taggart was with them, it lit up red. While we're not sure we would say they captured evidence, their chance of interacting with Taggart is a possibility according to many witnesses. He loved this hotel and that seems to be something that holds spirits to a location. It also seems to either be love of a location or tragedy at a location.

Taggart seems to like hanging out at the service elevator. The scent of tobacco is smelled near the elevator, which is attributed to him, and Taggart runs the elevator sometimes. He'll stop it on floors that haven't been called and sometimes buttons will light up on their own. People claim to see a mist near the elevator too. Strangely, witnesses have claimed to see Taggart riding a horse in the ballroom or down hallways. The ballroom has the residual sound of parties heard. A former African-American bellhop appears as a full-bodied apparition near his former work station. When guests see him and then ask about him, they will point to him in old hotel photos. Employees claim that they get phone calls from the sixth floor with no one on the other end. It is this floor that is said to be the most haunted. There are cold spots here, shadow figures and disembodied laughter. A woman killed herself on her wedding night in a room on the sixth floor and in that room is a red stain that appears in the bathtub and the cleaning staff has a hard time removing it, only to have it reappear later. Room 521 has a spirit that scatters clothing around and turns on the shower.

Ed wrote on the Ghosts of America website, "My wife and I stayed one night on the 4th floor around four years ago in May 2014. We were unfamiliar with the hotel and its reputation. A friend gave us the trip as a getaway golf outing. That night I awoke in the middle of the night (around 1 or 2 am) and heard sobbing coming from the bathroom. I figured it was Elaine, but I couldn't guess why. After a few minutes of this she reached up to the toilet stool handle and began jiggling it. Metal on porcelain makes a very distinctive sound. The room was semi-dark, the bathroom darker, and the water-closet pitch dark. I got up and went to the bathroom to ask what was wrong. I looked around the corner to the water-closet and spoke ''Elaine?'' There was no response. The sobs and noise had stopped when I got out of bed. I went back to bed and slowly reached across the mattress and found that my wife was still sleeping on the bed. I didn't get back up. I decided that I am a Christian and that if something was to happen, I was confident that all would be okay. Then I went back to sleep until morning."

The West Baden Resort is full of haunts. The crash of the Stock Market caused some people to commit suicide at the resort. There are those who claim to see residual scenes of people jumping from the higher floors. Connected to this is some evidence that has been captured over the years. There is an EVP that was captured of a female voice saying, "He's gone, it's gone." Another EVP captured a man saying, "I've lost everything." There is a female apparition that is seen in the atrium wearing a period dress that is quite elaborate. The second and third floors are said to have the most activity. There are green orbs of light that have been seen and there is an apparition of a man wearing a bowler hat that has been seen. His clothing is said to date from the early 1900s. Disembodied footsteps are heard in the hallways and guests claim to have something knock on their doors, but when they open the door, there is no one and nothing there. Shadow figures have been seen in the basement at night. And most troubling, some guests claim that they have been pushed.

Brenda wrote of her stay at the West Baden Resort on Ghosts of America website, "My husband and I just stayed a couple of nights at the West Baden Resort. The hotel is absolutely beautiful, and we really enjoyed our stay. There is an elevator right off the atrium lobby just down from where you check in. This appears to be an original elevator of the hotel. It has glass windows that overlook the dome. On several occasions when we reached the 6th floor the door would open, and there would be an overwhelming smell of roses that hit you as soon as you stepped off. There was no denying the smell, but as soon as you turned to go down the hallway towards the room the smell would disappear. I didn't think much of it at first, but this happened every time we would go to or get off this particular elevator. This only occurred in the evening hours. Never during the day. We never had this happen on any of the other elevators. We finally asked one of the staff if they had anyone else notice this, and she herself had. She indicated that one of the former owners wife had passed away, and she would always bathe in the evening and always had rose petals in her bath water. We never felt threatened or scared at the hotel, but we definitely believe there are spirits roaming the halls of this, which I will call 'the 8th wonder of the world.'"

Don wrote on the same website, "My nephew and I were walking on the lawn by the swimming pool last autumn about 10:30 pm and I had the strangest feeling and turned about and saw the shadow of a very old gentleman standing by one of the trees when we approached him he vanished. A very moving experience that neither frightened myself or my nephew but one we continue to ponder."

Apparently, there are spirits of some of the Jesuits still here too. Judith wrote, "I saw my first ghost at the West Baden Hotel when it was still Northwood Institute of Indiana. I had awakened from a deep sleep to see a figure that looked like a monk in a long robe with the hood up. The next day my roommate and I asked our security guard, Will, who was a local resident, if he had ever heard a story of one of the Jesuits having died of anything other than natural causes. The Jesuits had a college there before NI, and some are buried on the property in the little cemetery on the hill. He said there was a story of one of the Jesuits falling down the steps and breaking his neck. Our room was right by the stairs. Other than that I was never afraid my two years living there. In fact I never wanted to leave. I continued to come back and stay at the French Lick Resort and go on over fifty tours of WBS at its worst and now at its best. When the renovations on the hotel were still going on I took my daughter and two friends on a 'ghost hunting tour' on Halloween in 2002. I made the reservation for the last tour, so we would be there at midnight. While on the tour I was asked by my daughter to tell my college story. After I finished the story, one of the 'ghost hunters' said, 'ahhh, the monk.' I was really surprised because I had never heard of anyone else saying they had seen the monk. After the tour we stopped to use the restroom before leaving. We entered to see a young boy in the women's restroom, a few young people were asking questions. As they did, the lights overhead went on and off in response to the questions. They thought they were talking to Lillian Sinclair. I went on another tour in 2005 in the daytime. As we were leaving, we stopped by the restroom. As I told the story to my friend, Michele, she opened the door confidently, but as she stepped in some of the lights went out, and she hightailed it out of there, almost knocking me down. At the French Lick Springs Hotel when they were doing their renovations in 2005, my daughter's boyfriend got off on the wrong floor, and it was one that was closed off for construction. He said he saw a little boy by himself. He tried to talk to the boy, but he turned and ran away."

A hotel worker claimed to have a weird experience, "I work at the West Baden Hotel as a cleaner. After being there for a few weeks, I was cleaning the library up wiping tables when I noticed out of the corner of my eyes something moving. Out of the middle window a rocking chair was rocking on its own. Among all the other ones that were dead still across the porch; it just kept going. Wind was barely even blowing, and no one was on the porch recently. I wanted a better look, so I walked around the other side of the room losing my line of sight with it passing the first window. Then in my head thinking 'is it just gonna stop?' I looked out the 2nd window, and it has stopped. Dead stopped. Freaked me out. I made my way to exit out of one of the doors again and looked back to see if it would move again. All the sudden, one of the wall lamps started flickering faintly next to that window, and I felt my body shudder from the waist up accompanied with goose bumps. Oh god. It drove me out of there walking very fast toward the safety of the atrium. This was around 12 noon fall of this year."

Ed wrote, "I visited the hotel about 2 years ago along with my wife and daughter. My wife and I were admiring the prints of the angels (smaller copies of the paintings found inside the dome) in the main hallway. Suddenly my wife says ''stop it! ''. I turned to see her circling around with a confused look. She told me that someone had strongly tugged on her ponytail. At the time of the tugging I was standing at the other end of the row of pictures and our daughter was at least 10 feet away in a lounge chair--both of us well out of reach!"

The elevator here seems to be haunted too. Anonymous wrote, "My husband and I stayed at the West Baden Springs hotel... It's absolutely gorgeous and the service is fantastic. I told my husband that I thought the hotel was haunted. After he did the historic tour he came back and said that ghost trackers visit the hotel every year - confirming my suspicion. When we left yesterday the elevator stopped on the first floor but the door would not open. We were pressing various buttons and nothing happened... All the sudden the elevator went to the second floor - the door never opened and than by itself went back down to the first floor."

Tabitha wrote, "Two years ago my mother, myself, my daughter, and a friend of ours were staying at west Baden hotel. My daughter was 8 years old at the time and she reports seeing a full body apparition leaning over our friend it was about 5:30 am. My daughter was trying to figure out at first who was in the room. The ghost that she saw was a woman dressed in ''old time'' clothes just leaning over and looking at our friend my daughter didn't realize what she was seeing until the woman disappeared. My mother was the only other person awake and was around the corner when she came from around the corner the ''lady'' disappeared. My mom and daughter left the room and my daughter then told my mom what she had seen. I would like to add that they left me sleeping in the room!! Actually my daughter wasn't ever really afraid and after two years still tells the same story not changing anything. She now watches ghost hunters and would like taps to investigate."

There are many ghost stories connected to both of these resorts. They are gorgeous properties. Are the French Lick and West Baden Resorts haunted? That is for you to decide!

Ep. 276 - Schenck Mansion Bed and Breakfast

Moment in Oddity - Victor's Way

Victor's Way is an adult contemplative park found near Roundwood, County Wicklow, Ireland. The privately owned 9-hectare garden is full of paths and black granite sculptures and was dedicated to cryptographer Alan Turing. The sculptures found in this park and quite unusual. Eight of the statues feature the Hindu elephant god Ganesha doing various activities like reading, playing instruments and dancing and there's even a small pint of Guinness next to one of them. One of the Ganesha statues has a little mouse standing behind it in street clothes complete with baseball cap and fanny pack. One of the creepier sculptures is named the Fasting Buddha and it basically is a skeleton in the lotus position. There is a large python-shaped seat and a young male statue that has its head split as an icon to indecision. The Shiva Lingam is a large finger pointing to the sky. The Ferryman's End is creepy looking too featuring a man who is relative skin and bones in murky water up to his chest and appearing in great distress. For a contemplative park that should bring one peace, Victor's Way sure has some creepy and disturbing statues and that, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - The Lascaux Cave Discovered

In the month of September, on the 12th, in 1940, four teenage boys exploring a fox den near Montignac discover the Lascaux Cave. The Lascaux Cave contained murals with a menagerie of animals including enormous bulls, horses and deer and there was one rare image of a human. The artwork numbered 600 pieces and was dated back to the Paleolithic period, circa 18,000 years ago. The paintings covered the walls and ceiling. The teenage boys who made the discovery were Marcel Ravidat, Gerorges Agniel, Simon Coencas and Jacques Marsal. It was decided toopen the cave complex to the general public on July 14, 1948. The cave was a huge draw for tourists and by 1955, the paintings were suffering damage from carbon dioxide and humidity that was generated by the 1,200 visitors per day coming to see the wall paintings. Added to this was fungi and lichen that began to spread across the cave walls. It got so bad that the cave was closed to the public in 1963. The paintings have since been restored to their original state and are monitored daily, but no one is allowed to visit save for a couple of scientists on occasion. The Lascaux Cave is considered the finest of all prehistoric painted caves made by Cro Magnons man and was named an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

Schenck Mansion (Suggested by: Patricia Emmenegger Groce)

The former Benjamin Schenck Mansion in Vevay, Indiana is today known as the Schenck Mansion Bed & Breakfast Inn. The two story Second Empire-style mansion has over 8,000 square feet of living space and is furnished with antique and reproduction furniture. The home was built over 144 years ago and has had multiple owners and served a variety of purposes. Today, it not only welcomes guests, but reputedly is quite haunted. Join me as I explore the history and hauntings of the Schenck Mansion!

Vevay (Vee Vee), Indiana is a traditional small mid-western town situated along the Ohio River. This episode is dropping right before October begins here in 2018, so I would be remiss if I did not mention their Sleepy Hollow Festival on October 13th, featuring booths, costume contests, pumpkin carving contests and a scavenger hunt to find the head of the headless horsemen. Vevay sits in the southeast corner of Indiana and was founded by Swiss immigrants in 1802 as New Switzerland. For this reason, it was named after the Swiss town of Vevay. The town was incorporated in 1836. One of its claims to fame is that it had the first commercial winery in America. The town also served as a busy port city. It was here that Benjamin Schenck decided to build his mansion.

Benjamin Franklin Schenck was the son of a wealthy “hay king” during the steamboat era named Ulysses P. Schenck. Ulysses had been born in Switzerland and his parents emigrated to America when he was young and he got into merchandising. he used steamboats to move his products up and down the river and in 1854, he built the "Switzerland" steamboat with his brother. This went on to serve on the Union side of the Civil War as a gunboat. He got his nickname of "Hay King" because he bought and sold large quantities of hay. Benjamin was born in Louisville, Kentucky on November 3rd in 1834. He went to law school at Poughkeepsie, New York and was admitted to the bar, but decided law was not for him and he joined his father in the mercantile business. He added the purchase of the Vevay Weekly News to his business holdings in the 1850s and edited it for several years. He also manufactured ink with a partner named John Henry. Benjamin began work on his mansion in 1874.

The mansion was constructed on a hill, giving it its nickname "House on the Hill."  The design was Second Empire and the architect was George P. Humphries, who was out of Cincinnati. The total cost of the construction was $67,000. The Second Empire style was very popular after the Civil War and the Schenck Mansion has several prominent features including its square four-storied tower, dormer windows and the Mansard roof. The house had 35 rooms and five bathrooms and keep in mind that at the time, having just one bathroom in a house was a luxury. The running water was supplied from a reservoir located on the hill. The bathrooms also had the added luxury of a bathtub and all of them were walnut cased and copper lined. There was central heating with a gravity hot air system and the lighting was all gas. Unbelievably, the Schencks designed the mansion with iys own carbide generator to manufacture gas. The mansion also featured four porches, seven balconies, eight chimneys, thirteen fireplaces, over fifty windows and a summer kitchen at the far end of the house. The roof was made from slate and the exterior trim was fashioned from tin. The interior was as gorgeous as the exterior with the shutters and trim all originally faux grained.  There was a butler’s pantry that had shelves, twenty-six drawers and cupboards of various sizes from floor to ceiling.

By November of 1874, Benjamin's health began to deteriorate and he was told to go to Florida for a while, so he and his family spent the winter and spring in Jacksonville, Florida. They returned to Vevay in the summer and the family was able to spend that summer and the next in the mansion, although it was not finished being constructed. The family returned to Florida in 1877 and Benjamin died there in April at the young age of 42. He never got to see his home completed. His wife Celestine lived in the mansion intermittently until her death in December 1885. The Schencks had three daughters and they held onto the mansion until 1923, but it was mostly abandoned through the early twentieth century. In 1923, they gave the mansion and the sixty-five acres around it to the Indiana Baptist Convention. The church eventually returned it to the family.

In 1945, the mansion was bought by Clarence and Lulu Wiseman to use as their home and a clubhouse for the Switzerland County Saddle Club. The second floor they rented out as a tenement. Major T. and Ruth E. Jester bought the home in 1966 and they sold off the land around the property, save for six acres. The Wisemans had put in a trailer park at the end of the driveway and they sold this to Ervin and Lynn M. Wilson. The next owners were Burrel C. Farnsley and Alexander “Sandy” Speer of Louisville. They bought the property in 1972 and they began restoration efforts. In 1981, they gave up their efforts to restore the house and sold the property to their friend Mark C. Miles. He continued restorations and then put the mansion up on the market where it sat for several years before being bought by Jerry and Lisa Fisher in 1998. They completed all the renovation in 2000 and opened it as a bed and breakfast. The Fishers also got rid of the trailer park and landscaped the property with terracing, a patio, water features and a vineyard. The current innkeepers are Steve and Jenny.

The restored mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and features reproduction period wool carpet from England and Scotland, but also modern amenities like air-conditioning, flat screen TVs, clock radio with docking for iPods and WiFi. The Music Room was on the first floor and is now known as The Wiseman Room. Four of the other guest rooms are named for members of the Schenck family and several contain canopy beds. The reviews on TripAdvisor were raving about how great this place is to stay. It seems to be so comfortable, that some spirits have decided to make it their home in the afterlife. There are claims that upwards of six to seven ghosts reside in this inn.

Guests report hearing disembodied voices and footsteps. Shadow figures have been seen in the rooms at night. There is a Lady in White here who haunts the second floor. She seems almost to be residual as she just floats through the hallway and doesn't seem to take notice of anybody. One of the most common reports comes from male guests who claim to be kissed in the middle of the night by someone they can't see. Could this be the Woman in White?

There is another female ghost here that has been described as an Amish Housekeeper. She is brusque and usually is seen on the stairway and passes by guests who think of her as rude since she doesn't respond to their requests. The guests will go up to the innkeepers and complain about the housekeeper only to be told that no such woman is employed by the inn.

There are legends connected to the mansion that I'm not sure of their historical accuracy, but they might help explain the hauntings. It is said that the mansion is built on the ruins of another structure that had been lost to fire and a couple had been trapped inside. Another story is about a woman named Sarah who took pity on Civil War soldiers and took them into her home. This could be where the story of fire comes from because Sarah took in Confederates too. A militia came upon the house and they were enraged. They tied up both Sarah and the Confederate soldier and burned the house. No one knew the name of the soldier until they saw it written in the dirt after the fire...Ed. Another story told about this earlier house was that a couple lived here and the husband was sent off to fight in the war. He returns home to find his wife in bed with another man and he kills them both before killing himself. This scene is said to replay itself in the mansion that was built over their home. There are people who report mysteriously lights flickering and weird sounds and in the words of Michele Thompson, one of the Schenck’s innkeepers, “There are things that just…happen.”

The Schenck Mansion is a beautiful historic bed and breakfast that offers wonderful luxury. With these tales of supernatural occurrences, it would seem that some previous residents of this home or area are reluctant to leave. Is the Benjamin Schenck Mansion Bed and Breakfast haunted? That is for you to decide!

Historic Hoosier Theater - The Hoosier Theatre was built in 1837 and was originally meant to be a warehouse and store. Over the years it was used as a saddlery, a post office, a tavern, the offices of the Vevay Newspaper and a 225 seat theatre, which it became in 1926. It was abandoned in 1955 and sat vacant until 1983, when Historic Vevay, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation was formed to purchase and restore the building. The theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and re-opened in 1987 and continues to operate as a theater.

Forgotten Memories Antiques

Julia Knox House Gift Shop - The Julia Knox House was built in 1870 and sits along the main street. It was three stories tall and named for Julia Knox who inherited the property from her parents. She was a historian and direct descendant of one of the families that founded Vevay. The house is now a gift shop that was re-opened in 2016 as a family owned and operated business.

Old Jail

Show Notes:
The Original Vevay Ghost Tour: "We are "The Original" Vevay Ghost Tour. Experience Vevay and learn about the history, haunts, and spooky happenings from days gone by to current experiences. Tours are October 26, and 28 (2018). We start at 7:00pm from Vevay Vintage Prop & Shop (110 E. Main Street Vevay). Tickets are $32/person and available by phone at 812-493-9572 (leave message if after business hours) or in person at Vevay Vintage Prop & Shop (110 E. Main Street Vevay). We recommend purchasing tickets in advance as each tour has only a small limited number available for your best possible experience. We will tour four locations throughout town and walk about 1.5-2 miles (there are also stairs) over the 2.5-3 hour tour. You will get to meet and hear the stories of those who have had 'experiences'." https://www.eventsinusa.net/event-the-original-vevay-ghost-tour-october-26-2018-vevay-14028110

HGB Ep. 222 - Culbertson Mansion

 Moment in Oddity - Dog Carrying Day

The Miao people of Jiaobang village in China celebrate an annual festival that is known as The Dog Carrying Day. This festival has been observed for centuries and is a form of worship of man's best friend. A certain dog is picked out to be the honoree and it is then dressed in human clothing, set upon a wooden sedan chair and carried through the streets in a parade. People sing and beat drums as the procession goes along led by a shaman. People have mud thrown at them as part of the ceremony and this is a symbol of wishing the dog health and prosperity. People use the time to pray for a good harvest as well. Why does the tribe do this? A legend claims that the first settlers to the area were dying of thirst when a dog came along and led them to a clean source of drinking water. The settlers believed this to be a sign of divinity and the dog was considered a god. We love our dogs around here, but to treat them like gods, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Agatha Christie Born

In the month of September, on the 15th, in 1890, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born South West England. We know her today as Dame Agatha Christie. She was largely home schooled by her father and taught herself to read by the age of five. She took a likely to the piano and became quite good at playing and many thought she would be a professional piano player, but she was painfully shy and turned to writing short stories. She met Archie Christie in 1912 and they married in 1914. She tried writing a detective novel because her sister bet her that she couldn't. Her first published novel was "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" and in it, her famous character Hercule Poirot was born. Miss Marple followed a couple of years later. In 1926, her husband Archie asked for a divorce after announcing he had fallen in love with another woman. It would be in December of that year that the most bizarre event in Agatha's life would take place. On the third, the couple quarreled and Agatha left the home and disappeared. Her car was found with her clothes and an expired driver's license. One thousand officers and 15,000 volunteers searched for her. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hired a medium to find her. She was found on December 14th when some employees at the spa where she was staying under an assumed name, recognized her and reported it to the police. Doctors claimed she was suffering from amnesia and when Achie came to pick her up, she didn't recognize him or know who she herself was. She would never speak of the incident and it did not make it into her autobiography.The public remains divided as to what happened. She died in 1976 and is considered by Guiness Book of World Records as the best-selling novelist of all time. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and her works have sold over two billion worldwide.

Culbertson Mansion (Suggested by listener Melody Davis)

William S. Culbertson was once one of the wealthiest men in the state of Indiana. He made much of his fortune in the dry goods business and he became a very important part of the development of the city of New Albany. In was in this city that he built his dream home, the Culbertson Mansion. The mansion is beautiful and picturesque with the inside even more stunning than the outside. Artists turned the inside of the home into a colorful abode. Today, it is a state historic site that offers tours. William had three wives and one of them is believed to still be in the home in spirit form. A tragic fire has also left behind shades of former servants. Many guests and employees have had unexplained experiences in the home. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Culbertson Mansion.

The land where New Albany, Indiana is today, was granted to the United States after the Revolutionary War. The town of New Albany itself was founded in 1813 by three brothers named Joel, Abner and Nathaniel Scribner. They had come from Albany, New York and that is where the city's name comes from. Joel built his home here in 1814 and it still stands today and is known as the Scribner House. New Albany was incorporated in 1817 and grew to become the largest city in Indiana until Indianapolis overtook it in 1860. This was the wealthiest part of the state. During the Civil War, New Albany became a supply center for Union troops, but it was considered neutral ground which eventually caused it to be boycotted by both sides. The North felt they were too sympathetic to the South and the South boycotted it because it was located in the North. The city thrived on a steamboat industry, which ended in 1860 and then plywood and veneer became its main stays. It was in the 1860s when the Culbertson Mansion was built.

William S. Culbertson was born in 1814 at "Fairview Farm" in New Market, York County, Pennsylvania. His father died when he was only ten and left the family with nothing, so young William started working for a dry goods merchant to help his mother pay the bills. At the age of 21, William left New Market for Louisville, Kentucky. He tried to get a job at a dry goods in the town, but the owner wasn't hiring. He suggested that William head over to New Albany where there was a dry goods looking to hiring someone. Culbertson had a great business sense and he left the dry goods job to partner with two other men named Downey and Keys, and becomes the business manager for the firm for about five years. He married his first wife Eliza Vance in 1840. They had eight children together.

That same year, his brother moved to New Albany and the two men started their own wholesale business. It was very successful. During the Civil War, William was active in raising money for the Union cause. He also found ways to grow his wealth. He brokered a deal to sell 50 carloads of Cannelton Mills cotton to a New York firm that would then go on to England, but the port was unable to take the cotton and sent it back to Culbertson. It turned out to be a good thing because the war caused the price of cotton to skyrocket and he made bank reselling it. He then got into banking in 1863 and decided to built his family a beautiful mansion.

Construction on the Culbertson Mansion began in 1863 and was finished in 1867 at a cost of $120,000. The house was designed by architects Joseph and William Banes in the Second French Empire style. It covers 20,000 square feet, rises to three stories and has twenty-five rooms. The mansard roof was covered over with imported tin and had a 3-foot railing. The outside of the mansion was striking, but the interior was even more magnificent. The floors were either covered in wall-to-wall carpet or hand-painted with this "faux bois" graining. The ceilings were hand painted by artists and these artists also used the technique of trompe l’oiel in several rooms to mimic paneling, molding or other textured surfaces. The staircase was carved and the fireplaces were built from marble.

Eliza had died in 1865, before the house was completed, from Typhoid Pneumonia. Two years later, Culbertson married his second wife Cornelia Warner Eggleston. She was a widow herself and the two had two children together. William ventures into the railroad business and worked to establish a New Albany to St. Louis Air Line Railway. An air line railroad was a railroad that was relatively flat and straight with a shorter route. Something we would call a bee-line today. He also became a stockholder and director of the New Albany and Charlestown Turnpike Company. By 1870, Culbertson was the second richest man in Indiana. He was a philanthropist as well and built the Culbertson Ladies Home for women who could not take care of themselves and set up a trust to continue financing it even after his death. He financed the first electric company in New Albany

Cornelia died in 1880. Four years later, Culbertson married his third wife, Rebecca Keith Young, when he was seventy. He died in 1892, at the age of 78, achieving a net worth of $3.5 million dollars, which would be about $61 million in today’s money. He is buried at New Albany's Fairview Cemetery with his first two wives and several of his children. A little rabbit hole: Cornelia and William had a daughter named Blanche who had the nickname "Scandalous Blanche." Diane had to know why she had that nickname. Blanche fell in love with a man named Leigh Hill French from the circus and her father did not approve. He added a special exception to his will that stated that if Blanche married French within ten years of his death, she would not receive her $500,000 share of his fortune. Blanche waited for a year after her father's death before she eloped with French. She then sued for her portion of the estate and won. Blanche was a strong independent woman and played a significant role in New York's suffragette movement becoming president of the Equal Franchise League of New Rochelle, one of New York City's large suffragette organizations. So, although she is remembered for her scandalous marriage, she should really be remembered as a hero in getting the vote for women.

The Culbertson family sold the mansion and its furnishings in 1899 to John McDonald. When he died, his daughter gave it to the American Legion. It then went through a series of owners and was turned into an apartment building that modified even the ballroom, splitting it in half. Historic New Albany purchased the home in 1964, and the mansion was accepted as a State Historic Site in 1976. Exterior renovations were begun in 1980 and later, the staff and the Friends of Culbertson Mansion began work to restore the original interior. The house was taken back to its Victorian glory. Photos were used to rebuild the first floor veranda and recreate the etched-glass panel in the front door. Tours are offered at the house and these include ghost tours because apparently, the Culbertson mansion has a few ghosts hanging around.

First, we should discuss the ghost lore that is connected to the house and that is because the Carriage House has been operated as a haunted house during the Halloween season and there is a story attached to that, which has unfortunately made it out onto some websites as though it were actual history. This tale claims that in 1933, Harold Webb bought the mansion for himself and his family. He was a doctor and so he set up his medical office in part of the house. Over time, people who were his patients went missing. The house began to give off a foul odor and strange noises were heard in the basement. In 1934, the police were called in to investigate when the Webb family was unable to be reached after a few days. The police found the entire family dead. The doctor had murdered them all and then taken his own life. The police also found secret passageways in the basement that led to rooms that had torture devices used for gruesome experiments. Some bodies were still in the rooms. After the cleanup, the building was locked up for thirty years and then eventually sold to the American Legion. The group restored the building and it was during restoration that reports of ghostly activity started.

While we were unable to find any facts to back up the story about Dr. Webb, there are plenty of tales about paranormal activity in the mansion. The most believable reports come from the woman who has served as the site manager for over 30 years, Joellen Bye. The news-tribune interviewed Joellen and they asked her about rumors of ghosts in the mansion. She said, "That has always been a hot topic. I have seen and heard things that I cannot explain. We are not ghost hunters or ghost crazy people. We have ghost hunters who approach us about setting up cameras at night and doing their thing, but we always have to tell them no for insurance and liability reasons." When asked if she had really experienced unexplained things herself she answered, "Yes. There are the typical things ... maybe you hear a door shut or it may sound like someone is walking upstairs when there is no one up there. My office is in the basement and at night, if I am here alone, I can hear things. We know something is here, but we have never confirmed it."

The carriage house was struck by lightning in 1888 and it is believed that everyone inside of it was killed by the fire that was started. Servants refused to go out to the carriage house because they claimed it was haunted by the souls of those who perished in the fire. The mansion itself has quite a bit of activity ranging from items going missing, to phantom footsteps being heard in the hallways. Strange temperature drops occur often as well. The first wife, Eliza, is said to walk the halls of the third floor. She did not like that William had remarried and it is thought that this is why she is at unrest. She is blamed for turning the vacuum on and off by itself. The third floor also has the children's rooms and a ballroom and these are all said to be haunted by ghosts. The third floor staircase features the full-bodied apparition of a grey-haired woman appearing in the morning or late at night. One of the children's rooms is said to carry the weight of death and one night, when a staff member was staying overnight, she claimed to catch the scent of rotting fish around the bed. She asked that the smell go away and it did. Some tour guides feel that the spirits are angry in the house because they don't like all the people coming through.

Of course, our favorite experiences to share about locations are from you the listeners. Melody, who suggested this location, shared some chilling experiences of her own in an email:  I live in Jeffersonville, Indiana, which is just across the Ohio River from the Derby City, Louisville, Kentucky, and just east of New Albany, Indiana. There are many wonderful historic sites, restaurants, cultural venues, and haunted locations in this area which we affectionately call Kentuckiana, but New Albany is where I have had some very strange experiences in a beautiful old historic mansion on Main Street called the Culbertson Mansion. I had always been an odd kid with an interest in the strange and supernatural - I remember the first book I checked out on my own in the school library was a collection of Edgar Allen Poe - and I would go to spooky historical places with my like-minded mom. One of those places was this mansion. We would go to the amazing haunted house in October that was held in the home's carriage house, which of course was all show and fun. But during daytime tours, I would experience odd things, such as the sweet smell of cigar smoke outside of the freestanding closet the Culbertsons had for punishing the children when they misbehaved. It is said that Mr. Culbertson would sit outside this wicker closet and smoke his pipe while the children were shut inside to think about their actions.

This as a 12 or 13 year old was very creepy and very interesting to me, and of course made me a bit uneasy. Another experience I had there happened after visiting the haunted house one night. They would tell ghost stories by lamplight in the parlor of the mansion. In our area, there were a lot of families torn apart during the Civil War by the differences in beliefs about slavery and politics, being that we are on the Indiana-Kentucky border. During this event, I heard two men arguing rather loudly upstairs for several minutes. By this time it was around 11:00PM or midnight and no one was upstairs. And, only one or two other people in the room seemed to notice at all. I remembered then that on an earlier tour we were told that the Culbertson brothers were on opposite sides of the war, and thought this must be the two men arguing. I found out later others had heard this on different occasions as well. Unfortunately I could only make out a random word here or there. This was strangely not frightening to me, and I remember that I just kind of smiled in amazement at what I was witnessing.

The most experiences I had were during the time we went to the house soon after the third floor was reopened after decades of being closed. If I recall correctly, the floor was full of dead birds and bird waste from years of neglect. The birds entered through a small hole in the wall. The Culbertson Mansion had started giving Ghost Tours that fall where they would give tours in the evenings with the lights turned low to approximate what things would have looked like when the house was lit by gas lamps. During these tours they would tell the usual history of the mansion and the Culbertson family, but would also tell all the stories from docents and volunteers over the years of strange things they had experienced in and around the home. The first thing happened while we were waiting in the beautiful old foyer before the start of the tour for the rest of the tour group to arrive. This was before the start of the tour so the lights were not yet turned down. Several of us were looking around and myself, my mom, my friend, and several other people were looking up the gorgeous stairway to the newly opened third floor. Several people were looking up, but only myself, my friend (we were around 12-13 years old), and one other woman saw something: A black, featureless figure of what seemed to be a woman peering over the rail and  looking down at us from that top floor! We were quite startled and especially because not everyone who was looking up saw her, and she was only there for a second (at least I think so, I think I was so scared I couldn't look long). This was before I had ever even heard of shadow people but later when I did, it seemed to fit what had happened to me.

Another strange thing that happened to me on that tour was another instance of only a few people experiencing something despite being in the same place. We were walking down the hall in the third floor and walked past a vacuum cleaner on our way into a room. As I passed the unplugged vacuum cleaner - I could see the plug away from the wall on the floor- it suddenly and briefly roared to life. I nearly jumped out of my skin! Again, only I, my friend, and the woman who sensed the figure before, heard this. My mom was very startled by my reaction, but didn't hear the vacuum come on. There are tons of other stories like these from other visitors and volunteers over the years. There are stories of the police being called because a woman in a long dress was seen walking the back second floor porch in the middle of the night. They found no one at the house. A woman cleaning in the basement would smell flowers and turn around to see rose petals on the freshly vacuumed carpet, over and over.

Not only do we have stories from staff and guests that have been reported on the Internet, but our own listener has experienced some really creepy and weird things at this mansion. Could it be that some of the family still remains in the house in the afterlife? Is the Culbertson Mansion haunted? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes:
Main site for information on tours:  https://www.indianamuseum.org/culbertson-mansion-state-historic-site

HGB Road Trip Day 5 - Haunted Farmland

History Goes Bump spent several days in the small town of Westside, Iowa visiting family. Westside is located in Crawford County. The town derived its name from the fact that it is just slightly to the west of the divide between the Mississippi and Missouri river watersheds. The first settlers to the area arrived here after traveling from Council Bluffs. Council Bluffs was a major trading station. The settlers traveled by ox and cart, rather than by horse because horse ownership was a rarity. The people built log cabins to live in and they chose spots near tree groves because that meant water was nearby. The first major road that served Westside was the Railroad Telegraph Road, which traveled from Boone to Council Bluffs.

As the population grew, townships were formed to serve as government. Westside became its own township. Townships were headed by a Board of Trustees who were elected by the people. The town of West Side was officially incorporated on March 11, 1878. The town grew even more when the railroad came to town. The Chicago Northwest Railway built a station at this point west of the summit, the division of the water flowing to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.The coming of the railroad coincided with the end of the Civil War and more people immigrated to Iowa. Most of the immigrants were Irish and German families.

Westside is still a small farming community. Some of the property harbors more than just the living. Some of those from the past still seem to be hanging out in the afterlife. One of those haunted locations is Diane's sisters farm. The barn is haunted by a previous owner who met an untimely end at his own hand. There are also strange things that happen in the house on occasion.

Troy Taylor reports on his website, prairieghosts.com, about a haunted farm in Indiana. Strange phenomenon there includes:

- eerie voices that have been heard calling out

- strange behavior by horses, dogs and other animals as if they sense something that the humans who are present cannot (more about this later!)

- lights turning on and off by themselves

- Articles of clothing being taken and moved about

- knives and scissors disappearing from the barn. One knife literally vanished for ten years before being discovered again lying in plain sight on the floor of the barn

- strange moving cold spots in the barn and on the property

- a mist that comes up off the pond and then comes and goes at will. It has even been said (although not witnessed by the author) that the mist has even “performed” on command, coming and going in response to requests from witnesses

In addition to the barn and the outdoor areas of the farm, the house that is located on the property has also been the scene of disturbances. Accounts from the house include instances of:

- Lights that turn on and off (sometimes by request)

- Water faucets that turn on by themselves

- keys and other items that vanish from the kitchen table, only to be returned later

- a rocking chair in the kitchen that rocks by itself and has been seen by multiple witnesses

- cups and other items flying off the counters

Some of the scariest things found on farmland are scarecrows. Countless movies have featured terrifying scarecrows and one of the villains in Batman comics is the Scarecrow. Could a scarecrow be haunted?

The Bell Witch is a famous haunting in Tennessee on land that was once farmland belonging to the Bell family. The Bell Witch website reports the legend in this way:

"One day in 1817, John Bell was inspecting his corn field when he encountered a strange-looking animal sitting in the middle of a corn row. Shocked by the appearance of this animal, which had the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit, Bell shot several times. The animal vanished.  Bell thought nothing more about the incident, at least not until after dinner. That evening, the Bells began hearing "beating" sounds on the outside walls of their log house.

The mysterious sounds continued with increased frequency and force each night. Bell and his sons often hurried outside to catch the culprit but always returned empty-handed.  In the weeks that followed, the Bell children began waking up frightened, complaining that rats were gnawing at their bedposts. Not long after that, the children began complaining of having having their bed covers pulled from them and their pillows tossed onto the floor by a seemingly invisible entity.

As time went on, the Bells began hearing faint, whispering voices, which too weak to understand but sounded like a feeble old woman singing hymns. The encounters escalated, and the Bells’ youngest daughter, Betsy, began experiencing brutal encounters with the invisible entity. It would pull her hair and slap her relentlessly, often leaving welts and hand prints on her face and body.  The disturbances, which John Bell told his family to keep a secret, eventually escalated to such a point that he decided to share his "family trouble" with his closest friend and neighbor, James Johnston.

Johnston and his wife spent the night at the Bell home, where they were subjected to the same terrifying disturbances that the Bells had experienced.  After having his bedcovers removed and being slapped repeatedly, Johnston sprang out of bed, exclaiming, "In the name of the Lord, who are you and what do you want!" There was no response, but the remainder of the night was relatively peaceful.

The entity's voice strengthened over time to the point that it was loud and unmistakable. It sang hymns, quoted scripture, carried on intelligent conversation, and once even quoted, word-for-word, two sermons that were preached at the same time on the same day, thirteen miles apart.  Word of this supernatural phenomenon soon spread outside the settlement, even to Nashville, where then-Major General Andrew Jackson took a keen interest.

Jackson claimed to have an experience when traveling through the area. Their horses would not budge. After several minutes of cursing and trying to coax the horses into pulling the wagon, Jackson proclaimed, "By the eternal, boys! That must be the Bell Witch!"  Then, a disembodied female voice told Jackson that they could proceed and that she would see them again later that evening. They were then able to proceed across the property, up the lane, and to the Bell home where Jackson and John Bell had a long discussion about the Indians and other topics while Jackson’s entourage waited to see if the entity was going to manifest.

John Bell breathed his last breath on  the morning of December 20, 1820, after slipping into a coma the day before.  Immediately after his death, the family found a small vial of unidentified liquid in the cupboard.  John Bell, Jr. gave some of it to the cat, which died instantly. The entity then spoke up, exclaiming joyfully, "I gave Ol' Jack a big dose of that last night, which fixed him!"   John, Jr. quickly threw the vial into the fireplace, where it burst into a bright, bluish flame and shot up the chimney."

 Could farmland in the midwest hold the spirits of the undead? That is for you to decide!