Tremont Mail

Area Ghost Stories

Halloween fills the month of October with spooky decorations, scary films, and people itching to get in the Halloween spirit. With this comes ghost stories. You would be surprised at the number of ghost stories our local areas have. All of the stories I tell today are from the website Haunting Places where people can submit the lore of buildings and places. 

At Stanford, there are stories of three ghostly presences in the Stanford Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The first ghost has been described as the “caretaker”, a stern old man who seemed as though he was watching over the church, trying to make sure no harm came to it. The second ghost is a 7-8-year-old little girl who was reported to only come around during Halloween and messes with the Halloween decorations in the church. The owners also spoke of a third ghost, a “whistling woman”, who is in the kitchen whistling a cheerful tune. While these entities weren’t described as threatening or scary, it still gives you shivers to think of seeing these ghosts or hearing the echoing of a woman whistling, especially if you are alone.

It seems our local ghosts don’t only haunt churches, but also college buildings. Williams Hall at ISU used to be the university’s first library but was later turned into Williams Hall. The new library that was built was named after the first librarian, Angeline Milner, the woman depicted in the picture above. It is said she haunts Williams Hall, the library she used to work at. In an old room at Williams Hall that has the old and rare books inside, witnesses have said they heard footsteps in the room and have found the books stacked strangely and newly bounded books turn up tattered. Some students have even said they have seen Angeline’s apparition in the building before.

Keeping along the library theme, according to local lore the Peoria Public Library was built on cursed land. Before the library was built, Mrs. Andrew Gray had lived on the land in 1830. After having her home foreclosed due to financial hardship, she cursed the land and anyone who would own it after her. In 1884 a library was built near this land, and the first three library directors all died under mysterious circumstances. That library was torn down in 1966 and the Peoria Public Library was built. Ghosts are said to haunt the new library as a result of the curse. Staff members have reported their names being called despite being alone, they feel cold drafts throughout the library, and they see apparitions of one of the dead former library directors in the doorway of the basement.