This book is a chilling collection of the ghostly legends and lore of historic Madison, Indiana. Beautifully preserved mid-nineteenth-century buildings grace the streets of Madison, Indiana, providing a concrete connection to the past. But a more ethereal, ghostly link flits about these streets when night descends. Restive spirits linger here, like the extra that may join you mid-slumber at Whitehall Bed-and-Breakfast, a residual from the Civil War hospital that was once nearby. Feel the ghostly chill of a mob bootlegger who stops by the Broadway Tavern around last call and learn of the myriad ghosts that flutter here in search of something. Dive into the shadows of Madison on this chilling journey with Virginia Jorgensen. Virginia Dyer Jorgensen is serving her 5th year as the Chairman of the Madison Historic District Board of Review. She serves as Secretary of the Executive Board, Cornerstone Society, Inc, the local preservation advocacy group. She is an affiliate member of Indiana Landmarks and a member of the Madison Civil War Roundtable. Ghosts of Madison, Indiana By Virginia Dyer Jorgensen The History Press Copyright © 2012 Virginia Dyer Jorgensen All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-60949-744-6 Contents Acknowledgements, Introduction, What Do Ghosts Want and Why Are They Here?, Whitehall Bed-and-Breakfast, The Central Street Lady in White, Spirit Notes, The Haunted Funeral Parlor, The Old Lumber Mill, The Curious Spirit, Donlan House: Haunted Harmonies, Indiana's Oldest Hotel: The Broadway Hotel, Restaurant, and Tavern, The Kitchen Shadow, The Main Street Laundress, Little John James Lanier, The Lady in Red, The Park Avenue Poltergeist, The Ohio Theater Fright Show, The Little Girl Ghost of Walnut Street, Judge Jeremiah Sullivan's House, The Murder of Sheriff Robert Right Rea, The Hilltop Horror, The Playful Spirit, The City Cemeteries of Madison, What to Do If You Encounter a Ghost, Selected Bibliography, About the Author, CHAPTER 1 What Do Ghosts Want and Why Are They Here? We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. — Anaïs Nin Ghosts are real, but they are unreliable. You can't make an appointment with them or call them and expect them to show up. They even mislead some of the ones who are intuitive to their thoughts. They give readings based on what they see in their realm, in their reality, based on what they know. Our reaction to them is based on our feelings about seeing an unexpected apparition and how much we know about spiritual subjects. They use tricks to fool us and sometimes fool themselves. Intelligent spirits who actually interact with the living can't be classified into simple categories. Their personalities are as varied as those of the living. Some people try to contact those who have left this world. They want to know where they are and what has happened to them. Does death hurt? Unfortunately, we never solve the mystery of what comes after death and the secrets of the universe until we have left this world. We are here to learn the lesson, but the knowledge of our time before was lost in our passage to this existence. How did I come to write about the supernatural? Understand that this author is not a paranormal investigator or a medium and doesn't claim any psychic abilities. I am not a horror movie fan. In fact, I avoid them. I'm trained as a historian and preservationist, with a good sprinkling of curiosity thrown in. My study of the eerie experiences of Madison residents may be thought of as bizarre by those who don't believe in spooks, but researching the history of a site and trying to find out who is haunting a location is the common thread. When did they live and why did they come to stay there? As a child growing up in Virginia, the home of my ancestors, I fell in love with the history of that state. I wanted to know everything about the old buildings we would drive past on family outings. What was inside? Who lived there? What are the stories? My mother told me about when I was five years old — we had moved from the Washington, D.C., area to Richmond, Virginia. While we were waiting for our house to be built, we lived in an apartment complex. I would knock on doors and ask the neighbors if they had any children I could play with. If they said no, I would ask if I could come inside and look around. It's funny now, and thank goodness that was a different time, but I still want to go inside and look around. Now that I know that the energy of past times may remain in the buildings, I want to know more. Several years ago, before I decided to write about the spirits who linger and interact with this world, I had not yet experienced a tangible interaction with the other side. But since the time that I began to investigate and conduct interviews, I have had several physical encounters. This does give some credence to what some who are perceptive to the paranormal say about receptivity — that if you pay attention