Ghosts?

[Winston]

Good Hollerween "ghost story" of the Watseka Wonder.  It starts with Snoopy at his typewriter: "It was a dark and stormy night.."  No, no, it starts:  :

The year is 1865. The town is Watseka. A young woman, Mary Roff, dies a mysterious death after a lifetime of fits and seizures that robbed her of her youth, her personality, and her soul. Many thought she was mentally ill. However, some thought her illness was something other than natural.

In the years following her death, her family — the Roff family — came to be convinced of the latter. They became Spiritualists, and they believed that the spirits of the dead were alive, and that under given circumstances they could bring messages to the living and even temporarily inhabit another body, dwelling for a time in an earthly home.

In 1877, twelve years after the death of Mary Roff, in the same town another girl, Lurancy Vennum, began showing symptoms very similar to those of the deceased Mary. She begins having fits and seizures. She talks in strange languages and garbled speech. She claims to see people around her and takes on different personalities, as if possessed by the spirit of another.

The rest at http://roffhome.com/story.html

[pesoto74]

That definitely is one of the most famous paranormal stories from the 19th century. 

[DejaVu]

Wow....I never heard about that one! My grandmother (passed away) grew up in Watseka I think. Wish she was still here so I could ask her about the story.

Thanks for posting Winston!

[Guardian Angel]

We had a thread on the old CN forum where someone posted that during the Halloween season.  I remember reading it then.  Neat story..................

[Madisons]

That house looks creepy enough to give anybody "fits"!

[Winston]

Hey Madisons, you wanna come visit MY house? <heh heh, cackle, screech, creak, etc>


I also have some very nice rental property over by you... (Not Section 8, but ... perhaps ... Section ... 666? )  <more crazed howls>

[Madisons]

I'll trade for some ocean front property that I have in Arizona! 

[DejaVu]

Hey Winston great "spooky" house pictures!

Here's a neat web site WEIRD & HAUNTED IN ILLINOIS
it's got lots of spooky stories. Bawwwwwwwwwah...aha hahah! 

The Travel Guide to Illinois' Ghosts, Local Legends &
Best Kept Secrets takes readers along on a journey
in search of the "weird" people, places & legends
of the Prairie State.

http://www.prairieghosts.com/hauntil.html

[Winston]

Hah!    Sounds good Madisons, but I just bought up some lunar lake property (Lacus Luxuriae/"Lake of Luxury"-- can't wait to go there to check it out!  Looks a bit bleak in the photo, but I'm sure all it needs is a little fixing up...)
 http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth?opt=-l&lat=19&lon=-176&alt=1000&img=MoonTopo.evif

Lot more spooky/funny paintings by that artist, Lewis Barrett Lehrman from Scottsdale AZ (hey, I bet he's near your ocean, Madisons!)  
http://www.hauntedstudio.com/Gallery1.htm

Great zombie smilie! and swell-looking Weird IL site, thanks Deja.  Odd, I'd just been reading non-fiction about the horrible Southern IL Herrin Massacre of the '20's (when 20-some immigrant mine workers were gunned down in a field by union workers) -- surely some sad legends exist down there from that evil.  

Oh, and how 'bout this?  Happens tomorrow but all sold out!  Durn.  I love Edgar.   R.I.P.   Alas, no mo' Poe.  

Edgar Allan Poe finally getting proper funeral
By BEN NUCKOLS,   Associated Press Writer

For Edgar Allan Poe, 2009 has been a better year than 1849. After dozens of events in several cities to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth, he's about to get the grand funeral that a writer of his stature should have received when he died.

One hundred sixty years ago, the beleaguered, impoverished Poe was found, delirious and in distress outside a Baltimore tavern. He was never coherent enough to explain what had befallen him since leaving Richmond, Va., a week earlier. He spent four days in a hospital before he died at age 40.

Poe's cousin, Neilson Poe, never announced his death publicly. Fewer than 10 people attended the hasty funeral for one of the 19th century's greatest writers. And the injustices piled on. Poe's tombstone was destroyed before it could be installed, when a train derailed and crashed into a stonecutter's yard. Rufus Griswold, a Poe enemy, published a libelous obituary that damaged Poe's reputation for decades.

But on Sunday, Poe's funeral will get an elaborate do-over, with two services expected to draw about 350 people each - the most a former church next to his grave can hold. Actors portraying Poe's contemporaries and other long-dead writers and artists will pay their respects, reading eulogies adapted from their writings about Poe. "We are following the proper etiquette for funerals. We want to make it as realistic as possible," said Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum.

Advance tickets are sold out, although Jerome will make some seats available at the door to ensure packed houses. Fans are traveling from as far away as Vietnam.

The funeral is arguably the splashiest of a year's worth of events honoring the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth. Along with Baltimore - where he spent some of his leanest years in the mid-1830s - Poe lived in or has strong connections to Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Richmond.   With the funeral angle covered, the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond staged a re-enactment last weekend of his death. Those with a more academic interest in Poe can attend the Poe Studies Association's annual conference from Thursday through Sunday in Philadelphia.

Visitors in Baltimore for the funeral can enjoy a new exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art, "Edgar Allan Poe: A Baltimore Icon," which includes chilling illustrations to "The Raven" by Edouard Manet.

Baltimore has a decided advantage over the other cities that lay claim to Poe, notes BMA director Doreen Bolger. "We have the body," she said.

More at http://www.kansascity.com/440/story/1492636.html

[Westville Girl]

[size=14My grandparents lived in Hawbuck, in a house that was built in the  1800's by my grandfather's parents or maybe grandparents....Ghost sightings were a pretty regular occurrence there.....I know this sounds crazy, but when I was maybe 15 I heard the living room screen door open and looked up from where I was sitting in the dining room in time to see a native american fella walk through the living room - and he was as real looking as anyone I've ever met!
When my mom was a teen she woke to noise and looked outside, saw a hunting party of native americans camped in front yard complete with a fire....They were singing songs and talking, maybe 10 of them....
My brother also saw my grandfather's mother and her sister sitting on the sofa one day.....
Strange, but true!!pt][/size]

[Winston]

....I know this sounds crazy, but when I was maybe 15 I heard the living room screen door open and looked up from where I was sitting in the dining room in time to see a native american fella walk through the living room - and he was as real looking as anyone I've ever met! ... Strange, but true!!

Hey WG, welcome back!  So, did you freak and go "EEK!"   

Or did you just look up and say, "HOW, Kemo Sabe!"  (Ghosts most likely don't know how, so he probably didn't answer, har.)   

[pesoto74]

I wonder if anybody has heard the story of how the old bridge over the Vermilion at Gilbert Street always had a crack in it that could not be repaired.  It was supposed to be at the spot where a couple of young men were hung from the bridge.  I seem to remember that at one time it was a fairly well known story, however not many people know about it now. 

I also seem to remember a story about a ghost being seen in the Auto Zone store.

[Winston]

I wonder if anybody has heard the story of how the old bridge over the Vermilion at Gilbert Street always had a crack in it that could not be repaired.  It was supposed to be at the spot where a couple of young men were hung from the bridge.  I seem to remember that at one time it was a fairly well known story, however not many people know about it now. 

I also seem to remember a story about a ghost being seen in the Auto Zone store.

Was he on a "ghost run"?   

Hey, Pesoto74, it's not a dark and stormy night, but please tell us a ghost story anyway! 

Here's a "photo" of a ghost sliding down a bannister (apparently apparitions just wanna have fun too)... 


From http://www.neatorama.com/2007/10/25/15-famous-ghost-photos/

Others at http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/

(Disclaimer:  Uh, no.  Except for Casper, 'fraid I don't believe in ghosts.  I'm not even sure Sylvia Brown exists.) 

[pesoto74]

Winston I'm sorry that I don't know more about the stories I mentioned.  I am kinda surprise that no one I ask seems to know anything about the story of the Gilbert street bridge.  Although it may be a story that an older generation knew better.  I first heard it from my grandmother who was born in Danville 102 years ago.

[Winston]

Winston I'm sorry that I don't know more about the stories I mentioned.  I am kinda surprise that no one I ask seems to know anything about the story of the Gilbert street bridge.  Although it may be a story that an older generation knew better.  I first heard it from my grandmother who was born in Danville 102 years ago.

Oh, that's okay with me, but I hope you can come up with a spooky tale in time for NEXT Halloween (then we could call you Edgar Allan Poesoto)!   

On a somber note though, might your story be related to the gruesome details mentioned at this history site below?, (although I wish alleged "research" didn't contain glaring spelling errors which for some readers, tend to diminish credibility).  Placing cursor over the current photos at that site brings up old photos of what presumably existed there previously, which, if so, is also interesting:
http://platialhistory.org/danville.html#