Saturday
Oct232010
The Haunting of Old Louisville
Eye On Life Team | Saturday, October 23, 2010 at 11:43AM Living in Old Louisville Kentucky, the third largest preservation area in the United States, has been a new experience for me. At the time I moved here, sixteen years ago, the neighborhood was still in transition with a lot of rehabbing going on. Unfortunately the streets were not always clean and there were a lot of unsavory characters lurking about.
I had been living here for around five years when I discovered that besides the unsavory characters you could see, I was surrounded by some you couldn’t see. Evidently, there are ghosts peering from many of the gardens and leaning against the mansion gates on every block. They sit on the steps of the Christian Science Church and sob each night from the windows of the houses down the street from me. Seems as though they’re everywhere.
I have never seen hide nor hair of any of them…never hear them sobbing, but believe me, I wouldn’t admit it. Not with all my guests, at my bed and breakfast, asking me with anticipation if my house is haunted and looking disappointed when I answer no. We have hundreds of visitors here all year round clamoring to book Ghost Tours in hopes of see a wisp or two floating around a corner. I honestly have tried to believe, but never had much luck with it. I’m too much of a realist. Maybe so much so that, even if they are all around me, my mental state wont let me see them.
Old Louisville has beautiful tree-lined streets with turn of the century mansions built in seven major kinds of architecture. They are decorated with gargoyles, chameleons, serpents, swans, turrets, and towers and enhanced with a variety of wrought-iron fences, hand-carved doors, and stained-glass windows.
There are also hidden balconies, secluded courtyards, and secret passageways. All of this dark and spooky ornamentation sets the scene for our ghostly reputation. I keep thinking there must be some explanation for all these creepy decorations…some reason why they’re here…and why so many of them? It certainly is something to ponder.The many ghost legends and the historical accouterments make Old Louisville one of the most interesting areas in Kentucky.
If you take a Ghost Tour, you’ll hear about the young girl with black hair, who died 90 years ago, but still haunts the neighborhood to this day as she waits for her betrothed on the steps of the First Church of Christ Science, just three blocks from my house. You might even see her. Let me know if you do.
A few blocks the other way, the “phantom of Brook Street”, a young girl attacked and murdered by two vagrants in a home where she worked, still comes to work daily. Other ghosts, like the Widow Hoag and the Iceboy supposedly can be seen from time to time lurking in the shadows. I’ve never seen any of them, but a few of my guests swear that they have…and maybe so.
A former high school five blocks to the north of me is haunted by students who insist on coming back every year. A gray shingled building on Sixth Street has had a fascinating and eerie history and odd occurrences since the 1940s that still exist to this day.
Also, in the ’40s, a royal wedding took place at a South Fourth Street mansion where a local girl, married one of the richest men in the British Isles. Evidently, he died soon after they were married. and her sad spirit still visits yearly, weeping for her lost love.
And, then there’s the Conrad Caldwell museum, only a few blocks west of me, where visitors have experienced uncanny sensations when they wander off from the group, and the ghosts of Floral Terrace who constantly whisper secrets as you walk by.
So there you have it. This is where I live…in a 4028 square foot Victorian Italianate mansion surrounded by the dense gardens of the spookiest neighborhoods in the county.
I had been living here for around five years when I discovered that besides the unsavory characters you could see, I was surrounded by some you couldn’t see. Evidently, there are ghosts peering from many of the gardens and leaning against the mansion gates on every block. They sit on the steps of the Christian Science Church and sob each night from the windows of the houses down the street from me. Seems as though they’re everywhere.I have never seen hide nor hair of any of them…never hear them sobbing, but believe me, I wouldn’t admit it. Not with all my guests, at my bed and breakfast, asking me with anticipation if my house is haunted and looking disappointed when I answer no. We have hundreds of visitors here all year round clamoring to book Ghost Tours in hopes of see a wisp or two floating around a corner. I honestly have tried to believe, but never had much luck with it. I’m too much of a realist. Maybe so much so that, even if they are all around me, my mental state wont let me see them.
Old Louisville has beautiful tree-lined streets with turn of the century mansions built in seven major kinds of architecture. They are decorated with gargoyles, chameleons, serpents, swans, turrets, and towers and enhanced with a variety of wrought-iron fences, hand-carved doors, and stained-glass windows.
There are also hidden balconies, secluded courtyards, and secret passageways. All of this dark and spooky ornamentation sets the scene for our ghostly reputation. I keep thinking there must be some explanation for all these creepy decorations…some reason why they’re here…and why so many of them? It certainly is something to ponder.The many ghost legends and the historical accouterments make Old Louisville one of the most interesting areas in Kentucky.
If you take a Ghost Tour, you’ll hear about the young girl with black hair, who died 90 years ago, but still haunts the neighborhood to this day as she waits for her betrothed on the steps of the First Church of Christ Science, just three blocks from my house. You might even see her. Let me know if you do.
A few blocks the other way, the “phantom of Brook Street”, a young girl attacked and murdered by two vagrants in a home where she worked, still comes to work daily. Other ghosts, like the Widow Hoag and the Iceboy supposedly can be seen from time to time lurking in the shadows. I’ve never seen any of them, but a few of my guests swear that they have…and maybe so.
A former high school five blocks to the north of me is haunted by students who insist on coming back every year. A gray shingled building on Sixth Street has had a fascinating and eerie history and odd occurrences since the 1940s that still exist to this day.
Also, in the ’40s, a royal wedding took place at a South Fourth Street mansion where a local girl, married one of the richest men in the British Isles. Evidently, he died soon after they were married. and her sad spirit still visits yearly, weeping for her lost love.
And, then there’s the Conrad Caldwell museum, only a few blocks west of me, where visitors have experienced uncanny sensations when they wander off from the group, and the ghosts of Floral Terrace who constantly whisper secrets as you walk by.
So there you have it. This is where I live…in a 4028 square foot Victorian Italianate mansion surrounded by the dense gardens of the spookiest neighborhoods in the county.
Nancy Hinchliff, Innkeeper
Aleksander House Bed and Breakfast
Website/Reservations: www.aleksanderhouse.com
Reader Comments (2)
Nancy, so sorry to hear you aren't blessed with the ability to see or hear the leftovers of the Dearly Departed. Yes, some are scary, but it's been my experience that most are not. Unless they were ...'scuse the pun...mean-spirited by nature in life, they'll be rather sad and docile in the InBetween of Ghostdom. That said, being quite sensitive to such things myself, there's not enough money in the world to convince me to spend a night in The Myrtles in Louisiana, but think I'd enjoy a night at your "slightly haunted" B&B in Louisville.
Joanna, Thanks for the comment. yes, I guess I am missing out. but I would love to have you come and visit and tell me what you know that I don't