Thursday, August 27, 2009

Ghost Stories - Fort Wayne Indiana


Since my favorite season is coming, I thought I'd start telling some ghostly tales that come from different places around the country. I'll pick my cities and towns at random, unless you have a special request you'd like to propose. Today, I've chosen Fort Wayne, Indiana and there's a couple I've happened upon while doing research that sounded a little like urban legends but still sounded like fun. Maybe some of you that live in Fort Wayne can check them out and report back.
In Fort Wayne is a place the locals call "Devil's Hollow" and is located on Cedar Canyon Rd near Auburn Rd. Apparently as you drive, you find yourself going up a hill and you see a the remnants of a burnt chimney stack in distance. A little further, and you see the burnt remnants of what once was a lovely home.
There seems to be two different stories told here. The first goes that because of its secluded spot local satanic cults and witch covens used the area for their meetings and sacrificial rites where goats and pigs and other small animals were slaughtered. Word got around that the woman who owned the land and lived in the house was a witch and not only went along with this heinous activity, but joined in. Since the people of the Fort Wayne considered themselves a Christian community full of God-fearing people, they would have none of this, and decided this must be stopped. One day they made their way to the woman's house,set it on fire, either not realizing or perhaps knowing to well that she was inside, killing her in the scorching flames. All activity stopped at that point. All further cult activity stopped at that point with speculation being that the cults moved on to another location, possible out of the county.
Story two is much milder. It states that a sweet old woman was bothered by the bunch of teenagers who frequented her secluded property, using it as a party spot and lover's lane of sorts, blaring music from their car stereos and leaving the grounds littered with beer bottles and other less appealing items.
Word has it that there were police reports and arrests made regarding the teenagers but nothing was really done about it. Talking the matter into her own hands, together with some friends, the old woman thought if she spread the rumor around that she was a witch, it might frightened the teenagers enough to keep the teens away from her house and off of her property. Her strategy didn't work. In the still of one quite night, her house was burned to the ground with her inside, and no one was ever charged with the crime.
It is said that if you go to the spot around Halloween you're supposed to be able to have a sense that the old woman is still there and haunting her grounds. This feeling of her presence is stronger if you go there during a full moon, which may lend credence to the witch part of the story but maybe not.
Fort Wayne is actually has the potential for being a very haunted city. Pretty much the entire city was the home of Miami Indians with both French and English Forts in the areas. There are sites where wars took place, there are sites of Indian torture grounds, burial grounds, sites where soldiers and settlers died premature and grisly deaths and the whole city is built right on top of those spots.
There are many reports of hauntings in the old city jail (calaboose) housed under the historical center. It has the original cells where at least one prisoner hanged himself. Incidentally, Fort Wayne has one of the top 3 libraries for genealogy research in the entire country so it's a good place to visit if you are interested in ghost stories or genealogy.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

THE WITCH OF DEVIL'S HOLLOW THAT
YOU HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT, WAS ACTUALLY A LITTLE OLD LADY BY THE
NAME OF LILLIAN LYNN WHO I HAD THE
PLEASURE OF BEING INTRODUCED TO BACK IN THE 1970'S. SHE LIVED UP ON A HILL AND YES SHE WAS TAUNTED BY MANY TEENAGERS WHO USE TO COME UP ONTO HER PROPERTY AND SCARE HER. SHE WAS A WONDERFUL PERSON AND NEVER DID A MEAN THING TO ANYONE. SHE HAD A LARGE IRISH WOLFHOUND NAMED "SISSY" THAT USED TO LIKE TO EAT KLEENIX'S OUT OF MY HAND. LILLIAN WAS NOT A WITCH, TO THE CONTRARY SHE WAS AN ANGEL AND WAS ONE OF THE MOST KIND HEARTED PEOPLE YOU WOULD EVER KNOWN. IT WAS AWFUL THAT SHE WAS TEASED AND HARRASSED AND CALLED A WITCH. SHE WAS INVOLVED IN THE FILM INDUSTRY BACK IN THE 30'S AND WORKED WITH SEVERAL FAMOUS ACTORS SUCH AS JOHN BARRYMORE AND JIMMY STEWART. WHAT A WONDERFUL WOMAN I REMEMBER AND SUCH A DELIGHTFUL PERSON AND SO MUCH FUN TO BE AROUND. SHAME ON ANYONE INVOLVED WITH THE HARRASSMENT THIS WOMAN ENDURED IN HER FINAL DAYS OF LIFE. LILLIAN, MAY YOUR SPIRIT REST IN PEACE AND MAY YOU HAVE THE LASTING REST YOU DESERVE IN THE PRESENCE OF OUR ETERNAL FATHER'S ARMS.

Anonymous said...

i live in ft. wayne IN. and i dnt thnk itz "haunted" hwevr i du thnk ther r sum houses and buildings with a strange history . . such as this .. i thnk the "dead" wlkin amoungst us shud b left alone and givn tym to crossovr with anny interferences with the living... they probably r nt readii 2 mve on or they myt feel as if they did nt prefill they hav set 4th to du n the early life. . and wil "haunt" the living if the try to interfere with that.. > ft. wayne citizen

Anonymous said...

woops had a few typos .... i meant 2 sae without interferences frm the living

Buy Cialis said...

Yeah the story it's a little scare, I wonder why the witches use to act like that, just like the mermaids, it's curious, maybe witches evolve in mermaids in sometime in story.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I first need to say, Could Fort Wayne people who blog learn to spell and speak correctly?????? This is not a good image for our area and it fills the old rumors of how backwoodsy and illiterate Indiana people are. We are not all this way. This blog is important to our historic voices, and growing up around here it is nice to see people talking about all the Pain and Suffering that has taken place in our city and surrounding areas. I am 50 years old, and lived my own scary story growing up. My friends and I experienced true paranormal effects during our many trips to Devil's Hollow area off of Auburn Road . That poor woman who lived there. I was shocked later in life to find out it burned. Also growning up around New Haven and Woodburn and Payne Ohio, oh my, it is very haunted. No offense to the bad spells and grammer, but please set an example that we are not all rednecks, thanks.

joakes said...

I believe that atleast parts of Ft. Wayne are haunted, including ours. Our house was built on one of the burial grounds and have a lot of activity. Not so much since I had to try and calm it down with bibles and experience. We had to have one of our dogs put to sleep after it dug up a Jesus statue holding a baby from our back yard! He turned visous and a lot of scary and unexplainable was happening. Not so earry now, but from time to time, more during the fall and winter months.

Anonymous said...

It does appear that we are all rednecks who cannot spell or speak correctly. That's ok, at least we can all agree on one thing, Fort Wayne is host to many ghosts and strange happenings. My house was built in 1880 and has been in my family since then. Several people have died here...old age and a still birth. Cabinet doors open, we hear voices. Most of the voices were heard through the baby monitor...someone having an actual conversation with the little ones when they were put down for naps or at bed time. Nothing mean or scary. Just someone who loves babies. I assume is it the child's great grandmother. When my youngest son was 2 he would tell me about a man and a little boy who would come and play with him in his room. That scared me a bit. Now that the kids are older the activity has basically stopped.

Anonymous said...

what about Helens grave?

Anonymous said...

my best friend about 25years ago showed me Helens grave in prairie grove cemetery ...thats real..no imagination........3dates on a tomb stone ......and Denise if u c this....miss ya

Unknown said...

HAS ANYONE HEARD OF HARSHMAN HALL FOR IVY TECH FORMALLY INDIANA STATE SCHOOL FOR THE FEEBLE MINDED?. WELL I'M A JANITOR THERE ON 2ND SHIFT AND EVERY NIGHT I HERE TALKING, WALKING, TOILET STALLS SHUTTING, AND PAPER TOWELS BEING DISPENSED AND KNOWING YOUR THE ONLY PERSON THERE MAKES IT ONLY FREAKIER

Exitius Verum said...

I am a Fort Wayne resident. I can definitely vouch for all the stories about the Hollow, because I've had some pretty strange encounters there. It reminded me of my reckless days of graveyarding in Lindenwood Cemetery. That place has some of the worst vibes I have ever felt. I seriously still have bad nightmares about the paranoia I felt there. And the Hollow gave me such a similar feeling that I had a hard time even entering the woods there. This town has some very very dark, very very evil secrets that should be left alone, and since adventurous teenagers such as myself enjoy the thrill so much, I feel like the evil is only becoming more irritated. And it scares me. It really does.

Anonymous said...

I hate to disillusion everyone here, but my friend and I actually witnessed that cabin burning back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was an abandoned cabin then, so no one was killed during the fire. Sorry to rain on your parade.

Anonymous said...

I actually grew up in "Devil's Hollow" and I heard the story of a witch that lived on a hill. No experience with that at all. But I do know for a fact that a nieghbor of ours from that area indeed hung himself in Devil's Hollow around 1977 or 1978. It's beens so long I can't remember the exact year, but it was a boy I knew from school. If nothing else, that gave the entire area a sinister and spooky feeling. Also, in 1975 I personally saw a "little person" or one of the "fae," if you will, come out of the hollow and into a camper we had parked on our property. The memory is vivid and quite terrifying--a small, winged, brown, unclothed, non-human creature with ill-intent written on its face. I have tried to make peace with the Fae of Devil's Hollow ever since, yet I think I still carry a bit of a curse for actually recognizing the creature for what it was and having the gall to interrupt its plans, whatever those might have been.

Anonymous said...

I grew up in an addition off of Cedar Canyon right outside Devil's Hollow. The story of the boy who hung himself in 1977 or 1978 is true. There is a ghost story about a tree limb that hangs over a bridge on Cedar Canyon Rd. On the anniversary of the boy's death you are supposed to be able to see his ghost hanging from the limb. There is a limb that hangs over a bridge on the road but it is not the tree that the boy hung himself from. My father was working construction on the bridge when this sad incident occurred. A man jogging thru the woods found the boy hanging and ran for help. My dad was the first person he saw and he brought him back to the scene. My dad cut the boy down and then contacted authorities. My mom said he had nightmares for weeks about it. He never mentioned the incident until I brought up the ghost story, not knowing his part in it, and he refuted the tale.

Anonymous said...

What is/was the actual address for Devils Hollow? We went a few times and saw just the chimney left among smoldering ashes once.

Anonymous said...

our family used to own this years ago and none of this ever happened!

Anonymous said...

Helen Hunter? The madame and bootlegger? That was my great grandmother. Her grave is haunted except to me :'( I have her old journals still

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Awesome

Unknown said...

I'm new to fort Wayne and we live by the lakeside park., I've heard that the houses by the park are very active. I've heard there's burial grounds...anyone have any info

Unknown said...

I am a Fort Wayne resident. I use to live a 3225 reed st. That house is currently being hunted by the former owner, Margret Smith. She passed away in 1999, and the back room of cancer where it happens to never get warm. I know this because after a year or living there strange things started to happen. Foot steps in the kitchen, my phone disappeared, then I heard my nick name being whispered, I look towards the direction I heard it from, and there laid my phone, and I also kept getting strange feelings about the upstairs area. There was no addic, but was an entrance. I had my boyfriend go check it out, and once up, he found two old cases. One had a-tracks, and the other had important papers. Now, mind you that she died in 1999. My family and I moved in 2010. The house went abandoned several times prior to us moving in. No one, not even my family, will live at 3225 reed st for longer than a year. The house is currently owned by metro realestate. They took the pictures off line where you could see Margret standing in the first kitchen window, after I told the courts why we moved so soon.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I love reading about ghost stories and how some work and some don't. The question is "DO YOU BELIEVE?" some say no but check them out anyway and some say yes, but either way, we should be respectful and honor the dead. Be careful in your journeys of the truth no matter what they are, blessed be to all who is on the hunt never know what you may encounter. RM

raven2wolf said...

I was born and raised here in on a small farm north East of fort wayne on pion road not far from devil's hollow.
My mother and grandmother used to tell me stories about that place.
I was 14 at the time when I got spooked on Halloween night when I stayed at a friend's house that lives not to far devil's hollow.
That night me and my friend was walking along the road on Halloween night when out of no where we both seen 2 sets of red eyes coming towards us from the hill and disappeared right in front of us.

Anonymous said...

Truth. I lived on the hill across her driveway. She was living in a nursing home when some outz burned down her cabin. Our old barn was torched around the same tim. Probably teenage vandals.

Anonymous said...

Lillian Lynn was a sweet old RELIGIOUS old lady and completely innocent of any witchcraft.

Anonymous said...

Go to angelfire.com and enter devils hollow. You will read a true story from early 1900's about an only son that went to war during WW1 and died.They never got his body back. Mother's health went downhill until she died. Eventually the father hung himself off of the bridge.

Unknown said...

My friends & I had lot of experiences here in 1960-1968 the cabin was abandoned a kerosene lantern in window that would go out by time you would step on the porch glowing eyes from under the bridge and wishing well gothic hand made wood fence and the old steel bridge the father hung him self. I have never been to the cemetery near their.

Anonymous said...

That is Miami Indian land. The village of Kekionga was there. Battle took place there. Lafayete where the Fort is downtown all the way to the nursing home on the left was an Indiana burial grounds

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