By Beth Boardman
The LaPorte Daily Herald ran this "photo" of a politically opinionated ghost in 1890. She liked to hang out near the Ruth Sabin Home.
You can say one thing about the spirits said to inhabit LaPorte and its environs — there’s great variety.
There’s a beautiful young woman, a tall guy, an old lady, an airship, some Civil war soldiers, and various and sundry other apparitions.
LaPorte County Historian Fern Eddy Schultz told tales of the spirits to a capacity crowd of 85 or so on Oct. 24 at the LaPorte County Historical Society Museum. Young kids, their parents and older folks all came to hear the stories, found by Fern over the years in vintage local newspapers.
Some of the tales are “a bit preposterous,” she admitted. But as Halloween approaches, what’s better than a preposterous ghost story?
Such as:
– Various folks over the years reported seeing “men wearing Civil War uniforms appearing out of thin air” near the LaPorte structure that served as a hospital for Union soldiers assigned to two local camps. The home still stands, at the corner of C and First streets. Sometimes the witnesses saw soldiers going through the structure’s front door. Literally. Going through the door.
– Many are familiar with the three bald cypress trees that stand at the shore of Clear Lake off Truesdell Avenue — sometimes in the water, sometimes on dry land, depending on the lake level. For decades they’ve withstood all weather. Fern heard tell that they were planted in memory of three young girls who met with some terrible fate. But then she found the true story of three boys who drowned in Clear Lake in March 1928 after falling through rotten ice. Their names were Ralph and George Mandeville and Harold Burg, all age 9. She wonders if the trees stand in remembrance of them. As Fern said, not a ghost story per se, but interesting nonetheless.
In 1897 a local man saw a ghostly airship in the shape of a whale floating over New Carlisle. A year later such sightings inspired a musical comedy, a poster for which is shown here.
– In April 1897, a Joseph Eberhardt was coming home from his job in South Bend and got as far as New Carlisle when he saw a ghostly airship “in the shape of a whale.” He told the newspaper, “It swept along at a marvelous rate and soon disappeared.” Either there were a lot of ghostly airships flying around that year, or Mr. Eberhardt joined a sort of “balloon boy” hoax of the time, because similar sightings were reported all across the country. In fact, in 1898 a musical comedy — “The Air Ship” — was produced spoofing the sightings.
– The tale lives to this day of a young couple who supposedly stopped along woodsy Orr Lake Road due to car trouble. The boy went to get help … returned to find his girlfriend missing … saw drops of blood on the car … looked up to see her hanging from a tree. Years later, people reported ghosts hanging from trees or rising from Orr Lake. A story involving the same road tells of a hookman roaming the area.
– In 1890 the LaPorte Daily Herald interviewed the ghost of a young woman who frequented the Ruth Sabin Home area. The apparition freely offered her views on issues of the day — whether the proposed Pine-Stone Lake channel should be installed, the botched work of census enumerators, whether a bath house should be built at the park, etc. She even offered that “I was killed by a stroke of policy.” Who needs cable news stations when you have your own politically opinionated ghost?
– Belle, of course, has surfaced in ghost stories. The Gunness farm would be a logical hangout for the spirits of many a spurned and slain suitor — not to mention Belle herself or her ill-fated children. Fern speculated, though, that the main reason young men liked to drive by the property on McClung Road and tell such tales was so their dates would snuggle closer to them.
– The former George Andrew home on I Street remains the granddaddy for local ghost stories, Fern said. Even during the home’s construction, stories arose; one had the entire structure rotating on its foundation during a tornado. A subsequent owner of the home reported old coins appearing on the floor and the doorbell constantly ringing. Later occupants, the Robert Zimmermann family, said during their time there from 1958-63 they also found old coins after hearing them drop to the floor, and a daughter saw a woman in Victorian clothing appear in an upper window. Explosions and clanking chains were other phenomena. Later, when the house was razed and the I Street Clinic was erected there, employees reported such things as flickering lights, flushing toilets, drawers and doors opening and closing by themselves, and disappearing medical instruments. Perhaps it was all the work of a Potawatomi Indian girl supposedly buried on the grounds in 1838 …
Now, don’t let these stories haunt you as Halloween approaches.
Not a ghost story, but a true story of three ill-fated boys might have led to the planting of these landmark bald cypress trees at Clear Lake.
Somewhat Skeptical — October 29, 2009 @ 5:37 pm
The first time I ever heard anything about ghosts at the old “Civil War Hospital” was a year or so ago. It’s puzzling to me because our family has lived in the area of the “Civil War Hospital” since the early 1900’s and we never heard any tales about “men wearing civil war uniforms” either appearing or disappearing anywhere in the vicinity. And believe me, if my father could have produced a neighborhood ghost or two with which to frighten us, he would have done so with great gusto!
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