Friday the 13th

Along with the superstitions of Friday the 13th come the spooks and scares. In honor of the year’s unluckiest day, today Weekend explores some of Bloomington’s most haunted places.

Read Residence Center

Read Center is known for its distinctive shape and confusing basement. But there are numerous legends involving entities that haunt the building.

Rumor has it that after a late night altercation, a medical student killed his girlfriend on the third floor. Her ghost, described as having long black hair and wearing a bloodstained nightgown, still haunts the room where she died. This figure has also been seen in other parts of the building.

Stories say that a female resident assistant took her own life years ago on the sixth floor. Every year on December 12, the night she died, you can hear her screaming.

Lilly Library

This library houses some of IU’s most impressive possessions, including an original Gutenberg Bible. But it also houses some other entities, according to stories.

Various workers and visitors have seen and heard strange things in the Lilly Library. Some suspect these may be the ghosts of previous owners of the library’s artifacts coming back to check on their collections.

Indiana Memorial Union

The Union has long been considered one of IU’s most haunted buildings. Being one of the largest buildings on campus, the Union has many secluded spaces for lurking spirits.

The building is rumored to be haunted by several human ghosts of students who died on campus over the years but left their spirits behind. There are also rumors of a canine ghost.

Portico’s Building

Houses in Bloomington tend to be old-fashioned. They have creaky, hardwood floors and can be pretty creepy. But one such house on North Walnut Avenue is rumored to be haunted.

The house across from Square Donuts used to be a restaurant called Portico’s. Employees and customers alike reported strange occurrences in the restaurant. Some heard the distant sound of children laughing in the attic. A testimonial from a former employee of the restaurant reported sounds of footsteps on the staircase to the attic when there was no person up there.

Others said there was an ominous presence in the women’s restroom. People sometimes saw the face of a young girl in the mirror.

Stepp Family Cemetery

About 30 minutes north of Bloomington, in the heart of the Hoosier National Forest, lies one of Indiana’s spookiest spots.

Two brothers once fought over the inheritance of their father’s land. They ended up killing each other, and they are both buried at Stepp Cemetery. Cemetery visitors claim to have seen the two dead brothers arguing. They also claim that their cars die suddenly while in the area.

A famous Indiana ghost story involves a woman named Anna who lost both her husband and daughter to tragic accidents in the 1930s. Both her family members were buried at Stepp Cemetery.

In her grief, Anna lost her mind. She began visiting the cemetery almost constantly. She even had conversations with her husband and daughter, as if they were still there. She carved a seat from an old tree stump so she would be comfortable during these visits.

No one knows how or when Anna died. It is supposed that she was buried at Stepp Cemetery, but no marker can be found for her.

It is said that she still visits her family at the cemetery. Perhaps she never left. Visitors have reported strange sounds coming from the cemetery at night. Some say they have seen a dark figure sitting on the old tree stump.

SOURCES
hauntedhouses.com
http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/haunted/hauntedplacesofindiana.htm
“Haunted Indiana” by Mark Marimen