Whether it’s a local account or not, everybody has his or her own ghost stories. From the unexplained creaks to opening and closing of doors, people love sharing their creepy encounters–especially at Halloween.
Mr. Alexander Seymour, who is director of a plethora of Elkhart Community School choirs, recalls a scary encounter he had at the Elkhart Freshman Division auditorium. The lights were off. The room was dead silent. “And in both of my ears I heard Haaah! sounds,” Seymour recounts. “It might have just been the HVAC system turning to life with the coolant running through…but this has occurred three times!” To this day, Seymour is a bit apprehensive when walking down the aisles or across the stage.
However, this is not the only stage where ghosts seem to haunt. Mr. Jeff Reinert, another choir director with Elkhart Community Schools, tells of his experiences with “Percy” backstage at the Elkhart Civic Theatre. “Percy is a friendly ghost…but likes to cause mischief at times,” Reinert explains. Thus, this spirited thespian has become more of a stage extra rather than an extra-terrestrial. As the story goes, Percy is reported to be a ghost in child form who was apparently a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz. After Reinert and the crew left the stage, they all clearly heard the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow playing on a boombox that had zero power! It was truly an electrifying moment.
Among other local haunts is the Winchester Mansion on Second Street in downtown Elkhart. The former house of Nellie Knickerbocker, it was later converted into office space. It is said that Nellie might ring a bell for a few of the tenants–just to let them know she is still there. A true prankster, Nellie pulls out all the stops in any way she can, even when it involves the commode! As far back as 1985, many using the women’s restroom reported an occurrence with a crawl space door. No matter how many times they latched it, the door would mysteriously be reopened, and the sound of a rustling skirt could be heard. Clearly, Nellie runs and hides after her capers.
Don’t believe for one minute, though, that one can escape an encounter merely by leaving Elkhart. While vacationing in Charleston, South Carolina, for instance, Mrs. Krista Riblet came face to face with the unexplainable. “We could see orbs in the air,” states this principal for Health and Public Safety. To this day, she has no idea who or what those orbs were. But, they did exist.
Today, an overwhelming number of people believe in the supernatural, according to a new Civicscience Survey, which states that 41% of adults in the U.S. believe in ghosts or spirits, while another 64% believe in at least some form of the supernatural.
These supernatural beings are believed to originate from the beliefs that one’s spirit is separate from its physical form and continues to exist after his or her untimely demise. After the rise of this idea, humans developed rituals to ensure one’s spirit doesn’t return: burial funerals. Yet, funeral or not, at least the legends live on beyond the grave. Some even carry historical significance.
Assassinated in 1865 while enjoying leisure time in the Ford’s Theatre, Abraham Lincoln reportedly still likes to attend a good show. Moreover, the Lincoln Room is also a resting spot for Honest Abe. From the First Ladies to foreign queens, many claim to have witnessed Abe roaming the halls of the White House…strangely, most sightings were during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s terms.
Even further back, Benjamin Franklin’s Colonial apparition has been seen performing ghostly dance moves, earning him a wild reputation within the American Philosophical Society in his hometown of Philadelphia.
So, on this Halloween, if there is an unexpected chill in the air, noises that echo down the hall, music that radiates out of nowhere, it might be just another ghost story coming to life.
