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Senator John Humphrey’s Haunted House

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, Spirits Still Linger In This Orland Park, Illinois Home

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Senator John Humphrey House in Orland Park, Illinois:

Haunted Historic Home and Family Spirits

Written by Edward Shanahan (Sep. 2014)

The Senator John Humphrey House in Orland Park, Illinois is not only a historic location, but also a rare haunted location in Illinois for the fact in all this time, only one family has lived in the home. The John Humphrey family.

A historic family at that and one that kept the home in the family until it was turned over to the Orland Historical Society in 1987 with the death of the youngest Humphrey family member, John. That is why this haunted historic home is more special, as some location owners claim to have what they call ‘a haunted house family’ with out the true knowledge of who the family consists of in the home as there were more then one family that occupied the other homes.

The home was built in 1881 by John Humphrey and was the 2nd house built in Orland Park. I was drawn to the Humphrey House in 2007 and until then it was not know to the public as a haunted location. Walking in to the home I knew it was active, how active, I did not know. I did learn one thing that no one in the paranormal field knew at the time or until I made it public, is that Senator John Humphrey House has a major tie to Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery.

The Senator John Humphrey Family consisted of: John Humphrey and first wife Amelia and children: Libby (died within 11 months), Wilt (oldest child and lawyer), Lillian (died as a child), Thomas (died as a child), Clara, Mable (died as a child), and Maude. Amelia (1st wife) died in 1894.

Senator Humphrey then married in the same year the secretary and assistant in his law office, her name was Ida. Senator John Humphrey and Ida had one child, his name is John and he is the one that willed the Senator Humphrey House to the Historical Society.

The house has paranormal activity. I have had three paranormal teams and another Spirit Feeler with one team at the location and they confirmed what I already knew, that spirits are there and active. A couple of other teams have done their own investigations at the location and the paranormal activity held up without any questions about it.

See the ghostly reflection in the glass of a man and woman?

There was one team of three men I was told about by the Historical Society President. The three guys making up the team came running down from the second floor screaming like young teenage girls seeing a mouse. That was kind of the last of the investigation teams being allowed to investigate the home on their own. It has been proven to have activity by investigation teams in the past and the hundreds of experiences by individuals during my Supernatural and Paranormal Nights held during all these years at the location.

Senator John Humphrey died in 1914, Ida lived until the 1950’s and something rare for that time frame was done when she died. John the youngest child had her waked at the home. Being waked in the home was a practice of the past and a few of the Humphrey family members were waked in the house, in the location that I have always held my ‘Circle of Energy’ Spirit Communication Sessions. Ida being waked in the home in the 1950’s was something that was very rare.

But baby John as I call him, do to the fact he was the youngest child, he had a practice of his own that was a bit on the unusual. He owned the coffin he was going to be buried in when he died and kept it at the Humphrey House when he moved back there after his mother’s death.

Baby John while alive, found comfort in sleeping in the coffin that one day would be his final resting place. Also as one explores the home, they will come across an old rocking horse in the children’s bed room, that was baby John’s horse. There is a photo of John on it when he was a child in the book ‘The Orland Story’.

I will get in to the Bachelor’s Grove in a moment, as I want to say that the house is the one most active ‘private residence homes’ that I have been in. I been in one that was a farm up in North West IL and a couple others out of state that are open to the public. As I stated earlier, there is no doubts of who the family is providing the activity in the Senator John Humphrey House.

At one time I was holding paranormal nights at the location, this year (2014), I have been holding what I call ‘Supernatural Nights, Workshops and Spirit Communications all done on the same night. In 2014 I have been allowed access to an empty room known as the playroom, a room that was a storage area in the past. This has become the most active room at the location and is the room I now use to help open individuals open up to feeling the emotions of the spirits or those emotions that have remained in the room by the children of the past.

he Senator John Humphrey family has a couple major ties to the haunted Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery and I was happy to be the able to let the Chicago paranormal field know of the connection and at times I wonder if it was a mistake due to the behavior of some individuals.

John Humphrey and first wife Amelia’s first child ‘Libby’ died at 11 months old. Mrs. Humphrey’s family (Patrick), had a family plot and family buried at Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey had Libby buried with Mrs. Humphrey’s family members at Bachelor’s Grove, as the Humphrey family did not own a family plot.

The question even asked by some of the officials of the Historical Society, is Mrs. Amelia Humphrey who was found dead in the house in March of 1898 and buried at a different cemetery then her first child Libby and is buried at Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. Could Mrs. Humphrey be the woman and child seen at Bachelor’s Grove?

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery — Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery

There is almost no doubt that she is, as I and others have used a specific paranormal tool for communication that has stated the fact that Amelia is the Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery.

<3 Anna

Want To Buy A Haunted House?

Posted on July 14, 2014October 12, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, Check Out This Illinois Home

Click HERE to read the original article or scroll down

Haunted House On Sale For A Song

If you’ve always dreamed of owning a mansion but don’t have the funds required to make it a reality, then this property on the market in Illinois could be just the ticket.

The Hiram B Scutt Mansion, former home of the Civil War veteran and barbed wire tycoon who gave it its name, is up for sale for just $159,900 (£95,000).

Built in 1882, the three-storey, red-brick building in Joliet covers 4,960 square-feet and is on the United States’ National Register of Historic Places.

But as the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, that’s probably because it is – the sprawling residence is also said to be haunted, Patch.com reported.

The house was bought by real estate broker Brian Kearney in 2004. Two years later football players from the University of St Francis rented out the building and threw a party.

But during the festivities a 19-year-old man called Steven Jenkins was shot dead.

Within a year of the murder, local historian and John Wilkes Booth impersonator Seth Magosky bought the large house –he planned to open the P Seth Magosky Museum of Victorian Life & Joliet History.

But less than six months later he died suddenly at the age of 39.

And some people believe the two men – as well as the original Scutt inhabitants – live on in the house.

In 2010, Edward Shanahan, a spiritual observer, psychic reader and paranormal host wrote a blog post for Chicago Now in which he described the mansion as a ”paranormal gem”.

He wrote: “The years that have past, has seen many human tragedies within its four walls, from sudden deaths to a murder in the past that have left their emotional energy in the place.”

However, real estate agent Marcia C Cronin told Patch.com that an energy reader had said the mansion is not haunted.

So, it looks like the jury’s out. Either way, it’s a bargain.

<3 Anna

Illinois’ Haunted Insane Asylum

Posted on June 16, 2014October 12, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, A Very Creepy Place To Visit

You can find the original article here or scroll down for Corey Schjoth’s story.

Haunted Travel: Illinois’ Haunted Insane Asylum

Located west of Peoria in the small town of Bartonville, the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane was originally built in 1897 in the style of a medieval castle, but was never used. Legend says the building was constructed on top of an abandoned coal mine that compromised the integrity of the building. The official explanation that was given was that having a castle like structure didn’t fit the modern sensibilities of treating the “insane,” and they wanted to use a cottage like design instead of having one large building. The building was demolished and rebuilt, and by 1902, the Asylum reopened and began treatment of the “incurably insane” under the direction of Dr. George Zeller.

Well respected, Dr. Zeller treated his patients using therapeutic methods for “curing the insane,” instead of more experimental treatments that were popular at the time, like electro-shock therapy, lobotomies and hydro-shock therapy. He also used newspapers to educate the public about mental illness and offered training programs to nursing students. In the 1920s, Dr. Zeller published a book Befriending the Bereft, The Autobiography of George Zeller, which chronicled his daily experiences at the asylum, many of them strange and mysterious.

One such popular story took place in the asylum’s nearby cemetery. Funerals were held for those whose bodies were never claimed by the family. The staff didn’t know most of the patients, but out of respect, they would gather around as the coffin was lowered into a grave that was marked only by a numbered headstone. A gravedigger named Manuel A. Bookbinder often stood next to a large elm tree as the service took place. Sobbing and moaning loudly with his hat removed, Bookbinder attended every service and always displayed his mournful cries even though he never knew most of those who were being buried.

When Bookbinder finally passed, a service was held, and as his coffin was being lowered into his grave, sobbing and moaning was allegedly heard by the staff coming from the elm where he always stood. As they turned to see where the noise was coming from, they allegedly saw Bookbinder standing there, sobbing and moaning loudly as he always did. Shocked by the experience, many of the staff ran from the site; Dr. Zeller ordered his men to remove the lid of the coffin to see if it was empty, but when they did, Bookbinder’s body was still in his coffin. When they turned back towards the elm, the figure reportedly vanished.

Within a few days, the elm tree that Bookbinder stood next to began to wither. Attempts were made to save the tree, but as it finally died, Dr. Zeller ordered the elm to be removed. As the ax man swung into the tree, sobbing and moaning could reportedly be heard. Unnerved by the experience, the ax man left and when another attempt was made to remove the tree, this time by fire. Once again, as a fire was started at the base of the tree, sobbing and moaning was reportedly heard. All attempts to remove the tree where halted from then on.

By the 1950s the asylum reached its peak with a population of 2,800. Then, over the course twenty years, the asylum’s population began to decline, and eventually closed its doors for good in 1972. Many of the thirty three buildings were abandoned, and most were demolished; only the hospital buildings remain, and attempts to renovate those structures has been difficult.

Paranormal investigators over the years have reported seeing apparitions, shadow people, disembodied voices and doors that open and close by themselves. It’s uncertain who would haunt the building — maybe the patients, the staff or even Bookbinder himself? Maybe the patients have never left because the time they stayed there were of good memories.

When I visited the asylum one humid summer day, I definitely felt intimidated by the size of the structure. Under a gloomy sky the gray imposing building stood out from the surrounding neighborhood, void of any trees; it felt like nature itself was keeping it distance. The black windows stared down on me as I walked around taking my pictures trying to gain my courage to get closer to the building, to maybe find a window low enough to see inside. Unfortunately, at the time I was unable to see inside, but I’m hopeful I will soon return and contact the owner to get a chance to explore the inside of such a historic and legendary building.

<3 Anna