Phantasmal Crime

One of the reasons cited for a soul to be at unrest is a lack of justice. And sometimes that justice hasn't come because a body hasn't been discovered. Some of the most interesting ghost stories feature a spirit of a murder victim that leads people to the spot of their hidden burial. Two of these stories date back to the late 1800s. One story features the typical haunted house and the other features a ghost wagon.  Bruce Marshall had inherited the Eanes-Marshall Ranch House. This property had been in his family for over 130 years in 1991. That was the year the body was discovered. Alexander Eanes had been born in 1806 and he moved from Mississippi to Texas in 1845 and bought ranch land in 1857 near Austin in Westlake Hills. Alexander sold the land to his brother Robert in 1873 and this eventually was sold to Robert's son-in-law Hudson Boatner Marshall. Hence the name Eanes-Marshall Ranch. Hudson didn't like where the ranch house was located, so he dismantled it and move...

Thornhaven Manor is located at 2172 S. Spiceland Road in New Castle, Indiana near the Big Blue River Valley. The dilapidated home sits on seven acres of former farmland that is encircled by marshland and woods. The manor was built in 1845 and originally sat on a property that stretched to 1,000 acres. Many people died in the house from illness, but in the early 1900s, this home would be the scene of a murder by poison. Today, there are reputedly many spirits at this location with the most prominent ones belonging to people connected to that murder. Simon T. Powell was one of the richest men in Indiana. Powell was born in 1821 in Cambridge City, Indiana, but his parents eventually moved to Illinois. When he was fourteen, he was struck with what was deemed Palsy and his excessive swimming was blamed for causing that. The affliction would cripple him for the rest of his life. He attended Vincennes College and completed his education under Prof. Samuel H.Hoshour at the seminary in E...

German Church Road in Chicago is haunted. At least, that's what urban legends claim. The possibility of apparitions being seen along this road is supported by the fact that a murder is connected to this road. Not just one murder, but two. And the victims were sisters. The Grimes sisters. Two all American teenagers were out for a little fun and their lives ended abruptly, shattering not only their innocence, but the innocence of the people that knew them or lived near them. The lack of justice has perhaps left their spirits at unrest. German Church Road is like any other road out there, nondescript. This paved avenue runs between County Line Road and Willow Springs Road with a couple of creeks, Devil's and Flag, running nearby. The Healing Waters Park is not too far away. The road was named for the Trinity Lutheran Church that had been built in 1865 by the German immigrants in the area. The Grimes sisters were the typical all American teenagers. Barbara was fifteen and Patri...

Los Feliz is a hybrid of nature and urban sprawl with a long history of Native American habitation, ranching, high-end living, curses, suicide, murder and hauntings. The enclave really has it all with Los Feliz Village offering boutiques and fine dining, Griffith Park featuring great hikes and views and the neighborhood hosting homes with architectural distinction, including the Sowden House, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr. Los Feliz is a charming neighborhood, but it is also a rich place to die! For thousands of years, the Chumash and Tongva Native American tribes lived in the area that would eventually become Rancho Los Feliz. The Santa Monica Mountains parallel the Pacific Ocean along the coast of southern California. The mountain range stretches from Point Mugu in Ventura County to the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. Spanish settlers arrived later and set themselves up near the banks of the Los Angeles River. One of the first land grants in California went to Corp...

The city of Chicago is notorious for crime. Even as a frontier town, Chicago was known for rape, theft, arson and murder. Today, the city is plagued with shootings. These details put into perspective how bad crime was in the town of North Platte, Nebraska during Prohibition. Many may not think of a place in Nebraska as being a hub of intense crime, but it was so bad in North Platte, that it came to be known as Little Chicago. North Platte would become a base of operations for an evil woman. There really is no other way to describe Annie Cook. Her crimes were mind boggling. The effects of her deeds have continued on to our present era through supernatural activity.   North Platte had been founded in 1866 and was named for the North Platte River. This town was established as the western terminus for the Union Pacific Railway. The railway would extend further west the following year to Laramie, Wyoming. Small towns with a railroad were attractive to criminals, particularly g...

The thought that some humans could be deemed as the throw away people of society is detestable. Drug addicts, the homeless and sex workers are usually classified in this way. And that, makes them easy victims. Particularly for serial killers. An unknown serial killer that wreaked havoc in the city of Cleveland back during the Great Depression was nicknamed "The Mad Butcher." His victims were the people that society had tossed aside. Their torsos were the only things left behind in this killer's wake.    James Kingsbury was the first resident of Newburgh, which was a township south of Cleveland. An area along the east side of Cleveland near Shaker Heights that stretched westward down to the Cuyahoga River was named for him, Kingsbury Run. This piece of land that separated Cleveland from Newburgh was a booming place. At least for a little while. The industry here collapsed during the Great Depression and poverty moved in hitting the immigrants and minorities the hardest. ...