Spooky Hoosier Books, Part BOO --er-- Two

We continue with our recommendations for ghostly tales from Hoosierland.  (See our previous post, too.)

Hoosier folklorist Tom Baker has published several haunted books, including the ever-popular Indiana Ghost Folklore (Arglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2009).  Baker includes stories from across the state, and besides ghosts and haunted placed, he includes werewolves and other monsters, lucid dreams, spirit possession, witches, and other supernatural offerings.  This is folklore, so the cases aren't presented as factual events; rather, they are legends that have grown over time in particular places or surrounding specific circumstances.  Did they actually happen?  That's beside the point.  In folklore, the legend is everything.  Baker deftly delivers riveting yarns that will fascinate readers.  Check it out from an Evergreen Indiana (E.I.) library near you (if you're a cardholder, that is).

 

When I was a student at Indiana University, its folklore department was recognized as the best in the world, or so I was informed by a folklore major who had travelled from Israel to study there.  I had (and have) no reason to doubt the academic strength of the I.U. folklore department, as I discovered first-hand when I read Linda Dégh's classic treatise, Indiana Folklore:  A Reader (Bloomington, IN:  Indiana University Press, 1980), available to checkout from Evergreen Indiana.  It is a scholastic masterpiece.  The book includes a superb cross-section of Hoosier folklore, but for our purposes, its accounts of magic, horror, ghosts, and haunted places make this an essential read for anyone interested in the supernatural.  After reading it, I regretted not having taken any undergraduate folklore courses at I.U.  I even reflected that it would have been a more interesting major for me than the one in which I earned my bachelor degree (I won't tell tales out-of-school, so to speak, which means I won't divulge what my major was.  Anyway, I'm old now, and it's possible I've forgotten.  Since my B.A., or, as I.U. shows it, my A.B., theoretically helped me gain admission to a top I.U. graduate program, from which I earned a doctorate, I don't have too many regrets.)

 

 

Speaking of Indiana University (Bloomington), Kat Klockow compiled a collection of ghost stories from Monroe County (and elsewhere in Indiana) that focuses upon I.U.  Like most good folklore, the tales include horror (the "McNutt hatchet man," for instance) as well as more traditional supernatural activities, ghosts, or haunted places.  A few of these I had heard as a student over forty years ago, but most were new to me.  They'll raise the hair on your neck, I'll wager.  Evergreen Indiana cardholders can checkout a copy.

Mark Marimen is a prolific writer of Hoosier hauntings, and his books explore the gamut of Indiana-related supernatural stories.  They remain some of the most popular books on the subject at Mooresville Public Library.  If you're an Evergreen Indiana cardholder, you'll have a field day checking them out and reading them.

 

Nicole R. Kobrowski has written several haunted Indiana books, of which her Encyclopedia of Haunted Indiana (Westfield, Indiana : Unseenpress, 1st edition, 2008--see also the updated 2017 edition) gathers statewide stories of the macabre, organized by location.   See the Evergreen Indiana catalog for a listing of Kobrowski's titles available to checkout.

 

Another popular author of Indiana hauntings is Wanda Lou Willis, whose Haunted Hoosier Trails (Cincinnati, Ohio : Clerisy Press, 2002) and More Haunted Hoosier Trails (Cincinnati, Ohio : Emmis Books, 2004) are perennial favorites for ghost aficionados.  Find these titles here in Evergreen Indiana.

Edrick Thay's Ghost Stories of Indiana (Edmonton, AB, Canada : Ghost House Books, 2001) includes a wide range of haunted places (houses, public places, universities, historical landmarks, bridges and tunnels, cemeteries, and legendary ghouls).  Evergreen Indiana cardholders can check it out here.

Tom Baker and Jonathan Tichenal teamed-up to present hauntings from Indianapolis (and other Hoosier locales) in another excellent survey of the supernatural.  E. I. Cardholders can  check it out.

I was born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, but I hadn't heard of most of these haunted tales compiled by Dorothy Salvo Davis and W. C. Madden in Haunted Lafayette (Charleston, SC : Haunted America, 2009).  Recognizing the locations helped bring to life the scary stories from Tippecanoe County (and nearby).  Find it here in E.I.

 

 

  

S. E. Schlosser retells several supernatural stories in Spooky Indiana (Guilford, CT : Globe Pequot Press, 2012).  Schlosser garnishes these folklore favorites with some spine-tingling spice.  Find it here in E.I.

 

 

K. T. MacRorie's Hoosier Hauntings (Grand Rapids, MI : Thunder Bay Press, 1997) is an earlier compilation of supernatural and paranormal tales that will send shivers down readers' backs.  It's here in E.I.

 

There are many, many more spooky Indiana books out there, but these will get you started.  Others are easily found in your libraries' catalogs or local (or online) booksellers.  Let's end on a terrible pun:  Put the BOO in books this Halloween season.  There's nothing quite as invigorating as a good ghost story, especially when so many may be found in your own state.

 

Spooky Hoosier Books, Part One

October is nearly here, so we've got Halloween on the horizon.  That means it's time to read some spooky books.  Mooresville Public Library has plenty available to checkout, both fiction (call numbers FIC and the first three letters of the author's last name) and nonfiction (call numbers 133 and 398, generally, although there are other places to find them, too).  Since this blog focuses upon Indiana-related (or, more precisely, Morgan County-related) subjects, I'll share the works of a few Hoosier paranormal writers.

Let's begin with Morgan County authors.

The Feeders at Night, by Aldo G. Gonzalez

(MPL Book Trailer #307)

Following a divorce, Aldo Gonzalez needed a new start and a new home.  The house he found offered features not included in the real estate multiple listings.  First, there were barely discernible footsteps and voices when no one else was present.  Then, the horror escalated.  Supernatural forces seemed to be feeding off the author.  You'll want to read this real-life terror with the lights on.  Check it out from the library's Evergreen Indiana catalog.

The People in the Attic, by Doretta Johnson with Jim Henderson

(MPL Book Trailer #691)

Beginning in 1987, Doretta Johnson and her family experienced a truly horrifying house haunting in Madison, Indiana.  Her 1995 book (written with Jim Henderson) will chill your bones.  From the safety of your armchair, it makes a marvelously spooky read.  Learn more here.  Evergreen Indiana cardholders may place a hold on the book here.

 

Looking for Carroll Beckwith, by Captain Robert L. Snow

(MPL Book Trailer #3)

Of course, most of the spooky Hoosier books available to checkout from Mooresville Public Library were written by Indiana authors living outside Morgan County.  Here are a few popular titles.

Captain Robert L. Snow, a retired Indianapolis police homicide commander, made a surprising discovery:  He remembered details from a previous life as painter James Carroll Beckwith (1852-1917) that he could not reasonably have learned through ordinary means.  As a police detective, Snow was highly skeptical, but he was also open-minded in his investigations.  He chronicles his journey from extreme doubt to eventual conviction (in the truth of the matter, not in the criminal sense).  The book is available in the library's Evergreen Indiana catalog.

 

Four Books About Precipitated Spirit Portraits, by Various Authors

(MPL Book Trailer #355)

In a previous blog post, we discussed the Bangs sisters of Chicago, psychic mediums who specialized in precipitated spirit portraits.  These were purported portraits of deceased individuals that "painted themselves" without apparent human intervention.  Camp Chesterfield, a spiritualist camp near Anderson, Indiana, displays several of these portraits in their Hett Memorial Art Gallery and Museum.  (Read a PDF copy of the book, or, if  you prefer paper, drop by the MPL Indiana Room and peruse one of its copies.)  Many psychical researchers investigated the Bangs sisters and determined that their phenomena were genuine.

We featured Indianapolis resident May Wright Sewall's Neither Dead Nor Sleeping in a previous blog post.  Sewall (1844-1920) was best known as an advocate of women's suffrage, education, and world peace.  Few of her contemporaries knew that she was also interested in survival of bodily death, and she researched the subject for many years.  She reported her findings in this 1920 book, published posthumously and reprinted in 2008 by Cather Press.  It's available to checkout from the library's Evergreen Indiana catalog.

In my next blog post, we'll continue showcasing further haunted Indiana books by Hoosier writers.   There will be plenty of scares to go around!

The Library's First "Spokescritter"

Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library has had many resident animals over the years--birds, lizards, salamanders, turtles, fish, mice, guinea pigs, gerbils, a ferret--but, so far as I know, there has been only one feline roving reporter.

One cold December day in 2010, I saw a black cat hanging out by the library's front entrance.  As patrons came and went, the cat would run alongside for a few feet, mewing pitifully.  Although she looked reasonably well-fed, I presumed she was a stray (or had been cruelly dumped to fend for herself), so I telephoned my wife, who promptly brought canned and hard cat food from home to share with our new feline friend.  As the temperature was likely to drop well below zero by nightfall, and the library was closing shortly, we didn't have time to canvas the neighborhood, so we decided to give the kitty shelter for a few days until the weather warmed up.  So we took her home.

We called  her Cauliflower, as she had a bad ear from some past feline fracas.  Then we began to consider what to do with her.  We felt a bit guilty "catnapping' her, in case she had lived close to the library.  We didn't want to deprive someone of a beloved pet.  We took her to our veterinarian, who said she was probably four years old and was healthy.  She wasn't too pleased about receiving a battery of shots, though.

With warmer temperatures arriving a few days later, we returned Cauliflower to the library and allowed her to make her own way back where she came from, watching closely to ensure she came to no harm from careless drivers.  Cauliflower sauntered down the sidewalk for a block or so, walking directly to the front door of a house where several outdoor cats congregated.  We suspected that this was Cauliflower's point of origin, but, as we later learned, it was hardly a "forever home."

A few hours later, I happened to be walking around outside when I saw Cauliflower in the library's exterior Kindergarden area, searching for prey among the bushes.  This time, I carried her to the house she had previously walked to and rang the doorbell.  An irritated occupant answered the door.

"Is this your cat?" I queried.

"Maybe," said the occupant, who looked fairly seedy.  "I don't pay much attention.  We got a whole lotta cats that live in the barn."  It was, at best, a dilapidated shed on the rear of the property.  There must have been half a dozen cats lying around the broken shed door.

That decided the matter as far as I was concerned.  "If you're not sure she's yours, I'll ask around the neighborhood."

"Okay."  Occupant shut the door.

None of the other nearby residents claimed Cauliflower, so I returned her to the library, and, later, took her to my home again.  She subsequently decided she liked living at our neighbor's house better than with us, so she began spending most of her time there.

 

Cauli Le Chat, official MPL feline roving reporter (2010-2019)

 Cauli Le Chat the MPL "Spokescritter"

 

Since we had discovered Cauliflower roaming around outside the library, my wife suggested that she should be put to work, if we were going to feed and shelter her.  "Maybe she could be your library's pet, and she could be like a spokesperson for the library," my wife suggested.

"Spokescritter," I prompted.

"Since she roams around town, she could be the library's roving reporter, sharing library news with your patrons."

That was a stroke of genius on my wife's part.  "She could even write a blog promoting the library.  But she needs a catchier name."

My wife thought for a moment.  "If she's a feline roving reporter, she should have a classy name.  Maybe something French, like Cauli Le Chat."

And so a feline blog was born.

Cat's Eye View @ MPL Blog, by Cauli Le Chat (2010-2019)

 

Cauli Le Chat became Mooresville Public Library's official feline roving reporter, blogging about anything she found interesting at the library, around town, or wherever else that grabbed her attention.  She vigorously promoted the library and Mooresville, her hometown.  She was known for her acerbic, sarcastic tone.  She did not suffer fools gladly, especially among her human "co-workers."  This was an affectation, however; she had a pleasant personality and was friendly toward most everyone.  She posted hundreds of articles to her blog, which were read over half a million times around the world.  Not bad for a cat working at a small township library.

Unlike resident library cats such as Baker and Taylor, Dewey Readmore Books, Tober (and Chance), Browser, Oliver, Porter C. Bibliocat, Carnegie, Elsie, Trixie, and many, many more, Cauli did not actually live inside the library.  Several also predated Cauli's online presence, as did other resident library "spokescritters" like Morgan the Library Bunny.  But Cauli was different in that she played the roving reporter role.  She was designed to report, and, thus, market, the library's resources, events, and activities.

Cauli retired a couple of times from blogging, as she eventually became an exclusively indoor kitty.  She passed away a few days ago.

Cauli's efforts to promote Mooresville Public Library were distinctive compared with those of us who were paid to work there.  She was paid, too--free room and board with "Kindly Couple" and our neighbors--but, most importantly, she was paid with love, which she generously reciprocated.  I will miss her cheerfulness, her good company, and the sheer joy she radiated at being alive and free.

Odd Fellows Buildings (1869-1989) Video

We have another episode of Mooresville Moments, a local history video series.  This installment explores the I.O.O.F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) buildings, which were located on the northeast corner of Main and Indiana Streets in downtown Mooresville.

Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) Buildings (1869-1989)

(Mooresville Moments #25)

by Mooresville Public Library

(click video box above to play)

There are always a few images or newspaper clippings that we don't use in the videos--it's a matter of viewing length and viewer attention spans--so we include those materials below.  (See also this blog post.)

Here's an advertisement for Warren Insurance Agency that appeared in the 1980 Mooresville High School yearbook, Wagon Trails (page 146).  Warren was the last business to be located in the first floor remnant of the second I.O.O.F. building, which was demolished in 1989.

 Click Images to Enlarge

The second I.O.O.F. building's demolition began in 1964, with the top floor being removed; the entire second floor was removed, leaving a first-floor "sliver" remaining, so that Citizens Bank could extend its new building's parking lot in 1965-66.  The article headline (below) declares the Odd Fellows building to be 105 years old (in 1964), but that's mistaken.  The second I.O.O.F. building (built 1881) was 83 years old in 1964.  Even if the reporter had been dating to the first I.O.O.F. building (built 1869, burned down in 1881), the age would only have been 95 years old.  The reporter's error arose from the I.O.O.F. capstone (dated 1859), which was installed atop the first Odd Fellows building in 1869, and subsequently placed upon the second Odd Fellows building in 1881.  The capstone commemorated the establishment of Mooresville's I.O.O.F. chapter (Morgan Lodge #211), which was founded on July 7, 1859.  The capstone was being removed during the 1964 upper-story dismantlement, and the reporter had incorrectly assumed that the capstone's 1859 date corresponded with the building's age.

 Mooresville Times

July 23, 1964

After the Odd Fellows capstone was removed in 1964, it was housed at Citizens Bank for a number of years. Some time later, it was kept at the Academy School Museum on North Monroe Street.  Since 2017, the capstone has been part of a wall in Mooresville Bicentennial Park (on the site of the Odd Fellows buildings).

 Mooresville-Decatur Times

October 21, 2017

Here's a 1962 aerial photo showing the Odd Fellows building (boxed in yellow):

East Main Street in Downtown Mooresville

1962 Mooresville High School

Wagon Trails Yearbook

Ernest L. Hadley had this stereo photograph (taken by local photographer J. P. Calvert) showing the fire damage to the first I.O.O.F. building (July, 1881):

 

Longtime Mooresville Historian Wanda Potts wrote about the fire in her 1999 newspaper column.

Mooresville Moments

Mooresville Times

June 23, 1999

  

Pleasant "Pleas" Mills' dry goods store is visible behind the Mooresville High School students celebrating their basketball team's victory over Monrovia High School on February 22, 1922 in the Main-Indiana Street intersection downtown.

 

 (Photo by local photographer Manley Brown)

Taggart Bakery & Restaurant (1888-1930) and Beyond

In 1888, John Allen Taggart and Lena Taggart started their bakery/restaurant at 15 West Main Street in downtown Mooresville.  In 1896 they replaced their wood-frame structure with a two-story brick building that still stands today.  Our video below summarizes the history of restaurants that served the public at this location for well over half a century.

Taggart Bakery (Mooresville Moments #24)

by Mooresville Public Library

We had some leftover images that didn't make the cut for the video, which we'd like to share here.  This 1919 photo (below) shows Lena Taggart with her brother-in-law and his wife, Joseph and Florence Taggart, who lived in Pasadena, California, according to the 1920 U.S. Census.  The front and back of the photo are shown below.  (Click images to enlarge.)

The enlarged portion of J. A. Taggart's obituary appeared in the video, but here's the part of the front page in which the article appeared.

Mooresville Times, January 3, 1908

John Allen Taggart's headstone at

Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis

At the turn of the 20th century, John and Lena Taggart lived in a fine home on the northeast corner of the intersection of North Monroe Street and West Morgan Street, across from the Academy School (which added, in 1909, Mooresville High School; in 1921, the high school gymnasium; and, in 1937, Newby Memorial Elementary School).  Four decades later, this home was owned by Butch Brown's parents, who operated Brown's Rexall Drugstore at 13 East Main Street in downtown Mooresville.

Here's a summary of owners of Taggarts' Bakery/Restaurant over the years:

Under the name Taggarts' Bakery and Restaurant

• 1888-1907:  John A. & Lena Taggart
• 1907-1913:  Lena Taggart
• 1913-1918:  Ross C. "Dinty" Moore
• 1918-1928:  Frank Hadley & Pete Culbertson
• 1928-1930:  William Tincher

Under the name "Dinty" Moore's Cafe:

• 1930-1936:  Ross C. "Dinty" Moore

Under the name Hadley Restaurant:

• 1936-1944:  Frank Hadley

Under the name Head Inn Restaurant:

• 1944-circa 1950:  Mr. & Mrs. Clayr (?) Ward

Under the name Taylor's Restaurant:

• Circa 1950-circa 1959

Under the name Clark's Restaurant"

• Circa 1959-circa 1966

During the 1990s and 2000s, I recall that Pat's Tavern was located in the Taggart building at 15 West Main Street.  Since 2016, it has been the site of Bran N Shorts Coffee House.

Mooresville-Decatur Times, January 30, 2016