Mausoleums - Haunted "Homes" of the Dead

 

By Joy Neighbors

Haunted cemeteries are especially in vogue this time of year, but haunted mausoleums seem to be a major attraction any time. There’s something about this “house-type" structure that intrigues us, and then throw in a ghost or two, and we're hooked.

Here are four mausoleums that house more "spirit" than most.

Spring Grove Cemetery – Cincinnati, OH

Dexter Mausoleum

Edmund Dexter

This mausoleum was built in 1869 for whiskey baron, Edmund Dexter, one of Cincinnati’s wealthiest residents in the mid-1800s. When Dexter died, he was laid to rest in this Gothic Revival mausoleum, which contains 12 marble crypts where four generations of the Dexter family are buried. Besides it’s claim of being haunted, it also boasts the only two flying buttresses in Cincinnati.

It has been rumored that two large white dogs protect the mausoleum, although it isn’t known if they were once pets of the Dexter’s. Legend has it that if you sit on the steps of the mausoleum, the dogs will appear. If they believe you to be good, they will run past. If they are not sure of your intentions, they will stop and watch you. If they sense you are up to no-good, they will growl and advance. (Best to be up to only good when you visit.)

Greenwood Cemetery – Decatur, IL

Public Mausoleum

The Public Mausoleum was built in 1908 but soon ran into trouble when leaks developed due to shoddy construction. The cemetery association soon ran out of money and ghost stories began to circulate as the grounds fell into disrepair. By the 1950’s, what had once been a beautiful, rural garden-style cemetery became a magnet for negativity. People reported hearing disembodied voices, crying and screaming coming from the mausoleum. By 1957, the building was declared unsafe and was closed. Family members were notified to relocate their loved ones. One hundred bodies were never claimed – some were never identified. Eventually the cemetery association buried them in common graves across from where the mausoleum had been.

Former Location of Mausoleum

It was 1967 when the mausoleum was finally razed. Today that site is still vacant. No burials have ever been made here, and there are still reports of voices along with lights seen wandering near the common graves – perhaps a lost soul searching for their remains?

Highland Lawn Cemetery – Terre Haute, IN

Sheets Mausoleum

Martin Sheets was born in 1853 and lived into his early 70s. He saw many technological changes during that time, and one of the new-fangled inventions he found an odd use for was the telephone. Martin had one installed in the family mausoleum, just in case he was buried unconscious, but alive, and needed to summon help. It was stipulated in his will that a phone line be run from his crypt to the cemetery office. He then set up an account with Indiana Bell Telephone that kept the line paid for and active, just in case he ever needed it.

When Martin died, he was placed in the family mausoleum with his infant daughter. Several years later his wife Susan passed away. When family members found her, she was in the kitchen with the phone in her hand. They assumed she had been attempting to summon help.  But according to legend, when the mausoleum was unlocked to place Susan’s casket next to her husband, cemetery workers discovered the phone in the crypt was off the hook! Coincidence … or a call to "come home?"

Highland Lawn Cemetery – Terre Haute, IN

Heinl Mausoleum

John Heinl

And then there’s my favorite haunted mausoleum tale - that of Stiffy Green.

Terre Haute businessman John Heinl and his dog, Stiffy Green would stroll through town, visiting with the folks. Stiffy had received his name because of his stiff walking gait and green eyes, and everyone knew the pair.

On December 31, 1920, John Heinl passed away. Stiffy was inconsolable. He sat be the coffin at the funeral and followed the family to the graveyard where he took up post at the mausoleum doors, and there he remained, guarding his master in death as he had guarded him in life. Family and friends made many trips to the cemetery that winter to retrieve Stiffy and take him home, only for him to return to his master’s crypt doors.

Stiffy Green

Stiffy slowly mourned himself to death. Heinl’s wife was so touched that she paid tribute to his unwavering love and devotion by having him stuffed in the sitting position he had assumed for so long on those cold mausoleum steps.  Stiffy was then placed inside the tomb, reunited at last with his master.

But it wasn’t long before cemetery workers noticed that Stiffy mysteriously moved from one side of the tomb to the other, and back. Sightseers began to visit after dark and vandals would not leave the site alone, damaging doors and windows. Then, in 1985, thugs shot out Stiffy’s right glass eye. The family decided it was time for Stiffy be moved and the Vigo County Historical Society Museum agreed to take him. There, the Terre Haute Lions Club built a replica of the Heinl mausoleum so that Stiffy could still be “on guard.” 

But rumors spread that just at twilight on autumn evenings, you can see an elderly man and his small dog walking near the Heinl crypt, the smell the rich pipe smoke wafts though the air, and a low voice can be heard talking to his devoted companion who answers him with a happy bark as they take another stroll together.

One of America's Most Haunted Cemeteries...

Halloween is fast approaching.  This month, A Grave Interest has taken a look at several haunted cemeteries.  Get ready as we explore one of America's most haunted cemeteries.....

Greenwood Sign

Greenwood Cemetery

What is now Greenwood Cemetery, in Decatur, Illinois, was first used as sacred burial grounds by Native Americans, hundreds of years ago. Settlers to the area in the early 1800's continued burying their dead here, and in 1857, the cemetery was incorporated as Greenwood Cemetery.

Broken Window

Security Fence Cut

Greenwood is supposedly one of the ten most haunted cemeteries in the U.S.  Ghost stories began to circulate during the 1920’s when the cemetery fell into disrepair.  The cemetery association was financially broke; upkeep and repairs could no longer be made.  By the 1950’s, what had once been a beautiful, rural garden-style cemetery became a magnet for negativity.  Gangs roamed the cemetery at night, cults used the grounds, and paranormal activity surged. While some cemeteries have spook lights, others have devils chairs, still others have apparitions; Greenwood seems to have them all.

The legends of ghosts and mysterious occurrences are numerous for Greenwood Cemetery.  Here are just a few –

Barrackman Steps

Barrackman Graves

Barrackman Steps

Greenwood is made up of hills and valleys.  On a slight hill is a set of five stone steps, which leads up to four gravestones for the Barrackman family.  Many have reported seeing a woman standing at the top of the steps with her head bowed, crying.  But the phantom only appears in the evening, near sunset. Once the sun has disappeared, so does she.

Greenwood Bride

Bootlegger

Local lore has it that in the early 1930’s, a young couple decided to elope because their families did not approve of their marrying.  The couple planned to leave at night after the man, who made his living as a bootlegger, dropped off his last order.  The girl waited for him, as planned, but he never arrived. 

The next day she was told that a rival bootlegger had killed her fiancé and tossed his body into the Sangamon River, near the cemetery. His body was later found and buried in Greenwood Cemetery. Unable to bear the news, the young woman plunged into the river and drowned.

The Bride's Grave

Her parents buried her in her wedding gown.  It has been reported that a young woman in a white wedding gown walks through the cemetery, weeping and peering at headstones, searching for her lost love.

Devil’s Chair

Devil's Chair?

The legend of the Devil’s Chair, or haunted chair, as it is some times known, has been handed down through folklore. The chair is actually a mourning chair.  It was placed by a grave, so that family and friends would have a place to sit when they visited the deceased. Mourning chairs are considered to be funerary sculpture.  

According to various superstitions, when someone sits on the chair, they will incur bad luck, or die within a year. Other legends promise good luck, or riches. 

Greenwood's Devil's Chair

Seat of the Chair

According to the legend of the Devil's Chair in Greenwood Cemetery, if you sit on the chair at a certain time, you can make a pact with the Devil.  You will get anything you want for seven years.  At the end of the seven years, the devil comes to claim your soul.  Many cemeteries have removed their mourning chairs because of vandalism. Greenwood’s chair remains...

Mausoleum

Greenwood Public Mausoleum

The Public Mausoleum was built in Greenwood Cemetery in 1908 and  problems developed soon after.  According to reports, the construction was shoddy, and the mausoleum leaked. Repairs were not made and the mausoleum began sliding into disrepair. Reports began to surface of voices, crying, and screams heard coming from the building.

Inside Mausoleum

Graves Related to Mausoleum

In 1957, the mausoleum was declared to be unsafe and was closed.  Families were notified and asked to relocate their loved ones.  Over one hundred bodies were never claimed; some were never identified.  The cemetery buried these remains in several common graves, located across the road from the mausoleum.  The building was demolished in 1967.  But, it seems, many do not rest in peace.

Former Mausoleum Location

Overlooking Where Mausoleum Was

The site of the former mausoleum is still vacant, almost 45 years later.  No burials have taken place on this stretch of empty, unclaimed ground. Across the road, several common graves hold the remains of over 100 unclaimed bodies.  Reports of voices and screams continue to be heard in this area, along with lights seen moving at night among the common graves, searching for.........

Civil War Burials

Civil War Burial Area

Civil War Train

This is said to be the most haunted area of the cemetery.  During the Civil War, troop trains, on their way to confederate prison camps near Chicago, would stop in Decatur.  One such train stopped to unload most of its cargo; the bodies of southern prisoners who had died of yellow fever on the way north.

Union War Memorial

Union Gravestones

Wagons carried the Confederate bodies to the cemetery for a mass burial in a huge unmarked grave, located on the side of a hill. It was rumored that not all of those buried had yet died. After the war, a memorial in honor of Illinois’ Union Troops was built on the top of the hill.

Unknown U.S. Soldiers Graves

Retaining Wall in Place After Flood

Several years later, the Sangamon River, located next to the hill, flooded. When the flood receded, it was apparent that many of the Confederate remains had been washed away.  Those that were found were reburied and marked as “Unknown U.S. Soldier.”

Hill Where Confederates Had Been Buried

It was soon after the flood that reports of ghostly soldiers began. Cries and wails of some very tormented spirits could be heard in this area. Unexplained lights have also been seen roaming the hill.  Many claim the lights belong to those lost Confederate soldiers, still searching for their missing remains.

  

Phantoms

Hill Where Phantoms Were Seen

And, along with phantom lights, comes phantom mourners.  Greenwood has been the site of many spectral funerals and mourners.  Staff, and those visiting, have witnessed phantom funerals occurring throughout the cemetery.

Greenwood Cemetery

Greenwood Cemetery certainly has a vibe all it's own, and stories continue to surface about the grounds being haunted.  The cemetery is well cared for now and definitely worth a visit any time of year.  Greenwood Cemetery is located at the end of South Church Street in Decatur.  The cemetery is open from daylight to dusk, and a caretaker lives on-site.  For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenwood-Cemetery-Decatur-Illinois/106976936023491

~ Joy

Haunted Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio

October is upon us…. a time for hauntings, Halloween - and all things spooky.  This month, A Grave Interest takes a look at several haunted cemeteries.  Get ready as we explore some ‘lively’ places, and the people who make them so…….

Spring Grove Cemetery

Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio is the second largest cemetery in the United States.  Founded in 1845 by the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, it is comprised of 733 acres, but currently only 400 acres are landscaped and in use. It was renamed Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in 1987.

Rock Bridge in Cemetery

Bronze Sculpture

Many of the most notable figures from Cincinnati history are buried here, but some remain a bit restless in this scenic “garden of paradise.”

Norman Chapel

The Norman Chapel, located just inside the main gates, is rumored to be haunted.  Designed in the Romanesque Revival or Norman style by Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford, in 1879, the chapel is complete with gargoyle guards.

Norman Chapel @ Turn of Century

Jail Bars

Legend has it that cries can be heard coming from the chapel basement at night.  A holding cell was built in the basement during the late 1800’s to jail those who were traveling too fast through the cemetery.  Drivers were arrested, put in the jail cell, and held overnight.  It is rumored that some still remain….

Dexter Mausoleum

Edmund Dexter

The most eerie structure in the cemetery is the Dexter Mausoleum. It was built in 1869 as a private family mausoleum for whiskey baron, Edmund Dexter.  The mausoleum boasts the only two symmetrical flying buttresses in Cincinnati, and was constructed to resemble a Gothic Revival funerary monument.

Dexter Mausoleum

White Dog Statue in Cemetery

Some say that the mausoleum is guarded by two white dogs.  Legend has it that if you sit on the steps of the mausoleum, two white dogs will appear.  They may run past you, stop and quietly watch you, or stop and growl.

Optometrist's Tools

Breuer Monument

The strangest tale of the cemetery involves the grave marker of Charles C. Breuer.  Breuer was an optometrist by trade.  When he died in 1908, he supposedly requested that his eyes be removed, put in glass, and placed in the bronze bust likeness of himself, located on the side of the monument. 

Breuer's Brown Eyes

Breuer Bronze Bust

Other stories report that Breuer requested glass eyes to match his own and had them placed in the bronze bust that was mounted on his marker.  It was his way of “keeping an eye on things”, even after death.  Regardless, many people report feeling watched when they are near the Breuer marker and some say the head has moved…

Interesting Stone

There are other reports of mists and wispy things passing by in the cemetery.  When I was there on a rainy April day, I heard footsteps approaching behind me.  When I turned, expecting to see my husband, no one was there.  Only a slight breeze blew past quickly and then all was quiet again.

Mausoleum Door

Sinking Mausoleum

Spring Grove is located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue in Cincinnati.  The cemetery grounds are open from 8 A.M. to 6 P.M. each day.  The phone number is (513) 681-7526.  Visit their web page at http://www.springgrove.org/ or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sgcemetery.

Next week we’ll visit one of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States.

~ Joy