Friday, October 3, 2014

Haunted Asylums - Peoria State Hosptial in Bartonville, Illinois


It is that time of year again; time for our annual Haunted Series where we've explored things that go bump in the cemetery, the restaurant, the town … and this year the asylum! Join me each Friday in October as we cast an eye upon those buildings that were feared by the residents and avoided by the living: those Haunted Asylums.



Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane
Construction for the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane began in 1895 in Bartonville, but it was seven years before the facility, built in the “cottage-style” with 7 buildings, would open its doors to the first 100 residents on February 10, 190.

Dr. George Zeller
Patients who were characterized as being “incurably insane” were transferred from other hospitals, almshouses, and institutions around the state to Illinois’ newest facility. The asylum was quickly placed under the direction of Dr. George Zeller by the autumn of 1902.
Dr. Zeller Researching

Dr. Zeller was a new breed of asylum doctors; he believed in a humane approach in dealing with the mentally ill. Zeller also thought that the public needed to understand the mentally ill, so he held meetings and invited local newspapers and community members to visit the hospital.



Wrist Restraint
Cemetery on Hospital Grounds
Color therapy and light therapy were both first introduced during the early years of the hospital. In 1905, Dr. Zeller ordered all bars and mechanical restraints removed from the buildings. He also arranged for burial grounds to be set aside on the property for those patients who had no relatives. The site eventually grew to include four cemeteries where over 4,100 patients were interred.

Thanks to Dr. Zeller, in 1907, the term “incurable” was dropped from the name and the institution became known as the Illinois General Hospital for the Insane. In 1909 the name was changed to the Peoria State Hospital, but locals also called the asylum the Bartonville State Hospital.

Dr. Zeller with Colleagues
Dr. Zeller remained with the facility until 1913 when he accepted a position as a state “alienist.” (psychiatrist) But by 1921, Zeller was back on board as Superintendent, He found such neglect and ill treatment that he checked himself in as a patient for three days, living on a different ward each day. At the end of his experiment, he ordered all staff to spend 8 hours being treated as an inmate.

Patients Lining Porches
In 1927, the hospital celebrated its 25th Anniversary. More than 13,500 patients had come through the asylum’s doors. The current population was listed at 2,650 residents.




Dr. Zeller
In 1935, Dr. Zeller stepped down as Superintendent but he continued to live on the grounds in the Bowen (administration) Building. He died there on June 29, 1938.

Electro Shock Therapy
Soon after his death, The Peoria Hospital took a turn for the worse. Insulin Shock Therapy was introduced, lobotomies were performed, and Electro Convulsive Therapy began to be used. The days of kindness and understanding were over.


Patients at Peoria State Hospital
The 1950’s were peak years at PSH with over 2,800 patients residing here, but several patients were killed or died of mysterious circumstances during this time. At one time over 40 buildings were located on the property.


By 1972 only 600 patients were living here and the imminent closure of the facility was announced. The Peoria State Hospital closed in 1973.



Abandoned Building
The buildings remained empty after the hospital’s closure. Plans were made but development ideas were never successful. Over time, many of the buildings were demolished, others renovated as the community tried to find uses the buildings. 



Peoria State Hospital
But even though the buildings appeared to be empty, many say that spirits still reside here. There are four cemeteries located on the property and all are said to be haunted.




The Bereft
An Old Elm
Dr. Zeller wrote a book in the 1920s called “The Bereft” about his experiences at the hospital. In it he also documented his paranormal experiences at the facility. One of the first unexplainable incidents that occurred at the hospital, which Zeller witnessed, along with hundreds of other patients and staff, involved a mute patient known as Manuel A. Bookbinder. “Old Book” worked with the burial crew at the facility. After each funeral service, as the body was being lowered into the grave, Old Book would remove his cap, lean against an elm tree and sob. No one knew why.

Plaque to Manuel Bookbinder
In 1910, Old Book died and Dr. Zeller along with hundreds of patients and staff attended his funeral at the cemetery. But as the service was being conducted, the sight of Old Book, leaning against the old elm tree, crying, caught everyone’s attention. The funeral was stopped and the casket opened to find the body of Old Book lying peacefully in his coffin. The apparition had vanished and no one could logically explain what had just happened.


Mist at Peoria State Hospital
Empty Hallway
Other apparitions have been seen wandering along hospital corridors, shadows flit about the abandoned rooms, sobs and whispers can be heard throughout the remaining buildings along with footsteps.

Abandoned Hospital
Although Peoria State Hospital might be considered “mild” in comparison to other haunted hospitals, it was voted “Scariest Insane Asylum” in 2012 by Ghostly World visitors, and has been featured on the television show, “Ghost Hunters.”




Today, a group known as “Save the Bowen” owns the asylum. The group is seeking assistance, including financial and volunteers, to save the historical administration building. Find out more at Peoria Asylum.


Next week, we’ll travel north to another insane asylum that has tunnels brimming with paranormal sightings and discover “what lies beneath” …

~ Joy

Friday, September 26, 2014

Daniel Boone – Folk Hero, Frontiersman and Explorer


Fess Parker as Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone
Most of us have heard the story of Daniel Boone, the pioneer and frontiersman who helped blaze a trail into America’s early frontier. Or maybe we remember the TV show “Daniel Boone,” which ran from 1964 to 1970 – not exactly a lesson in history, but it did have a catchy intro song …


Quakers
Daniel Boone was born on November 2, 1734 the sixth of eleven children that Squire and Sarah (Morgan) Boone would have. The Boones were Quakers and lived in the Oley Valley, near what is now Reading, Pennsylvania. Daniel grew up learning to hunt with the Lenape Indians who lived nearby.

Boone had very little formal education but could read and write, and enjoyed reading Gulliver’s Travels to his hunting buddies around a campfire.

French and Indian War
Daniel volunteered for the French and Indian War in 1755 and served under Captain Hugh Waddell as a wagoner in North Carolina. While serving, Boone met John Findley who told him stories about the abundance of game and beautiful settings of the Ohio Valley. Boone’s interest was peaked but it took 12 years before he would make that hunting trip into Kentucky.

Mrs. Boone
In August 1756, Boone married Rebecca Bryan and settled down in North Carolina saying he now had all he needed, "a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife."  Over the years, they had a total of ten children. Boone supported his large family by hunting and trapping, leaving every autumn on long hunts that could last for months.
Squire Boone

Daniel again served in the military during the “Cherokee Uprising” in 1758, moving his family to safety in Virginia until the conflict was over. In 1767, Boone reached Kentucky with his brother, Squire. While there he ran into his old friend, John Findley who convinced him to take a long hunting expedition through Kentucky.



Boonesborough
Through the Cumberland Gap
Boone left in 1769 to clear a trail through the Cumberland Gap; he was gone for two years. When he returned, he packed up his family and moved with another 20 or so families along the Wilderness Road and into Kentucky. Boone led the pioneers to a spot along the Kentucky River and named it Boonesborough.

The American Revolution
With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, the Indians saw a chance to drive the colonists out of Kentucky. By 1776 less than 200 people remained in the area. Those that did were staying in the fortified settlements of Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, and Logan’s Station.



Rescuing Jemima
Then on July 14, 1776 Boone’s daughter, Jemima and two other local girls were captured by a Cherokee and Shawnee war party. Boone and a group of local men were able to get the girls back two days after the ambush. (A fictionalized version of the story was written and entitled Last of the Mohicans in 1826.)
Boone Taken Captive

Two years later, Boone was captured by the Shawnee Indians. He eventually escaped and returned to Boonesborough to help defend it against Indiana raiders. He then left to purchase land for the settlers but was robbed of the monies. He was forced to repay all of the settlers and was never able to escape from the lawsuits and debt.




Daniel Boone
Boone was elected to several government offices including sheriff, lieutenant colonel, and as a legislative delegate. But Kentucky had lost its appeal and Boone moved his family to Upper Louisiana; what is now Missouri, in 1799.
Hunting in Missouri
Spain owned this part of the country and Boone was treated well by the Spanish government, receiving a large land grant and a leadership title. Boone was happy with his life until the U.S. took over the land and denied his claim to the land. It wasn’t until 1814 that Congress restored a part of his landholdings to him.



Nathan's Home
Rebecca Boone died in 1813 and Boone moved near St Charles, Missouri to live with his son, Nathan.  Daniel Boone died in Defiance on September 26, 1820. He was 85 years old.


Daniel Boone was buried next to his wife in an unmarked grave in Marthasville, Missouri. The graves were marked with stones sometime in the mid-1830s. But in 1845, Boone’s remains, along with Rebecca’s, were disinterred and moved to the new cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky, the state’s capital. But were they? Controversy has existed over this for almost 170 years.


The Missouri Stone
The folks in Missouri claimed that Daniel Boone’s grave stone was actually placed over the wrong grave but no one had done any thing about it. When the Kentuckians arrived, they took the wrong remains back with them.









Carving on Kentucky Stone
Kentucky Monument
In 1983, a forensic anthropologist examined the plaster cast that had been made of Boone’s skull before the remains were buried in Frankfort. The verdict was that the skull belonged to an African American. Officials in Frankfort quickly disputed the findings.
  


Today, both Frankfort Cemetery in Kentucky and the Old Bryan Farm Graveyard in Missouri claim to have Daniel Boone’s remains, a conundrum that might have tickled his fancy …

~ Joy




Friday, September 19, 2014

The Restoration of Hickory Hill (The Old Slave HOuse) Cemetery


Good Samartain Restoration Team
On a recent, hot July afternoon, a group made up of nine volunteers began work on restoring two of the most controversial cemeteries in Illinois – Hickory Hill and Lawler. The cemeteries are located side by side within sight of the old Crenshaw place, better known as the Old Slave House.



Gallatin County
Located in Gallatin County, near Equality, Illinois, these cemeteries are the final resting places of several members of the Crenshaw and Lawler families including John Hart Crenshaw, a key figure on the reverse Underground Railroad. Lawler Cemetery was named after Crenshaw’s son-in-law, Civil War General Michael Kelly Lawler.

Old Slave House History
John Hart Crenshaw
Slave Auction
John Hart Crenshaw was a southern Illinois resident who became deeply involved in the slave trade during the 1820’s; he was charged several times with kidnapping during this time. Crenshaw became an actual slave trader in 1827.  The first documented case against him involved a black indentured servant named Frank Granger whom Crenshaw kidnapped and took to Kentucky in 1828.  The second kidnapping case followed on the heels of the first and involved a free black woman named Lucinda and her two children.  Crenshaw kidnapped the three and took them to Barren County, Kentucky in 1828 to be sold into slavery.

In 1829, Crenshaw and his brother, Abraham, bought the land where the Old Slave House would be built and broke ground in 1834. The house was finished in 1838. Crenshaw claimed the house was built for his wife, Sinia Taylor Crenshaw and their five children, but it was also used as a holding station for kidnapped free blacks before they were sent “down the river” and into slavery in the south. With Kentucky (a slave state) just across the river, it was easy to do.


Whipping Post
The first and second floors of the house were furnished with European artwork and furniture, the third floor was constructed of thicker walls with over a dozen cells, about the size of horse stalls, all equipped with heavy metal rings and chains.  A whipping post was located at either end of the hallway next to the windows which provided the only light and air into the attic.



3rd Floor of the Old Slave House
A secret wagon entrance was built in the back of the house where covered wagons carrying kidnapped blacks and indentured whites would drive directly in. Then those kidnapped would be taken up the back stairs to the third floor attic where they were imprisoned in cells, tortured, raped, whipped, and sometimes murdered.




Saline River
Crenshaw created a reverse Underground Railroad in Illinois. He and his hired men would capture free blacks from the North and smuggle them across the river into Kentucky where they would be “sold down the river” into slavery in the southern states. Crenshaw even devised a slave-breeding program in the attic.   A slave named Uncle Bob was used as the stud breeder to provide Crenshaw with more “cargo” to sell off down south. 

Burning of Mill
Crenshaw was finally indicted in 1842 for the kidnapping of Maria, his cook, and her seven children.  Because of his clout and financial standing in the community, he was found not guilty.  But people in the area began to talk and suddenly Crenshaw’s methods were being questioned.  His mill was burned and his standing as an upright and moral man in the community was waning.  Business in the salt works he owned began to decline as more profitable salt was discovered in Ohio and Virginia. Crenshaw watched as his empire dwindled.


Old Slave House
John & Sinia Crenshaw
Crenshaw died December 4, 1871, his wife, Sinia, in 1881.  Both were buried in the tiny, joined cemeteries of Hickory Hill and Lawler, located within sight of their former mansion. The cemetery was avoided by most and eventually fell into disrepair. It seemed a fitting note that Crenshaw’s stone was toppled off of its pedestal and was left laying flat in the ground for years.


Then in December 2000, the State of Illinois acquired the house and two acres of land from George Sisk, Jr. In 2011, the Center for Archaeological Investigations at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale finished their historical, architectural and archaeological research and excavations of the property.

Crenshaw's Stone
But no one appeared to care about the cemeteries. Vandals had done a lot of damage to the stones, and storms had wrecked havoc with falling limbs and uprooted trees.






Restoring the Cemeteries

Angie Johnson
When Angie Johnson, an Illinois native, found out that the cemeteries were in disrepair, she and her 16-member Good Samaritans Restoration team decided to step in and request permission to restore and preserve them. It took two years to get the paperwork in order for the Illinois Historical Preservation Agency before the group could begin but in 2013, Angie was granted permission to restore Hickory Hill and Lawler Cemeteries.


Cleaning Stones
The actual restoration took place this past July. There were about 35 stones in the cemeteries and most needed some type of repair, restoration or cleaning. Angie and her team took it all in stride, dividing up into groups to do stone cleaning, stone repair, and the big jobs - replacing those monuments that had been toppled over. 





Hoisting a Stone in Place
Placing the Stone on the Pedestal
Taking two weekends, the group worked on leveling, repairing, and hoisting monuments back in place. 








Hickory Hill - Before
When the team started the cemetery looked like this - 






Hickory Hill - After
Today, the cemetery is back in shape, with straight, gorgeous monuments and stones; a beautiful  cemetery that encourages visitors to linger, and once again, demands respect.





Paperwork for Hickory Hill
Good Samaritans Restoration
Angie took preservation classes through the Illinois Historical Preservation Agency, learning how to do the restoration work, finding out about laws governing cemeteries, and discovering how to fill out the mountains of paperwork required to document the process. The Good Samaritans Restoration Group is made up of volunteers who give their time freely to repair and restore cemeteries throughout the state of Illinois.

Toppled Stone ...
Angie Johnson has had an interest in cemeteries for years. She founded the Illinois Chapter of the Association of Gravestone Studies in 2012 and holds semi-annual Cemetery Crawls around the state as a way to acquaint others with the history and beauty of local and regional cemeteries.


... Restored Stone
You can keep up with her restoration activities on her website Walk Among the Dead Girl @ http://www.walkamongthedeadgirl.com or by visiting The Good Samaritans Restoration Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Good-Samaritans-Restoration/596631623753086.





Crenshaw House
In 2004, the National Park Service declared the Crenshaw House, also known as the Old Slave House, as a station in the ‘Reverse Underground Railroad Network to Freedom’ program, thus acknowledging the sadistic part that John Crenshaw played in condemning free blacks and indentured servants to lives of slavery.
While Crenshaw was not the only slave trader in the state of Illinois, he became the most notorious and the most ruthless in Illinois’ history. 



Now Owned by the State of Illinois
Posted - NO Trespassing
Unfortunately, the state of Illinois has no plans to reopen the house. That's a shame since this sad part of the state’s history could make a powerful impact on visitors, and future generations.


Hickory Hill Cemetery
It would be wonderful to see Hickory Hill and Lawler Cemeteries also gain protection under the National Park Service. Thanks to Angie Johnson and her team, these cemeteries have been restored and can continue to teach this, and subsequent generations, some powerful lessons.

~ Joy