Comments on: White Lick Creek

By: Harley

Harley — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:03:09 +0000

I was born in 1959 and moved to Danville in 1963 where I grew up. I lived in the brick house on the corner of Gibson and North streets overlooking the park. Seems to be a little confusion of the hauntings in Danville from what I’ve grown up hearing. The origional jail was 1 block south of the southeast corner of the courthouse and yes there was a tunnel from it to the courthouse, I have seen the wall where it was filled in after electrical and plumbing was installed in it. The mental house on the hill as far as I recall has always been a retirement home funded by the county. Although, in the early ’90’s I worked for the town of Danville and was directed to take a truck to that building to haul away junk and upon entering the basement discovered small rooms resembling what at one time bars on the fronts of these rooms. I saw the rusted anchor points on the floors as well as on the walls of each of these rooms. Why those anchors were in those walls I can only guess. Growing up as a kid fishing in the old railroad pond as it was known just west of the twin bridges, (one steel, one concrete) behind the Kroger store I have camped out in the concrete one at night to have something to do before the next morning to collect the old glass insulators from the old power poles laying on the ground, collecting black raspberrys for mom to make pies as well as wild strawberries. I do know of the Tuberculosis sanitarium on the county road due north of the Avon bridge on the west side of that road that has several vertical pillars on the front porch. As for the railway worker falling in the concrete form, I doubt they would have left him in there because his body would have created a void in the form and directly effect the bridge structurally. I have heard of the woman and the baby but can’t recall the first time I heard it, probably 1967 or 1968. Before Parkridge addition above the park built in about 1972 or so there was a house that had been abandoned for years that was supposede to have been haunted because of a murder that had taken place in the 1940’s. As I recall that house had an old driveway accross the street from the Ford implement dealer on old US 36. I also happen to know there was a drowning in the park creek at the old site of the swinging bridge, due east of the tennis courts that gained local attention to the people skinny-dipping in the creek which led to the construction of the 1’st swimming pool in Danville where the liquor store sits now years before the Gill family donated money for the pool in it’s current location. One last interesting fact of this area, if you drive into the Conservation Club and walk south of the dam and look back at it, you’ll see it was a bridge years ago for the interurban owned by the Indianapolis Traction Company. The next bridge west is the popular one in the park.

Nice site here, I’ll stop by more often as I think of anything else.

Harley

By: Lois Hatfield

Lois Hatfield — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:44:31 +0000

I was a teenager in the 50’s and the haunted bridge we went to was not the one by Kroger but the one on the road that goes past the ballfield off us 36. We had always heard that a man fell in while the cement was being poured and his saw was still sticking out of the cement. A group of us went up into the bridge one night and I did see with my own eyes a old rusty saw sticking out of the cement. I don’t believe in ghosts but it was scary and I did see the saw. Also my grandmother who was born about 1896 went to Hargrave Hall which used to be a college. I have her graduating class from there and also her report card. Only had to go a short time to become a teacher, thinking about giving the things I have of hers from Hargrave Hall to the Danville historical society. I want to go into Hargrave Hall sometime.

By: Rich

Rich — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:39:13 +0000

I myself went to Danville schools and lived there most my life.. I’ve always wondered about the Mental Place on the hill.. does look creepy. And yes the Jr. High is Haunted. If you look at the building you can see on the right side were the old original building stands.. The basement down there has wierd feelings at times like your being watched (its the old gym). One of the teachers sons reportedly saw a ghostly image that was cleaning the back stairs to the old gym. I’ve had to be there a couple times when I had forgot things at school and I would get a watched feeling. I don’t know if it is still in there but there used to stand a painting of Mr. Hargrave himself

By: Janet

Janet — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:59:20 +0000

Hey Jason I was also wandering when someone would say something about that mental place. I am also from Danville. As far as I know and from what I was told there is a tunel from the mental hospital to the court house. Not in use any more of course. The mental hospital was at one time a jail from what I was told. I love ghost stories and do believe in the supernatural. I’m sorry I don’t know anymore of that place but day or nite when you look at it while driving by it is SCARY!!!!! The bridge thing I used to go to both of the birdges in Danville all of the time (the one in the park and by Kroger) I believe that there is something at both places. Just not sure what it is. For me I felt sadness like there was nothing else to do. I was told that the woman’s name was Mary but who really knows? I was also told that if you say her name three times in the mirror that you will see her. I tried it and nothing happened. The sad thing is that kids play tricks and people back in the day did not keep good records of any thing. So who really knows. And what about the house on old 36 as you go up the hill past the mental hospital across the street way in the back. It might not be there anymore. My Grandma told me that a really evil man had lived there and killed his family. I asked her if she knew him and she said she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. And we never did. So does anyone have any info on that old place. That’s what I was looking for when I found this. And is the Jr. High really haunted? I know at one time the far end was a collage. You know the really old part. We were told in Jr. High that it was. But is it? I wouldn’t be surprised. I do know where you can see ghosts in pictures that are in a public place. And is so cool!!! That’s if they are still there, and the pictures are of the Danville Court House long time ago.

By: nick jordan

nick jordan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:45:58 +0000

went out to the twin bridges the other night,and recorded about 20 minutes on my mini digital recorder. left thinking the trip was a waste of time because nothing spooky happened at all, but when i got home and listened to the recording i was shocked to find 7 audible evps. the only one that i am 100% sure of what it is saying is a voice saying “you’re dead” in the middle of a conversation about sylvia lykens. not sure if they were talking about her or threatining me. to anyone else going to investigate, i would recommend takeing some kind of audio recording device. go sit on top of the bridge and ask some questions. i bet if you listen closely to your recording you will get some weird answers. also, we went on the night of a full moon, so that may have helped.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:41:16 +0000

I have lived in Hendricks county all my life and have visited both the Avon and the Danville bridges. I have not seen or heard anything odd or supernatural going on. I am very much interested in the paranormal but not sure where to go.

I was wondering if any local Danville residents has any information about the old mental hospital sitting waaaay up on the hill right as you’re coming into Danville heading west on 36? It’s up on a hill to your right and it looks fairly old. I wonder how old it really is and if in fact there have been any strange things going on.

If anyone has any information please reply to this thread. I was born in Danville and have always wondered what the deal was with this place.
Thank you.

By: indyjeepman

indyjeepman — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:45:41 +0000

All right kids. This is a part of local urban legends and folklore. There are probably a half dozen explanations for the so called hauntings, with some of the more popular ones showing up here. Not included are versions where a murderer escapes from Central State and makes his way to Danville or Avon, where a couple is parking at one of the bridges. The boyfriend hears some noises and investigates, not to return. In various versions the killer had a hook for a hand or used an ax, and was found on top of the car roof in the morning by investigating sheriffs deputies or the dismembered hook was found buried into the sheet metal of the car when the girlfriend got frightened and drove home, leaving her already butchered boyfriend behind. Other versions have a Chinese immigrant worker falling into the concrete mix, and still others have the entombed worker’s face being partially visible in the concrete surface to this day. The version with the woman and child has been told that she killed her unwanted baby by throwing him off of the bridge, also.

The main bridges in question are Twin Bridges in Danville behind the fire station, which lies in a depression and is very eerie looking on many nights due to the the fog which rises and collects due to topography and the concrete bridge off of the road by the softball diamonds in Avon, which also is eerie looking at night for similar reasons. The one in Mooresville is a newer story, which I had not heard yet. I am almost 50 years old and did some thorough investigating of the sites some 25-30 years ago and never saw too much of anything other than hobos, which used to frequent the bridges when the interior compartments were not blocked off. In the bottom of each arch is a hollow room, where they used to stay as the the temperature inside remained livable year round. My sister, who is ten years older than I am, did the same when she was young, with the same outcomes. BTW, before someone flames me for being a non believer, I have lived in one documented haunted house in Bloomington, which unfortunately no longer stands and I do believe in supernatural occurrences.

If you really want to find a real spooky place here in Indy, try the old Westlake house at the Northeast corner of 465 and 10th. St., which can be gotten to by turning north on the first street east of the interstate. This was the home of the original owners of the Westlake drive-in theater and of the pool complex which used to be located where Westlake apartments are now standing. The home was sold for them to build a new one, which now has been demolished. Since they moved, several owners have lived there and vacated due to strange goings on. It is now occupied by an architectural or engineering firm, I believe. Also, Hanna house is another home with some verified crazy stuff going on over the years.

By: cwebb

cwebb — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:37:06 +0000

All I know is that there is some “killer” fishing in White Lick creek…been fishing there for years, and never had any weird experiences other than losing my cell phone in the creek because a snake swam right by me and freaked me out.

By: Harmony

Harmony — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:07:47 +0000

that must be creepy for all the people i am only10 years old although i would try
to help the spirit pass on

harmony

By: whocares

whocares — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:36:49 +0000

Ok, seriously, if anyone cares….well, a woman that I am in contact with published this story in her book. The story of the worker falling into the cement goes like this:
The workers were working late one night to finish pouring the concrete before the next day’s shift. One of the workers lost his balance and fell of the undeveloped side of the bridge and became stuck in the pouring concrete. The concrete set too much for the other workers to get the poor man out. When the concrete had set, they realized that all that was left of the worker was an arm sticking out of the concrete. Forever posed in an obvious pose of anguish. The fingers were extended and barely bent, as if to grasp the nearest person or object. The workers, for lack of a better word, freaked. One came up with a saw and sawed off the protruding arm.

When people stop on the bridge, which is actually located in Mooresville, an arm is said to appear. On one late night, a group of teens stopped on the bridge and waited. Around a half hour later, the arm appeared. It came up to their windsheilds and just paused before each car. It finally settled on a Blue Ford. It was said to have knocked on the window, and then pointed to the couple that was in it.

A few weeks later there was a car accident. A couple in a Blue Ford lost control of their car and it began to flip out of control. As the car settled, a farmer that was harvesting his corn happened to see what had happened. He rushed over and happened to save the two before the car became engulfed in flames. The Blue Ford was the first of three cars to be pointed out in that year. All of the inhabitants were high school students, and one of the vehicle inhabitants were not lucky enough to live.