The Mysterious House of Hartford City

I first heard about the "Demon House" in Hartford City, Indiana, while watching an episode of Paranormal Lockdown. In the show two investigators, Nick and Katrina, lock themselves in haunted locations for 72 hours. During the episode Nick ventured into a crawl space and found human remains; the investigation was stopped; police were called.

Having seen that episode when I saw an opportunity with American Hauntings Ghost Tours to go to that house and do an investigation of my own I jumped at the chance. Meg and I reserved our spots in what promised to be a small group which was perfect. We would avoid the contamination of a large amount of people, like in Waverly, and possibly be able to see what other people who have done this more say and do.

Now I am not going to lie the title "Demon House" scared me and I was definitely more nervous for this investigation than I was for the Crescent and Waverly. So I began doing research, trying to trace the history of the house and better understand who/what was haunting it and why this house. What exactly earned the house the nickname of "Demon House"?

My post will be split into sections, much like the blog about Waverly Hills.

1. History

Hartford City is located in Blackford County, Indiana, and serves as the county seat.  In the 1830s Hartford was a few log cabins centered around a ford for Lick Creek. It was called Hart's Ford which is assumed to be origin of the town's name. In 1838 Blackford County formed and Hartford City in Licking Township and Montpellier in Harrison Township were nominated to be the county seat. Montpellier based its claim on it being the oldest community in the county. Eventually Hartford City was chosen since Licking Township was the most populated township. The area was slow to develop because it was primarily swamp land. Work began to drain the swamps and farms began to populate the area since the freshly drained swamps left behind nutrient rich land. Then in the mid 1880s Natural Gas and Oil were found and the Indiana Gas Boom began a 15 year period of intense growth. Hartford City's population would triple over the next decade as different industries would move in to the area to take advantage of the economic boom. Hartford City would also see two major rail lines cross through the town helping to aid travel.

With the newfound industry Hartford City benefitted greatly as the county sought to upgrade its seat. The original courthouse was deemed inadequate and plans were made for a new courthouse. The new courthouse and surrounding buildings were constructed in the early 1890s and are now the Courthouse Square Historic District. The Blackford County Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the most photographed buildings in the county for its historical and architectural value.

Now specifically narrowing down on the property on August 20, 1838 Peter Wire purchased 80 acres of land that, I believe,  included the property we were investigating.

My research of the house, 218 North Monroe Street, falls primarily in the 1890s - early 1900s. I found reference to there being a structure on the property dating back to the 1850s but that it was damaged in a fire in 1890s and the new home was built possibly using some of the burnt wood. I did find a fire in 1892 in Hartford City that destroyed the Crescent Paper Mill. The fire destroyed the entire mill and there were injuries but luckily no fatalities.

However I have not found anything to tell me where geographically the Mill was located. Afterwards I saw reports of lots for sale called the Crescent Additions while I don't think the house was part of the Crescent Paper Mill property I think it is nearby and could have at some time been owned by the same person, perhaps Peter Wire.


I did find the house which is lot 3 and 4 block 14 in Original Hartford City being purchased from J. Frank Taughinbaugh on February 4th, 1892, by Albert Saxon. Albert is the oldest son of John Saxon and a member of one of the first families to settle in Hartford City.  The Saxons first came to Hartford City in 1839 with thirteen other families. Albert's Great Grandfather, John Saxon, was born in NY and joined the Continental Army when he was 15 years old.  He came to Blackford County and claimed property as part of his bounty for serving. John passed away in 1862 at a little over 100 years old and was one of the last surviving veteran's of the Revolutionary War. Today a bronze plaque honors his service to the country at the County Courthouse.

Albert's father also named John Saxon served as Hartford City Sheriff and I have heard that he lived in the house on Monroe Street while he was Sheriff mainly because there is a rumor that he kept prisoners in the basement. However he served as Sheriff between 1877 and 1882. So unless he lived there and either rented from Frank Taughinbaugh or sold it to him only to have his son repurchase it ten years later this seems unlikely. I do think he lived there but not while serving as Sheriff especially since the next real estate transaction for the property was in Mary Saxon's name, John's wife and Albert's mother.

Other than a note in his biography that his two terms as sheriff were satisfactory to all he served I was unable to find many stories about John Saxon.  He was involved in a shoot out when he and a bunch of others tracked down some suspected train robbers.

I did find obits about his wife Mary Saxon deceased in 1907 and his son John  B. Saxon deceased young in 1898 and both were well loved. 

Back to tracing the ownership and history of the house John Saxon passed away August 9th, 1896 and  on August 11th, 1897 Mary Saxon had a real estate transaction with the next owner of the home.

The Berger's were a well respected family in the area. John Berger was a member of the Rotary Club and Oddfellows. He worked for the glass company and served as a travel agent helping people travel back and forth between Belgium and America. He also worked as a distributer for the Indianapolis Brewing Co and owned his own establishment, I found his liquor license requests year after year as well as several advertisements.

I also learned that John Berger had some political aspirations and was nominated for Councilman in 1896. Apparently his being a saloon owner caused some to argue against his nomination however he refused to withdraw his name.

Not anything to do with the house's history or the haunting but there were several times as I went through the Hartford City Telegram that the paper made me laugh. Like this exert noting that at least one "wag" voted for the two saloon owners for council and the prohibitionist for Mayor.

The Berger's would own the house on Monroe Street for over two decades but the family suffered several tragedies in that time, reading their history it certainly did seem like the family was cursed while living in that house. To start with in 1904 John's health took a turn for the worse. He travelled to one hospital in West Baden and stayed for several days before returning considered to be much improved. Unfortunately it did not last and the following year, 1905, he travelled to Silver City, New Mexico.

John's sickness was not the only trouble for the family at the time. John's brother Martial was having serious health problems. In 1904 Martial had been locked outside and suffered severe frostbite. After that a horse stepped on his injured foot and caused gangrene to start. As a result a March 25, 1905 article Martial Berger had to have his leg amputated from the knee down.  Two years later on September 11, 1907 Martial Berger passed away of pneumonia. Like his brother he had come to Hartford City in the late 1880s to work at the glass company.

Also in 1905 John Berger's son George was attacked while out with his friends. George and one friend were both shot and George may have actually been dead for a brief moment. It is certainly clear that at the time it was expected George would die. He did not die and made a full recovery as did his friend Andre. I found many articles about both of them as they were musicians who played in several cities in Indiana. 

 In 1908 lighting struck the house. It did not cause damage or harm anyone in the home but it did put out over 100 telephones and woke up the family.

Then a year later on October 13, 1909 the next tragedy struck the family. Libbie Berger, daughter of John, and Fred Nicaise had been married in 1894 just after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately after giving birth to a son who passed away shortly after being born Libbie also passed away from complications of pregnancy and diabetes.

Shortly after she passed away her remaining children moved in to the house on Monroe to live with their Grandmother.

At some point in the early 1900s the Bergers began renting the upstairs apartment to a family of five: Ulysses, Mary, Earl, Edna, and Ernest Miars. The Miars' stay at 218 North Monroe street was also fairly tumultuous. First there was the mysterious illness of Edna. I'm not sure what was going on but I think the little girl was not seen for awhile and rumors began to spread about her health. It was certainly strange to find an article stating the child is not sick.

That was in 1904. Three years later in 1907 the Hartford City Telegram began chronicling the unstable relationship between Mary and Ulysses Miars. On March 20th, 1907 the Telegram published an article stating that Mary Miars had filed for divorce claiming that Ulysses subjected her to cruel and inhumane treatment and had thrown her out of the home a week earlier.  Strangely two months later they reconciled their differences and settled the divorce.

However the reconciliation did not last long. On October 7th, 1907 Mary Miars went to the prosecutor and filled a charge of wife abandonment against Ulysses. Apparently several weeks earlier Ulysses had left Hartford City to work in Marion, Indiana for the Clover Leaf Railway Company. When given notice of the charge Ulysses said he would easily prove himself innocent "and will make strenuous efforts to show there are many startling things connected with the case not made public up to date." Two months later, December 4 1907, Ulysses filed for divorce.

A month later the divorce was granted with Mary keeping custody of the two minor children, Edna now 8 and Ernest now 5. She received $15 a month alimony as well as $15 a month in child support. For her part Mary dropped the charges of wife abandonment. Ulysses remarried a little over a month later. By the1910 census Mary and all three children had left Monroe street and moved to Jefferson street in Ward 2 of Hartford City. 

With both parents claiming the other was cruel I am fairly certain that the home life for the children was not easy. I can't find it now but I had seen a picture taken of the house and the image of two small children appeared peering out an upstairs window. Online people speculated about who the "ghost children" could be. Some believed they were missing children from the 1850s however I can't find any report of missing children. Others wondered if it was the Miars children. One report claimed the children had gone missing or possibly been killed in the home, this was aided by the fact that Ulysses obituary listed only Earl as a surviving child.  So I decided to try and find out what had become of the Miars family. I'm not sure when they left Hartford City but I do know that both Edna and Earnest would go on to live full lives. They were both married and Earnest had several children. 

But if they lived and moved out of the house why would the children be haunting their childhood home? My thoughts are perhaps that the children looking out the window were a residual haunting, like hearing the crying at the Crescent Hotel and repeated breaths and sighs at Waverly. A coworker once asked me why we are interested in doing ghost investigations. Part of it is a desire to know and understand but the other part is to learn about ghosts and possibly help them move on to where they should be so they can rest. In order to try and do that I printed out pictures of the two young Miars graves and brought them with me as proof, in case it was an intelligent haunting that we could interact with, that they had left the house and moved on and that they could do that once again.

Now my history gets less detailed. I read that at some point in 1921 Harry and Emma Meyers purchased the home from Mary Berger and along with their son, Clayton, lived downstairs. At some point prior to 1935 Sydney and Meryl Faulkner begin renting the upstairs of the house. I found their entry in the 1940 Census, the last census available publicly since 1950 won't be released until next year.

According to his obituary in the Star Press on 8/7/1951 Harry passed away at home of a heart ailment. I don't know if they were still living in the house on Monroe street. I do know Clayton served in the Airforce during WW2 and held the rank of Technical Sergeant. He passed away in 1999 and was buried with his wife, Pearle, in Hartford City Cemetery so he stayed local. I have not found either Harry or Emma's gravesites. 

I also found that between November of 2000 to September 2005 the house changed hands three times finally ending up in the hands of Eddie and Pam Norris who bought the house planning on flipping it, and thirteen years later they still own the house.

And then my history ends. I have seen reference to many things that I can not find any actual evidence to back it. For example I heard a woman hung herself in the house in the 1940s but it wasn't Meryl Faulkner or Emma Meyers. There is the story of missing children that I can not verify. Also the report of fires in the home that I have not found news reports to substantiate. 

There is also word that in the 1970s some people who were into occultism lived in the house and may have practiced there. 

Now also as part of my research I began looking up video of other people or groups that had investigated at the house on Monroe Street. The house was brought to wider attention by the work of Nick and Katrina on Paranormal Lockdown but I also found amazing videos by Terry Wiloby, The Fourman Brothers, Mike Flickner from SIGHS, Truth Paranormal and Ectovision Paranormal. 

There were a few things that I kept hearing on the videos. One was a reference to a woman being killed. For example a voice would be recorded saying "I killed her."  I also saw several videos with references to killing a baby. Now nothing I found from the history of the house gave me any clues to what was being referenced. 

I did expand my search a little bit to the other homes in the area. I did this because a lot of times hauntings are connected by old property lines. So something a few blocks away may have at one time been part of the property. Now I have trouble with that because I don't understand why an arbitrary property line would effect a haunting. I guess I understand if the ghost knew of that as one property maybe it would travel the whole property but then why haunt one house and not the next door house? 

However broadening my search I did find two particularly troubling stories. The first is the story of Mrs. Chris Bessinger who lived across the street from the Courthouse in the Dowell Building at 107-109 West Washington Street. It was built in 1893 and had offices and apparently at least one apartment. On May 3rd, 1899 Mrs. Bessinger gave birth to  a stillborn baby. Rather than pay for a funeral they threw the baby into the office outhouse. And according to the paper Mr. Bessinger didn't understand what he had done wrong. To me this disregard for life is the closest I found to an actual evil act. 

The second event that I found is the story of Ada (Wright) Green who on April 12th, 1899 took her own life by ingesting strychnine. Strangely enough Ada was living in the Dowell building with the Bessingers. Could this be the baby and the suicide that has been referenced in the videos I found online?

My research certainly revealed a lot of pain and personal tragedy in a very small area so maybe there is something going on but for every sad story in the newspaper there were happy stories as well. This is just a snap shot with a focus on negative events. I read about weddings, dances, social clubs and gatherings, and awards and scholarships given out.

I easily could have focused on the happy times of the Berger family take for example George Berger, the young man who was shot. George survived and went on to continue as a member of the Hartford City Band, owned a theater, and married.

Another happy event in the family history would be Mae(y) Berger, Mary and John's youngest daughter, graduated from the local Catholic high school with a business degree on May 15th, 1907. 

The Telegram is also filled with society events like the card club that Ida Berger was a member of that would gather at different homes and play hearts. Ida was apparently quite good because she won a lot of prizes. 

Elmer Berger, John and Mary's oldest son, was married September 12, 1906 to Caroline Hartley. And Mae Berger, John and Mary's youngest daughter, was married January 25th, 1911.

That is everything I learned about the house. But it is not everything I know about the property. Long before there was a house on Monroe Street there was swamp land in north eastern Indiana. I have found maps that show the Great Black Swamp stretching across Ohio all the way to Fort Wayne, Indiana. And this lead me to wonder about the bodies found on the property (not including the bones found in the crawl space). Could the bodies found in the back yard be from people who were lost in the swamp? Or perhaps they were early settlers who travelled through and were killed by disease like malaria from mosquitos. 

2. Equipment

The main pieces of equipment I was focused on using were the three hunting cameras, three recorders, and the S-Box.

The hunting cameras were going to be stationary in three different rooms to help give us coverage. Since I had watched videos I had an idea as to where I wanted to place them. One was definitely going in the basement looking towards the crawl space were human remains had been found on Paranormal Lockdown, one was going to be in the second floor room with the window where the two children had been seen, and the third was on the first floor in a back bedroom that people seem to hear noises from a lot.

With the recorders Meg would carry one on her all night and I would have the other. Unlike in Waverly we bought bands so that the recorders were hands free on our wrists. In Waverly we had a lot of distortion from moving our fingers and changing our grips on the recorders. The third recorder was for burst EVP that we could do and listen back to immediately.

The S-Box is still new to us but we had some success with it in Vicksburg so we wanted to continue to try it out.

3. Investigation/ Evidence

We arrived at 218 north Monroe Street about an hour and a half early partly to look at notes and prepare and also to get some exterior photos before others arrived. We drove up the alley behind the house and parked next to a dumpster on the property. As we began reviewing notes Eddie Norris, the owner,  came out the door and greeted us and invited us in. Luckily we got an unplanned interview and tour with Eddie while we waited for others to arrive. I got to discuss some of what I had found out about the house and he gave me some further information to research and use in our investigation. 

About ten minutes before go time Lisa from American Hauntings arrived with a burst of energy. She was awesome throughout the night telling us about some of the techniques that her team used and just in general checking on how we were doing. Once the rest of the group arrived we went on a group tour with her and Eddie of the house but not before a quick blessing and prayer. 

Despite the name Demon House and how I had psyched myself up there really wasn't any part of the night where I felt scared. I did feel like something had been touching me in the kitchen when we had been touring with Lisa and the group but there was never any feeling of dread or concern at all.

As far as investigating we tried to balance our time between each of the floors so that we hit each floor roughly every other hour or so, with the exception of the basement which had a steep staircase that we decided to only travel it a couple of times. Also it was filling with water because of the rain. On each floor we used the SBOX as well as tried some burst EVPs. Over the course of the night we felt tired and cold but we were up all night in a house in Indiana where it was 55 degrees so that made perfect sense.

At one point towards the end of the night Meg heard a disembodied voice but couldn't understand it. There were a few times when we heard taps or a bang but there were other people in the house and it was raining which interfered with sound. Also we found that each different group of people at times felt drawn to certain areas of the house. For example one of the times when we really felt like going to the basement a different group got an EVP saying "the basement" and another person also wandered to the basement. The same thing happened later with all of us traveling to the second floor at the same time despite investigating separately. We left happy that we had gone but knowing if we were going to have anything it was going to have to come from EVP and the cameras we had placed on each floor. So after driving home and a few packed weekends we finally settled down for our evidence review.

And right off the bat things looked promising!

As we were touring the building we came to a door that Eddie thought had been left open. Upon listening to the recorder we had two EVPs.

After the tour we began our investigation. The next interesting recording we had was from the first floor. One of the other investigators had a teddy bear called "Boo Buddy" that can sense changes in the environment and will ask questions to try and interact with spirits. Boo Buddy asked a question and a few moments later we hear a faint response. Here is the video:

On the second floor we tried out the SBOX which we hadn't used very much but had liked some of the interactions we had back in Vicksburg (Vicksburg Road Trip):

We switched rooms on the second floor and recorded a faint EVP answer to a question Meg asked:

Later we returned to the front room on the second floor where I think two children were photographed in a window. I began the session by trying to connect to the children. As I said before I had found and printed out pictures of their graves as proof that they had grown up and left the house.

While stopped in the first floor kitchen we recorded an EVP and then some sounds that I really don't know what they are. I kind of have an explanation for one because there are reports of people hearing a dog or feeling a dog rub at them or pull on them. Sure enough one of the sounds we have sounds like a dog panting excitedly.

Next we headed down to the basement to check on my camera and to investigate a bit. There was more water in the basement from the rain that night and we could hear it very clearly on metal pipes. We used the SBOX and had a burst EVP session. Again we didn't really feel uneasy or anything but it was interesting that several others were feeling like they should come to the basement at the same time.

We asked questions about who lived there and if they remembered the fire since some of the supports in the basement are darkened like from smoke and people believe it is from fire.  First I have the video from the SBOX session:

And some EVPs:

After investigating in the basement we went back upstairs for a little bit to try and space out where and when we investigated. This is some more of us trying to experiment with the SBOX.

This is the last video I have from the night and it is one of my favorite interactions. It is also the first time listening back to our evidence that I thought there was anything sinister. Toward the end of the video we are telling what ever is present in the house it does not have permission to come home with us. We mention the repair's Eddie is doing and we get a few responses that honestly were a bit chilling.

Is there a demon in the house? I don't know nothing in the history or in our experience makes me think so but there certainly has been  a lot of tragedy in the house and I know some people have been sent running from the house. I was told by one group on Youtube that Eddie prefers the name Mysterious House instead of Demon House and maybe that is a better name. After-all given the night we had and the evidence we collected I would say there is something there but I have no idea what.

What do you think?



Now what's next? Well while searching the Hartford City Telegram I found a simple one sentence article that said:

If anyone reading this knows the story of Thos Johnson I would love to hear it.

I also already have tickets to visit Octagon Hall in Kentucky and plan to revisit Waverly Hills Sanatorium in August.

Crisscrossing Indiana

Leaving retail and switching to working in distribution has been amazing for my road trip hobby!

In just the first four months of this year here is a map of all the states we have visited so far:

I kind of feel like we need to drive to Florida soon just to complete the south east collection.

Specifically this trip had us drive in TN, KY, OH, and IN. The main reason for the trip was to visit a haunted house in Hartford City, Indiana, that has been nicknamed the "Demon House" and has been on tv shows most notably Paranormal Lockdown. However it is going to take me time to go through the recordings that we took so that will be in a separate blog. However, here is the rest of the trip in case you are ever driving through Indiana and want to see some interesting sites.

Our first stop was in Corydon, Indiana, and the site of the "Constitution Elm."  The elm stood near Indiana's first capital building. During the hot summer the early legislators would gather outside under the shade of the elm. It was certainly large enough as before its demise due to disease the tree stood over 50 feet tall with a five foot diameter. The branches spread out providing over 130 feet of shade. Forty three representatives from across the territory attended the Constitutional Convention in June of 1816 and signed Indiana's Constitution while sitting under the tree. By 1825 the General Assembly moved to Indianapolis. One hundred years later the elm succumbed to disease and pieces of it were sold as souvenirs. In 1937 a memorial was placed over the remaining stump to preserve that piece of Indiana history.





Stop number two was a familiar figure for road trips that we have been on because it involved Merriwether Lewis. At the Falls of The Ohio State Park we stopped to see a statue commemorating Lewis and Clark's journey of exploration. On October 14th, 1803, Lewis and George Clark met at the Falls and shook hands marking the beginning of the expedition. On October 26th they departed for the American West 200 years later the statue was placed on this spot in honor of their journey.

Next stop was a grave in Dupont Cemetery shaped like a micrometer. The grave is for Carol Hughes who passed away in 1999. The micrometer is a tool Robert Hughes, still living,  used in his tool and die shop.





Our next stop was a two in one. I was going to Aurora, Indiana, to see a building that has boarded up windows and the boards are painted with different people that the artist sells. It was also getting to be time to stop for lunch and the building housed a brewery and restaurant.

Great Crescent Brewery has its beginning dating back to the 1870s when Thomas and James Gaff opened their brewery to complement their distillery that dated back to 1843.  They were originally located near the river and caverns underneath the buildings were used to store the beer. Though in the time afterwards the brewery changed hands several times. The current Crescent Brewery was started in 2008 by the Valas family and continues to adhere to the same quality Crescent brewery was known for back in the late 1800s. The atmosphere inside was awesome from the moment we walked in.

I ordered their Bavarian Burger on a pretzel bun. Basically it was the perfect melding of a reuben and a burger. The pretzel bun is made in house and the brewery prides themselves on fresh local ingredients for their food and beer. Case in point the IN Orbit beer that I ordered is made from hops farmed all around Indiana. 

Next was a stop in Metamora, Indiana, part of the Whitewater Canal Historic District, which stretched from Lawrenceburg to Hagerstown Indiana in order to provide a better and faster way to travel. The artificial waterway was built between 1836-1847 following the success of the Erie Canal as a way to connect the Whitewater Valley to the Ohio River. The canal was no small task since over the course of 76 miles the canal had a 491 foot elevation drop, which meant the water would descend 6.4 feet per mile. As a result it required 56 locks and seven dams to aid the passage and control the waterway. The canal was short lived however despite the large investment. Just as the Natchez Trace had lost its importance to steam boats now boat travel lost its value in favor of the rail roads. 

During the heyday of the canal era in Metamora stood the Faulkner-Pierce Drug Store. It was built with rock from the Duck Creek later it served as a hardware store and now it is Grammie's Cookie Jars and Ice Cream Parlor. Officially in the Guinness Book of Records the store is listed as having over 2600 cookie jars though by now the number has grown as well as housing a large collection of salt and pepper shakers. With each step in the store the cookie jars clinked and shifted so that I was afraid to move to fast.

There were two rooms filled with cookie jars of all types. Meg bought a wooden set of three when the woman behind the counter began wrapping it Meg said it was unnecessary and the woman stopped and looked at her and told her she was going to wrap it because they take pride in their cookie jars. So if anyone visits, let them wrap the cookie jars :-)

As soon as we went in I began searching for a particular cookie jar I was certain they would have, Little Red Riding Hood. We actually have two of them and the salt and pepper shakers that match. My Mom had one for a long time and it was a prized possession. In a corner of the shop I found them.

As we drove to our next location in West College Corner we passed a historical marker entitled "Wanted By the FBI" on it it told part of the story of George W. Barrett since we only drove by we just saw one side which said:

"On August 16, 1935. FBI Special Agents Nelson B. Klein and Donald C. McGovern spotted car thief George W. Barrett here. Barrettt, a convicted criminal, ran a scam stealing cars, altering them, then selling them. He transported cars over state lines, violating National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, passed 1919. The federal law helped catch many criminals in 1920s and 1930s."

Apparently Barrett was wanted from as far away as California. Klein and McGovern chased him and during the shoot out Agent Klein was killed. Barrett would be charged with Klein's death and was the first person executed for killing a federal agent.

Next was a trip to the eastern side of Indiana and West College Corner where they have school that straddles the state line. The school was originally built in 1893. One arched door serves an entrance on the Ohio side and the second arch door is in Indiana.

Up next was another cemetery and the grave of young Vivian Allison. She was only five when she passed away. Her Father, a carpenter, had been building her a Victorian style doll house and placed it next to her grave in the Connersville City Cemetery.  Sadly the dollhouse is no longer there, I don't know if it is gone because it was damaged or maybe it is just temporarily missing for restoration.


Since we had gone all the way to Connersville we decided to walk around the cemetery for a little bit to see who we could learn about. Like Captain Samuel J Shipley one of the first ever graduates of the Navel Academy in Annapolis. He was born December 24, 1813 to Joseph and Mary Shipley. In 1839 he enrolled at the newly formed Naval Academy and in the spring of 1840 he was a member of the first graduating class.


On our way to our next location we saw a covered bridge in Robert's Park and took a detour to check it out. Apparently the bridge was built in 1884 by the Kennedy family, three generations of that family built bridges over the course of fifty years. In 1984 this bridge, named the Longwood Bridge after a nearby train station, was moved to the park for its centennial.

I love old wooden covered bridges; on a drive through PA many years ago I had stopped to see a couple of bridges. I thought about doing a driving tour to see the bridges made famous by The Bridges of Madison County but I understand many of those bridges no longer stand. I did find an interesting website that I will be able to use to plan a trip to see different bridges (Covered Bridge Map).



Now we had been driving for a long time and we had one more stop before dinner and it was a quick one. On the website Roadside America I found the world's largest candle in Centerville outside of a candle and gift shop.







And then we stopped at Clara's Pizza King where you can sit inside a double decker bus while you eat. On our table was a telephone to call in our order when we were ready. We looked over the menu and decided on a plain deep dish pizza. I'm going to be honest. I've had better pizza but the restaurant was beautiful. There were pieces of stained glass hanging from the ceiling and a large stained glass window that the setting sun illuminated.

Then we drove to Kokomo, Indiana, where I had planned to spend the night at a LaQunita. Now I had known we were taking this trip for a long time but I hadn't booked a room because I didn't think I needed to. I just assumed we would be able to find a room. Weeeeeeelllllllllllll, I was wrong. Apparently we had the perfect storm of events that made a hotel room in possible. The NRA was having a convention that the President attended, the Pacers had been in the NBA playoffs, and the local college classes had ended so parents were in town picking up their kids. We had spent over an hour going from hotel to hotel when finally the Hampton Inn suggested we try the Marriot Residence Inn. We did and took one of their last rooms and I learned my lesson a little less winging it if we know we are going and staying in a hotel I might as well book the room. I just didn't think the rooms would be sold out.

After putting our bags in the hotel room we decided to go across the street to the Half Moon Brewery which we had driven past about six times while searching for a hotel. We ordered the full flight to share so we could try all their brews and split a pretzel. Hanging on the wall by the bar were awards they had won in past years at different competitions. The goal, as usual, was to find a good brew to bring home in a growler. With each one we tasted both of us were like "this is a growler contender." Finally the decision came down to two:
1. "All IN" which featured all ingredients from Indiana including barley from Sugar Creek Malting Co and Chinook Hops from Liberty Hop Farm.
2. "Spotlight City Red" an Irish Red Ale with a caramel finish.

We ended up going with the Irish Red.

Then we returned to our hotel room to sleep for the night. 

Day two of the trip had less stops because I wanted to make it a relaxing day before our overnight ghost investigation. We started day two just like we started day one: looking for a giant tree stump, specifically this was a large sycamore stump. The 800 year old stump was moved on June 18, 1916, from its original location where it served as a landmark location in Howard County to Highland Park. The tree had been over 100 feet tall, with a 57 foot circumference, and branches that measured 8 feet in diameter.

Also in Highland Park was another Covered Bridge!

The Vermont Bridge was built in 1875 and moved to Highland Park in 1957. Inside string lights lined the ceiling and graffiti lined the walls. As I walked through and looked at the graffiti I noticed one in particular which stuck out because it had been updated recently reading "MPM + CMM 060910" and under it in "2019 still married." That made Meg and I smile. I wonder what else has changed in nine years and will they return in another nine years to provide further updates?







Our second stop in Kokomo was a monument to the first "horseless carriage ride." On July 4th, 1894, Elwood Haynes of Kokomo took the first car ride traveling at a top speed of seven miles an hour; he took a six mile ride in the automobile he had designed and built. It seemed fitting to pay tribute to the first road trip while on my road trip.



Then we turned east about 30 miles to Fairmount, Indiana, where James Dean was buried at the young age of 24. James spent part of his childhood living in Fairmount with an Aunt and Uncle where he graduated high school before going to CA to study law at first and then drama. His career was just starting when he was tragically killed in a car crash.







On our way out of the cemetery we stopped when we saw a beautiful grave stone in honor of Douglas Compo. Over the course of his life he had served in the US Navy on two ships and been married for over fifty years to Brenda Scott. The stone featured a tree with the branches named for his children and grand children, nearby his infant grand daughter was buried a granite lamb marked her burial.

Next we headed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to see a perpetual motion billboard on the roof of Perfection Bakeries. The billboard shows a package loaf of bread with slices falling out of it.

And then we turned towards Berne, Indiana's Muensterberg Plaza and Clock Tower. Berne is a small town just over 2 square miles but it made it onto the 2019 Indiana map available in information centers around the state. The clock tower harkens back to Bern Switzerland's Zytglogge Tower. The earliest settlers were eighty-two Mennonite from Bernese Jura who arrived around 1852 and the town honors their roots in several different ways. On the city flag and coat of arms is a bear, and also serves as the school mascot.  

A plaque inside the bell tower quotes Naomi Lehman, a local historian and author about the early settlers:

"So they came to the wilderness of Adams County, Indiana, bringing with them all of their earthly possessions, meager as they were. Bu they also brought far greater treasures - faith in God and loyalty to His Word, courage, optimism, willingness to work, and skills and trades. They came to a country where they would be fully accepted, where they could own their land, and where there was opportunity for bettering their economic situation. This settlement was the beginning of a strong community."

The tower was built by the Berne Community Development Corporation and was dedicated on July 31, 2010, during their Swiss Day Celebration. The Clock Tower stands 160 feet tall and 32 feet wide. Inside the bell tower is a figure to strike the bell who stands seven feet tall.

Unfortunately we were not there in time to see the figurines of the Glockenspiel but that just gives us a reason to return perhaps when it is warmer and the flowers in the plaza will be blooming. 

After that we drove to Hartford City to go over research and notes on the house and get ready for our ghost investigation. That will be a separate blog post once I go through the recordings and videos but the link will be below when it is finished.

Blog post about the Paranormal Investigation of the mysterious House on Monroe Street

After the night of ghost hunting it was time to make the roughly 7 hour drive home. From the highway we passed by one last interesting sight. Apparently nestle headquarters in Indiana so welcoming us to the area was a giant Nestle Quik bunny.

Road trip success!

P.S.  On road trips we play a little game inspired by John Finnemore's character Arthur in Cabin Pressure. It's called yellow car and it is very simple. Whenever you see a yellow car you say "yellow car." We learned that people in Indiana really like yellow cars.

Yellow Car Counter

Meghan: 37.5 (it was a weird tricycle motorcycle thing)

Jo: 22