Lawrence packs a paranormal punch

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Lawrence packs a paranormal punch
April 23, 2009
by Kayla Regan
Kansan.com

Ghost Tours Kansas released its 2009 list of the top five most haunted places in Kansas on March 28.

Lawrence didn’t make the list, but Beth Cooper, co-owner of Ghost Tours Kansas, said that didn’t mean the city wasn’t haunted. Cooper said the list only included places that Ghost Tours Kansas paranormal investigators, who haven’t made it to Lawrence yet, determined were haunted.

“At this point, it is hard to get into some of these locations,” Cooper said. “The Eldridge Hotel is not going to shut down just so we can do an investigation.”

Cooper said Lawrence was home to places that were definitely haunted, locations where many people believe paranormal activity occurs.

Students who have lived in, explored and investigated these places said they knew what she was talking about.

Stull Cemetery

Stull Cemetery, where the devil is said to return twice a year, is located about 15 miles from Lawrence. The cemetery was named Haunted America Tours 2009 second most haunted cemetery in America.

Cooper said the Stull myth began in 1974 after University Daily Kansan reporters wrote a story claiming the cemetery was “haunted by diabolical, supernatural happenings.”

The Eldridge — The Eldridge has a picture of one of ghosts that live in the hotel displayed on the front desk. Many believe the ghost is the spirit of Colonel Eldridge, whom the hotel is named after.

Sigma Nu Epsilon Fraternity House — Members of Sigma Nu tell stories of girls leaving the house with unexplainable scratches on their bodies.

Stull Cemetery — Time Magazine reported that Pope John Paul II allegedly ordered his private plane to fly around eastern Kansas while on his way to Colorado because he did not want to fly over “unholy ground.” It is rumored that on Halloween night in 1988, nearly 500 people gathered at the cemetery for Satan’s expected arrival. The Douglas County Sheriff’s department forced the crowd to leave before the devil showed up.

Haskell University — The National Archives office in Kansas City, Mo., have reports of children being beaten and abused at Haskell for not speaking in English or for acting out of conduct. KU labs hold several remains of children that were found buried throughout the Haskell campus. Crying Native American children are reported to roam the campus looking for their parents.

The Lawrence Community Theatre — A mysterious presence is said to haunt the building, which was originally used as a church. Many report a feeling of being watched while alone in the theatre. The presence may be behind the often-malfunctioning lights or set pieces and props moving without explanation.

Wakarusa Valley Elementary School — Custodians have seen a dark figure wearing a cape and hat roaming the halls of the school in the early evening and through the night.

Corbin Residence Hall — Some say a long time ago, the fourth floor of the south wing of Corbin Hall was a Tuberculosis ward, indicating that many patients died there. Some also believe the legend of a girl who took her own life in a room on the floor. Residents have heard a man singing at all hours of the night on the third floor of the north wing at Gertrude Sellers Pearson, which is connected to Corbin, and resident assistants have heard toilet seats slamming in an empty bathroom.

After hearing about the stair case that never ends and the satanic rituals performed at the burnt down church, Gena Pollack, Tulsa, Okla., freshman, decided she had to go to Stull.

Pollack and four of her friends turned off their car lights so they wouldn’t get caught and drove in through the open cemetery gates, which are usually closed she said.

One of her friends got out of the car to go to the bathroom. After he was gone for five minutes, Pollack said, they began to worry. But then he came back.

That was the closest they got to a paranormal experience.

“We were just testing the theory, but nothing creepy happened,” Pollack said. “I would say it was disappointing.”

Cooper said a paranormal investigator visited the cemetary and found kids “dropping acid,” but no ghosts. Cooper said the cemetery, considered to be one of the seven gateways to hell, was not haunted.

The Eldridge

Joe Hermens, former KU student, stayed in room 506 in the Eldridge Hotel his sophomore year with three of his friends. The fifth floor is said to be the most haunted floor in the Eldridge, and Cooper said people from across the country traveled to Lawrence just to stay in room 506, where the most paranormal activity occurs.

While he waited for his friends to show up, Hermens noticed an empty chair across from him tilting back and forth as if someone were leaning backwards on it. Hermens said that the rocking went on for about a minute and that he was able to take pictures of it on his camera phone. Just to make sure an employee didn’t attach strings to the chair, he said, he waved his hands around it before hastily walking out of the room.

He said he wasn’t sure whether he had an actual encounter with a ghost, but the rest of the night he and his friends avoided the area.

“It was pretty obvious the chair was tilting in a way that it should not have without some external force,” Hermens said. “I am willing to admit that there are not a lot of explanations that account for what happened.”

Cooper said she was certain the Eldridge was haunted.

The Sigma Nu

Fraternity House

The plaque above the Sigma Nu house fireplace reads “World of strife shut out. World of love shut in.”

Behind the plaque, the ashes of Virginia, the mistress and adopted daughter of governor Roscoe Stubbs are said to rest. Cooper said Stubbs, who built the home in the early-1900s, sent his wife away after finding Virginia hanging in a closet in the house.

John Leroy, Leawood senior, has lived in the house for two years. He said he has heard Virginia’s footsteps in the hall when no one was around. The door of the closet Virginia was supposedly killed in, Leroy said, often locks on its own.

“At recruitment they told the story about how the ghost Virginia lived there, then some of the older guys would share stories,” Leroy said. “I think a lot of guys believe in it. It’s probably better to err on the side caution.”

Cooper said she and members of the fraternity had discussed investigating the house to determine whether it’s actually haunted, but nothing definite has been scheduled.

To this day though, Cooper said, Virginia could still very well be shut in.

“Stubbs adopted a young girl, fell in love with her, but his wife didn’t appreciate it and hung the girl in a closet,” Cooper said. “Now, every generation of young people who have resided in the house all have stories.”