Sunday, October 30, 2005

My Frightening Research

I make a cameo appearance in the Southern Illinoisan's cover story today.

Three reporters and a photographer from the paper did a story on spending time in a local house in Marion thought by its owners to be haunted. In order to test their theories the paper brought down two ghost hunters from St. Louis to do check the place out.
The pair pulled into the Sackmans' driveway in their trademark black Chrysler PT Cruiser, the "Haunt Rod," at precisely 8 p.m. They joined what was becoming a fairly crowded party, consisting of our reporting team, the Sackmans, their daughters Marla and Stephanie, and local historian Jon Musgrave, who had clued us into the home's haunted history and was along to do research for a possible new book.
I'd met Mrs. Sackman last December after hearing a story from a relative about the house. It does have an interesting history, according to the tax records it was built just a decade after the Civil War in 1875.

At least one former owner, Sam Casey, the editor of the old Marion Evening Post had a heart attack and died in the foyer. More ominously is what happened to his daughter's family. She, her husband and both of their adult children ended up at the state mental asylum in Anna where they all died.

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