Haunted Lawrence

Paul Thomas

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781439662946
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Founded in 1854 as an abolitionist outpost, Lawrence is a seemingly unassuming college town with a long history of hauntings. A ghostly guest never checked out of the Eldridge Hotel's mysterious room 506. Sigma Nu's fraternity house, the former home of Kansas's eighteenth governor, is still haunted by the specter of a young woman. Learn the tragic stories of Pete Vinegar, George Albach and Lizzie Madden and uncover the devilish truth behind the "legend" of Stull Cemetery. Author Paul Thomas reveals the ghoulish history behind these stories and many more.

1

THE “LOST” HAUNTED HOUSES
OF LAWRENCE

It does not seem controversial to say that the haunted house is the quintessential ghostly locale. Tales of abandoned abodes possessed by the souls of previous occupants have long fascinated those interested in the possibility of life after death, from the ancient Romans to the Victorian English. The citizens of Lawrence are not exempt.

In the past, there have been numerous reports of haunted houses in the city. Unfortunately, many of these structures are either no longer in existence or their addresses were not recorded, making them all but impossible to locate. Luckily, a few of these haunted houses caused enough interest in the town for local newspapers to consider them worthy of articles. One of the first examples of these articles can be found in the June 12, 1885 issue of the Lawrence Daily Journal. According to the paper:

Lawrence has a haunted house, and yesterday a man was so exercised over the matter that he went into one of our hotels and wanted to bet $10 that there was no man in the house he could point out. An employee of the Journal being at hand and not being afraid to have a seance [sic] with the airy beings of the other world took it up. After mature deliberation the gentleman of the first part concluded to withdraw and gave up $2 to get out of the bet.

After the paper broke the news, the whole town was in a state of excitement, and soon, people began speculating as to the nature of the house. Four days later, the newspaper related the experience of three intrepid youths who decided to journey into the cursed structure:

Last evening three young men visited the haunted house. They had matches and were very bold at first as related to a Journal reporter but were greatly surprised when they saw an apparition. One of them fired at it three times but without any effect. They retired in good order but some what [sic] surprised. The place is creating quite an excitement in the neighborhood where it is situated.

For many weeks, the building continued to attract the attention of—as the Lawrence Daily Journal put it—the “more credulous,” and myriad stories about the house and its supposed ethereal inhabitants circulated among the townsfolk. But as with all novelties, interest in the building began to dwindle. The final story concerning this house was published by the Lawrence Daily Journal on June 21, 1885. Unfortunately, it contributed nothing of substance and devolved into an (unintentionally humorous) ad for clothing, reading: “The haunted house is creating quite an excitement, but not as much as Abe Levy’s reasonable prices on hats, Summer Underwear, Ties [etc.] at 103.”

A curious reader might wonder what became of the house. The unsatisfying answer is that no one seems to know, as after June 1885, the historical record goes quiet. Given that the newspaper never provided an exact location for the building, as well as the fact that Lawrence has changed considerably since 1885, it is hard—if not impossible—to pinpoint where the house was located. With this being said, later newspaper articles published by the Lawrence Daily Journal in the 1800s do refer to haunted houses in the fifth and sixth wards in North Lawrence, as well as on Kentucky Street. It is conceivable that one of these houses was the same as the one discussed in June 1885 articles, but this is entirely conjectural.

Around twenty-two years later, in 1907, the Lawrence Daily Journal ran another story about “a haunted house in this town that has baffled many people.” This article included a supposed backstory for the haunting:

No one seems to know when [the house] became haunted or what caused it. Possibly the mystery can be solved. A man recalls a tragedy in this very house which he says accounts for the wierd [sic] sounds.

Years ago when the town was not here, Indian huts were scattered along the banks of the Kaw [i.e. the Kansas River]. But one was more pretensious [sic] than the other and when the white men came this house was passed over to them. There was in the crowd a man of strong physique and forceful character. He was a good trader but after a time he began to let his inclination to make money get the better of his scruples. He became an outlaw, at first in a decent sort of way but later the worst this territory had seen. This man was of good family and after a time went east and married. His wife, happy, came west with him to make her home. He had not told her what his business really was and when she learned by degrees she was horrified. Her love turned to hatred. One night after a big raid wherein murder had been committed she waited until he was asleep and then went into his room and killed him. She then realized what she had done and sought to hide the body. She walked all over the house looking for a safe place, peering here, there and everywhere. Finally daylight was coming and she had to carry it to the cellar.

To this time night is made hideous in that house. There is the restless walking about, the stomping as if to look for a hiding place and finally an ugly falling down stairs as the dead body is carried to the cellar. The old house has long since been torn down but the spirit of this decided woman haunts the new house and families live there only when they have to do so. The woman tramps night after night in her vain search for a hiding place for the body. What is the sense of this? No one in Lawrence knows yet practically everyone in Lawrence knows of the house to which this refers.

Alas, the Lawrence Daily Journal once again did not provide the location of this haunted house. As a result, we may never know where it was located or if there was any truth to the rumor.

2

THE ALBACH HOUSE

At the southeastern foot of Mount Oread, nestled in a shady neighborhood sits the historic Albach House. Given its rather innocuous-looking exterior, it might come as a surprise that the structure was the site of a wicked crime that resulted in a sick and bedridden man losing his life. It might also come as a surprise that the ghost of this man is said to still linger in the old house.

The structure was originally built by Johannes Phillip Albach, a German immigrant, who was born in 1827 in Lich, a city in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Phillip entered young adulthood during the late 1840s, a politically tumultuous time in Europe. A strong antiauthoritarian sentiment was sweeping the continent, and many—Phillip included—became enamored of promises of liberty and freedom. Phillip consequently aligned himself with liberal insurrectionists and took part in the German Revolution of 1848. However, when the insurgency failed, he was forced to flee. He chose to relocate to America, and after a brief stay in New York, he traveled to California, where he became the manager of a wagon shop in Marysville.

In 1857, the German Confederation granted amnesty to all those who had been involved in the revolution of the previous decade, and so Albach returned to his homeland, retrieved his citizenship papers and married his wife, Wilhelmina. Afterward, the two set off for America. Originally planning to return to California, Phillip and Wilhelmina decided to settle down in Lawrence around 1858. It has been speculated that Phillip chose this town because of its opposition to slavery, a practice that he felt was far too similar to those oppressive European systems he had previously fought. Phillip purchased a plot of land that was at the time south of the city’s limits, and he built a modest cottage. Soon, Phillip and Wilhelmina were joined by Phillip’s perennial bachelor brother, George.

Because the house was located about a mile south of Lawrence along the Oregon Trail, the Albachs often hosted visitors passing through the area. One of these lodgers was William Quantrill.

To this day in the Lawrence area, the name “William Quantrill” is uttered in a tone dripping with hatred and disgust, and for good reason. Quantrill was born on July 31, 1837, in what is now Dover, Ohio. As a young man, he was academically gifted, and he became a schoolteacher at the age of sixteen. A few years later, he journeyed to the Kansas Territory, where his political beliefs started to develop. He came to oppose the Free State movement and eventually gained a reputation as a bandit and an outlaw who fought Jayhawkers with a group of men now referred to as Quantrill’s Raiders. In the early 1860s, he set his sights on the antislavery stronghold of Lawrence and began to carefully plan a raid of the city.

While he was scheming this diabolical attack, he stayed at the Albach House under an assumed name, and due to the kindness showed to him by the family, he decided to spare the house and its inhabitants. On the morning of August 21, 1863, he posted a guard near the house and specifically ordered his men not to despoil the property.

But after Quantrill’s men torched downtown Lawrence, several drunken rogues found their way to the Albach House and decided to ransack it anyway. The raiders surrounded the building and ordered the whole family outside. Philip managed to steal away on a horse and thus evade the marauders, but poor George, who was suffering from a nasty bout of tuberculosis, was not so lucky. George was carried out of the house by the remaining Albachs on a mattress. They laid him down in the yard, where one of the ruffians swiftly and callously executed him. After the merciless killing, Quantrill’s men—contrary to their leader’s explicit orders—burned the structure to the ground. When the smoke cleared, the only thing that remained were its foundations.

Following the ordeal, the surviving Albachs rebuilt the home, and in the 1870s, the cottage house was redesigned in the Italianate style. Additional modifications were made in the 1880s, 1940s and 1970s. Today, the structure is a veritable—but nonetheless lovely—palimpsest of architectural styles, and the original foundations can still be seen in the dining room, where the floor and the walls meet.

The front of the Albach House. Author’s collection.

The Albachs lived in the house for many years before they sold it, and since the 1800s, the property has had many different owners and occupants. George, however, has apparently never left.

It is believed by many that his spirit still lingers in the old building. Those who have lived at the house have said that objects—especially keys—are often moved around or go missing altogether. What is more, the children of a previous homeowner claimed to have seen some sort of apparition. One of the parents of these children told the Douglas County Historical Society: “It is the belief of my children that they have seen a ghost—and this was corroborated by friends who had come to spend the night with us from time to time. They claim to have seen ‘an old man in a white robe’ in the hallway.” However, the youths said that they were not scared and that the ghostly apparition simply felt like part of the house. The parents began to believe that whatever their children saw was actually the specter of George Albach.

The current owners of the house, Tim and Judy Keller, have not experienced anything too supernatural, and the two chalk this up to their relationship with the ghost. (“We think he likes us,” Tim humorously mused during an interview.) But even though the ghostly George enjoys his houseguests now, that does not mean that the specter was always quiet.

At the top of the house’s ornate staircase is an empty expanse of wall, which is located directly above the spot where George was murdered. While conducting a tour of the house, Judy pointed toward the wall and lightheartedly stated, “This is where George lives.” She explained that at one point in the past, she had tried to hang a picture on the wall, only for it to come crashing down in the middle of the night. It seems that George was not fond of the family trying to hammer a nail into his ghostly dwelling.

The Kellers’ daughters were understandably frightened by the prospects of living with a ghost, but a friend of the family assuaged their fears, arguing that George was not malicious and was, in fact, a kindly spirit. The family friend encouraged the girls to leave out chewing gum to show the specter that they too meant no harm. This trick apparently worked, and George and the Kellers have coexisted peacefully for many years now.

The Albach House is located at 1701 Tennessee Street.

3

THE GOODRICH HOUSE

The Goodrich House is a majestic Queen Anne–style home located along Massachusetts Street, just a few blocks south of the city’s main commercial district.^* While during the verdant seasons of spring and summer a roadside view of the structure is often obstructed by several magnificent trees, as soon as the weather cools and the leaves begin to fall, the building’s lovely façade becomes visible to all.

But this charming exterior disguises a rather eerie secret: the house is haunted by the ghost of a girl, whose spirit some have even seen wandering the hallways of the old building.

Who exactly is this young woman, and why does she remain in the residence? This question has been the subject of intense speculation. According to RealHaunts.com, during Quantrill’s Raid, a girl (who some say was named Catherine) was raped and then murdered in the basement of this house. Following this, her body was dumped in a well located somewhere on the property. Due to this horrific event, her spirit was unable to find rest, and to this day she still haunts the place where she was so gruesomely demeaned and slaughtered.

While this account makes for a disturbing and effective ghost story, it is almost certainly apocryphal. First, prior to his attack, Quantrill specifically ordered his troops to “shoot every soldier you see, but in no way harm a woman or a child.” His followers listened to him (unlike in the case of the Albach House), and consequently, no women were assaulted or killed during Quantrill’s Raid. Second, this house was built in 1890, almost thirty years after Quantrill’s Raid, by a fruit merchant and the eighth postmaster of Lawrence, Eugene F. Goodrich.

Goodrich owned the house until 1911, when it was sold to William and Sarah Cockins. The Cockinses eventually passed the home onto their daughter and her husband, Carol and William E. Tenney. For the next few decades, the house changed hands many times until it was acquired by Dick and Marie Lynch, who turned it into apartments. By 1999, the building was sadly rundown and dilapidated, but it was soon purchased by Drs. Erin and John Spiridigliozzi, who restored the home to its original Queen Anne style.

So while it is highly unlikely that the home is haunted by a victim of Bleeding Kansas, this does not mean that the building is without a paranormal inhabitant. After the article on RealHaunts.com was posted, an individual going by the moniker “K Taylor” commented on the post and argued that the Quantrill’s Raid story ...