Bizarre Circumstances, History, And Mystery Combine At The Nicholson House In Indiana
There’s an old ghost house in Indianapolis, Indiana and no one knows why it is haunted. The late discovery of its ghosts adds to the mystery of its paranormal activity. Check it out:
Situated in the suburbs of Indianapolis, the Nicholson-Rand House is most certainly a mystery as no one knew it was haunted until more than 100 years after it was built. It was saved from demolition in 1997 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, but the mystery and paranormal circumstances began long before.
Construction on the house began in 1870 and took six years to complete. It is a Gothic-Revival style home that served as a private residence for DePauw University. It was later owned by the Rand family, which was a prominent family in Indiana.
The same person who built the Nicholson House was hired to do construction on the Marion County Courthouse. At the same time that he was building the Nicholson house, he worked on his own residence.
It wasn't until 1997 that rumors of hauntings in and around this historic home began to surface. It was in this year that the home was moved to a new location just a short distance from its original spot.
While the house was being moved, the photographer took a photo of the house which many believed captured the image of a ghost looking out one of the upstairs windows. All sorts of stories started to circulate around town. Some believed it was the spirit of a young girl who had died in a tragic accident near the house while others thought it was the spirit of a woman.
One former resident of the home revealed that it has been used as a boarding house and that a resident had hanged themself in an upstairs room. Though there is no proof of this happening, this might be the closest explanation for the ghost in the window.
Other terrible symptoms are reported to plague this ghost house as well. It is said that the walls bleed, the scent of decaying flesh can be detected, and the sounds of screams can be heard.
There are stories that reveal the Nicholson House to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad - and possibly an unlucky one.
It has been told that a group of fugitives were being kept in the basement when it caught on fire and all the people below burned to death. The family sealed off the basement in order to prevent being discovered and facing prosecution.
An Illinois transplant who grew up and went to school in Indiana for 22 years, Elizabeth holds a BFA in creative writing and has enjoyed traveling across the country and parts of Europe. She has visited half of the states, as well as parts of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and regularly travels home to the Hoosier State to see friends and family. With more than five years of writing experience, Elizabeth’s articles have been featured on several websites, and her poetry and short stories have been published in multiple literary journals.
