Friday, October 12, 2012

Central State Hosptial (Indiana Insane Asylum) & Cemetery




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




Scalping in the Hospital
It was called the Indiana Hospital for the Insane, better known to Indianapolis residents as the Insane Asylum.  The hospital opened in November 1848 to house five patients. It consisted of one hospital building, situated on 100 wooded acres of land.  For the first 50 years, the hospital simply warehoused people.  There was little, if any, attempt to treat them for their problems.

Central State Hospital
By 1900, conditions for patients began to slowly improve.  In the 1920’s, the hospital was renamed Central State Hospital. Over the years, more buildings were needed to house and care for patients. Buildings were added onto and more were built until the hospital complex on the city’s west side housed over 3,000 people by the close of the 1920’s.


Seven Steeples Women's Dorm
Aerial Map of Grounds

The Central State Hospital grounds included dormitories, treatment buildings, a carpentry shop, power plants, and a fire station.   The complex also included a motel, carwash and conference center. The largest building on the campus was the Seven Steeples Women’s Dormitory. 

Old Laundry Building
Pathology (Morgue) Building
There are around 20 buildings left on the property.  The oldest  is the Old Laundry Building built in 1884.  Others include the Pathology Laboratory, also known as the Morgue, built in 1895. It is now the Indiana Medical History Museum.  The Administration Building was constructed in 1938, and the Kitchen and Dining Hall, which was built in 1959. All are considered to be historic buildings by the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archeology.

Tunnel
Tunnel
Over five miles of concrete service tunnels, known as the catacombs, existed under the grounds.  They were used to link the buildings together.  Rumor has it that cells had been carved off the tunnels where the most violent patients were kept in chains and manacles.  It was also said that the tunnels were used so that patients could be moved without ‘fuss’ to the local jail, or a small airport located nearby, if the need arose.

Many basements under the buildings were considered dungeons in the 1800’s, places to hold patients who screamed incessantly or were criminally insane.  These “wards” lacked proper ventilation, light or heat and many died here.



Patient in Straight Jacket
Patients
Sadly, many of the people housed here did not suffer from mental insanity.  Instead, they were sent here because family members could not afford to care for them, or could not find the time necessary to take care of them. Emotional issues including stress, depression, and what we know today as bi-polar disorder, could land you here with the criminally insane.

Roof Caving In
Inside Hallway
By the 1970’s, the hospital was overcrowded and run down.  Many buildings were declared unsafe and torn down, including Seven Gables, the women’s dorm. Allegations of abuse and lack of funding helped in closing down the facility.



City's Proposed Plans
Door in Hospital
The Central State Hospital was closed in 1994. Remaining patients were sent to other hospitals around the state, to family and friends, or left to wander the streets.  The city of Indianapolis purchased the 146-acre of grounds from the State in 2003 with plans to turn it into a housing development with a cultural park.  The bust of the housing bubble seems to have put those plans on an indefinite hold.


Cemetery Grounds
Cemetery Fence
It is said that the hospital and grounds are haunted, including the Central State Hospital Cemetery, located across the street, adjacent to the Mt. Jackson Cemetery.   There are no signs to mark this place, not even a gate, just a chain-link fence surrounding it.  

Tree Stone Marks a Grave
Typical Grave Marker
A few graves are marked with stones, but the majority consist of red plastic numbers on concrete slabs.  Most of those are covered over with grass and dirt.


Cemetery Directory
A large directory is located near the north side of the cemetery, encased in brick and plastic.  It lists the last name and first initial of those known to be buried here, along with a grave number. There are said to be almost 600 interred in this 3-acre plot of land. Records were not well kept on this cemetery and the exact number interred is not known.  Many were buried without any marker.  Burials began around 1855 and ended in the mid-1940’s.  No names are known for those buried in the oldest section.


Cemetery Grounds
Trees and Grass Need Tending
The cemetery has fallen into disrepair.  A cleanup effort was held in 2010, but maintenance has not been kept up by the city and the cemetery is again being ignored.


Feelings of Being Watched

Shadowed Grounds
Mysterious people have been seen in the cemetery, dressed in hospital gowns from different time periods.  Shadows move from grave to grave. Screams have been heard coming from the hospital buildings and the grounds.  Moans and crying have also been heard.  When I was there, I had the feeling of being watched, and of definitely not being wanted in the cemetery.

Pathology Lecture
Indiana Medical History Museum
If you would like to find out more, the hospital grounds are open during the day.  The only building that is open is the Indiana Medical History Museum. At one time this building was the hospital morgue where hundreds of autopsies were performed in order to learn more about mental illness.  It is also reported to be haunted.  The museum is open to the public and tours are available.  Visit http://www.imhm.org/ for more information.

Next week, we'll visit a haunted Ohio cemetery.

~ Joy

Friday, October 5, 2012

Resurrection Mary and Resurrection Cemetery in Chicago

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



Resurrection Cemetery, on the outskirts of Chicago, is a comfortable cemetery – during the day.  But at night it’s rumored that a young girl still roams the area in search of dancing partners and the life she once lived…



Resurrection Mary is one of the most popular ghosts in the U.S.  The story is based on a legend about a local girl who had gone dancing with her boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom during early 1930’s.  During the evening the couple had an argument and Mary decided to walk home; she was struck and killed by a vehicle while walking on Archer Avenue.  The driver fled the scene and was never found.  Mary was buried in Resurrection Cemetery, near the ballroom.


Jerry Palus
A Night of Dancing
Sightings of Mary began in the late 1930’s and continue to this day.  The first reported occurrence happened in 1939 to Jerry Palus.  Palus claimed that he met the blond haired, blue-eyed girl at the Liberty Grove and Hall.  They danced throughout the evening and he offered to give her a ride home.  After giving him her address, she remained quiet.  During the ride home, Mary disappeared from the car in front of the cemetery. Palus said he went to the address Mary had given him and spoke with her parents who told him that Mary had been dead for several years. And so the legend began…


Resurrection Cemetery Gates
Over two dozen people have reported picking Mary up as she walked along Archer Avenue on dark, cold nights.  Most drivers report that she is dressed as if she has come from an evening of dancing, in a white dress from years ago.   Mary usually disappears from the car as it passes the cemetery, or asks to be let out at the front of the gates where she disappears inside.

Anna Norkus

Marie Bregovy
So who was Resurrection Mary?  It’s not really known.  Conjecture is that she may be Mary (Marie) Bregovy who died in an auto accident on Wacker Drive in 1934.  Other reports claim she is Anna Norkus who died in a car accident while returning home from the Oh Henry Ballroom in 1927. Or, Mary may be nothing more than an urban legend, a romantic story about the Windy City’s most famous vanishing hitchhiker ghost.  But over two dozen eyewitnesses have described the same girl, doing the same thing, decade after decade…

Bent Bars on the Gate
In 1976, police responded to a call about a young woman being locked in the cemetery.  When they arrived, no one was found inside, but an officer did discover that the bars to the front gate had been bent, with handprints burned into the metal.  Cemetery officials said the gate was damaged by a truck and had it replaced to stop curiosity seekers from coming out at night.




Blackmore's Night
Ian Hunter
Several songs have been written about Resurrection Mary, including Laurie (Strange Things Happen) by Dickie Lee in 1965, Resurrection Mary by Ian Hunter in 1996, and I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore by Blackmore’s Night in 2006.

 

Willowbrook Ballroom
Willowbrook Book
The Oh Henry Ballroom is still there on Archer Avenue.  Named after the Oh Henry candy bar, the ballroom opened in 1921.   It now goes by the name the Willowbrook Ballroom.  There is also a Willowbrook Ballroom book; maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of Mary in an old photo, dancing the night away…..


Mausoleum in the Setting Sun
Resurrection Cemetery
If you’re looking for information about the cemetery, I suggest you visit their website @ http://www.catholiccemeterieschicago.org/locations.php?id=15


Map of Area
Alter in Mausoleum
The woman I spoke with at the main desk was not helpful.  When I asked for a map and information on cemetery and its most famous interments, (I made no mention of Resurrection Mary,) she would give me neither.  Luckily, I had already researched the cemetery and knew what gems were there – hundreds of gorgeous statues, an outdoor garden crypt with 5,000 vaults, and the Resurrection Mausoleum, an architectural marvel with stained glass window walls.


Statue of Michael
View of the cemetery
Resurrection Cemetery began in 1904 as a Polish Catholic Cemetery.  Today, it serves all members of the Catholic faith with over 150,000 interments.  The cemetery is located at 7201 Archer Avenue in Justice, Illinois. It is open Monday – Friday from 8:30 A.M. to 4 P.M. and Saturdays from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. 


Regardless of who she was, the legend of Resurrection Mary continues to haunt Archer Avenue and Resurrection Cemetery.  It just goes to show; you never know whom you’ll pick up along a deserted stretch of roadway on a cold, dark night….

~ Joy