This is clearly a day late, but I lost power last night and I had a battle with my scanner that is still ongoing. These pictures are slides and the scanner wasn’t cooperating with me 100% and many of these pictures have lost a good portion of their color, but that is something I will have to remedy in the future.
These are amazing! Where were the gargoyles pictures taken?
I had actually no clue where those were taken, so I asked my Mom.
They were taken in Atchison, Kansas.
When I posted the link to this Journal Entry on Facebook a woman that works with Teresa (and a local artist) emailed me to find out when I had been to Atchison.
I explained to her that I wasn’t the one that took the pictures, but asked her what she knew about the house and she only said that they are “dragons” not “gargoyles” and that Atchison, Kansas is supposed to be the most haunted place in America.
I did a little research on this place and found out that this house is known as The Gargoyle Home but it is more often referred to as Waggener House:
“Gargoyle Home, 819 N. 4th Street — More often referred to as the Waggener House, this turn-of-the-century home was built in 1884-1885 by B.P. Waggener, who was a lawyer and politician in the Atchison area in the late 1800’s. While gargoyles are usually erected to scare off evil spirits, legend has it that Waggener accumulated his wealth through a deal with the devil and the gargoyles were constructed in honor of the pact. It is said that the house is afflicted by an evil curse. One homeowner, who attempted to remove the gargoyles, fell to his death on the staircase. A segement on the Travel Channel reported that Kansas City Ghost Hunters, while visiting the home, picked up the presence of ghosts on their special equipment and reported having felt a presence in the house. This house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1974 and is located at 819 N. 4th Street.”
Who is the first picture of? The little kid with the binoculars.
Mom seemed to think that was you.
That sounds like a horror movie – that’s pretty awesome. Well, I don’t mean that it’s awesome that the house was cursed or that there was a pact with the devil, but you know what I mean.
Shannon and I used to take a walk around Ogden quite often. There’s a house about a block north of what used to be the garage, on the east side of the street (I may be a block or two off). It has white wood columns for the porch, and each of them has a little picture of what appears to be a little devil at the base. We used to walk really fast whenever we went by it, or cross the street – I’m sure whomever lives there now is very nice, but I’m not sure why anyone would build with those in there. I bet the story isn’t anywhere near as cool, though, as Waggener’s deal with the devil.
I think I have talked Jesse into going down there on October 15 to do their Haunted Hop:
http://www.atchisonkansas.net/HauntedAtchison/hop.html
“Learn the basics of paranormal investigating on this spooky “hop” around historic Atchison aboard the RiverCity Coach. Our beginning investigators will first be treated to the famous Haunted Atchison Tour, then will visit two haunted sites — the Cray Historical Home and the Berry Home. We will learn about the equipment, procedures and things professional investigators look for while exploring haunted sites. An excellent introduction to the world of ghost hunting. Perfect for those looking to begin a new exploration or those just wanting to try something new and exciting!”
I don’t believe in ghosts and I think that paranormal exploration is a joke, but it seemed to be the most interesting thing that they do down there.
You know, in 1939 a guy (Ray Platter) killed his family and then himself in Ogden. Maybe that was their house?
I’ll have to check that house out at some point.
Okay, that is really, really cool. That sounds like an awesome time, even just to witness.
You know, that house could EASILY be from around then. My parents’ house is mid 20’s, and it’s in a little bit older part of town than this. I could totally show you where the house is sometime.
Back to the paranormal thing – so, since I can only read so much and sometimes just have to zone out to TV while I’m dozing, I like to have something fairly banal in the background (this is why I was such a fan of the Game Show Network last summer – you don’t have to focus on it). HGTV has replaced it – all kinds of shows about house hunting, selling, etc. Anyway – this weekend, some guy was on talking about how the biggest thing for him in house hunting was to make sure that the property wasn’t infested with ghosts. (I’m not entirely sure that he wasn’t being a little facetious, but it was hard to tell.) He ended up buying a house, and had some “cleanser” come in with a roll of toilet paper that he set on fire, as well as a couple of candles on some hangers that would turn inwards whenever there was paranormal activity. That dude was insane.
We will definitely have to go check out that house at some point.
HGTV is a HUGE improvement over the Game Show Network. I’m pretty sure that they use the Game Show Network as a form of enhance interrogation to get terrorism suspects to talk.
I guess when I was house hunting I didn’t think about potential hauntings. I should contact a medium right away!
There is a show on some channel (possibly Travel) where the follow to meatheads (they definitely fit the description) around doing paranormal “research”.
They mostly go to abandoned prisons/mental wards and scream at ghosts. Then they alleged record sounds and feel cold.
One of my favorite episodes is one where a ghost “throws” a coat rack at them. It is awesome!
If Jesse and I go on this thing, we are definitely acting like those two guys.
“Show yourself. You wimp!”
We won’t be too popular.
There is a company that actually lets you hang out in haunted places overnight for a fee:
http://www.bumpinthenight.net/
My favorite part about this company is one of those places is the Lemp Mansion.
The first time we ever visited Bill in St. Louis we bought a case of Lemp beer and the cashier gave us this whole story about how the entire staff of the brewery committed suicide.
That story wasn’t true, but the Lemp Family did have a very messed up history. Including quite a few suicides.
I definitely have felt a lot fewer nagging headaches and unexplained feelings of anger since switching to HGTV from Game Show Network… If there’s any way that the amount of accidental Howie Mandel exposure in my house can be totally eliminated, it makes me happier.
We really didn’t do proper research on our place, either. I feel so inadequate now, so unprepared as a homeowner. I guess we know what to do right for next time, which is nice.
I can ABSOLUTELY see you and Jesse stirring the pot on that thing – and I would love it. I think I’ve seen ads for that TV show about the Ghost Hunters or whatever they are – they don’t ever actually find anything, do they? And I love how being cold is a sign of a ghost – it’s not like they’re going into old houses that are prone to drafts or anything.
I wonder if I could find any Lemp online history – it’s interesting that the cashier would elaborate/fabricate something that easy to fact-check, but at least it probably seemed like a really fascinating story for the hour or two that you thought it was true.
Yeah. Howie Mandel is terrible. I remember actually liking him when I was a kid. Thankfully I’ve moved on to people that are actually funny like Daniel Tosh and David Cross.
I can’t believe that my Uncle Gary didn’t do a quick survey for paranormal activity before he advised you your house. I’ll have to talk to him about it next time I see him.
You wouldn’t believe how long it actually took me to find the name of the show that Jesse and I are going to emulate. It is in fact on the Travel Channel. It is called Ghost Adventures.
It does feature two guys that try to draw ghosts out by talking trash to them. This is what Jesse and I could do.
Although now that I found the other site, I’m kind of intrigued about the places that let you go hang out in old buildings over night.
Like I said, I don’t believe in ghosts, but I love “ruins” and I would love to be able to go into an old abandoned place like that prison in Ohio and be able to take pictures at night.
Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on the Lemp Family:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemp_family#Family_History
As far as the cashier goes, who doesn’t love a good/great urban legend? I can think of a couple from Boone that aren’t true. The glowing headstone? The headstone of the girl who hung herself on her swing and so they made the headstone out of the tree?
Fascinating stories, but not true.
This also was far enough back that the internet and things like the world wide web were not around. If we wanted to fact check a story like that, we would have had to go to a library.
We did drive by the old Lemp Brewery though. It was very close to the Anheuser-Busch brewery. It definitely looked abandoned.
I remember that I was also on-board with Howie Mandel when I was little – we only got over-the-air TV, and so that cartoon show of his on Fox got some airtime in our house. I also remember that we all loved Yakov Smirnoff back then, though, too – you know, that guy may have been hit harder by the fall of the USSR than anyone. It’s hard to make “In Soviet Russia, plane flies you!” jokes…
Please do check with him – this is a gross oversight in the inspection of our home… 😉
I’m just curious exactly how these guys on Ghost Adventures trash talk a ghost. If ghosts existed, what really do they have to lose? But you and Jesse doing that ironically would screw with other people so much that it should be filmed. It would be like living overnight in a Scooby Doo episode to go on the overnight.
That Lemp family bio is really, really interesting. Old abandoned buildings are always so fascinating to me – the bigger, the crazier.
There are back to back episodes of Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel this Friday night. At 8 and 9 pm respectively.
If you get a chance to watch the show let me know. This way you can get an idea of how they “talk trash” to ghosts.
Old abandoned buildings are fascinating. Too bad it is usually illegal to go through them. I even like ruins of farm houses.
The Lemp family is definitely fascinating. Definitely screwed up and I can see why haunted stories creeped up around a family that was so riddled by suicide.
Hello! I want to RSVP for the trip. In fact, I just pinky sweared with you–I am officially invited! yay 🙂 And, I promise to wear appropriate footwear