Cemetery of Shadows and Light

Cemeteries have long fascinated us and have often been a source of fear for the living. Since before recorded history mankind has always buried their dead, or given some sort of funeral rights to honor or make the deceased’s journey into the afterlife a pleasant one. The Victorians designed their cemeteries as parks for picnics and strolls with loved ones among the picturesque ponds, weeping willows, headstones, and mausoleums. But for criminals, undesirables, the insane, and suicides their burials were treated with less respect. They were often buried in a field far away from the main interments and in unmarked graves or with a small headstone with just a number as the only means of identification.  

One Midwest cemetery that has been a source of countless ghost stories is Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur, Illinois. The cemetery was officially incorporated in 1857 but burials go much further back. Through the years the cemetery has been neglected, from over grown grass and weeds to the inferior construction of the mausoleum that continually leaked. Grave robbing was also a constant problem. Years ago, flooding from the nearby river had washed away part of the cemetery and several coffins were swept away in the turbulent waters. Some of the bodies were recovered but identification was impossible, so the bodies were buried in a mass grave. Dark misty figures and ghost lights can be seen floating in the area where the coffins originally resided.

The mausoleum has been a source for much of the strange activity. Anguished screams were heard coming from the structure and ghost lights have been seen dancing around the mausoleum during the time it was still standing. The building was finally torn down in the late '60s. The area is still known for its sounds of faint screams and sightings of strange lights with no explainable source.

Two notorious legends of the cemetery have frightened many visitors over the years. One is concerning the Greenwood Bride that has been sighted as a white figure wondering among the headstones looking for her fiancé who was murdered before they were to be married. The grief-stricken woman’s identity remains a mystery but it's thought she drowned herself after finding out he was murdered from a shady business deal that went horribly wrong.

The other legend--and the most horrific--takes place during the height of the Civil War when the Union Army was advancing into the south. Captured Confederate soldiers were transported by train to POW camps. One train carrying dying Confederate prisoners stricken with yellow fever passed close to the cemetery. The dead prisoners were unloaded and buried in a hastily dug mass grave. Some of the prisoners are believed to have been still alive when they were covered over with soil. Strange uneasy feelings have been felt in the area of the cemetery dedicated to those who fought in the bloody Civil War. Apparitions of Confederate prisoners have been seen and appeared as a living person that seems disoriented and confused to where they are and how to get home.

The reason why cemeteries become haunted remains elusive but some of those that investigate paranormal activity feel that maybe the soul or spirit still retains a strong attachment to its body refusing to pass on, or is confused and upset with how its remains have been treated.

The mysterious James John Eldred House

 

Death to the Victorians in the 1800s was a very natural and common part of life. Children often died due to disease or infection. Medicine, surgery and the basic understanding of germs was in its infancy. Many diseases that we take for granted today caused considerable suffering and death to those during that time. Entire families could be wiped out within a year from measles, smallpox, tuberculosis to even a simple cut getting infected. The mortality rate was high and the Victorians took such a tragic event to celebrate those who had passed with elaborate showings, funerals, jewelry made from a dead loved one’s hair, and family photographs with the deceased were a very common and natural practice.     

One Illinois family that had seen such tragedy was that of James John Eldred. The house he built and lived in rests among the trees and tall grass of western Illinois north of St. Louis. Built in 1861 for his wife and four children, Eldred built the limestone house in the Greek Revival style with touches of the Italianate style. Eldred made his money farming his land and raising livestock, and was well known for the social parties he often hosted in his elegant home.

The years the Eldred family spent at the house were often filled with hardship and tragedy. The agricultural life was unpredictable, difficult, and constantly left his finances strained. The onset of the Civil War made things even worse for the family. Their three daughters started to get ill from tuberculosis and eventually died; Alma died at age 4 in 1861, Alice died at 17 of in 1870, and Eva died at 17 in 1876. Eldred’s son Ward survived and continued to help with the farm. James J. Eldred and his wife stayed in the home till his death in 1911.
Over the years the house changed ownership and was eventually purchased by a local famer and used for storage.  The house currently is owned by the Illinois Valley Cultural Heritage Association and is used for living history events and ghost hunts. The profits are used to help restore the house.

Visitors to the house often report bizarre experiences, from the sounds of mysterious footsteps to strange rappings on the doors to faint conversations between a man and a woman when the house seems quiet; also poltergeist activity of rocks being tossed within the house has been experienced. Dark shadows have been seen darting throughout the house, giggles of a little girl have been heard and apparitions have been spotted in and on the grounds of the old house. Visitors have even been touched by ghostly hands, leaving a cold clammy feeling at the place of contact. The sighting of a ghost of a traveling salesmen that died on the property as been seen, but finding verification of the death has been elusive. Excavations around the house revealed bones from the grave of a Native American that was buried long before the house was built. Once the burial ground was disturbed a phantom of a Native American has been seen wandering among the trees of the property.   

With the expansion of America towards the west, migrating settlers often infringed on the ancient lands of the natives that have been occupying those places for centuries. The natives lived, worked and died in those lands and the oral history that they shared with each other was the only record of the places where their ancestors where buried. It’s not surprising when these lost graves are disturbed, that those who were buried there become restless and demonstrate to the living their loathing of the careless infringement.   

The Vengeful Pirate of Ham House

The mighty Mississippi River has been of major importance to the settlement of the Midwest by transporting food, goods, livestock and materials from Louisiana in the south to Minnesota in the north; thereby, playing a major role in the expansion of the American frontier. Fortunes where made using these major rivers, but many criminals also found ways to exploit these early settlements, which lacked proper protection of civil authorities and institutions. River pirates terrorized the two major rivers in the Midwest; the Mississippi and the Ohio. During the eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century river pirates, often robbed, captured or murdered river travelers to gain access to cargo, slaves and or livestock, to be later sold down river. Many river pirates where known to enter homes along rivers to steal food, weapons and valuables.

Mansions built along these rivers often incorporated a belvedere as a look out for marauding pirates. Home owners in smaller communities often needed to be armed to keep their family and valuables safe since these early establishments lacked proper law enforcement.

One legend from this dangerous time is of Ham House, a large stone mansion that sits on top of a bluff overlooking the turbulent waters of the Mississippi River in Northern Iowa. The mansion became the setting for love, loss, death, revenge, murder and where phantoms of the past refuse to remain as history. Built by one of the earliest settlers of the area, Mathias Ham used his fortune from lead mining, lumber, agriculture and his shipping fleet to build his house in 1856 for his wife Margaret and their six children. Ham became one of the most socially prominent families in Dubuque at the time. The house was designed by architect John F. Rague who also designed other well-known buildings in the Midwest from the original state capitol buildings in Springfield, Illinois to the old state capital building in Iowa City, Iowa.

Ham adored his three-story home and decorated it in the most opulent way; from plaster rosettes and moldings, to ornate walnut staircases. He furnished his home with Victorian furniture. Ham would often watch boat traffic move along the Mississippi river from the belvedere perched at the top of the house. However, one seemly normal day of river watching would change the course of his family and leave their souls to haunt the beloved home forever.

Ham spotted river pirates harassing his cargo ships. He quickly contacted the authorities and the pirates were arrested. The pirates knew Ham was reasonable for their capture and vowed to take revenge on him and his family.

That event seemed to be a turning point for the family. During the next few years, Mathias Ham began to lose his fortune in several bad real estate deals and from the financial crash of 1857. Mathias and Margaret died within a few years of each another. By the 1890’s, most of the family died off; leaving his last surviving daughter, Sarah, to inherit the house and what was left of the remaining fortune.  

Living alone in the empty mansion, Sarah began to have problems with prowlers late at night. Speaking to her neighbors about this, they suggested she put a light in her window to signal to them if she needed help. A few nights later, Sarah was reading in her bedroom on the third floor when she heard an intruder inside the house. Sarah locked her bedroom door, put the lit lantern in the window, and grabbed a gun. As Sarah waited in silence, straining to notice the slightest sound, she faintly began to hear footsteps slowly creeping up the staircase and moving slowly along the creaking floor. Footsteps shuffled in front of her bedroom door. Sarah nervously called out to ask who was there, silence. She raised her gun and shot twice at the door. Hearing the gunshots, the neighbors peered out toward Sarah’s house to see the lantern glowing in the window. They rushed over to the house and up the stairs to find her bedroom full of smoke, the scent of gunpowder hung heavy in the air and Sarah still holding the gun and upset from the event tried to explain what had happened. As they began to investigate what had happened, Sarah and her neighbors saw among the splinters of wood that lay scattered on the floor in front of the damaged bedroom door, a trail of blood was leading down the stairs, out the front door, towards to the banks of the Mississippi. At the end of the blood trail and  laying in the thick mud of the river's edge was the lifeless body of a river pirate, who had recently been released from prison and returned to seek his revenge on Ham.

As the years went on, Sarah found it more difficult to maintain her home financially and was forced to sell the mansion in 1912 to the city of Dubuque. Sarah died in 1921. The Dubuque County Historical Society converted the mansion into a museum in 1964.

Over the years, the mansion has developed a reputation for being haunted. Victors as well as employees at the museum have seen several phantoms throughout the house and have experienced several unsettling events that have been difficult to explain. The ghost of the vengeful pirate is said to haunt the main staircase and third floor where he is still trying to seek his revenge. From the belvedere, Mathias Ham can still be seen watching the boats move along river. Hushed sounds of footsteps, whispered voices, crying and faint screams have been heard throughout the house. Locked doors and windows have been found wide open for no reason. Doors will open and close by themselves. Lights flicker on and off and the nonfunctioning organ has been heard playing on its own at night prompting workers to leave the house as soon as possible when tour hours are over. Unusual cold spots have been felt. Objects have been known to vanish and later reappear in a different location. Ghost lights have been seen to drift throughout the house and have even been spotted floating outside at night. Many museum workers and visitors have had uncomfortable feelings of being watched.

As for the reason why the spirits of the dead choose to remain at certain places and not others are not fully known. Many investigators in the field of the paranormal often think when someone has a deep love for a place or has experienced a traumatic event that has led to their death, a spirit may remain earthbound; not realizing they have died or has unfinished business. Those spirits can’t pass over till they come to terms of its previous actions or their mortality. I find it ironic that the only true way to know how the spirit realm works is when we pass through the thin vail of death and into the spirit world, by then it’s often too late.

Illinois' Haunted Insane Asylum

Located west of Peoria in the small town of Bartonville, the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane was originally built in 1897 in the style of a medieval castle, but was never used. Legend says the building was constructed on top of an abandoned coal mine that compromised the integrity of the building. The official explanation that was given was that having a castle like structure didn't fit the modern sensibilities of treating the "insane," and they wanted to use a cottage like design instead of having one large building. The building was demolished and rebuilt, and by 1902, the Asylum reopened and began treatment of the "incurably insane" under the direction of Dr. George Zeller.

 

Well respected, Dr. Zeller treated his patients using therapeutic methods for "curing the insane," instead of more experimental treatments that were popular at the time, like electro-shock therapy, lobotomies and hydro-shock therapy. He also used newspapers to educate the public about mental illness and offered training programs to nursing students. In the 1920s, Dr. Zeller published a book Befriending the Bereft, The Autobiography of George Zeller, which chronicled his daily experiences at the asylum, many of them strange and mysterious.

 

One such popular story took place in the asylum's nearby cemetery. Funerals were held for those whose bodies were never claimed by the family. The staff didn't know most of the patients, but out of respect, they would gather around as the coffin was lowered into a grave that was marked only by a numbered headstone. A gravedigger named Manuel A. Bookbinder often stood next to a large elm tree as the service took place. Sobbing and moaning loudly with his hat removed, Bookbinder attended every service and always displayed his mournful cries even though he never knew most of those who were being buried.

 

 

When Bookbinder finally passed, a service was held, and as his coffin was being lowered into his grave, sobbing and moaning was allegedly heard by the staff coming from the elm where he always stood. As they turned to see where the noise was coming from, they allegedly saw Bookbinder standing there, sobbing and moaning loudly as he always did. Shocked by the experience, many of the staff ran from the site; Dr. Zeller ordered his men to remove the lid of the coffin to see if it was empty, but when they did, Bookbinder's body was still in his coffin. When they turned back towards the elm, the figure reportedly vanished.

 

Within a few days, the elm tree that Bookbinder stood next to began to wither. Attempts were made to save the tree, but as it finally died, Dr. Zeller ordered the elm to be removed. As the ax man swung into the tree, sobbing and moaning could reportedly be heard. Unnerved by the experience, the ax man left and when another attempt was made to remove the tree, this time by fire. Once again, as a fire was started at the base of the tree, sobbing and moaning was reportedly heard. All attempts to remove the tree where halted from then on. 

 

By the 1950s the asylum reached its peak with a population of 2,800. Then, over the course twenty years, the asylum's population began to decline, and eventually closed its doors for good in 1972. Many of the thirty three buildings were abandoned, and most were demolished; only the hospital buildings remain, and attempts to renovate those structures has been difficult.

 

Paranormal investigators over the years have reported seeing apparitions, shadow people, disembodied voices and doors that open and close by themselves. It's uncertain who would haunt the building -- maybe the patients, the staff or even Bookbinder himself? Maybe the patients have never left because the time they stayed there were of good memories.

 

When I visited the asylum one humid summer day, I definitely felt intimidated by the size of the structure. Under a gloomy sky the gray imposing building stood out from the surrounding neighborhood, void of any trees; it felt like nature itself was keeping it distance. The black windows stared down on me as I walked around taking my pictures trying to gain my courage to get closer to the building, to maybe find a window low enough to see inside. Unfortunately, at the time I was unable to see inside, but I'm hopeful I will soon return and contact the owner to get a chance to explore the inside of such a historic and legendary building.

Haunted Iowa: Part 3

The drive home today was much better then expected. The weather was cool and partly cloudy and traffic was fairly decent. During my ride home it gave me a chance to reflect over the past week. 

Yesterday I shot the last two locations for this small trip. Originally there was three but one didn't work out the way I hoped. Both where cemeteries and both where named Oak Hill Cemetery but in two different cities. Thankfully they weren't to far apart. 

During my shooting I realized the way I shoot is different from my days as a newspaper photographer. The way I shot  assignments was, I allowed the event to dictate how I photographed it. But with my project I have a general idea how it should look and I try to capture every angle I can that will fit that idea. With the way I photograph for my project I'm free to capture everything I feel and anything that catches my eye. It's a very free and relaxing way to do my job. 

By the afternoon most of my shooting was completed and this allowed me some down time to spend time with old friends and edit some photos. 

This trip has reinspired me and renewed my desire to shoot more often. I'm hoping in the next few months I plan on a few day trips to add more stories and photos to my archives. 

One piece of advice that has always stuck with me is if you want to make art they you must make the time for it. It's easy to say I want to write that novel but it won't get made till you stop making excuses and just sit down and do it.

Haunted Iowa Road Trip: Part 2

 

Today I traveled to Des Moines to shoot photos of the stunning Terrace Hall. This house is gorgeous! The Second Empire architecture defiantly gives it a presence and what many may consider a classic haunted house look. 

This house was my first stop but I was frustrated by the lack of clouds during that time of day and to may people moving around. After I got some images I went and shot my second house, looked through a large cemetery and then grabbed lunch. While looking for a place to eat I noticed the clouds began to move in so I decided  to return and shoot some more images. I'm glad I did because the images where much better and no people around.

The hardest part about doing this project is figuring out what the best time is to shoot these places. During season of operation or off season, morning or afternoon, spring, summer or fall. It can be very frustrating when you look forward  to shooting a place and to learn that it's under construction when you get there.

Haunted Iowa: Part 1

"Is the Heaven?" "No it's Iowa" what a thrill to be on the road again and shooting. It's been a long day and I just stopped for the first meal of the day. I have another two hour drive ahead of me to the hotel. 

I've been taking the back roads and have see some wonderful country. Iowa is hiller in the north east then was expecting. 

He are some images I've taken so far along my trip. These images are more work prints or experimental at best. When I get home and have time to edit I will post each place I've visited accompanied with the story. 

Winter’s Icy Grip

 

For months I’ve been having a bad case of cabin fever. I’ve wanted desperately to get out and shoot some pictures. Since the winter weather has released its icy grip from my home allowing the snow to retreat to make way for the spring growth. I decided to shoot an abandoned building a friend of mine told me about.

I found the old church located at the end of a dead end road surrounded by trees. Water from the melting snow pooled in places along the front and sides of the structure. I was amazed how sturdy the church remained and years of neglect. From what I could see I loved how simple the architecture was and I wondered how it may have looked in its prime. It was truly wonderful to walk around photographing the old building, being in the moment with no distractions, taking in my surroundings.

I’ve been planning on doing a much more extended trip to a few haunted places this year but due to some medical issues I’ve had recently the date when I take my trip will be dependent on my recovery in the next few months. When I do make the trip I will defiantly blog about. Till then I hope you enjoy my recent photos.

The Ghost Story; The Lost Christmas Tradition

The Christmas traditions we keep are mostly personal. The type of food we make or eat, the gifts we give or receive they way we decorate our homes. Many of the general traditions we observe come from the Victorian era, the Christmas tree, stockings, ornaments, fruitcake and a long list of other traditions. But one I’ve noticed that hasn't been kept is the telling or ghost stories. I began to wonder why and started to think of the reasons why they did in the first place and why don’t we now.

I then came across this story that sort of explains a bit of what I was thinking.

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While reading a list of all the modern Christmas traditions that were either borrowed from pagan winter festivals or invented by the English during the mid-19th century, it's remarkable to see how little Christmas has changed over the past 160 years.

People still send Christmas cards, decorate evergreen trees, go door-to-door caroling and stuff stockings with candy. Christmas, at least as most Americans celebrate it, really is a product of Victorian England.

In the last few decades, though, perhaps one of the most interesting Victorian Christmas traditions has been almost completely lost from memory.

“Whenever five or six English-speaking people meet round a fire on Christmas Eve, they start telling each other ghost stories,” wrote British humorist Jerome K. Jerome as part of his introduction to an anthology of Christmas ghost stories titled “Told After Supper“ in 1891. “Nothing satisfies us on Christmas Eve but to hear each other tell authentic anecdotes about specters.”

The practice of gathering around the fire on Christmas Eve to tell ghost stories was as much a part of Christmas for the Victorian English as Santa Claus is for us.

Traces of this now-forgotten tradition occasionally appear in noticeable places at Christmastime, although their significance is generally overlooked.

One verse of Andy Williams’ classic Christmas song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” for instance, clearly says, “There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.”

The most obvious example of how Victorian ghost stories have persisted to some degree in modern Christmas celebrations, however, is of course Charles Dickens’ own “ghostly little story” (as he calls it in the introduction) “A Christmas Carol.”

Some argue that Dickens’ Christmas ghost story single-handedly saved the winter holiday from dying out during the Industrial Revolution. At a time when England was no longer celebrating Christmas, Dickens reintroduced many centuries-old traditions with his instant holiday classic. It has become so much a part of Christmas in its various film adaptations and theatrical versions that people don't even wonder why Dickens chose, of all things, four spectral visitors to bring about Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from miserly curmudgeon to selfless philanthropist.

Isn’t there something inherently unseasonal about ghosts? Don’t ghosts belong with all the ghouls and goblins of Halloween? Not so for Victorian England.

“There must be something ghostly in the air of Christmas — something about the close, muggy atmosphere that draws up the ghosts, like the dampness of the summer rains brings out the frogs and snails… For ghost stories to be told on any other evening than the evening of the twenty-fourth of December would be impossible in English society as at present regulated,” Jerome wrote.

He continues, “So what is it about Christmas that goes so well with ghosts? Such a question inevitably brings up the issue of why we celebrate Christmas in December at all.”

As Lord Protector of England during the mid-17th century, Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell was perhaps not entirely without justification when he tried to abolish the celebration of Christmas. As he argued, nowhere in the Bible does it tell Christians to celebrate Christ’s birth on the 25th of December. Nor, in fact, does it mention any “holy day” other than the Lord’s Sabbath.

On top of that, the 25th of December was not an arbitrary choice for early Christians. Rather, it was selected because of its connection with pagan festivals like Yule and Sol Invictus (the birthday of the Unconquered Sun), both of which commemorated the winter solstice or the longest night of the year.

These festivals celebrated the death of light and its subsequent rebirth the following day. It was for the obvious symbolic connotations that early Christians adopted dates significant to pagan Romans and Northern Europeans.

In addition to being the longest night of the year, however, winter solstice was also traditionally held to be the most haunted due to its association with the death of the sun and light. It was the one night of the year when the barrier between the worlds of the living and the deceased was thinnest. On Christmas Eve, ghosts could walk the earth and finish unsettled business, as exemplified by the apparition of Marley in Charles Dickens' Christmas masterpiece.

In short, the Victorian Christmas celebration, which drew heavily on pagan symbols like yule logs, holly berries and Father Christmas himself, also embraced the winter holiday’s associations with the supernatural to create one of its most popular annual traditions.

Unfortunately, of all the traditions and rituals that have survived through the generations, the Victorian custom of recounting blood-curdling ghost stories with friends and family around the fire on Christmas Eve has been almost completely forgotten.

So if you decide to watch "The Others" or "The Sixth Sense" this Christmas Eve instead of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” or “Elf," you'll be keeping alive a Victorian Christmas Eve tradition.

By Jeffrey Peterson

For the Deseret News

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The Victorians where very aware of their mortality they loved Spiritualism and often conducted séances or searched out mediums in hopes of communicating with the dead.  They honored loved ones recently past by photographing them and taking clips of their hair to produce hair woven lockets, bracelets and necklaces. It would seem fitting to tell a ghost story or two during the bleak month of December.

Todays sensibilities we focus more on getting the right gift, spending time with friends and family, food, shopping, church, decorating and trying to recapture the love and magic of Christmas from our youth. We no longer have time to dwell thinking about the supernatural. Ghost stories are a much apart of the season as in any other time of the year. They are perfect for the season because what a better way to demonstrate the moral tale then through a ghost story.

Extremely Rare 100-year-old Fortune Teller Found

VIRGINIA CITY, Mont. (AP) — The Gypsy sat for decades in a restaurant amid the Old West kitsch that fills this former gold rush town, her unblinking gaze greeting the tourists who shuffled in from the creaking wooden sidewalk outside.

Some mistook her for Zoltar, the fortune-telling machine featured in the Tom Hanks movie "Big." Others took one look at those piercing eyes and got the heebie-jeebies so bad they couldn't get away fast enough.

But until a few years ago, nobody, not even her owner, knew the nonfunctioning machine gathering dust in Bob's Place was an undiscovered treasure sitting in plain sight in this ghost town-turned-themed tourist attraction.

The 100-year-old fortune teller was an extremely rare find. Instead of dispensing a card like Zoltar, the Gypsy would actually speak your fortune from a hidden record player. When you dropped a nickel in the slot, her eyes would flash, her teeth would chatter and her voice would come floating from a tube extending out of the eight-foot-tall box.

Word got out when the Montana Heritage Commission began restoring the Gypsy more than five years ago, and collectors realized the machine was one of two or three "verbal" fortune tellers left in the world.

One of those collectors, magician David Copperfield, said he thinks she is even rarer than that.

"I think it's only one of one," Copperfield said in a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Copperfield wanted the Gypsy to be the crown jewel in his collection of turn-of the century penny arcade games. It would occupy a place of pride among the magician's mechanized Yacht Race, Temple of Mystery and various machines that tested a person's strength.

Copperfield acknowledged approaching the curators about buying the Gypsy a few years ago but declined to say what he offered. Janna Norby, the Montana Heritage Commission curator who received the call from Copperfield's assistant, said it was in the ballpark of $2 million, along with a proposal to replace it with another fortune-telling machine. On top of that, he pledged to promote Virginia City in advertisements.

But Heritage commission curators, representing the Gypsy's owner — the state of Montana — rejected the idea, saying cashing in on this piece of history would be akin to selling their soul.

"If we start selling our collection for money, what do we have?" said Norby, the commission's former curator of collections.

The commission's acting director, Marilyn Ross echoed Norby's sentiments: "That is not something we would ever consider, selling off these antiques."

That dismissal has set collectors grumbling. Theo Holstein, a California collector and renovator of such machines, said he thinks the Gypsy is wasted in Virginia City and should be placed in a private collection for proper care. He said he is trying to gather investors to make a $3 million bid that would top Copperfield's offer.

"They don't have any idea what they have. It's like they have the world's best diamond and they just pulled it out of their mineshaft," Holstein said. "It's good that it's there and it survived, but now it really needs to be part of the world."

Holstein said he wouldn't be surprised in the machine ultimately sold for $10 million or more. Copperfield also said he is still interested in purchasing it.

That could put pressure on the state, which, like the rest of the nation, is facing hard fiscal times. Montana's budget is in the black, but keeping the effects of the recession at arm's length has meant deep budget cuts.

Those cuts have hit the Montana Heritage Commission particularly hard. Just weeks after Norby spoke to the AP, her position and three others were eliminated as part of a larger reorganization to cut $400,000 from the commission's budget, Ross said.

The state agency that oversees the commission, meanwhile, is not so quick to reject the idea of selling the Gypsy. Department of Commerce deputy director Andrew Poole said he has not seen any offers in writing, and if one were made, it would go through a bid process that includes the scrutiny of the commission and input from the public.

The state inherited the Gypsy in 1998 when it paid $6.5 million to buy nearly 250 buildings and their contents in Virginia City and nearby Nevada City from the son of Charles Bovey. The Montana collector spent years buying up the buildings to preserve the two crumbling ghost towns and he stocked them with his ever-growing collection of antique games, music machines and oddities.

Bill Peterson, the heritage commission's former curator of interpretation, said the collection includes hundreds of thousands of items, so many that curators are still discovering them.

The Gypsy was made sometime around 1906 by the Mills Novelty Co. In restoring her, the curators either replaced or repaired frayed, worn or broken parts with exact replicas. When they couldn't find replicas or period materials, they didn't replace the parts.

"We don't want to make her anything that she wasn't," Norby said.

In 2008, they installed the Gypsy as the centerpiece of the Gypsy Arcade amid the ancient wooden buildings of Virginia City's main street. Calliope music spills out into the street, beckoning the tens of thousands of visitors to enter and view the stereoscopes, shock tests, tests of strength, fortune telling machines and love letter machines. The Gypsy presides over the menagerie in the rear, ropes keeping visitors at a distance.

All of that care in restoring, preserving and displaying the Gypsy causes state curators to reject Holstein's argument that the machine should be removed from Virginia City and placed in a private collection.

"A lot of these collectors, they come and say the same thing: 'Why is this out in the public? Why don't you just take the money and have a collector restore it the way it should be restored and have it in his private collection?' Well, nobody would ever see it," said Peterson, whose position also was eliminated in the cutbacks.

The Sweetin Mansion and its Lost Treasure, Greene County, IL

Engulfed by encroaching vines, trees and brush from the nearby woods, the Sweetin Mansion feels as if it's hiding a dark secret from the world. Built in 1848 by English immigrant Azariah Sweetin, the house is a shadow of its former glory. The ruin sits in a remote part of the countryside in western Illinois. The crumbed limestone walls and broken timbers slowly destroyed by time only hint at its dark past.

Also known as Hartwell Ranch House and “the old stone house,” the manor was constructed with three floors, walnut woodwork, a grand ballroom, three foot thick walls, and the unsual feature of a natural stream running through the basement for a water supply and to keep the house cool. For some strange reason the Sweetin family didn't move into the house until fourteen years after construction began.

History has it that on July 4th, 1862, a party was held for two farmhands Henson and Isham who had recently enlisted in the Union army. The two began to quarrel. During the argument Isham thought Henson was going to throw something at him so he pulled out a knife and stabbed Henson in the back. As Henson lay bleeding to death in front of the third floor fireplace, a large stain of blood seeped into the stone floor forming a shape of his body. Many years after the event the blood stain could never be removed. The ghost of the young Henson would often be seen in this area when the house was still intact.

With the country in the middle of the Civil War in the 1860's many farmers suffered financial hardship but Sweetin prospered during this time trading cattle. Sweetin had a distrust of banks so he began stashing jars of gold coins throughout the property. After a horse riding accident in 1871 Sweetin's mind was so damaged from being thrown from the horse, he couldn't remember where he buried his tresaure; his ghost is said to be still searching for it.

Family members had tried in vain to find the gold but where unsuccessful. Treasure hunters have also tried searching, but turned up nothing. There is another legend that two Sweetin farmhands had found the gold and disappeared shortly after Azariah Sweetin had died.

On our journey to this location in June of 2011 the air was hot and muggy when we found the ruin off the main road. We almost drove past the mansion because the vines and trees had hidden much of the outer walls. With a change of clothes we walked through chest-high grass to reach the ruin. (I worried that we could encounter poisonous snakes hiding in the grass.) Large pieces of the wall had fallen and the overgrown trees had made entering the heart of the structure very difficult and precarious. We felt like explorers entering an ancient castle. Inside the structure we saw the stream that still flows through the basement. Large pieces of the wall had disrupted the naturall flow, causing a large pool to form at the inside base of the structure. The large wooden beams that once held the second floor were still set inside their footings. The site was incredible to see but difficult to photograph, with much of the outside structure covered over and mature trees growing on the inside. These obstacles made photographing an exterior and interior overview shot impossible. I was able to obtain only portions of the overall impression this old house ruin made.

We left the Sweetin Mansion very satisfied. The house was well worth the long trip. We can see how legends of haunted ruins have captivated people for years. The sad feeling of a once grand home now destitute makes one wonder what happened to allow its owners to let such a property fade away…

The Most Haunted Cemetery in the Midwest, Bachelors Grove Cemetery

Bachelors Grove Cemetery is one of the most haunted places I know, a mysterious and foreboding land steeped in legend and myth. This abandoned cemetery has long been a source of intrigue by many who have entered its twisted metal gates. One of the oldest cemeteries in south Cook County, Bachelors Grove Cemetery, has developed a reputation as the most haunted cemetery in the Midwest.

On a chilly spring day I found the overgrown trail leading to the cemetery entrance. The road was covered with leaves from last year's autumn season; the trees seemed to arch over the road, engulfing the trail and hiding it from the world. The trail was once a section of the Midlothian Turnpike but was closed in 1960s.

Named for the large number of bachelors buried in the cemetery, Bachelors Grove has been neglected even before the Midlothian Turnpike closed. Teenagers would frequent the area for drinking and other activities. Chicago mobsters often dumped the bodies from their murders into the adjacent pond. Satanists used the place for conjuring during their rituals, grave robbing, desecration and vandalism has been a part of the cemetery's long sad history.

As I walked along the trail with my cameras the spring day I visited, I began to feel anticipation of the unknown. The trees seem to tighten around me as I traveled deeper into the woods. This is where tales of a phantom farm house in the woods have been seen. Descriptions of the house have been consistent through the years, a white house with porch pillars, a swing and a soft light burning in the window. When anyone approaches, the house is said to vanish. Legend has it if you reach the porch of the house you will never return. For years records and explorations of the area have given little proof of a house ever being built in the woods near the cemetery until recently. Indeed, two foundations of a house were uncovered, adding a mysterious validity to the legend.

Deep in my thoughts about the many stories of this notorious cemetery, I was startled by the unexpected appearance of the entrance to Bachelors Grove Cemetery. The winter snow that receded only a few weeks previous had weighted down the long overgrown weeds and grass exposing a handful of broken tombstones. I also noticed that no birds were singing around the cemetery.

I looked at the various tombstones, many leaning and broken, as I walked through the cemetery. One particular tombstone jarred my memory; the tombstone had an unusual checked pattern and was the very tombstone from the famous photograph, taken by Mari Huff ,of the White Lady of Bachelors Grove ghost sitting on the tombstone.

So many haunted and bizarre experiences have accrued here its hard not to believe something very strange is happening in this isolated place. Many have seen the phantom of the farmer who was pulled into the water by his plow horse and both drowned by the weight of the plow in the 1870's. Strange colored ghost lights have been seen darting around the tombstones and in and out the surrounding trees. A two-headed creature has been seen several times rising from the muck of the pond. On nights of the full moon the White Lady of Bachelors Grove has been spotted wandering among the tombstones carrying her baby in her arms. Apparitions of monks in long black robes have been observed. Ghostly cars have appeared and disappeared on the road that bridge over the pond.

While I was taking pictures I constantly felt I was being watched. Often times I looked over my shoulder thinking someone or something was standing near by. Once my pictures where shot and my equipment packed up, I was happy to leave. I felt relief as I gained distance walking on the trail from the cemetery. When I reached the edge of the woods I noticed the birds were singing once again.

The Most Haunted House in the Midwest, McPike Mansion, Alton IL

The McPike Mansion in Alton, IL sits atop a hill surrounded by large gnarled oak trees, giving the derelict house a foreboding sinister feel. When I arrived one early morning I was taken aback by its presence. The house seems to be sitting, brooding over its former glory. It has the look and feel of every image a haunted mansion should be: iron fence around the property, broken windows, a graveyard in the back, and plenty of ghosts. No wonder McPike has been given the unique distinction of being one of the most haunted houses in the Midwest, if not the country.

Built in 1869 by architect Lucas Pfeiffenberger for Henry Guest McPike and his family, the house was built in the Italianate-Victorian style, featuring 16 rooms, 11 marble fireplaces, beautifully carved stairway banisters and a vaulted wine cellar. Many of the wonderful architectural features vanished when it sat abandoned for years. The only hint to its golden years is an intricate carved trim that still borders the ceiling in one of the front rooms.

Originally on a country estate of fifteen acres of land called Mount Lookout Park, the mansion was the perfect place for Henry McPike to practice his love of horticulture. Trees, shrubs, orchards, flowers and extensive vineyards made the home one of the most beautiful in the area. During his time at the mansion Henry McPike perfected his McPike Grape, which became well-known all over the country. Some of the vineyards still exist today. McPike and his family lived in the house until 1936.

Paul A. Laichinger, purchased the house around that time and owned it until his death. It's unclear whether Laichinger lived in the house or rented it out to tenants. The house became abandoned and has remained that way since.

In 1994, Sharyn and George Luedke purchased the house during an auction. Their dream has been to restore the mansion to its former glory and turn it into a Bed and Breakfast. With extensive repairs and upkeep the restoration has been long and expensive. To help finance the restoration the Luedke's hold regular ghost tours and overnight campouts in the front yard.

When the Luedke's first purchased the mansion they never imagined that the place was haunted. Six weeks after purchasing the house Sharyn was tending plants in the front yard and looked up to see a man standing in the window looking back at her. The man disappeared but she noticed he was wearing a striped shirt and a tie. After researching the history of the building, Sharyn came across a photograph of Paul Laichinger wearing the same outfit.

Visitors have seen figures throughout the house. Many have had the sensation of being touched yet no one else is there. Sounds of footsteps are heard pacing up and down hallways and down the staircases. Objects vanish only to materialize in other odd places of the house.

The wine cellar is the most active place in the mansion, where footsteps and voices are heard. Several times a strange mist has materialized from nowhere and follows visitors around to the many rooms in the basement. The large heavy metal door that leads into the basement opens and closes by itself as it scrapes across the floor. Many people think that Henry McPike, members of his family, former owner Paul Laichinger, and a domestic servant haunt the mansion.

The Luedkes' love for the mansion shows by how much attention they give to investigating and learning about the history of the house. They have welcomed visitors from all over the country and are eager to share what they have learned with those who are brave enough to venture inside.

On my visit, Sharyn Luedke walked with me talking about the history of the mansion and the many strange events that have happened, while a black cat followed us around adding to the mystique. As I walked through the abandoned mansion, I noticed the wooden slats exposed from the fallen plaster. Many areas are too dangerous to walk through due to large holes in the floors. A large crack can be seen running from the bottom of the foundation to the roof of the house. Seeing this reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe's classic story "Fall of the House of Usher".
Sharyn told me of again seeing a figure standing in the upper part of the home with the window swung opened to the outside except the windows on that floor only open to the inside of the house.

Outside magnolias from a nearby bush were in bloom, giving the air a sweet scent in contrast to the melancholy atmosphere of the mansion. As we ventured out Sharyn mentioned that an unknown child's grave can still be seen on the grounds. The lid of the exposed vault is broken and has been overgrown by the surrounding vegetation.

Unfortunately I didn't experience anything unusual that day, but my wife and I would love to return and hopefully feel and see what the most haunted house in the country has waiting for us.

Book Review "The Perfect Medium Photography and the Occult"

Photographs are like ghosts of the past, they can show us where we have been and show us who we are. Pictures speck to us, we can view a passed-on loved one's face and remember the time we spent with them. We can enjoy a laugh with friends viewing vacation photographs of days gone by. Photography has always been a record of the past but in some ways it may show us where we should go for our future.

Doing researching on haunted places has led us to many fascinating and unusual avenues, such as Castle Frankenstein and the most notorious haunted house in Wisconsin called Summerwind Mansion. We have a passion for history which plays a big part in what we do.

Being a photographer I love pictures especially vintage photographs and the history of the early days of photography. We enjoy finding unusual books about the paranormal and learning about its legends from its early forms to modern day hauntings. One book I came across the blended both of the passions was "The Perfect Medium Photography and the Occult" by Cheroux, Fischer, Apraxine, Canguilhem, and Schmit, published by Yale University Press. Written in 2004, this large book discuses a topic that is virtually obscure and has been taken for granted.

The book has three parts, Photographs of Spirits, Photographs of Fluids, and Photographs of Mediums. The book begins with the early days of Spiritualism in the Victorian era and the spirit photographs that came about during that time. Photographers like William Mumler gave rise to spirit photography and in Europe began with Frederick Hudson. The reproductions of the photographs and collection of cartes de visites are amazing. The images are clear and well reproduced. Some spirit photographs are obvious fakes but the information on the photographers is very interesting, thorough, and well researched.

The second part, Photographs of Fluids, chronicles photography's use in providing evidence of the invisible world like the aura of a human hand or the life force of a freshly plucked leaf. The universal fluid was a theory developed by German doctor Franz Anton Mesmer, who suggested that every living thing has a universal fluid, a magnetic field that governs the body and its surroundings. The photographs of the "fluids" are both strange and fascinating. I found myself staring at them for long periods of time trying to make sense of them all.

The final part of the book, Photographs of Mediums, shows mediums at work levitating, levitating tables, producing ghosts at will, vomiting ectoplasm and other various phenomenons. The photographs in their time may have been used as a tool for debunking. They are a treasure trove of various occult images, along with a well researched narrative and historical context for the contents..

The only complaints I can really come up with that the book is a bit pricey at $45. I also wish they would have included modern ghost hunting photographs. I think this is an important part in the larger scope of photography and the occult. The book appeals to anyone with an interest in ghosts, photography and history, I find myself referencing it often and find it highly recommendable.

Built for the Dead, Stickney Mansion - Bull Valley, Illinois

Since I was a child I've heard legends about the "mansion with no corners." For years I thought it was all a myth, until I researched for this project and found that the mansion does exist and the legends are true. When we found and stood on the grounds of the mansion a few years ago, a chill ran up my spine as I thought about the story associated with this mysterious house.

Both accomplished mediums and devout practitioners of Spiritualism, George and Sylvia Stickney built this unusual two-story house in 1836 on an isolated country highway in Bull Valley, Illinois, thinking this corner-less design would assist them when holding séances and gatherings at the property. The couple had twelve children but only three survived to adulthood; they would often try to contact their nine dead children during their séances.

The Stickneys' believed that spirits have an inclination of getting stuck in the corners of houses, producing terrible results. They also felt that having a 90 degree angle corner would attract evil spirits. Therefore, all the rooms in their mansion have round smooth corners except one. For some unknown reason this room accidentally ended up with a 90-degree measurement.

According to legend, George Stickney was one day discovered slumped to the floor, dead from an apparent heart failure next to the only corner in the house located in that very mysterious room.

Reports claim Sylvia Stickney continued to live in the house as an accomplished spirit medium. People from all over the world come to take part in séances upstairs in the converted ballroom.

In the 1970s, Rodrick Smith moved in and began to hear strange noises and his dog began to exhibit strange behavior. After awhile Smith became more and more uncomfortable in the house and decided to research the home. According to Smith's findings, satanic worship took place in the mansion during the sixties and the black magic rituals conjured up an evil presence which resides in the house. Other researchers feel it was hippies during that time that changed the atmosphere of the house with drug use and painting the rooms dark colors, spray painting messages and leaving their abandoned drugs after they left.

The mansion was later sold and the Village of Bull Valley police department moved in as their headquarters. The police have reported hearing footsteps in the ballroom area, formally the séance chamber. Disembodied voices and strange noises have been heard on the stairwell and through out the house several times. Objects have moved on their own, door knobs have been seen turning on their own. Lone workers have seen and heard doors opening and closing on their own when no one else was in the building. One police officer saw the apparition of what he later described as Stickney's father-in-law. Two police officers have quit due to the disturbances that take place in this bizarre house.

Further research into town cemetery records often yield different facts to the dates in this story, but little else is recorded of this time. We have the old legends and the stories from the mansion's modern-day occupants to work from on our journey. Most important of the details, is the fact that the reputation of the house is firmly based in the Stickneys' practice Spiritualism and the regular attempts to commune with the spirits who have passed on into the beyond.

The day we arrived to visit the mansion two springs ago was bright, warm, and friendly. On the grounds of the mansion, however, the air was still and tense. The home felt isolated on its road winding off of the main road through town. Walking around the mansion, we felt uneasy staring into the black windows as if the house was watching us. The very look of this odd house makes one feel uncomfortable, which shouldn't be a surprise since it was built specifically to talk to the dead. Perhaps the spirits still wander freely through its rooms and corridors waiting to make their presence known.

Spring Haunted Road Trip

During the winter months we spend much of our time researching and looking for new ideas and places to photograph. We find inspiration from many sources from music, movies, stories and converstions we have with others. So when the snow starts to melt, weather begins to warm-up and the grass begins to turn green we get very excited because another season of photographing haunted places begins. At the beginning of the year our trip had taken on many forms and not until recently we decided on certain places that would work for our schedule. We have found some new and wonderful mansions to photograph they are just beautiful and mysterious from the pictures we have seen. I don't want to revel to much detail on where we will go, but you will not be disappointed by them I assure you. Here is a few place we are wanting to go to. If any one has suggestions of places that would be great for us to photograph feel free to send us an email with a picture and a bit of the history (if you know it) behind the place. We would love to see it and included in it in upcoming trips.

Lincoln-Tallman House, Janesville - WI

Jacob Henry Mansion, Joliet - IL

Hegeler-Carus Mansion, LaSalle - IL