It is close to Halloween time and the time when scary stories are told. Some of the stories are about places where scary things have happened about Halloween time where other stories are about houses that are said to be haunted. Would you want to go inside one of these so-called haunted houses? Would you be so inquisitive to want to find out for yourself if the haunted stories about this house were really true?
Last Thursday evening (October 13) the Marcus Public Library was ready for Halloween. As we entered, we were greeted by a scarecrow sitting on a chair and reading a book. Going to another room, we were introduced to Mr. Curt Strutz who was going to tell his interested audience about some of our nation’s most haunted locations. He presented his presentation on screen that took us on a tour of some of these “haunted” places.
We toured the Roff House located at Walseka, Illinois. Other tours led us to a hospital that was abandoned as well as to an asylum and other homes. Other than the homes, the other institutions had not really been preserved. Going in the asylum, we saw paint peeling from the walls, doors half hanging, bathrooms with toilets that were in horrible conditions. Over the years, this asylum had been left abandoned but that didn’t mean that people hadn’t found a way to get into it. If they had to use the bathroom, they did and because there was no way of flushing it, you can imagine what a build-up was left behind.
In the early days of these asylums, this is the place were people with mental health problems were taken as they were in no condition to be left to live with those who were of “right mind”. They lived their lives here until death called them.
We were taken to the small rooms that the patients occupied. In their mental conditions, they tried to escape. Walls showed conditions of the patients—scrapings as if they were trying to escape or are the wall marks from their spirits trying to escape? Because there were so many patients and not much help, conditions were not good. Windows had bars over them. There was no way out. Some hung themselves—could the room we visited be one of these? Could you hear patients yelling as we walked down one of the halls? The asylum in Louisville, Kentucky was left in the condition it was when it was abandoned. These conditions make it even more “haunted”.
The Villisca Axe Murders in Iowa were mentioned in his list of places that were thought to be haunted. After you read what had happened in this house, would you really want to tour it? Could the spirits of those killed be in this house yet? Would it be better to let them be alone and not disturb them?
Some of the things that people have experienced in a haunted place—creaking sounds, the sounds of doors opening and shutting, or weird (what seems to be human cries) sounds, his presentation left us to wonder if there really is such a place that is “haunted” or is it our imagination.