Published: October 30, 2009 10:15 pm      

Tales of the afterlife

Local legends of a haunted Logansport

It’s just after midnight in Mount Hope Cemetery. Legend has it that if the conditions are just right, you can hear the sounds of horses stomping. Standing in a particular part of the cemetery grounds, with the wind still, you can hear an eerie whistling.

Stories say a cemetery in nearby Peru was named for the apparition of a man with a hook for a hand.

Jennifer Eblin recounts the old Hookmans Cemetery legend in a June 2008 article for Associated Content.

“Supposedly this man stalks the road next to the cemetery,” Eblin wrote. “There are also cold spots and a dense fog that settle over the area.”

The Lutheran Cemetery in the same area allegedly features a large, white cross and locals claim they have seen stairs coming down from the cross late at night.

“The Kewanna and Fulton Cemetery is plagued by stories of numerous murders and deaths occurring there over the years,” Eblin writes. “Supposedly one tombstone was destroyed by a group of teenagers and the man buried there now keeps an eye over the cemetery.”

These stories are a few of the many regarding the spiritual activity in the Logansport area. The city’s cemetery sexton, Mike Nicoll, said he personally does not believe in the old tales.

“These are legends, I think,” Nicoll said. “And most of them are without merit. It makes a good story, but actual proof, I don’t know of any.”

Nicoll said although he does not believe in the stories himself, he has read up on a few that supposedly take place within his jurisdiction.

“I don’t know the particulars now,” he said. “But one I read was of this gentleman who was so afraid of being buried alive that he had a phone line installed in his mausoleum.

“He thought he would not be completely dead and he would wake up and realize he was inside a mausoleum. This way, he could phone a friend. I thought it was funny. It’s just another story.”

Nicoll said the stories are fun to listen to and tell year after year.

GhostsofAmerica.com, a Web site that accepts millions of ghost tale entries, described Logansport as a city with “an adequate number of ghosts.”

“Things go on here that cannot be scientifically explained,” reads the Logansport page of the Web site. “Not everyone has faith in the descriptions the local residents tell, but the ghosts of Logansport are out tonight looking for somebody to terrify.”

Most of the Logansport tales are admittedly made up on the Web site, but there have been two ghost sightings submitted to the site by readers that are believed to be true.

One claims a female spirit haunts locals in a cemetery each year on Halloween. The other describes a transparent Native American woman who appears to be searching for something along local river banks.

Stephanie Jeffries, the NorthCentral Regional Director of Indiana Ghost Trackers, said it was the organization’s policy not to communicate the details of any private active locations.

“However, I do not personally know of many locations in or around the Logansport area,” she said. “With the exception of Mount Hope Cemetery, I am unfamiliar with this area.”

Nicoll is unaware of the legends of Mount Hope.

“I don’t know of any specific stories at Mount Hope,” Nicoll said. “Of course, all the young people tell stories about the tombstones and the shadows they see.”

In an article of the most actively haunted places in Indiana, Eblin writes of an unnamed church in Logansport that is haunted by a young girl. She said many people claim to see her in the basement, looking up through the window.

Perhaps the stories are just that, stories.

“I personally don’t believe it. But,” Nicoll said, “there are people that do believe in the paranormal, and there is no proof for it or against it, I guess.”

• Jennifer Tangeman is a reporter for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5148 or jennifer.tangeman@pharostribune.com.